Welcome to the Professionalism Initiative. Long ago, Roscoe Pound defined a profession as a group "pursuing a learned art as a common calling in the spirit of public service - no less a public service because it may incidentally be a means of livelihood." The essence of what it means to be a lawyer is this idea of public service and the justification both for self-regulation of the legal profession and for the special privileges that society has granted lawyers is the assertion that both are in the public interest. The purpose of the Professionalism Initiative is to explore, support and challenge the public interest role of lawyers. The framework for the Common Law’s Professionalism Initiative is a vision of the law where achieving social justice is a foremost concern for faculty and students. Through the Professionalism Initiative the faculty strives to inspire and support the legal community’s efforts to contribute to a civil society.
