Character and Fitness for Leadership: Learning Interpersonal Skills

The Bar admission requirement of “character and fitness” can also be an aspirational goal to help provide a rationale for leadership education in law school. Moreover, as interpersonal skills are an important part of leadership learning, it is helpful for law students to learn how to pay better attention to other people, be aware of their and others’ strengths, and understand and acknowledge concerns that they and others have for appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status and a meaningful role. This article offers guidance on how those interpersonal skills might be taught, drawing on the author’s own law school leadership course.