A Tale of Two Clinics: Similarities and Differences in Evidence of the 'Clinic Effect' on the Development of Law Students’ Ethical and Altruistic Professional Identities

This article presents the results of a qualitative research project measuring development of altru-ethical professional identity in law students working in two social justice oriented clinics, one in the U.S. and one in the U.K. We respond to and engage the work of notable scholars on critical questions in ethics, moral philosophy, legal education and access to justice, explore and largely indict the impoverished and cabined conceptualization of “legal ethics” as taught in the U.S. and, to some degree, the U.K. We provide evidence that immersion in a social justice oriented clinical experience can have a profound impact on the development of altru-ethical professional identities among law students, and posit which types of clinical and reflective experiences can best achieve these ends.