Page 345 - 2019 Orientation Manual

Tech Center
The LSBA launched its Tech Center in April 2016 and this is available on the LSBA
website. The Tech Center is a One-Stop Shop for Tech topics. The Tech Center has information
on Tech Tools (tech discounts, legal tech trends and tech reviews), Tech Training (videos) and
Tech Talk (podcasts, digital dialogue and social connect).

Committee on the Profession

LAW SCHOOL PROFESSIONALISM PROGRAMS

1LPrograms
The Committee on the Profession conducts freshman orientation programs at all four law
schools in Louisiana. The program was implemented seventeen years ago and is designed to
introduce the concept or professionalism to 1 year law students. Approximately 50 volunteer
st
lawyers and judges participate in the program at each of the four law schools. Students and
volunteer lawyers and judges are placed in break-out groups with the students to discuss
professionalism hypotheticals. There are overview speeches by the LSBA President and a
Supreme Court Justice in a plenary session before the breakout groups.

Character & Fitness Programs – 1L Programs
The Committee also conducts programs to educate students about the bar admissions
process at all four law schools. These programs, held in the Spring are designed to give law
students information on the bar admissions process. Graduating from an A.B.A. accredited law
school and passing the Louisiana Bar Exam is just part of the process for being admitted into the
Louisiana State Bar Association. Applicants must also pass a rigorous character and fitness
evaluations as well. Louisiana is a leader in this area and is the only state to conduct such
programs. The LSBA received the prestigious American Bar Association E. Smythe Gambrell
professionalism award in 2009 for this admission education initiative.

2L Character & Fitness Question and Answer
The Committee also does a Question and Answer follow up program to the Character &
Fitness Programs in the Fall. Focus is on the bar application process. This program is done in
conjunction with the Committee on Bar Admissions.

3L Programs
Due to the success of the freshman orientation programs, 3L professionalism programs
for senior law students are now being conducted at the law schools by the Committee on the
Profession. These programs involve the use of video vignettes that set fort professionalism
issues. It is a very interactive program and there are 3-4 Committee volunteers, usually
including one judge.

Table Talk
These are programs under consideration at all four law schools allowing students,
lawyers and judges to meet on an informal basis.

MENTORING/TIP Program
The Louisiana State Bar’s new admittee mentoring program, Transition Into Practice
(“TIP”) was approved by the Louisiana Supreme Court and the program was implemented in
January 2015 in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. By order dated February 23, 2017,
the Court expanded the program to all areas of the State. The total mentor pool is 256. In 2015,
there were 125 mentors paired up with mentees. In 2016, there were 132 mentors paired with
mentees. The creation of the TIP program was a collaborative effort of the Supreme Court and
the LSBA through its Committee on the Profession.