Orientation Day: A Starting Point for Supporting the Formation of Positive Professional Identity Among Undergraduate Law Students

Law students who develop a positive professional identity during their legal education are more likely to be engaged with their studies, experience greater psychological wellbeing, cultivate connection with their potential future profession, and have more advantageous employment prospects. Existing scholarship recognises the value of intentionally supporting the formation of positive professional identity from the earliest stages of legal education, including during students’ transition to university. Drawing on this scholarship, this article describes the design of the Bachelor of Laws Orientation Project (‘LLB Orientation Project’) implemented at Curtin University in February 2024. This article considers the literature concerning transition pedagogy, professional identity formation and undergraduate socialisation and then explains how it informed the design of three initiatives embedded within the Orientation Day program which was the focus of the LLB Orientation Project: an interactive survey encouraging students to reflect on their perceptions of lawyers, the legal profession and themselves; a masterclass on personal branding and professional identity; and videos featuring legal practitioners and judicial officers from various practice areas and career stages sharing their advice for commencing law students. In doing so, this article provides a practical example of how existing scholarship can be translated into Orientation Day initiatives designed to provide early support for the formation of positive professional identity among commencing undergraduate law students.