As bar results are announced, and numbers are crunched, there is one bar success metric which always feels elusive: participation in supplemental programming offered by the law school. Sure, workshop attendance, essays graded, number of coaching meetings are objective measures of participation. Still, I’m never sure if these metrics sufficiently describe participation.
It’s the graduates who turn to you in a moment of need or despair, sometimes just that once, who make me reconsider what participation means. These are the conversations that often leave me feeling like I made a difference in a graduate’s bar preparation journey.
I sat down with some colleges this week to talk about engagement in bar programming. How do you get students to engage? Keep them engaged? Or make a difference when it counts? There was a common theme to proposed answers – you develop a relationship with the students before bar preparation begins. You earn their trust. And hopefully, they will then ask for help and receive advice when it matters.
I’ve been thinking about earning students’ trust this week. Do I know when a student trusts me? Am I earning their trust in an effective way? I decided to ask some students for help with the answers.
I asked:
What makes you trust a professor or their advice?
Here are some unfiltered law student responses:
- “I feel I can trust a professor when they demonstrate a true love and passion for what they do. When a professor is truly passionate and finds great enjoyment in distilling knowledge to students, it is easy to trust them/their advice because they have shown they take student’s best interests to heart.”
- “They are humble, knowing their own capabilities but not casting an aura of superiority. They are not trying to be “a friend.” I am not looking for a peer in a professor, I am looking for someone with superior knowledge that I can rely on. Supportiveness is fine, but too much focus on being supportive cuts against their trustworthiness. They recognize that they are dealing with individuals who are capable, and they relatedly do not talk down to the students.”
- “I trust professors that I think are competent. I trust professors that challenge me, either by introducing me to new ideas and arguments or by asking me to stretch and grow in life/academic skills.”
- “To be honest, building any relationship with professors can be hard at first because they all seem so infallible and, without meaning to, can intimidate the students from wanting to come to them with anything. I feel that the type of professor I am more likely to approach is one who approaches me with equal respect and can admit to any of their own missteps or mistakes from their days in law school.”
- “I feel confident seeking help from a specific professor when I’m struggling if they foster an approachable environment that encourages academic growth and reassures students that making mistakes is a normal part of the bar prep process. Most importantly, if the professor doesn’t pressure students to grasp concepts more quickly due to the time constraints between bar prep and exam day but rather encourages additional practice.”
- “I would say what makes me trust a professor’s advice is first building a relationship with them and understanding their background and experiences. From then on, once I have a relationship built, it’s easier to be able to talk and trust what they say instead of taking everything at face value without me knowing their background or who they are as a person.”
My takeaway: love what you do and always show respect.
(Ashley Cetnar)
