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The awarded its 2026 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award to the school's Professional Identity Formation and Expanded Orientation program. The association formally presented the award at its annual conference in Chicago.

"This recognition reflects our commitment to helping students succeed in law school and develop the values and judgement they will need in their professional careers," said Fred Slabach, dean of the .

"We are especially grateful to the faculty whose creativity, dedication and countless hours of work made these innovative programs possible. Their commitment to our students is what makes achievements like this possible."

The professionalism program, in its third year, is dedicated to supporting first-year students' transition to law school. The idea of marrying student academic success and legal professional identity came from the ABA's standard that law schools provide professional identity education over the course of the three years in law school.

The program begins with a learning boot camp during orientation before the school year begins and transitions to professional identity classes during the first year.

During boot camp, students are introduced to the cycle of learning in law school, which is a tad different from undergraduate studies.

"It's all about the whole learning cycle and self-regulated learning," said Karen Glover, director of academic success program and assistant professor of the practice of law. "Our goal is to help them learn how to learn in a way that best suits them."

The boot camp portion includes:

• How to prepare for class
• How to engage in class
• What to do after class with discussion items
• How to write a case brief and legal outline
• The steps of a good legal written response
• Self-assessment.

"We try to show students how to create meaningful opportunities to self-assess their own learning," she said.

The second part of the program involves first-year students enrolled in a professional identity course.

"Professional identity skills can look like everything from time management to wellness to professional happiness, to career arcs to the role of lawyers in society and leadership roles in the community," said Susan Winters, assistant professor of the practice of law.

"We want students to consider how do we take our personal core values and beliefs and then enhance them through legal education to create a better version of ourselves when we go into the profession."

The program aims to explain the "hidden curriculum" of law school, which has often meant such things as how to apply for judicial clerkship, write a cold email or cold call for summer internships and networking.

"So much of what we want to do is level the playing field for everybody and unhide the hidden curriculum of law school," Winters said.

"Everybody deserves a legal education who wants one. And we want to create this field to where students aren't starting from the parking lot; we want everybody to start at home plate."

Students need a fair playing field and a sense of community to be successful in law school, Winters and Glover said.

First-year students are afforded one-on-one meetings throughout the year with professional identity course instructors and upper-level peer mentors, called dean's academic fellows. This provides opportunities for student connection, community building and simply learning about law school.

"It is difficult to suddenly enter a world where there are so many unspoken do's and don'ts," said second-year student Chase Black, from Georgiana, Alabama. "The professional identity course helped shine a light on areas like outlining techniques, studying methods and even emailing potential employment opportunities that were unknown to many of us coming from another field or without a lawyer in the family."

Anna Claire Taylor, a second-year student from Shreveport, Louisiana, agreed the resources are invaluable.

"What makes this program so special is that students are able to connect not only with professors but also with upper-level students who can provide authentic advice, feedback and encouragement," she said. "Although law school has its challenges, the PIF program gave me the support and resources I needed to feel more confident and prepared for success."

Selle James, a second-year student from Atlanta, agreed.

"This program taught me important soft skills I actively used throughout my internship this summer, like taking initiative to seek out assignments I was interested in and turning in work long before a given deadline," James said. "My participation in this program gave me a sense of confidence in myself and in my education that I am eager to take into any professional environment in the future."

Besides the ABA, Ole Miss law professors have taken note after experiencing the program's success in their classrooms.

"As I taught civil procedure in the fall to half of the 1L class, I could already see a difference: the students were more attentive, engaged and prepared for class," said Ben Cooper, senior associate dean and professor of law. "They performed better when they were called upon and asked good questions both in and out of class."

Matthew Hall, associate professor of law, has taught at the school for more than 20 years and has likewise seen a difference in program's students.

"I have seen a significant increase in questions from my first-year students such as: 'What should I focus on when reading?' 'What does good class prep look like?' 'How should I think about answering questions in class?'" he said. "They understand from day one that these tasks form the foundation of success and mark them as taking their entry into the profession seriously."

The program has shifted student mindset.

"The new perspective among our 1Ls appears to be a focus on becoming a skilled attorney capable of helping clients and society, not just on being a successful law student getting good grades," Hall said.

Knowledge and understanding are key.

"Just peeling back the curtain – that's all students needed to be so successful in law school, and dare I say so much happier in law school because they know what they need to do to be successful," Winters said.

Top: The American Bar Association awarded its 2026 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award to the School of Law in recognition of its Professional Identity Formation and Expanded Orientation program. The program aims to help first-year students achieve academic success and develop legal professional identity. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services