Stetson Inns wins professionalism award
Modeled after traditional British Inns, the purpose is to integrate students into the profession in a meaningful and authentic way while emphasizing professionalism and ethics
Stetson Dean Benjamin Barros, left, accepts The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Professionalism's Group Professionalism Award from outgoing President Roland Sanchez-Medina.
The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Professionalism presented its Group Professionalism Award to the Stetson Inns at the Stetson University College of Law at the Annual Florida Bar Convention in Boca Raton.
The award honors one program instituted and coordinated by a bar association, judicial organization, Inn of Court, or law school organization aimed at enhancing professionalism among lawyers and law students and that can be implemented by other organizations to promote and encourage professionalism within the legal community.
Founded in 2022, the Stetson Inns is described by Associate Dean Anne Mullins as the most transformational initiative on the Stetson Law campus in recent memory. Modeled after traditional British Inns, the purpose is to integrate students into the profession in a meaningful and authentic way while emphasizing professionalism and ethics. The students go through orientation, prepare for the annual Campus to Career Experience, receive individual and group mentoring, and learn what it means to be a member of the legal profession in their Inns.
‘Stetson interviewed applicants who wished to be mentors during the next academic year; during those interviews, the candidates shared their thoughts on how the Inn system had supported their development as law students,” Mullins said. “Among the themes that emerged, a few stood out. First, the Inns created a powerful sense of belonging among the 1L students. Second, students appreciated having structured access to upper-level student mentors and their Faculty Bencher for advice and support. Third, the creation of mentoring cohorts within the Inns was key to creating connections and sustaining the mentoring relationships. Students unanimously reported that they cannot imagine the Stetson experience without the Inns.”
Through their participation, students become self-directed learners; develop professional life skills; become aware of their own interests, aptitudes, and values; and are socialized into legal culture.
According to student surveys, the Inn system has made a tremendous impact on the student experience, with vast increases in students building communities on campus; students building personal relationships with faculty and staff, and students feeling like they had joined a profession.
