About the Center

The Center for Professional Values and Practice (CPVP) supports research and teaching on the profession, focusing on professional regulation, the market for lawyers, and lawyers’ careers. Designed to provide students with an in-depth portrait of law practice in a variety of settings, from the court room to the board room to Guantanamo Bay, the Center sponsors research, symposia, and speakers to bring the “real world” of practice into the classroom.

The Center’s work is based on the premise that successful membership in the legal profession requires empirical and normative inquiry that goes beyond traditional legal doctrine. Our goal is to foster the development of “reflective professionalism”—an ongoing, informed examination of the norms, incentives, and values that characterize lawyers and the organizations in which they work.

Student affiliates are expected to contribute to CPVP research on the profession or to design their own research projects, through participation in focused seminars and independent study. The goals of the Center are to provide students with a sophisticated understanding about the conditions of modern law practice and to help students produce high-quality written work. For a list of CPVP faculty and student publications, click here.