ABSTRACT
Bar associations are focusing intensive attention on issues of attorney and law student well-being. The profession is focusing attention on well-being because of concerns that a significant minority of lawyers and law students are not thriving. Self-determination theory (SDT) posits that humans have three basic psychological needs that are essential for well-being. They are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The formation of a professional identity that incorporates the several virtues will feed the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness and also will support the values and motivations associated with thriving. Cultivation of fidelity to the client as an internalized virtue serves the psychological need for relatedness. Professors Lawrence Krieger and Kennon Sheldon used SDT and conducted an extensive survey of practicing lawyers to try to assess what makes lawyers happy. Virtue ethics dates back to Aristotle and focuses not on consequences or duties but rather on character.
