Headshot of Janice  Craft

Janice Craft

Director of Professional Identity Formation
Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice
  • Profile

    Prior to her role as Director of Professional Identity Formation, Janice served as a staff attorney and later as the Legal Services Director of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of gender-based violence in the Commonwealth. Janice helped lead the Alliance’s successful effort to build a non-traditional legal services delivery program that provides underserved survivors of violence access to trauma-informed, pro bono legal representation from private attorneys in their communities. During her tenure, the Alliance’s legal services program realized year-over-year growth in the number of clients served, the number of private attorneys participating in the Alliance’s referral network, and the number and value of pro bono hours donated by private attorneys to Alliance clients. Prior to her work with the Alliance, Janice served as policy director for a Virginia affiliate of a national reproductive rights organization. She clerked for then-Chief Judge Walter S. Felton, Jr. of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Janice earned her law degree from the William & Mary School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice (formerly, William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law). Janice earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Florida, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.

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    • Presentations

      Commentator, "How Law Schools Can Help Historically Underrepresented Students Develop Their Professional Identities (Prof. David Grenardo, Univ. of St. Thomas School of Law, Presenting)," 24th Annual Georgia Symposium on Ethics and Professionalism: Current Issues in Professional Identity Formation, Mercer University School of Law (March 2024)


      Presenter, "Professional Identity Formation at the University of Richmond School of Law," Board Meeting, Richmond Bar Association (February 2024)


      Panelist, "Valuing our Students' Pre-Law School Identities," Interrogating the Hidden Curriculum: Implications for Formation of Professional Identity, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, University of Denver Sturm College of Law (September 2023)


      Co-presenter, "Fostering Effective Student Leadership," 2023 National Association of Law Student Affairs Professionals Conference, (June 2023)


      "Naming and Reframing: Challenging Dominant Cultural Norms to Support Law Students’ Professional Identity Formation," Summer 2023 Conference: Compliance with ABA Standards, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning (June 2023)


      "Professional Identity Formation of Law Students," 2023 Spring Symposium: Leading Change in the Legal Profession, The Wake Forest Law Review and WFU Program for Leadership & Character in the Professional Schools (February 2023)


      Panelist, "ABA Standard 303 Revisions Part 1: Professional Identity Formation," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference, Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) (July 2022)


      "Professional Development Courses: Professional Identity Formation at the University of Richmond School of Law," Holloran Center Workshop on Professional Identity Formation, University of St. Thomas School of Law, AccessLex Institute, and West Academic (May 2022)


      Panelist, "Faculty Advising and Professional Identity Formation," Incorporating New ABA Standards for Legal Education: Professional Identity, Cross-Cultural Competency, and Well-Being Resources for Students, AALS Section on Balance and Well-Being in Legal Education (May 2022)


      Panelist, "Professional Identity and Multicultural Lawyering," Teaching Multicultural Lawyering: Development, Integration and Conversation, WMU-Cooley Law School (March 2021)

    • Memberships

      Fellow, The American Bar Foundation (2023 - present)


      Secretary, Executive Committee, AALS Section on Balance & Well-Being in Legal Education, The Association of American Law Schools Section on Balance & Well-Being in Legal Education (2023 - present)


      Member, Metro Richmond Women's Bar Association (2020 - present)


      Executive Committee Member, AALS Section on Balance and Well-Being in Legal Education (2022 - 2022)

    • Bar Admissions

      Virginia

    • Professional Experience

      Director of Professional Identity Formation and Associate Professor of Legal Practice (2023 - present)
      University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VA


      Director of Professional Identity Formation and Assistant Professor of Legal Practice (2020 - 2023)
      University of Richmond School of Law


      Legal Services Director (2019 - 2020)
      Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Alliance


      Attorney (2017 - 2019)
      Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Alliance


      Policy Director (2014 - 2017)
      NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia


      Clerk for Chief Judge Walter S. Felton Jr. (2011 - 2014)
      Court of Appeals of Virginia


      Policy Fellow (2010 - 2011)
      NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia

    • Institutional Service

      Committee Co-Chair, General Programming Committee, AALS Section on Balance and Well-Being in Legal Education (2022)

  • Publications
    Journal Articles

    Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in the #MeToo Era, 22 Richmond Public Interest Law Review 2013 (2019) (2018 Symposium Panel Discussion).

  • In the News