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Career Services Office

Career Services Office home page
Week of September 26

New Director of Career Services

Congratulations, Elizabeth Pohlman, Career Service's new Director.

Fall Office Hours

The Career Services Office regular hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday. Evening appointments with career counselors are available by appointment only on Wednesdays, from 5 - 6:30 p.m. Please call the office at (312) 906-5200 to arrange a time or email, stating the times that you are available, to kentcso@kentlaw.edu.

Please let us know how we can assist you--whether it is a current transition, preparing for graduation, or just a "quick question." Individual appointments, programming, and a wealth of resources are all available through our office. Please read the Record weekly and frequent the bulletin board outside our office for information on upcoming programs, employment opportunities, and articles of interest.

Callbacks and Offers

Please keep us informed about callbacks and offers as well as any concerns you may have regarding the interviews. E-mail our office about callbacks or offers you receive from on-campus interviews or job fairs. If you accept an offer, please let us know so we can cancel the remainder of your on-campus interviews.

Summer Experience Survey

Last Chance to enter the contest for Free Coffee!!! Did you clerk at a law firm this summer? Volunteer for a public interest organization? Serve as a summer associate? Research for a professor? Work for a government agency? Take summer classes or study abroad? If so, we want to know about it! We would appreciate it if all returning students would take a few minutes to complete our "Summer Experience Survey," now electronically submittable through the web. Many of you may remember using these surveys as a means of researching employers and/or finding employers who hired 1Ls! Now it's time to repay the favor. Simply fill out the form and hit the submit button for a quick and painless entry to win a Starbucks Gift Card. The Winner will be announced in the Record at the end of September.

Programs

New On-Campus Employer

Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella
www.burkelaw.com
Location: Chicago, IL
Years Hiring: 2Ls
Required Hiring Criteria:
Top 20%
Preferred Hiring Criteria:
Law Review
On-Campus Interviewing Date:
Week of October 10th (Specific Date TBA)

***Please bring a resume & conflicts for week of October 10th to CSO by Friday, September 30th.***

Alternatives to FOCI series:
Small and Midsized Firms
Tuesday, September 27 at 12 noon in room 370

Small (2-10 attorneys) and mid-sized (11-60 attorneys) law firms offer a diverse range of practice areas and employ the largest percentage of law school graduates. They are also a significant source of law clerking positions. Come learn what they look for in applicants, what are average salaries, how you can identify and research this vast array of employers, and what is involved in a typical interviewing process. Sponsored by the Career Services Office and the Corporate Law Society. Pizza and pop will be served!

More "Alternatives to Fall On-Campus" Programming

Public Interest Law on Oct. 11
Alternative Careers on Oct. 18

For further information regarding these programs as well as room numbers, watch for updates on this page. In the meantime, you are encouraged to meet with a career counselor to revise your resume and discuss your short and long term career goals. Call 312/906-5200 to arrange a time.


Careers in Intellectual Property

Join Chicago-Kent IP faculty members and staff from the Career Services Office to discuss and answer questions about careers in intellectual property law. The program will be held Wednesday, September 28th, from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. in room 370.

Pride in Practice: Strengthening our LGBT Legal Community through Mentoring & Connection.

Judges, lawyers, professors and law students are invited to a cocktail reception to foster mentoring among LGBT lawyers and law students and to build a strong and long lasting LGBT legal community.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 from 6 pm to 8:30 pm at 161 North Clark Street, 48 th Floor. This reception is hosted by Bryan Cave, LLP. Please RSVP to Coco Soodek at (312) 602-5120 or caroline.soodek@bryancave.com.

Law Student Welcome Party
September 27

The Young Lawyers Section's Law Student Committee invites all Chicago area law students to its annual "Welcome to the Profession Law Student Social" on Tuesday, September 27, 2005, from 4:00-6:00 p.m., at CBA Headquarters (321 S. Plymouth Ct.). The event features complimentary cocktails and appetizers, a raffle, the opportunity to mingle to young lawyers, and musical entertainment. Young Lawyers Section Chair Carolyn A. Amadon will also make brief remarks on how she stayed motivated in law student, how to be successful as a new practicing attorney, and how the CBA can help advance your career. The event is complimentary for CBA law student members. RSVP your attendance to yls@chicagobar.org or call 312-554-2032 (include your name, CBA member number, and phone in message). For a fax/mail form, click here for .pdf of program flyer.

Lavender Law Conference
October 27-29

Sponsored by the National Lesbian and Gay Law Foundation, the Lavender Law Conference will be held in San Diego, California on October 27-29. For more information and to register, go to www.LavenderLaw.org. A reduced registration fee is offered until Monday, September 26th.

 Public Interest Law: 
At the Intersection of Poverty & Human Rights
 

Saturday, October 15, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
Emory Law School, Atlanta, GA

The second annual conference  will feature a series of three panels, a lunch session, and a keynote speaker.  Six panel topics are being offered, and during registration, students will choose which three they would prefer to attend. The panel topics are:

•    Health & International Human Rights
•    Homelessness & the Effects of Katrina
•    Victims’ Rights in Criminal Law
•    Race, Class, & Gender in Child Advocacy
•    Conditions of Migrant Populations in Georgia
•    Labor Law: Living Wages

The keynote speaker is Lisa Kung who practices with the internationally renowned Southern Center for Human Rights.  She will focus on educating students about the overlap between poverty and human rights violations and will provide motivation for students considering public interest law.

Registration takes place online or in person on the day of the conference, and there is no charge to attend.  Online registration is preferred to determine how much food is necessary for lunch. 

Register at http://epic.law.emory.edu/register.php, and please direct questions to PublicInterestConference@gmail.com.


Employment Related Opportunities

Please check the job posting system on a regular basis.  If you do not have a password, please e-mail kentcso@kentlaw.edu.


Meet the Public Interest Employers Reception
Tuesday, October 18, 4:30pm - 6:30pm

Law students are welcomed to come to Loyola University School of Law, Kasbeer Hall, 25 E. Pearson, 15th floor, and learn about the rich array of public service legal activity in the Chicago area, including employment and volunteer opportunities.

US Securities and Exchange Commission Internships
Summer Honors Law Program: Applications online only!

Compensated summer positions for law students who are in their first or second year or entering judicial clerkships or continued education post-internship.
The open application period for 2L law students is from August 8th through October 17th, 2005. The open application period for 1L's is from December 1st, 2005 through February 1st, 2006.

Please note that applications may not be sent to the Commission via US Mail, as in previous years. For more information, check out the SEC website.

Applications are accepted via the following link: https://www.avuedigitalservices.com/casting/agencyspecific/sec-sp/eligQuest/summerPrograms.jsp


Equal Justice Works Conference
Washington D.C., October 27-28, 2005

Over 120 government and public interest employers attend this conference and interview 2L's and 3L's for internships and attorney positions. As a 1L, you can learn about the organizations that attend through "tabletalk" sessions, but you are not able to interview. In addition, there are 14 workshop sessions that will include training on Legal Issues, Skills, and Organizing involving public service issues. If interested in interviewing with employers at the Conference it is strongly suggested that you send materials to employers by Wednesday, September 28. It is also suggested that you check the list of employers often because new employers are still being added. The employers will then decide who they want to interview and communicate that information to you. All students who plan to attend must register online by October 21.

Go to: http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/careerfair/students/ to learn more about the conference and how to participate. Be sure to click the link "Frequently asked questions by law students" in order to learn all of the information you need to know.

If you have questions, please contact Michelle Mohr Vodenik.

Judicial Externships: Spring 2006

SECOND YEAR APPLICANTS MUST HAVE A CURRENT MINIMUM G.P.A. OF 3.28.
THIRD YEAR APPLICANTS MUST HAVE A CURRENT MINIMUM G.P.A. OF 3.36.

Informational Meeting

On Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 12:00 p.m. in Room 580, there will be a meeting for all students who are interested in externing for a federal appellate, district, or magistrate judge and for the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, for the Spring 2006 Semester. Professor Vivien Gross will describe the kinds of experiences a judicial extern will have in the course of a semester, as well as how to apply. If you are interested in a judicial externship but are unable to attend the meeting, please see Professor Gross in Room 617.

A judicial externship enables a student to become involved in particular legal problems through research and drafting opinions. Depending upon the judge, an extern may have the opportunity to observe the day-to-day routine of a judge and discuss with the judge and the judge's law clerk those legal problems which attorneys face in their profession, and the specific problems which attorneys confront in their courtroom. Take advantage of this prestigious learning opportunity while enhancing your marketability in the legal world!

Application Process
The applications for Spring 2006 Judicial Externships will be available both in the Law Offices Reception Area (Room 600) and in the Career Services Offices as of Monday, September 19th.

Completed applications should be submitted to Ms. Carole Ross, Secretary to Professor Gross, Room 612, Law Offices, by Thursday, October 6, 2005, at 5:00 p.m.

Please do not apply for an externship unless you intend to accept an offer to extern. And just as important, after you accept a judicial externship with one of the participating federal judges, you have committed yourself to that judge for the coming semester. For the sake of the continued success of the Judicial Externship Program and the ability of Kent students to be able to continue to have the privilege of externing with these judges, you cannot withdraw from or drop Judicial Externship as you can other law school courses. Breaching your promise to a federal judge to extern is the equivalent of ethical misconduct. So bottom line: if you are entertaining the possibility of transferring or visiting at another law school for the coming semester, do not apply for a judicial externship that semester. 

The Legal Career Center: Online Job Resource

The Legal Career Center offers job seekers a quick and easy way to search jobs posted in the Law Bulletin as well as submit their resumes to be viewed by prospective employers - private, public and corporate. Take a look at the Legal Career Center site: http://jobs.lawbulletin.com/rc_index.cfm to view job postings and other legal resources. Check out this great free service!

iBIO Career Links
November 1st

Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization, iBIO, is holding, in conjunction with its annual conference, a Career Fair, “iBIO Career Links”, November 1st, Navy Pier. This year, area law schools are invited to attend since a large part of our membership is comprised of the top Law Firms in Chicago, including, Bell Boyd, Kirkland & Ellis, Barnes & Thornburg, Holland & Knight, Brinks Hofer, Marshal Gernstein & Borun, and many more. Steve Burrill from Burrill & Company http://www.burrillandco.com/bio/team_bios, will be the closing keynote. He will give his famous, State of the Industry, and talk about how it impacts the students. The Career Website, a free service to students and job seekers, will also be launched. This is will be the only career website dedicated to Illinois Life Science Community. Registrants will have the opportunity to upload their resumes when they register, and there will be computer kiosks on site.

Please review the following website, it will provide some background and information on the iBIO Marketplace, our annual trade show. http://www.ibio.org/marketplace2005/

 

Fellowship & Scholarship Information

Illinois State Bar Association Scholarships

The Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), has announced the availability of $26,000 in scholarship funds for the 2005-2006 academic year. The Foundation will award one scholarship, in the amount of $2,000, to a second or third year law student at each of the 13 ISBA-affiliated law schools.

Applications are available at the Foundation's Web site at www.isba.org/ibf and are due to your law school dean's office by October 1, 2005.
Qualifications for the scholarships include an accomplished academic record, involvement in diverse curricular, extracurricular and community activities, and financial need. The scholarships will favor students who intend to practice law in Illinois. Membership in the Illinois State Bar Association is encouraged. Recipients will be announced in December.
Please direct questions about the scholarship program to 312-726-6072.


Office of the Solicitor General Bristow Fellowship

The Solicitor General’s Office supervises and conducts all federal government litigation in the Supreme Court of the Unites States. Through the Solicitor General’s Office, the US is involved in 2/3 of the cases the Court decides on the merits each year.

The Office of the Solicitor General of the United States is interested in receiving applications for its program on one-year Bristow Fellowships in the Solicitor General’s Office. Bristow Fellows help draft briefs in opposition to certiorari filed against the government in the Supreme Court of the United States and prepare recommendations to the Solicitor General regarding authorization of government appeals in the lower courts. The Fellows also assist staff lawyers in preparing petitions for certiorari and briefs on the merits in Supreme Court cases, work on special projects, and assist the Solicitor General and other lawyers in the office in the preparation of oral arguments in the Supreme Court.

Applicants must be law school graduates with excellent academic records. They typically come to the Fellowship after completion of a one-year judicial clerkship, most frequently with a federal appellate-court judge. The fellowship is a one-year term and the salary is established at the GS-12 level.

Applications are due by October 15 of the preceding year. Please see Handout #8 in the Career Services Office for more detailed information. Question may be directed to Kaletus L. McCain, Personnel Specialist at (202)514-2204 or Kaletus.L.McCain@usdoj.gov.

Presidential Management Fellows Program- 2006 grads!

For the past 27 years, the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program and its predecessor, the Presidential Management Intern (PMI) Program, have been attracting outstanding master's, law, and doctoral-level students to the Federal service. The PMF Program is your passport to a unique and rewarding career experience with the Federal Government. It provides you with an opportunity to apply the knowledge you acquired from graduate study. As a PMF, your assignments may involve domestic or international issues, technology, science, criminal justice, health, financial management, and many other fields in support of public service programs.

Students must be nominated by their school's Dean, Chairperson, or Academic Program Director, otherwise known as the Nominating Official, of their graduate program in order to be considered for the PMF Program. Students must complete a graduate degree (master's, law, or doctoral-level degree) from a qualifying college or university.

Each school conducts a competitive screening process based on the above eligibility criteria to evaluate its graduating PMF applicants and makes its final determination of nominees. Before applying, students must first check with their school's Nominating Official to confirm the school's process and deadlines for nomination into the PMF Program. Please note that the deadline for student applications is 12 Noon (Eastern Time), October 14, 2005, unless a school's established application deadline is earlier than October 14, 2005, and Nominating Officials have until 12 Noon, October 31, 2005, to select nominees. Applicants will be electronically notified, via email, on whether or not their school nominated them, on or around November 1, 2005.

For More Information, please follow this link: http://www.pmf.opm.gov/index.asp.

National Litigation Fellowships
Pacific Legal Foundation

EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN AND LITIGATE ISSUES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
**$52,000 NATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS**

Pacific Legal Foundation's College of Public Interest Law is offering a limited number of national litigation fellowships to top graduates interested in rapidly gaining experience in the litigation of major cases. The fellowships are open to all graduating individuals of demonstrated high achievement and offer an exceptional opportunity as a stepping stone to private practice, public agency law, an academic career in the teaching of law, or a permanent position with Pacific Legal Foundation.

Positions in this program are expected to be available in the Sacramento, California, headquarters of Pacific Legal Foundation, the largest and oldest national public interest law foundation litigating in support of private property rights, individual liberties, limited government, and the free enterprise system. As a participant in this program, you will receive concentrated litigation and writing experience in the areas of the Foundation's legal practice.

Additional information and applications are available on the Pacific Legal Foundation website. See also Job Listing # 1896.



STIPENDS FOR PUBLIC INTEREST INTERNSHIPS
IN THE CHICAGO METROPOLITAN AREA: SPRING SEMESTER

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) offers a limited School-Year Internship Program. PILI recruits law students from area law schools for internships with one of seven public interest law agencies in the Chicago metropolitan area. Selected interns receive a stipend of $2,250 for 200 hours of work during the spring term.
In order to apply for a school-year internship, an applicant must prepare the PILI Application Form, and a cover letter and resume for each agency to which you are applying (up to seven sets, collated and stapled). The application and additional information may be found on the PILI website.

The application materials should be submitted before mid-January. However, since each agency hires at a different time, it is advisable to apply early.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowship in Nonprofit Law

The Fellowship, funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, permits one Fellow each year to spend one year in residence at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, working closely with Vera's General Counsel and Special Counsel on legal issues faced by Vera. In addition, the Fellow will be deployed to Vera's various projects and programs to address the legal, business, and organizational issues confronted by these programs and projects.

A Fellowship at Vera will provide a law school graduate with exposure to an unusually wide variety of legal and organizational issues encountered by nonprofit organizations. It also will provide the opportunity to identify an emerging or changing area of law with particular significance for nonprofits, and to explore that area in depth, examining it in the real-life context of a complex, legally-sophisticated organization.

To apply, download the PDF application or apply online at http://www.law.nyu.edu/ncpl/. Informational brochures can be found in the CSO, marked Handout # 2. Applications are due December 9, 2005.

PSLawNet Fellowship Corner

Interested in pursuing a fellowship upon graduation? Then be sure to check out PSLawNet's new "Fellowship Corner" which includes the full text of Yale's Fellowship Application Tips for 2002-2003, along with the expanded Appendix listing print and online fellowship resources. The site also contains a Fellowship Calendar with a chronological listing of application deadlines--a big help for potential applicants in planning and preparing their materials. Students can access the Fellowship Corner at the top of the left sidebar menu on the PSLawNet home page.


Resources

NOTE: This section is for highlighting new resources or existing sources that have been updated, or as a reminder of existing resources that are especially useful at certain times during the year. To view the list of available resources go to http://www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cso/book-inv.pdf

Chicago Area Law Firm List
Updated and On-line!

The Chicago Area Law Firm List of firms with four or more attorneys is available on-line in a password protected searchable database. Use this resource to identify local law firms that practice in the area(s) and then create a mail merge by using the spreadsheet tool. Although every attempt is made at keeping the database current, information may become out of date due to firm mergers, contact people leaving their firms, etc. Therefore, it's suggested that all information be double-checked prior to sending out any cover letters and resumes. If you should learn of any changes, please notify our office via e-mail so we can update the database accordingly. Please contact kentcso@kentlaw.edu for the password to access the list.

New Resources

  • Want's Federal-State Court Directory
  • Directory of State Court Clerks & County Courthouses

Job Bulletins

We receive job bulletins from the federal government and other law schools for opportunities in Illinois as well as other states. They are only available in hard copy in the Career Services Office.

 

CALENDARS

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