In connection with the student interviews it is conducting on the first day of our OCIP — Monday, August 23 — the law firm of Crowell & Moring, LLP is holding a reception at Adagia from 6-8pm. All students and faculty are welcome.
You can view the full invite here.
The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Law Student-Division (LSD) board is looking for talented law students to serve on its national board. The 2009-10 board began a series of projects, including fundraising initiatives and professional development programs. However, in order to carry them to fruition next year the board will need strong leadership.
If you or someone you know is interested in serving the board, please submit a one-page resume and a statement of interest, not to exceed 500 words, to Edward Carlson at carlson.edward@gmail.com by the 12th of August, 12:00 PM EST.
Campaigns for national board positions begin on August 13th with online voting at our TWEN site starting on August 14 at 12:00 AM EST, and ending on September 5th at 12:00 AM EST.
In early September, the HNBA will also be holding its annual convention, and celebrating 35 years of being this country’s leading Hispanic legal organization.
The national convention will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton from September 8th to the 11th of September. http://www.hnba.com/hnba-35th-annual-convention/
The HNBA will be offering 20 scholarships for students to attend the convention free of charge in exchange for volunteering at the convention. The law school division will also be offering a number of scholarships to supplement the cost of attendance. For further information on volunteer scholarships, please contact Alma Luisa Andrade, HNBA Events Director at alandrade@hnba.com. For information regarding LSD scholarships please contact carlson.edward@gmail.com.
The Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) is sponsoring a Law Teaching Seminar on Tuesday, September 29th at 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at the BASF Conference Center, 301 Battery Street, Third Floor, San Francisco. For more information, including a list of panelists and RSVP information, click here.
The California Society for Healthcare Attorneys (CSHA) is sponsoring a student mentorship program. For more information about CSHA and the mentor program, follow the links in the CDO’s Practice Areas webpage (under “Healthcare”).
You are probably aware — at least generally – of Berkeley Law’s Summer Fellowship Program, which supports students who do public interest or government work during the summer.
While the actual application deadline is a long way off, you do need to begin figuring out how you will satisfy the 25-hour pro bono requirement for receiving funding through the Program. Students often elect to complete pro bono hours through student-run projects (e.g. Community Legal Outreach; Workers’ Rights Clinic; CARC; Juvenile Hall Outreach) and many of these projects get underway very early in the semester. So, now is a good time to look into them. You should check the Berkeley Law Events Calendar for kick-off meetings and information sessions this week and next.
The Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program provides $4000 to JD students who are completing a first summer of qualifying public interest or public sector (government) summer work. The Program also provides additional funding to 2L students who are completing a second summer of eligible work. Note: Unfortunately, judicial externships are not eligible for Berkeley Law Fellowship funding.
You can find all of the eligibility requirements for the 2008-09 Program via the CDO’s general Summer Fellowships webpage. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with the Guidelines from last year (which are not expected to change much if at all this year) on the Berkeley Law Summer Fellowship Program webpage. (The 2010 Guidelines and Application Form will be available in early March 2010.)
The principal requirement for receiving funding is the completion of 25 hours of pro bono work (prior to the April 1, 2010 application deadline). Please plan in advance to complete these hours because it can be very difficult to identify sufficient pro bono opportunities if you wait until the deadline nears. Generally speaking, to count toward the pro bono requirement, work must be:
1) law-related; (2) supervised by an attorney; (3) in the public interest; and (4) uncompensated (by either financial remuneration or academic credit). Students often complete their hours by:
Please click here for a detailed description of how the pro bono requirement may be satisfied; take the time to read the rules carefully and contact us if you are in need of clarification. hese requirements have become more detailed (in an effort to make them more fair), so you should not rely simply on what others tell you about them.
We will have a chance to discuss the Summer Fellowship Program and other summer funding options in greater detail later in the semester.
1Ls: Rest assured, other than considering the pro bono requirement, there is no need to begin thinking about your summer job search before the 1L Career Orientation in late October. If you have any questions, please contact Linda Maranzana, Associate Director of Public Interest/Public Sector Programs in the CDO, at lmaranzana@law.berkeley.edu or (510) 643-2675.
Despite the difficult economic times, over 200 employers have signed up for our annual On-campus Interview Program (OCIP), including about two dozen public-interest organizations and government agencies.
There’s a wealth of detailed information about this program on the CDO’s Fall 2009 OCIP webpage (Click on “Interview Programs” under “Jobs and Career Options” on the right sidebar menu of the CDO homepage). It contains employer research tools, calendars, FAQs and other helpful links.
Interviews will be held at the Hotel Durant, beginning on August 24th and ending on September 9th (though there are important deadlines coming up next week – consult the OCIP Calendar for more details).
In addition to PI/PS Day, (whose employer-participants are overwhelmingly Bay Area based), there are a couple of out-of-the area regional public interest law career fairs that are taking place at virtually the same day as PIPS Day. One focuses on Pacific Northwest employers and the other is comprised primarily of Southern California employers. If you are absolutely certain you want to work in one of these regions (and not here), you may want to consider attending one of these other career fairs.
Neither allows you to compete for individual interview slots, but you are permitted to attend the “table talk” portion of the events to meet with employers.
The Northwest Public Service Career Fair will be held on February 6, 2009 at Seattle University Campion Hall in Seattle, Washington and on February 7, 2009 at Lewis & Clark College Templeton Student Center in Portland, Oregon . The Southern California Public Interest Career Day will take place on February 7, 2009 at UCLA Law.
For a list of career fairs throughout the nation, visit pslawnet.org (Note: on the pslawnet list, Spring 2009 appears after Summer and Fall 2009).
Questions? Contact Linda Maranzana in the CDO.
This semester, the CDO is planning a number of student site visits to legal employers. The goal of these visits, which we are calling “Reality Checks” — is to give students a real sense of what it is like to practice in certain types of settings and/or legal specialties.
We are planning “Reality Checks” with litigation and corporate law firm legal departments as well as public interest organizations. The visits will be taking place over the next several weeks. As details are finalized, we will pass them on to you via email (and by posting on the Upcoming Events and Announcements section of the CDO homepage).
The first visit in the Reailty Check Series will take place on Friday, January 30th, from 3 to 5PM at the offices of The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC).
This will be a great opportunity to explore the practice of public interest law. Attendees will spend an afternoon touring LAS-ELC’s office in San Francisco and hearing from a panel of attorneys about their work and what being a public interest practitioner is all about. There will also be an informal reception with LAS-ELC staff and attorneys. LAS-ELC, which is located at 600 Harrison Street, is easily accessible to BART.
The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center promotes the stability of low income and disadvantaged workers and their families by addressing issues that affect their ability to achieve self-sufficiency. Using the law as a tool, the LAS-ELC helps workers attain financial security by preserving employment opportunities. By protecting the legitimate employment status of wage earners, LAS-ELC provides families the means to pull through adverse times, avoid the downward spiral caused by job loss, and be fully contributing members of society. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.las-elc.org/index.html
This event is limited to 12 students. For more information and RSVP instructions, contact Linda Maranzana in the CDO — lmaranzana@law.berkeley.edu – no later than 5pm on January 27, 2009.
NALP – the Association for Legal Career Professionals — maintains an apartment exchange database for students of their member schools. If you are working out of town this summer and need to sublet (or need housing in the city you will be working in over the summer), you should check it out.
The CDO wishes you good luck on your final exams and a happy and safe winter break (if we don’t see you before then)!
WINTER BREAK HOURS
Our office will be open during much of the break to assist you with career planning. The office itself will be closed from December 24th- January 2. However, a few of us are planning to be around on December 29th and 30th, if you need help on those days. It is always a good idea to call or email ahead during the winter break to confirm hours when counselors will be available.Please check your email during the break for announcements of events that may be happening during break or at the very beginning of the spring semester.You can schedule appointments online (click on the Appointments link on the CDO homepage, call 642-4567, or come by our office).
PIPS DAY (Feb. 7th, 2009)
Sponsored by the eight Northern California law schools and administered by a San Francisco non-profit organization, the Public Interest Clearinghouse, this is an incredible opportunity to meet and apply for interviews with over 100 public interest and government organizations. For a list of the employers who participated in this program last February, please visit: http://pic.org/programs/pilp/pipsday.html.
On December 15th, you will be receiving an email from pipsday@pic.org with information about how to register, including a username and password, instructions for accessing the online system, and deadlines. Be sure your email settings and spam blockers permit email from this address/domain to get through to your inboxes.
Students who want to interview with employers participating in PI/PS Day will be required to submit their requests and their resumes, cover letters, and other requested materials online to the Clearinghouse by noon on January 16th, 2009. (NOTE: The Clearinghouse will not begin accepting online requests and resumes until January 5th, 2008.)
SPRING OCIP
The CDO is expecting 25-30 employers (both public and private sector) to participate in our Spring OCIP, which will take place at the Hotel Durant during from February 9th to the 25th. You apply for interviews via the OCI section of the b-Line. The application deadline is January 20th, 2009.
Unlike our lottery-based fall OCIP, employers participating in Spring OCIP are permitted to prescreen applicants and invite only those students they are interested in interviewing.
Employers have just started to register and will continue to do so until January 8th. Beginning on December 19th, you can login and be able to see who has registered so far, but you should continue checking back regularly to view the most current list of participating employers. You will be able to begin applying for interviews on January 9th but you will need to complete your applications by the end of the day Tuesday, January 20th.
In order to participate in Spring OCIP, you will need to upload your resume — before you apply or sign up — into the Documents section of b-Line. Instructions for doing so are posted on the b-Line homepage (in the Announcements section).
Have you had your resume reviewed by a CDO attorney-counselor? If not, send it to career@law.berkeley.edu. Please review the online Resume and Cover Letter Writing Guides and the accompanying samples before you draft your materials and send them to us.
Students:
If you are looking for a summer or permanent work outside of the Bay area – and are planning on traveling to that area over the winter break – you might want to consider taking advantage of the career services facilities at other law schools located there. Berkeley Law has reciprocity agreements with schools across the country. Contact us (career@law.berkeley.edu) for details. Visits need to be arranged by us in advance and we need to give adequate notice to the other school, so please let us know right away if you are interested.
Keep in mind that many law schools may be on semester break and their business hours during this period may be limited. Call ahead to the career services office at the chosen school before using their services. Find out what services are available to reciprocity students, as not all career services may be available to reciprocity students.
Please note: Berkeley Law has a special reciprocity policy with UCLA and no prior request is required. Students need only show their current Berkeley Law ID to the UCLA staff for access to their career office resources.
Private Sector (large firm): December through March
Private Sector (small firms): January through May
Public Interest: December though May (N.B. PI/PS Day takes place in Feb.) -pslawnet.org is an excellent source for identifying public interest opportunities here in CA and around the world.
Federal, State and Local Government: December through May
Judicial Externships: timelines vary, but most are December through March - check our Externships Guide (link on the For 1Ls page of the CDO website) for more information about timelines for specific courts.
Research Assistant positions: be proactive and contact professors whom you would like to assist over the winter break
Your focus in your first semester ought to be your studies. It is typical for students to wait until the break to send out cover letters and resumes. The vast majority of opportunities will not have been filled by this time. However, the most competitive employers (in private and non-profit sectors and some federal judges) will start to fill positions in December. If there are certain employers that you are particularly interested in and have reason to believe will be extremely popular among law students, you may want to send your materials soon after the December 1 start date.
Some students choose to do a mass mailing at the beginning of December (when the NALP guidelines permit first year students to send out job applications). The choice whether to do a mass mailing is yours, but its our experience that the expense and effort are better spent in a smaller number of applications, tailored to a more informed job search. A generic job application is unlikely to be noticed in the deluge of applications received by employers early in December.
Large firms hire a very small number of first year students, and some large firms do not consider first year students at all. There is no harm in contacting an employer to express your interest, particularly if you possess special qualifications making you a good “fit” with that employer. However, it is unusual to get a job with a big firm in your first summer. A good source for identifying big firms is the NALP online directory. You can search for firms according to a number of different criteria, including whether or not they have indicated they hire 1Ls for the summer (from the search criteria page, select “1Ls” from the drop down menu next to the line that says “Organizations That Hire”).
Small firms hire on the basis of a short-term assessment of their needs, and while you may want to make an initial contact with small firms in December or January, you should be prepared to hear they have not yet decided on their needs for the summer (or to hear nothing at all). Then, you can follow up with the employers later in the spring (sometimes, the availability of your transcript will provide a good occasion for doing so). A good source for identifying smaller firms is the Martindale law directory.
Do not be discouraged if you find that spring has arrived and you have not yet finalized arrangements for the summer: opportunities continue to become available during the spring and even the early summer.
The CDO’s 1Ls webpage: links to a host of information (including a comprehensive list of 1L FAQs) relating to your summer and career options.
Career Counseling: If you would like to discuss your career options and/or job search strategies, schedule an appointment with a CDO attorney-counselor online, call 642-4567, or come by our office - 290 Simon.
Resume and Cover Letter reviews: First-year students interested in receiving advice on resumes and cover letters should read our Resume and Cover Letter Writing Guides, attempt a first draft of a legal resume, and then meet with a CDO attorney-cousnelor to review it.
NOTE: we have cleared our appointment schedules to conduct quick drop-in resume reviews on the mornings of November 14th, 17th and 18th (9 a.m. to noon) on a first-come, first-served basis.
The b-Line: a career services application that allows you to do employer research, apply for/bid on interview slots during Spring and Fall On-Campus Interview Programs and, most importantly for this semester, search job listings from employers targeting Boalt students and, for many, submit application materials online. A quick link to the b-Line can be found on the CDO homepage.
NOTE: The b-Line also contains a searchable database of summer employment evaluations from prior classes. A quicklink to Summer Evaluations appears on the b-Line homepage.
Summer Public Interest Fellowships webpage: a resources page that will help you figure out how to fund summer voluntary internship work with government or public interest employers.
NB: NALP guidelines indicate that first-year students and employers should not initiate contact with each other before December 1.
We had a great turnout at last week’s program with Dean Edley and Maria Echaveste on how to land a job in the next administration.
Click here for a recent article on the transition process.
We also wanted to provide you with links to information on both the White House Fellows Program (Feb 9th deadline for 3L students) and the White House Summer Internship Program. (The deadline for the Summer 2009 program has not yet been established; however, the deadline for the 2008 summer internship program was Feb. 26th).
Please feel free to contact Eric Stern in our office for questions on careers in government, public policy and advocacy organizations.
In case you weren’t able to make it to the program with Dean Edley and Maria Echaveste, a webcast is available on the CDO’s Guides and Webcasts page (click on “Other Resources” then “Guides and Webcasts” — it’s entitled, appropriately enough, “How To Get A Job in the Next Administration.”)