preLaw - Back to School 2007 - (Page 18) Continued from page 17 Yale Law School, for example, ranks at the top of the academic charts but only 17th on the list of schools where firms interview, perhaps as a result of its slightly more remote location than many of the other schools on the list, and its smaller class size. Powell Goldstein, for instance, visited about 16 law schools during the 20062007 school year, all of them in the Atlanta and Washington, D.C. areas. Troutman Sanders similarly visited law schools in just a handful of metropolitan cities, all of them correlating with the firm’s own locations. At schools that are not in the top 20, students may be more likely to encounter more local or regional firms, as well as a more diverse pool of employers. If their schools are not offering as many on-campus interviews, Wayne says students have to be more vigilant about using alumni contacts, faculty contacts, networking sources, and resources offered by their schools’ career services offices. They should also enhance their resumes through clinics, internships, and similar experiences, she says. Some schools are using technology to conduct on-campus interviews, luring potential employers to have some presence on campus even if they can’t quite make it to the school in person. LawSchoolConnect, a joint effort between William & Mary Law School and Courtroom Connect, provides video conferencing services and technology free of charge to participating law schools. “Law firms, without taking away from the schools they already visit, can reach out virtually to any law school in the country,” said Diane Hayes, executive director of LawSchoolConnect. For students, teleconferenced on-campus interviews can mean a much larger playing field, Hayes says. They present a broader arena of choices without the need to travel and take away from class time, allowing students to search out law firms based on the career opportunities and work-life balance initiatives they are seeking. Great job opportunities for law students Regardless of the number of on-campus interviews and employers visiting a school, law students in general may be facing an increasingly favorable labor market. According to some estimates, the legal employment marketplace is getting slightly more competitive — for employers, that is. NALP reports that the employment rate for the Class of 2006 has topped 90% for the first time since 2000. Associate positions are on the rise — as are associate salaries — yet law graduate numbers remain constant. In addition, campus interviews are often happening earlier in the school year, and students are making their decisions faster. Andrew Cantor, a 3L at Stanford Law School, says students are still seeking law firm jobs in high quantity, but want to be engaged in the most interesting and cutting-edge matters. One big difference at schools who made the top 20 is the students’ ability to influence not only the oncampus interview, but also the outcome, he says. “Students at a lot of these schools have a lot of marketing power and influence on those law firms,” he said. “What they think and what they ask for [matters.]” ABA-accredited Member of the Association of American Law Schools AT NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL OF LAW, our students worked with prosecutors to write memoranda on war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.Today, they’re working with their professors to bring criminals to justice in various conflict zones around the world. As part of our international law program, we provide research and analysis pro bono for international war crimes tribunals with limited resources for such legal work. To our law students, the experience is invaluable. YOU CAN’T BEAT THE EXPERIENCE. Son of Croatian policeman killed in ambush. Christopher Morris/Black Star. Boston • 617.422.7210 • www.nesl.edu New England School of Law www.preLawInsider.com 18 preLaw http://www.nesl.edu http://www.preLawInsider.com
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