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Want the scoop on diversity in the legal workplace? Vault’s Guide to Law Firm Diversity Programs surveys over 190 law firms nationwide on their demographic profile covering minorities, women, and gays and lesbians. Other questions address part-time/flex-time policies, diversity initiatives, attorneys with disabilities, recruiting methods and more. Baker Hostetler, Jones Day, Littler Mendelson, Porter Wright, Squire Sanders, Thompson Hine, and Vorys are some of the firms with Ohio offices included in the Guide.

Hoping to avoid billable hours? A third edition book from the ABA Law Practice Management Section might help you do that. Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour: Strategies That Work suggests ways to sidestep the billable hour by using value billing, fixed fees, transaction plans and other strategies.

The Law Library is launching a new service for students. We are now offering custom research sessions on whatever area of law you need help researching. These sessions are for 3-8 students, and can be set up for a time that is convenient for you. For example research sessions can be customized for tax law, legislative history, or health law. Just to name a few. We would like your help in naming this new service by taking a one question survey. If you don’t like any of our suggestions, then feel free to make your own suggestion.

Just click here to take the survey.

Nice article from Abovethelaw.com

This would never happen to a CM student or graduate, but take this snippet from The People's Court as a cautionary tale:

Thanks to The Law Librarian Blog for this find.

The Suffolk Law Library Blog informs us of a series of podcasts entitled Transitioning from One-L to Summer Legal Work.Legal writing professors from all corners of the U.S. collaborated on these programs. Anyone can download them for free via Itunes.

Don't forget that the research librarians are available during the summer to answer questions about your clerkship research assignments. (Of course, if the law firm you are working for has their own librarian it is best to ask them first). You can contact us via (216) 687-6877 during Research Librarian hours or send an email to research.services@law.csuohio.edu.

A few weeks ago we surveyed our law students about their use of various technologies and Web 2.0 applications: among our finding was a seventy percent usage rate of Facebook or other social networking sites. You are probably aware that due diligence impels employers to search the web for background information on job candidates. The Career and Professional Development Blog, member of the Law Professor Blogs Network, recently reported a positive job outcome for a law student whose Facebook activity attracted a job offer: See Facebook Professional Success Story for the details, as well as some important tips on controlling one’s “online persona.”

In addition to the resources Sue listed in her earlier blog post, you can check out job and clerkship postings in the Job Binder and Law Clerk Binder maintained by the Office of Career Planning. Both binders are kept behind the Information Services desk in the Law Library – just present your C-M Law ID or Alumni Card to check out the binders for library use. The job listings in the binders are the same as those on Symplicity, see Career Services' Directions for using Symplicity (MS Powerpoint File).

Looking for a job? Our newly posted resource guides may help:

• Law Career Resources links to online job boards such as ABA Job listings and Vault.com. This resource guide lists books on job search strategies and legal career options.
• Intellectual Property Law Career Resources and International Law Career Resources link to job postings and career websites, have information on researching employers and list books for these specialty careers.

Also take a look at Cleveland Marshall's Office of Career Planning web page.

Starting today and continuing for three days straight, the Web magazine Slate will run a special report on procrastination. In it, you can find out stuff like how to bank on investments in procrastination culture and pick up some summer reads on procrastination.

If you’ve been putting off some legal career-related tasks, a couple books to nudge you along –

• How To Study for the Bar Exam in Three Days
  (NOT that I’m encouraging you to try this – in fact, better to look at our Bar Exam Resource guide now)

• Résumés for Law Careers

• Building Career Connections: Networking Tools for Law Students and New Lawyers

fyi…there are only 78 days until the July Bar!

According to SoYouWanttobeaLawClerk.com, 3Ls and 4Ls need to start planning now for your federal clerkship application. You can apply to judges who do not use the OSCAR system now. Check Clerkship Vacancies on the SYWTBALC site to see which judges do not use OSCAR. OSCAR system applications are due September 3, 2008, but you need to ask professors now to write a recommendation letter for you. You will need to submit electronic requests for recommendation letters and OSCAR will electronically invite the people you specify to log onto the system and create and upload letters of recommendation. Be sure to gather up your transcript, cover letter, etc. and upload them to OSCAR before the deadline.

Also see Judicial Clerkship Handbook (MS Word File) from our Career Services Office, which has information on federal and state clerkships.

For information about federal judges, take a look at the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, in the first floor reference area of the library, KF8700.A19A4, which contains attorneys' evaluations of the judges and other biographical information.

Earth Day is *officially* over, ho-hum. But summer clerkships are right around the corner, just past exams. I know – the link between the two thoughts seems tenuous, at best.

But actually, those two thoughts are related. The ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources is hosting a Law Office Climate Challenge in conjunction with the EPA to encourage law offices to go green. Law offices can participate in three environmentally-friendly programs – WasteWise, Green Power, and ENERGY STAR.

So, is your summer clerkship firm up to the challenge? Find out here on the “Partners and Leaders” list. The Cleveland office of Porter Wright made the cut, as did a couple other Ohio firms. But IMHO, the Buckeye State is fairly under-represented on the Climate Challenge leader board. So could you work on that this summer while you’re clerking? Thnx.

Lexis Hub was created for new attorneys and law students. You don't need a Lexis account to use the Hub. The site includes:

• Career Guidance: webinars and articles
• Legal Research tutorials and webinars
• Subject Matter Tutorials
• Discussion Boards
• Legal News Feeds

If you are interested in clerking for a federal court judge, take a look at SoYouWanttoBeALawClerk.com. The site lists job openings and has advice on how to land a job. Source: Dan Slater, SoYouWantToBeALawClerk? A New Web Site Claims to Lead the Way, Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Mar. 27, 2008.

Also see Judicial Clerkship Handbook (MS Word File) from our Career Services Office.

If you were lucky to land a summer associate job, you can expect that the bar to measure your performance is higher than ever. According to an article in the National Law Journal, summer hiring for the 2008 season is down from last year, reflecting the declining economy, and the number of offers firms make may follow the trend. Bruce Elvin, associate dean at Duke Law School and director of career services comments: “Doing good work and behaving appropriately will be more important than ever."

For instructions on how to access other National Law Journal articles, faculty and students should see the Law Libray's Electronic Resources Page.

Or at least, according to The Frugal Law Student, law students ought to take advantage of the marketing opportunities and writing practice afforded by blogging. In Why Every Law Student Should Blog, Brett McKay points out that potential employers can learn a great deal from a candidate’s blog about his/her personality, communication strengths, judgment, passions, tech-saviness and self marketing ability. And the student who blogs seriously gets lots of practice in writing and editing that hone essential legal drafting skills. So, Blog On!

Niche social networking sites have been popping up on the web in increasing numbers. The doctors have Sermo, the teachers have TeachAde and the journalists have Wired Journalists – to name only a few.

Lawyers don’t have to feel left out – there’s LawLink, which bills itself as “the first online network exclusively for lawyers.” One interesting spin on the social networking model is that this month LawLink is slated to launch LawDocs, an application that allows you to upload, share, and download legal documents. Another feature of LawLink is a classifieds section for job postings.

Of course, you can always create your own social network for anything you’d like at Ning.

The NALP, the association for legal career professionals, recently adopted guidelines requiring second and third years to accept summer employment offers within 45 days, or by Dec 30, whichever comes first. Offers can be extended by the firm. Check out the guidelines for more details. For example, the rules are different for firms which have fewer than 40 attorneys. The change is for one year only, but may become permanent. Almost all law schools, and 900 employers are members of NALP. Leigh Jones, Summer Associate Job Offers Must be Accepted in 45 Days, National Law Journal, Feb. 25, 2008.

See NALP Directory of Legal Employers, NALP Directory of Law Schools. You may want to look up Cleveland-Marshall (don't forget the hyphen) for some interesting stats on our school.

Check out this video of a lecture on interviewing techniques by Professor Gregory Wells Bowman of the Mississippi College School of Law. He covers resumes, story-telling (the truthful kind!) and research on employers. Prof. Bowman is the author of the Law Career Blog.

Source: Law Career Blog - Interviewing Techniques Talk

Because of the recent economic downturn, some predict that firms will cut back on hiring new law graduates. See Some Law School Grads Don't Go the Firm Route Lawjobs.com, Feb. 4, 2008. This article predicts that, as a result, recent grads will take more nontraditional jobs in business, financial planning, real estate and politics. More information on alternative legal careers.

According to Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing company, students with experience in a specific practice area are highly sought. Robert Half Legal offers a free 2008 Salary Guide. (Thanks to Stark County Law Library Blog)

Ursula Furi-Perry, How Much Will You Earn? National Jurist, Jan. 2008 includes a chart of new graduate's average salary by law school. More information on salaries: Firm Statistics and Salary Charts by Findlaw; National Compensation Survey (scroll down to Get Detailed NCS -Wages Statistics - Create Customized Tables); Survey of Law Firm Economics by Altman Weil.

Differentiate yourself, be yourself and do your homework are among the interviewing tips offered by attorney Christopher Marston in his post 5 Interviewing Tips NEVER to Forget. Also, check out Cleveland-Marshall's Career Planning Office publication, The Interview and You . Books and articles on interviewing are available via the Library, such as:

Getting the Job: Winning Interviewing Techniques, Liz Clearman,
LexisNexis® 69 Tex. Bar J. 1056, Dec. 2006

 (More)

Today's New York Times article Who's Cuddly Now? Law Firms by Lisa Belkin covers the legal profession's late entry into the fold of work-life balance. Law firms are racing to address the widespread problem of unhappy, overworked lawyers who are leaving the profession by having another look at issues such as billable hours, schedules and partnership tracks. Could taking Fido to the firm be next?

There are so many obstacles a law student needs to overcome on the road to becoming a lawyer: one which may seem insurmountable is a history of treatment for alcohol or drug abuse, mental illness or similar disability, which might effect the applicant’s fitness for practice under review by state bar commissioners. At its February Midwinter meeting the American Bar Association will consider a Model Rule on Conditional Admission to Practice Law, which would permit a state's board of bar examiners to authorize conditional bar admission to applicants with prior mental health or substance abuse problems if they agree to undergo supervised care or monitoring for a period of up to two years. The language of the proposed rule, as reported in the ABA/BNA Lawyer’s Manual of Professional Conduct follows:

"1. Conditional Admission. An applicant who currently satisfies all essential eligibility requirements for admission to practice law, including fitness requirements, and who possesses the requisite good moral character required for admission, may be conditionally admitted to the practice of law if the applicant demonstrates recent rehabilitation from dependency or successful treatment for mental or other illness, or from any other condition the court deems appropriate, that has resulted in conduct or behavior that would otherwise have rendered the applicant currently unfit to practice law, and the conduct or behavior, if it should recur, would impair the applicant's current ability to practice law or pose a threat to the public. The [Admissions Authority] shall recommend relevant conditions that the applicant to the bar must comply with during the period of conditional admission."

For the full report, see ABA/BNA Lawyer’s Manual of Professional Conduct Current Reports, vol. 23, no. 25, p. 626 (December 12, 2007)

Back when, you decided you wanted to go to law school. Then you picked a school. Now that you’re here at C-M Law, you decide each semester which classes to take. You’ll face choosing a law firm. But it doesn’t stop there!

In her article “How New Lawyers Can Choose Assignments Wisely,” Petra Pasternak explains how the choice of work assignments in law firms can have a huge effect on associate satisfaction and can even influence future career paths. She outlines three general systems of work assignment and gives tips on how to play the game of seeking out personally interesting assignments while keeping partners happy.

Now if you could just decide between the pumpkin pie, the pecan pie and the sweet potato pie!

Cameron Stracher, Commentary: Guerrilla Tactics Can Help You Survive the Recruiting Jungle, The American Lawyer, Nov. 9, 2007 (on Lawjobs.com), tells you how you can get a big firm job even if you did not get an on-campus interview. The article highlights tactics such as calling the recruiting coordinator directly, using your contacts and even crashing law firm parties. Law firm partners want someone with the enthusiasm and chutzpah to employ these guerrilla tactics, says Stracher.

The Judicial Conference of the United States voted to restrict federal judges to one career law clerk. The recent trend has been for judges to have more than one career clerk. Now, one clerk must be a "term clerk" who stays on for four years or less. Existing career clerks will not necessarily lose their status. If a judge has more than one career clerk, the career clerks will be able retain their career clerk status with the judge's consent. Additionally, if a judge leaves the bench, another federal judge can hire the departing judge's career clerk, and they will not lose their career clerk status. The Judicial Conference hopes to save money by hiring clerks out of law school at a lower salary. See U.S. Courts Press Release. Source: Pamela A. MacLean, Judicial Conference Votes to Curb Career Clerks, National Law Journal, Sept. 24, 2007 (from the email preview).

Third year students committed to civil rights and interested in complex corporate litigation are encouraged to apply for the Fried Frank/NAACP Legal Defense Fund Fellowship. The Fellowship is a four year program, consisting of an initial two years as a litigation association at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in New York City. During the two years at Fried Frank, 20% of the time will be devoted to public interest work. During the remaining two years, Fellows will work on the NAACP Legal Defense Fund staff. At the end of the four-year commitment, Fellows may be asked to return to work at Fried Frank or asked to continue working at the Legal Defense Fund.

The application deadline is November 2, 2007. For more information and an application form, go to Fried Frank Fellowship Programs.

Thanks to Jayne Geneva, Director of Career Planning, for providing this information.

2Ls and 3Ls can volunteer to work on the new edition of Tort Law by Christopher M. Ernst, the only published practice book on Ohio tort law. The students will research an area of Ohio tort law, and with direction from the author, help turn the research product into a rough draft of the book.

For more information, and instructions on how to apply, go to:

http://www.law.csuohio.edu/public/announcements/studentopportunity.doc

Ernst's Tort Law book can be viewed at the law library, KFO195 .E78 2005 or on Westlaw.com (OHPRAC-TORT). For a product description, see Westlaw's product information page.

Thanks to Jane Geneva of the Office of Career Planning for the information.

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