Justin Latterell, PhD’s Post

NEW: Big Law’s race to snatch up summer associates poses hurdles for diverse students. The accelerated recruiting process gives students less time to adjust to the rigors of law school, let alone consider what they want to do after graduation — it’s particularly bad news for students who are the first in their families to attend law school, and who may be less prepared for what to expect in law school early on. The new challenges for diverse students is one byproduct of Big Law’s accelerated competition to identify and lock down the best and brightest young lawyers as early as possible. It could end up backfiring and diminishing what gains they have made in diversifying junior talent, especially if firms don’t expand the pool of candidates. My latest with Meghan Tribe for Bloomberg Law https://lnkd.in/ewvYThTu

NYLS’s Office of Academic Planning and Career Development provides law students with tailored guidance from their first semester to well beyond graduation. We spoke with a few recent grads to hear more about their careers and share what they've learned with current law students. First up? We spoke with Joe Rochman ’22, a Law Clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Staff Attorney's Office Tell us about your current role. At the Staff Attorney's Office, I work on pro se appeals. Law clerks typically serve two-year terms and write substantive memos and draft proposed summary orders for panels in areas of law including constitutional law, civil and civil rights law, criminal law, agency law, federal appellate procedure, and habeas corpus. A large portion of my docket is civil rights and criminal post-conviction appeals. Because my work is exclusively appellate work, I do a lot of research, writing, and editing. How was the Office of Academic Planning and Career Development helpful in preparing you to pursue your career? As a public interest student, I worked primarily with Dean Swati Parikh. NYLS is a great community where I also had incredible support from faculty and staff. As a student in the Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law, I developed great relationships with my professors (including Professor Molly Manning, who used to be a supervisor in my current office and was incredible), particularly my clinic professors, who were helpful in guiding my career path. The deans at NYLS, especially Dean Anthony Crowell, have also been instrumental in guiding my career. What career advice would you give to current law students? Get out of your comfort zone and try new things. When considering opportunities, think about what skills you will build that will help your future career, but keep an open mind. Also, think about how much you will enjoy your day-to-day as much as the subject area in which you are looking to work in. Embrace your life outside of law school and your future legal career; you will be surprised how much leading a well-rounded life helps you both personally and professionally. Volunteer and engage in your community. #NYLSAlumni #LegalCareers #CareerAdvice

Paying interns who work at the Alaska Department of Law—was among the requests made by Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills and Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore who testified on the Department budget today before the House Finance Committee. Watch the testimony in this short clip. https://lnkd.in/guh8n6rn Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore: “Law school grads over the last decade have shrunk dramatically … 10,000 fewer law school grads each year … and so in order for us to be more competitive, unfortunately, we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve said, we do need to be able to pay interns to attract them. And the Attorney General is right, our ranks are filled with people that used to be interns for us. So it’s a wonderful pipeline, it’s just something we’re looking for ways to be able to continue in the future.” Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills: “We’ve also had a 40 percent declination rate this year, all citing pay or housing (for not accepting) … our pool is down to 1L students, which isn’t bad, but these are first-year law school students. If you’re a second-year law student you can actually go to court and do hearings, it’s also more likely if you’re a second-year student you’re more likely to come back. You’re more likely to be looking for what your long-term career is. … We’re also looking to broaden the pool of schools that we can get students from. If you look at your Ivy League schools they give stipends … We want to connect to schools in western America or schools that happen to be in places that have law that is applicable to Alaska, tribal law, natural resource law, and you’re finding that more in state university schools, which it’s just harder for those students to afford to come up.” #WeAreAKLaw

If you are interested in knowing more about this, please let me know! University at Buffalo School of Law

What explains the dearth of public interest attorneys? To answer that question, Equal Justice Works partnered with the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) to identify blind spots in supporting future public interest lawyers and quantify just how accessible information about pursuing public interest law is for law students. We found that only 44% of participating schools provide funding for public interest internships, and an even smaller percentage of schools, 38%, employ public interest career advisors. These results illustrate that our legal community has a crucial opportunity to build or strengthen support for new public interest lawyers -- from law school engagement and advocacy and beyond. As Equal Justice Works CEO Verna Williams writes, "When millions of people in the United States cannot access legal assistance to avoid eviction, maintain custody of their children, or escape an abusive partner, we need an all-hands-on deck solution. Every part of the legal profession must focus on this crisis." https://lnkd.in/eh2s7tZa

A much longer discussion, but given how many F-1 J.D. students I know, this is important! A separate post, but I'm noticing more F-1 J.D. interest and F-1 J.D. students through my own networks/former students. If I was consulting (hypothetically!): the reality of F-1 legal hiring would make me really careful about (1) which law school I would choose; (2) employment rates in large law firms that sponsor before 3L year (or at least at graduation); (3) support available to all J.D. students; *and* (4) what the plan is for F-1 J.D. students specifically. If you are starting a J.D. as an F-1 student in 2024-25, I'd recommend checking my Beyond Non-JD posts with the "JD or LLM" tag: https://lnkd.in/gW2HzrCi.

"'In the professional world, individuals are compensated for their work, and students should be exposed to this aspect of legal practice during their educational journey,' the resolution report reads. The ABA also passed a resolution urging law schools during the on-campus interview process to require major law firms to disclose pay." (Reuters) https://lnkd.in/eb5y4QZ4 #lawstudents #legaled #externships #lawjobs

https://buff.ly/3tpN4Lv At #CUNE, students who wish to enter careers in the legal field can choose to declare any academic major. As most law schools prefer that students receive a well-rounded liberal arts education as opposed to a predetermined sequence of undergraduate courses, the options for pre-law students are numerous. Read here:

Temple Law's 2023 graduates set a new highwater mark for job placement with exceptionally strong performance in law firm placement, public interest, and government jobs. Read more about how Temple launches students into career success. https://bit.ly/4aHfY9L

In this week’s Student Spotlight, the CRC spoke with Leonard Lynce Jr, 3L about his experience in law school. When asked for advice for future students going through recruitment, he said “Don’t be overly consumed by the weight of the process; be yourself, trust yourself, and enjoy it.” Read more here: https://bit.ly/49DyMq5 #STCLHouston #SouthTexasLaw #lawstudents