So, the school will basically walk you through step by step the application procedure for the most popular post-grad jobs, i.e., large firms (via EIP & all the OCS sessions), Fed Gov Honors such as DOJ (via OCI & Rachel Pauley/SJI), major public interest fellowships like Skadden (via SJI), and federal clerkships *kind of* through the clerkship office. There are people designated for each of these purposes who will present at various talks throughout the year, badger you during the application season, and meet with you one on one when you need.Thelaw23 wrote:This might be a stupid question, but I just want to know how much I can chill out for during the summer before school starts. Sorry if I come off as gunner-ish.
How good is CLS at teaching you all the steps for getting jobs, introducing you to different types of law/legal jobs, and helping you explore your employment options and opportunities? Would you say most of it is self taught/researched, or does the school do a good job at getting this knowledge and information out to you?
Just a random example would be: Would I have to go to the PI office and talk to them about DOJ Honors, what it is, the steps to applying for it and the requirements? Or will the school somehow throw this information at me? What if I didn't know DOJ Honors even existed? Would the school let me know about it?
Ultimately the only office that really forces you to attend their events, meet with them, and apply for something is OCS, the office of career services. That's sort of the school's default: you can do almost nothing but follow a few very basic instructions (show up at this time at this place) and the school will get you a job at a firm (which firm depends a little more on your grades and the effort you put into the process). The rest of the stuff (gov't honors, clerkships, major PI) will be "thrown" at you via email and some quasi-mandatory lunch talks, but you will have to take some steps affirmatively on your own to make it happen. The resources are all there though.
For jobs that do not fall under those four major categories, there are fewer resources and you have to do more of your own legwork. You'd want to seek out the right people and it will take a little more independent research to find the applications and set up interviews.