Colorado 1L taking Questions! Forum

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

I was wondering if current students/recent grads could offer some more information on employment opportunities. Also, CU seems to have a high clerkship rate ~20%. What's your sense of the positions people are pursuing after their clerkships?

As a current CU student I'd like to know this as well.

[the lantern]

Ok, I'm going to give you guys the answers to your questions to the extent that I can.

I obviously cannot speak for the class as a whole. Personally, I have good grades and am on a journal. I only know the grades of two other people, and both of them have really high grades/L Rev. Other than that, I don't know anyone's grades at all, so I can't tell you what people at the bottom of the class or the middle of the class are doing. I can only give you what things look/feel like from my perspective and from that of the people I interact with.

Also, I am only interested in public interest work and clerkships, so my knowledge about private firms is not as good.

Ok, so having said all that, I think the employment outlook at CU is mixed.

I think that if you're interesting in public interest or STATE clerkships, CU is a very good choice.

The Colorado Public Defender is an excellent, statewide system that hires ~30-40 people a year. They also strongly favor former interns. I know at least 10-15 people who interned at the PD, and every one received a job offer. As far as I know, no former intern failed to obtain an offer. Additionally, I don't know of anyone who wanted to go the PD route who didn't ultimately get a job as a PD (again, as far as I know).

For those interested in prosecution, I think CU is a good choice too. I am speculating here as most DA offices hire post bar results, so they aren't making job offers yet. I know a bunch of people who want to be prosecutors, and as far as I know, all of them had internships over the summer, and I believe all of them were paid. I'm not sure if they will have jobs once bar results come back, but I think a lot of them will.

After graduation, the law school has a "fellowship" program that pays students ~$15 an hour to work for a public interest organization if they don't have a job. I know that some people who want to be prosecutors use the fellowship to work in a DA's office and I know at least one person who was hired after the fellowship ended. I'm not sure if it always works like that, but I know it has definitely helped some people and I guess I'd rather them pay my classmates than hire more faculty. I think you can do it for nonprofits and stuff too. This is only temporary though.

For STATE clerkships, I think CU is a very good choice too. CU grads have a very, very good chance at all the clerk positions on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. I know of a bunch of people who have accepted these offers. I think CU places very well in trial level clerkships too. I personally know a handful of people who are clerking on the trial level. If you have the grades for a clerkship and that is what you want to do, I think you could find one. Having said that, I do know at least a couple of people who really, really wanted to clerk but still haven't found positions at the CO SCt/CoA/federal level.

For federal clerkships, I'm not sure how strong your chances are. I know at least a couple of people each year have obtained fed clerkships, but I'm not sure I would go to CU thinking you're going to get one.

Ok, for everything else, I don't know as much. I am not that interested in nonprofit work and I am not at all interested in firm work.

I'm not sure how the employment outlook is for nonprofits. The reason I say I'm not sure is that I know a LOT of people worked for nonprofits over the summer. At the same time, I'm not sure if anyone has a job offer yet. None of my friends are particularly interested in this kind of work, so maybe I just haven't heard about it.

For private firms, I think the outlook is decent, but not great. I know a bunch of people who got jobs with big firms, including big firms out of state. But there are a lot of people who worked for smaller or midsize firms who really, really liked it (and I think the firms liked them) but the firm just doesn't (or can't afford to) hire anyone. I think that there will be a significant amount of people who will still be looking for work after graduation. I also know that there are some people who just couldn't find firm work in the area they wanted. I know of one person who really wanted some kind of work and he just couldn't find anywhere that would hire him. At the same time, I know a few people who don't really have any strong opinion about what they want to do and they found jobs at firms.

I don't think CU is doing any worse than other similarly situated schools, or at least that is my guess. I'd also wager that our public interest placement is probably above average. I think the main problem is that the private firm market in Denver just doesn't seem to be that big, which makes the job market thin even in good economic times.

If you guys have any questions, I can try to answer them.


I also have no clue what people are doing after their clerkships, but I have no reason to doubt that they are doing just what you'd expect based on the level of clerkship.

[Pufer]

I was wondering if current students/recent grads could offer some more information on employment opportunities. Also, CU seems to have a high clerkship rate ~20%. What's your sense of the positions people are pursuing after their clerkships?

From my class, I'd say that the most common follow-up to a clerkship year with an appellate judge was another year of clerking, either for the same judge or a different judge up the food chain somewhere (stated differently, it remains to be seen where a lot of folks from my class will end up). However, I know that a number of clerks did go over to midlaw firms. I don't know of any folks who went true biglaw out of a clerkship, but I do not have perfect information.

For folks who did trial level clerking/fellowships, some have moved on to bigger clerkships, but most seem to have moved into small-to-midsize local firms.

Based on what I've seen more generally, for appellate level clerks, you get a few folks who get true biglaw, most who end up at one of the big-name Denver midlaw firms, and some who either become career clerks or catch on with some specialty firm. An appellate clerkship is the most likely path to landing a $100k+ job out of CU, in my opinion. For trial level clerks, folks seem to generally end up networking their way into a smallish firm or local government agency that frequently appears before their judge.

-Pufer

[JXander]

Ok, I'm going to give you guys the answers to your questions to the extent that I can.

I obviously cannot speak for the class as a whole. Personally, I have good grades and am on a journal. I only know the grades of two other people, and both of them have really high grades/L Rev. Other than that, I don't know anyone's grades at all, so I can't tell you what people at the bottom of the class or the middle of the class are doing. I can only give you what things look/feel like from my perspective and from that of the people I interact with.

Also, I am only interested in public interest work and clerkships, so my knowledge about private firms is not as good.

Ok, so having said all that, I think the employment outlook at CU is mixed.

I think that if you're interesting in public interest or STATE clerkships, CU is a very good choice.

The Colorado Public Defender is an excellent, statewide system that hires ~30-40 people a year. They also strongly favor former interns. I know at least 10-15 people who interned at the PD, and every one received a job offer. As far as I know, no former intern failed to obtain an offer. Additionally, I don't know of anyone who wanted to go the PD route who didn't ultimately get a job as a PD (again, as far as I know).

For those interested in prosecution, I think CU is a good choice too. I am speculating here as most DA offices hire post bar results, so they aren't making job offers yet. I know a bunch of people who want to be prosecutors, and as far as I know, all of them had internships over the summer, and I believe all of them were paid. I'm not sure if they will have jobs once bar results come back, but I think a lot of them will.

After graduation, the law school has a "fellowship" program that pays students ~$15 an hour to work for a public interest organization if they don't have a job. I know that some people who want to be prosecutors use the fellowship to work in a DA's office and I know at least one person who was hired after the fellowship ended. I'm not sure if it always works like that, but I know it has definitely helped some people and I guess I'd rather them pay my classmates than hire more faculty. I think you can do it for nonprofits and stuff too. This is only temporary though.

For STATE clerkships, I think CU is a very good choice too. CU grads have a very, very good chance at all the clerk positions on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. I know of a bunch of people who have accepted these offers. I think CU places very well in trial level clerkships too. I personally know a handful of people who are clerking on the trial level. If you have the grades for a clerkship and that is what you want to do, I think you could find one. Having said that, I do know at least a couple of people who really, really wanted to clerk but still haven't found positions at the CO SCt/CoA/federal level.

For federal clerkships, I'm not sure how strong your chances are. I know at least a couple of people each year have obtained fed clerkships, but I'm not sure I would go to CU thinking you're going to get one.

Ok, for everything else, I don't know as much. I am not that interested in nonprofit work and I am not at all interested in firm work.

I'm not sure how the employment outlook is for nonprofits. The reason I say I'm not sure is that I know a LOT of people worked for nonprofits over the summer. At the same time, I'm not sure if anyone has a job offer yet. None of my friends are particularly interested in this kind of work, so maybe I just haven't heard about it.

For private firms, I think the outlook is decent, but not great. I know a bunch of people who got jobs with big firms, including big firms out of state. But there are a lot of people who worked for smaller or midsize firms who really, really liked it (and I think the firms liked them) but the firm just doesn't (or can't afford to) hire anyone. I think that there will be a significant amount of people who will still be looking for work after graduation. I also know that there are some people who just couldn't find firm work in the area they wanted. I know of one person who really wanted some kind of work and he just couldn't find anywhere that would hire him. At the same time, I know a few people who don't really have any strong opinion about what they want to do and they found jobs at firms.

I don't think CU is doing any worse than other similarly situated schools, or at least that is my guess. I'd also wager that our public interest placement is probably above average. I think the main problem is that the private firm market in Denver just doesn't seem to be that big, which makes the job market thin even in good economic times.

If you guys have any questions, I can try to answer them.


I also have no clue what people are doing after their clerkships, but I have no reason to doubt that they are doing just what you'd expect based on the level of clerkship.

This is very helpful, thank you! I have nearly a full ride there and I am thus highly considering the school. I am also considering PI.

How well does the school fare with Texas PI employment?

[RubyCopper]

So my scores were 3.68/162 from UC Berkeley. Are most of the full rides for in state students only? Im OOS and have a scholarship, but it seems like lots of people are getting full rides. Or do my scores just suck