Our Career Development Office is excited that you are considering pursuing your legal studies at Case Western Reserve University. The type and quality of services provided by a Career Development Office are important things to consider in choosing which school to attend. We pride ourselves on offering comprehensive general programming to the entire student body as well as personal attention to each student’s individualized career ambitions. We hope the information that follows will help you in making your law school decision.

CDO Services
Our staff. Our staff is comprised of four attorney-counselors, which makes us one of the larger career development staff as compared to law schools across the country. With varied professional backgrounds, our staff offers a wide variety of personal assistance to our students. We also have a full-time attorney who travels around the country to meet with employers, encouraging them to recruit our students.

One-on-one career counseling. Each student is assigned to a career counselor during their first year and is encouraged to meet with their counselor as often as needed. These one-on-one meetings can address all aspects of career planning including: basic document preparation (resumes and cover letters) and application procedures, market and employer information, practice area and career options exploration, interview preparation, and personal professional development. Appointments are available in person, via telephone, and via email, making sure you receive all of the assistance you need in your employment efforts.

First-year programming. Each year, we plan programming with first-year students specifically in mind. This includes the 1L Orientation and Career Kick-Off, which introduces first-year students to the legal market, resume preparation, and the law school’s online jobs posting system. Our office also hosts several “Theme Week” programs throughout the year, which provide panels and information sessions to allow first-year students to explore some of the most popular paths students choose to take with their legal education.

Job Postings. We posted over 1400 job opportunities to our students and alumni last year. These opportunities included part-time law clerk positions during the school year, summer opportunities, opportunities for experienced as well as entry-level attorneys, public interest fellowships, judicial clerkships, international opportunities, government employment, internships, and in-house corporate opportunities. Our job postings are updated each weekday and are available to students and alumni at any time via CDOonline, our password protected web-based jobs posting and recruitment system.

CDO Resource Room. In addition to online resources available through CDOonline and our Diigo social bookmarking page, we also maintain a resource library of hard copy reference materials, including directories, informational handouts, binders of fellowship and clerkship opportunities, legal periodicals, salary and practice-area reports and statistics, and more. Our Resource Room also contains a lending library of reference books regarding legal practice options, preparing for interviews, drafting application documents, and general job search advice.

Your future success
While the success of an individual’s job search always depends in part on the motivation and dedication of the individual job seeker, you should be evaluating the employment data of each law school you have applied to. You can review the statistical employment information for our graduates and current students by clicking here.