The Career Services Office (CSO) is committed to assisting students and alumni in all aspects of their career development, from job search strategy and interview preparation to professional development and beyond. We also actively engage with employers to promote the School of Law and to encourage them to consider our students when making hiring decisions.
Alternative Careers
Some students come to law school never intending to practice law, while others discover during the course of their law school career that a traditional career in legal practice does not suit them. So what do you do with a law degree when you don’t want to practice law? Many students find that the analytical, writing, research, and leadership skills refined during law school translate well to careers in management, non-profits, higher education, development, business, and more.

The following is an introductory list of resources the CSO recommends to students who are interested in pursuing employment in alternative careers:
  • What Can You Do With a Law Degree? and Running from the Law, by Deborah Arron (both available in the CSO Resource Room)
  • “Alternative Careers for JDs”, originally published in the Michigan Bar Journal
  • AlternativeLawyerJobs Jobs Board
  • Careers in Financial Support and Searching for an Alternative: A Law Student’s Guide to Finding Non-Legal Jobs (both available in the CSO Resource Room)
  • JD Preferred! Legal Career Alternatives (available in the CSO Resource Room)