BLS Library Blog

• Information on the annual Writing Competition for BLS students who wish to be considered for membership on the staff of BLS student-run journals will appear in BLSConnect > Academics > Honor Societies and Journals > Writing Competition.  
• Later today, the BLSConnect site should include a video of the Case Comment Writing Workshop 2025, which also included Professor Maria Termini's presentation: Writing a Case Comment.   
• The slides from Associate Librarian/Adjunct Professor Kathy Darvil's presentation: Bluebooking: Journal Style are available in BLSConnect here.  

According to The National Jurist, Most Improved Employment Rates reports that Brooklyn Law School showed an increase in employment rates from 2011 to 2016 with an 18.1% improvement, ranking 14 out of the 50 law schools in the report. As the legal market continues to rebound and moves closer to pre-recession levels, law schools big and small are bolstering employer outreach efforts and reconsidering their curricula to strengthen graduate employability. Looking at this year’s employment statistics to find the most improved employment rates, The National Jurist took into consideration all forms of post-graduation employment. The employment rates were weighted, giving the most heft to full-time jobs that require bar passage. Other jobs, such as J.D.-advantage jobs and positions in other professions, received less weight.

To identify the law schools that have improved their employment rates the most, The National Jurist compared adjusted employment rates for the Class of 2011 with rates for the Class of 2016. To determine the adjusted employment rate, The National Jurist assigned differing weights to various employment statuses. Full time, long term jobs that require bar passage are the only positions that were given full weight. See the results in the chart below:

Brooklyn Law School students interested in summer internships should know that the Center for Court Innovation is accepting applications for its Summer 2012 Law School Internship Program. This is an unpaid internship, which will run for eight weeks to ten weeks, commencing in late May or early June and concluding in August. Founded as a public/private partnership between the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York, the Center for Court Innovation is a non-profit think tank that helps courts and criminal justice agencies aid victims, reduce crime and improve public trust in justice. The Center combines action and reflection to spark problem-solving innovation locally and nationally. In New York, the Center functions as the court system’s independent research and development arm, creating demonstration projects that test new ideas, such as community courts, drug courts, reentry courts, domestic violence courts, mental health courts, and juvenile justice initiatives. 

Interested applicants should submit a letter of interest, a resume, the names and telephone numbers of two professional references, and a writing sample (limit 5-7 pages) in one document (a PDF is recommended) to legalinternships@courtinnovation.org no later than December 23. Indicate in the reference line one or two of the following areas of interest: drug courts, mental health courts, juvenile justice policy, education advocacy, program evaluation, community courts, community violence prevention.

Brooklyn Law School students who are looking for an insider view about the legal job market will want to attend the New York City Bar Association program Recruiting Tips from the Insider’s View on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 6:30 PM at 42 West 44th Street. There will be a panel of recruiters, counselors, and lawyers, who have been through the recruiting process on both sides of the table, to discuss their insider knowledge. Program attendees will learn tips from leaders in the field of recruiting, receive tools to evaluate and improve interview techniques, and receive resources on the current state of recruiting. The program is free, but registration in required in advance. The link is here.

The Moderator, Sandra Bang, Director, Global Legal Talent Development, Shearman & Sterling LLP, will introduce Speakers, Dan Shin, Associate, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Stuart Smith, Director of Legal Recruitment, New York City Law Department, and Jane Stein, Americas Director of Attorney Recruiting, White & Case.

A post at Above the Law discusses career alternatives for law school graduates who are open to using their law degrees and legal training working somewhere other than a large law firm. The post, Career Alternatives: Internship Market Maker, features an interview with Brooklyn Law School alum Cari Sommer, Class of 2001. Cari is one of the co-founders of Urban Interns, a recruiting website that connects small businesses with part-time assistants. Through the site, employers pay $40 for a job posting and access to the candidate database for 30 days. Job seekers can search the listings for free, but also have the option of highlighting their profile for a fee. The site started with NYC area positions, and has expanded to Boston, Chicago, and DC. It was named one of America’s Most Promising Startups by Business Week and was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN.com World Business and Crain’s New York. Through ongoing research on the hiring trends of business owners across the country, Cari and her co-founder Lauren Porat are experts on the topic.

After attending Brooklyn Law School, Cari began her career as a litigator at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and later Bryan Cave LLP. Lauren, who graduated from the University of Michigan, worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and later worked in private equity at Oaktree Capital Management and at the internet conglomerate IAC, where she worked in a variety of financial and strategic planning roles. Cari and Lauren met when they both served as board members of Step Up Women’s Network, a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to creating community resources for women and girls.

This video of Cari and Lauren explain how their business model works:

With the current economic slowdown, recent legal periodical literature has articles helpful to law school students as they consider their future legal careers. The Fall 2009 edition of the American Lawyer Student Edition has an article by Tamara Loomis describing how the recession has changed large law firms with salary freezes and cuts, deferred start dates for first-year associates, and canceled or downsized summer programs. In reviewing how large law firms are responding to the recession, the article takes a look over the past period of unprecedented prosperity for the legal profession when law firm expenses rose by an average of 10.1 percent each year from 2000 to 2007. The article quotes Dean David Van Zandt of Northwestern Law School on how firms have now become choosier. “During the boom years, firms just needed bodies. Now firms are looking for students who not only can draft briefs and review documents but can also work well with clients and other lawyers.” He goes on to say that firms are starting to look more closely at a candidate’s basic project-management and communication skills.

This same point is made in another article by Debra Cassens Weiss in the ABA Journal which describes changes in interview techniques used by law firms with fewer job openings. The article says that more senior interviewers are using behavioral questions to learn more about students’ personalities. The interviews begin with question such as “Tell me about a time” or “Give me an example of a time.” The article describes the techniques that law firms to identify four behavior patterns:

• Decision-making and problem-solving skills. An interviewer might ask: Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make.
• Motivation. An interviewer might ask: Tell me about a time when you failed to meet expectations.
• Communication and interpersonal skills. An interviewer might ask: Describe an unpopular decision you made and how you dealt with the aftermath.
• Planning and organization. An interviewer might ask: Tell me about a time when you were too busy and had to prioritize your tasks.

The ABA article refers to a 2005 article published by the National Association for Law Placement in the NALP Bulletin. In particular, it helps students familiarize themselves with the purpose of —and how to prepare for—the “behavioral interview.” Students are advised to engage in significant introspection so that they understand such things as why they have made the life decisions they have made (this reflects their values, talents, and motivation); and how to provide specific examples of behavior that demonstrates they have the proficiencies and traits an employer seeks. The STAR method will help students keep their answers concise and specific. It entails briefly describe the Situation or Task; explaining the Action that he or she took and describing the Results of the action. The reprint which is worth reading.

Brooklyn Law School’s On-Campus Interviewing (OCI) Program has a number of videos that are accessible through SARA the online catalog including among others Student Advice about OCI Interviewing 08.

Today’s Law Librarian Blog reports that LexisNexis is offering a helpful program for law school grads who have accepted Associate positions at law firms but who are experiencing a deferred fall 2009 start date and taking on public interest work during their deferral period.

The LexisNexis’ ASPIRE Program offers:

• Free access to a LexisNexis menu consisting of federal and state case-law, codes, regulations and law reviews.
• The Martindale-Hubbell Career Center which provides access to non-profit interest and pro-bono job opportunities.
• Online training and materials to be better equipped for public interest work.
• Non-profit companies can post job opportunities for free on the site.

ASPIRE Program details. Qualifying students can register here.