Law Schools' Get Practical

Course Emphasis Shifts from Textbooks to Skill Sets

ProBono Work Serves Many Functions for Both the Attorney and the Client

Interested in Pro Bono work, but don't know where to start? Click here.

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/resources/volunteer_opportunities.html

Lalita Haran, a Bowen graduate, recently responded to a question on LinkedIn. (While other opportunities exist for the more mature graduate, statistics will attest to solo/small firm practice as the two most prevalent choices selected.)

I'm 47 and am considering law school. Am I too old? Will it be difficult to find a job when I finish (around age 52).... Thanks in advance for your help... -Dana

Answer:
, Criminal Law (1), Corporate Law (1) see less

Not at all. This is a good profession to hang your own shingle if you like and do amazingly well. Check the link below on going solo.

Links:

• http://myshingle.com/

Lalita's BLOG:

Links:

• http://haranlaw.com/blog/2010/01/20/visa_restrictions/

Advice for Success: GO Abroad Young Lawyers...

NLJ Home > News > Advice for success: Go abroad, young lawyers

Karen Sloan All Articles

The National Law Journal

March 07, 2011

During the 1990s, Peter Engstrom accepted a 1 1/2-year legal assignment that required frequent travel to Kazakhstan.

"It was a rough place to be," said Engstrom, the former North American managing partner of Baker & McKenzie, now a member of the firm's civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution practices. "They didn't have ATMs, the food was bad, you couldn't get a fresh breath of air, but it was one of the best things I've ever done. If you have an opportunity like that, take it." Being open to moving overseas is an important way for young attorneys to position themselves to succeed in the increasingly global legal market, Engstrom said. His advice was seconded by The Coca-Cola Co. General Counsel Geoffrey Kelly and Alcatel-Lucent U.S.A. Inc. General Counsel Steve Reynolds. ... The three shared their thoughts on globalization on March 7 with more than 100 up-and-coming attorneys chosen for the Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity's new Fellows Program — a mentorship effort intended to foster diversity by giving young attorneys the chance to learn directly from law firm leaders and general counsel.

All three panelists agreed that clients increasingly are looking for counsel skilled at working internationally because the fastest-growing markets for most major companies are outside the United States. Coca-Cola earns about 70% its profits come abroad, Kelly said, and that figure would be closer to 90% had the company not recently acquired a large North American bottling enterprise, he added.

Consolidating Educational Loans after Law School

QUESTION:

With graduation coming up soon for many of us and the repayment of loans occurring shortly after that, I was wondering if you had any information on loan consolidation and how to negotiate down loan interest rates. I've done some preliminary research, and a lot of the information I've found simply lowers the interest rate over extended periods of time. However, I am interested in finding out if I can (1) consolidate my law school loan, then (2) negotiate a lower interest rate over a shorter time period. I also want to make sure that I maintain the option for advance payment without a penalty.

Your question about Loan Repayment Options was directed UALR’S Financial Aid Director. Her response is below.

ANSWER:
I am not aware of any options in the federal student loan programs to "negotiate" an interest rate. The interest rate is set in federal law.

Over the past several years, new payment options have been introduced primarily to assist students by lowering monthly payments and increasing the repayment period. If the student navigates to http://studentloans.gov there is a section on the bottom right about managing repayment. The student can drill down in that information to learn about loan consolidation http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/consolidation.jsp?tab=repaying

University of Arkansas at Little Rock | Office of Admissions and Financial Aid
O: 501.569.3035 | F: 501.569.8956 | http://www.ualr.edu/admissions

OCI Job Offers / Good Questions for the Interview

QUESTION:

How will students be notified by OCI employers about whether or not they have been selected for a clerking position? Or is there a certain date after which if we have not heard from any employers we should assume we did not get any clerk positions and continue searching for employment elsewhere (or sign up for summer classes, etc.)?

ANSWER:
These former are legitimate questions you should ask each interviewer. Employers all operate differently and from year-to-year even that might change! Career Services asks that they give you all two weeks of interviewing before requiring AN ANSWER to an offer. A couple of them might make immediate offers while others will wait until they've interviewed at Fayetteville and considered applicants from any other schools they work with. Phone calls are the usual for offers and letters for non-offers. We continue to have students who hear nothing from the employer either way, unfortunately. Be sure to ask in the interview when and how should you expect to hear from them.

Don't stop your search of other employers waiting on OCI employers to respond! The job market is tight, but even before that happened, many employers were seeking law clerks with more than one year of law school to their credit. Remember, smaller employers are more numerous and the experience with a small firm is a good one to have.

DK

The Job Interview: BE PREPARED!

With on-campus interviews starting in just a few days, make sure you spend adequate time preparing. The article linked below echos comments from the Career Services staff, our mock interviewers and the most sage advice found in the purple Career Services Handbook. We thought we'd pass it along for all students to enjoy.

http://lawyerist.com/be-prepared-for-job-interviews/

Requesting an Appointment

QUESTION:
Dean Kinsey,

I'm a 1L in the evening division. If you have time, I'd appreciate a chance to talk to you about what I need to do and when I need to do it in order to make my plans achievable. If you could give me a couple of possible days and times, I'm sure I can make one of them work.

Thank you,


ANSWER;
We've given you an account in Symplicity and you MUST go through that system to set up the appointment. Go to www.law.ualr.edu/careerservices/ . Click "Symplicity." Log in as a "student/alum." If you've forgotten your password, click "forgot password," and one will be sent to your email address.

Once in the system, on the right of your home page, scroll down to "Request an Appointment." Click it. Available times should appear. I suggest you request 2 back-to-back appointments. Let me know if you have problems by emailing law-careers@ualr.edu, or calling either of the numbers below.

Direct Mailing and the Job Search

QUESTION:

Should we send resumes to law firms/employers in Little Rock? I know in other cities law students send out resumes to firms, but I didn't know if this was the traditional thing to do in Little Rock.


ANSWER:

The job search is personal so you must explore your options (review tips in your Career Services Handbook - the purple book you received in November, or check out from Career Services the law student job search resource, Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dream, by Kimm Alayne Walton, or one of several other books available to you), THEN decide which strategies you want to employ. Personalized job search strategies sessions may also be scheduled through Symplicity.

Since several of the more high profile and structured employers that hire regularly have arranged with Career Services to participate in the Spring On-Campus Interview Program to interview a pre-determined number of students who meet their hiring criteria, try hard to gain an interview through that process with those particular employers. Sign-ups are available with these employers through Symplicity at www.law.ualr.edu/careerservices/ . Click Symplicity, then log on using your email address and the pass word you received in November. Make sure you meet their specified criteria or you will be removed from their schedule. Symplicity will require you to have a resume uploaded in order to sign up for interviews. If an employer requests a cover letter or writing sample or grade sheet, those items must also be in your Symplicity account.

The job search section of the CSO Handbook addresses the most prominent issues regarding direct mailings. Please refer to it. This information can also be found on the Career Services website under Student Information.

Release Date for Spring 2011 Grades

Question:
Do you know roughly when spring grades might be released?

Answer:
Faculty have 30 days from the last exam to submit their grades. Allow a couple more days for processing and the planned date for release is actually January 20.

Adding Transcripts to Symplicity

Question:

Hi Dean Kinsey~
Happy New Year!
I have a quick question--how do I upload a transcript to Symplicity? I cannot for the life of me figure it out! :)

Thanks!!

Answer:
The answer is not obvious. You'd have to check the Career Services Handbook (the purple book) to know, or our web site. The security encoding for the UALR's transcript paper makes an actual transcript on that paper way too big to upload into Symplicity. For that reason, you must cut and paste your grades from BOSS into a simple Word document. We call it a Grade Sheet. Be sure to clean it up by deleting all the extraneous coding, etc. (That actually looks really bad and is distracting when employers try to read your grade sheet). You can then save this "Grade Sheet" to Symplicity just like you upload your resume.

Let me know if you have other questions about this. This and other answers to other questions asked in the future will be posted to the Career Services blogspot at http://bowencareerservices.blogspot.com/.

Looking for attorney positions with the federal government?

Looking for attorney positions with the federal government? As we shared last Friday in the Public Interest News Bulletin, a federal jobs expert shared some job-seeking wisdom in the Washington Post:

In each budget justification submitted to Congress, you get to see what an agency says it needs, as well any additional hiring requests to carry out its work … For the Justice Department to strengthen national security and counter the threat of terrorism the 2011 budget requests $300.6 million. The request includes 440 additional positions, including 126 agents and 15 attorneys. To enforce immigration laws the department is requesting an $11 million program increase, including 125 positions – 31 of them attorneys. You can read an agency’s budget proposal on its Web site.