The Career Services Office (CSO) at the Chicago-Kent College of Law

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updated Aug 24, 2011

Specifically, the CSO offers students and alumni a wide variety of career resources, including assistance with job applications and interviews, in large part via the school's Symplicity database, career strategies, job fairs, resumes, judicial clerkships, government and public interest funding, public interest law programming, and a career advisor network. In addition, the CSO gives students and alumni information and guidance on job search links, professional conduct and reciprocity. In short, the CSO provides all of the tools for success.

The CSO has also recently launched the Alumni Career Advisor Network, which enables alumni from around the globe to discuss a variety of issues affecting the legal profession, including trends and markets.

Chicago-Kent promotes as well as participates in a wide variety of job fairs every year. Not only do the fairs increase the opportunities for students to obtain interviews, they increase their exposure to the wide variety of career options available. Some of the job fairs include the NYU International Student Interview Program, the Midwest Public Interest Law Career Conference, the Bay Area Diversity Career Fair, the Virginia Bar Association Diversity Job Fair, the Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair, and many more.

The CSO offers a number of resources to assist students in their search for judicial clerkships. Often considered one of the most prestigious as well as competitive employment opportunities available to new graduates, judicial clerkships are normally one to two years long, and provide an excellent means of transitioning between law school and the actual practice of law, as the clerk obtains a wealth of hands-on experience in the judicial decision making process.

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Chicago-Kent is committed to supporting the pursuit of Public Interest Law through its students, alumni, initiatives, curriculum, student organizations and faculty. To this end, the school offers a J. D. Certificate in Public Interest Law, as well as a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for public interest law graduates. Other programs Chicago-Kent sponsors include the Center for Access to Justice and Technology. Its goal is to make justice more accessible to the public via the internet. As well, Chicago-Kent offers the Law Offices' Pro Bono Clinics, which includes the Advice Desk, Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, and PILI (Public Interest Law Initiative), and the Public Interest Resource Center, which is a student-run program that focuses on finding public interest internships and volunteer opportunities.

Chicago-Kent also invests resources in finding summer employment for students, a proven method of gaining experience and contacts in the marketplace. Chicago-Kent supports several programs to this end, including the PILI Summer Internship program, the Kent Justice Foundation (''KJF''), the Equal Justice Works Summer Corps Program, and the Equal Justice America Legal Service Fellowships.

These are some of the major services and resources the CSO at Chicago-Kent provides to students and alumni. The CSO staff emphasizes individual counseling and objective development, and is resourceful and creative about ensuring their success, one student at a time.
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