About TLS Blog

With the NFL collective bargaining negotiations going on, it's probably not surprising that Professor Gabe Feldman has been interviewed and quoted by the national media on practically a daily basis.  If you need to become educated about the legal issues involved in these negotiations, you could do a lot worse than to start here.

The CDO counselors spent Valentine’s Day hosting a program for students.  We spent two hours in the Law School Multi-Purpose Room, allowing students to walk in without an appointment to seek career counseling. Although we have walk-in hours every day from 1-4 pm in our offices, we decided for Valentine’s Day, we’d go to the students.  All of the five counselors in the office participated, along with our interview programs coordinator. We handed out resources, reviewed cover letters and resumes and answered general job-search questions.  We also served pizza and Valentine’s Day-themed snacks (always popular with the students).  With our Spring Interview Program coming up, and the end of the semester and graduation on the horizon, our students are kicking their job searches into high gear.  It’s always fun to be able to use a holiday as an excuse to meet with more of our law students.  We saw around 45 students in two hours, and the program was a great success.  Happy Valentine’s Day from the CDO! 

We are always encouraging students to take advantage of networking opportunities to further the job search.  The CDO staff took our own advice on Monday by doing some networking of our own.  Several staff members attended the first luncheon of 2011 for the  New Orleans Legal Recruiting Association (NOLRA).  This organization, made up of representatives of the New Orleans-area law schools and recruiters from local legal employers, provides a great opportunity for us to meet with others involved in legal recruiting in New Orleans.  NOLRA allows us to discuss various topics including the recruiting market, professional development, and student counseling, and to foster a professional network.  Of course, we spend a good deal of time at the meeting talking up our awesome Tulane Law students!  The NOLRA luncheons focus on educational programming, as well as networking, by presenting topics that will appeal to and educate the membership. The topic of the February meeting is: Law Student and Associate Practical Legal Skills: Employer Expectations and Law School Preparation, and we were very proud to have Professor Paul Barron give the perspective of the law schools, to go along with two partners from Jones Walker, who spoke about law firm expectations.  Two of our CDO staff, Katie O’Leary and Victoria Thomas, will serve on the 2011 board, and several other members of the CDO are active in the group.  We are always thinking of ways to promote TLS students, and NOLRA is just one example of how we continue to develop our professional networks!   

Memorial for Michael Starks 

We stand on the shoulders of giants. We constitute a collective of alumni, current students, and future students of Tulane Law School.  The giants who came before us challenged a social institution of racism, segregation, prejudice and inequality and gave us the opportunity to do the same for others. They were giants in terms of their strength of character, desire for academic excellence, commitment to community and commitment to the legal profession. And they were giants in that their presence, contribution, and legacy is greater than they could have ever imagined.

Michael Starks was one of those giants. When he enrolled at Tulane University Law School, he not only embarked upon his own professional career, but he forever changed this institution.

What must it have been like to walk the halls as Mr. Starks did – the first and only African American at Tulane Law School, integrating this institution after 120 years of existence. But in trying to think of what it was like then, I can only think of what it is like now.

To be a law student requires passion, focus, determination, academic excellence, and commitment to justice. But to have been in a classroom with students and professors who may not have thought you belonged, who did not want to see you succeed, and who did not think of you as a member of their community would make the challenge of law school even harder than it already is.

The experience of students now does not have to be the same as what Mr. Starks may have endured. But what we enjoy as a right now, Mr. Starks earned as a privilege, and we continue to honor it as such.

Because of Mr. Starks, Tulane is able to boast a commitment to diversity. Not only do we have organizations such as the Black Law Students Association, La Alianza, and the Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association, but we have students who comprise and support these wonderful organizations and their missions.  Because of Mr. Starks, we can promote culture, commitment, and diversity of persons, ideas, backgrounds and beliefs. Because of Mr. Starks, we can pursue a more complete legal education, and even more, a life of service.

Many of us who are students now never met Mr. Starks. However, his spirit is a part of this institution, and will forever be a part of us. We keep the spirit of Michael Starks’ legacy alive through striving for success in the classroom, performing service in the community, mentoring, and reaching out to those who might also follow in our footsteps. We write on journals, argue on moot court teams, lead student organizations and do pro bono work. We – like Michael Starks – are hard-working, focused, dedicated, passionate, determined, driven and HUMBLED. For when we too face challenges – personal and professional – we honor Mr. Starks’ memory by meeting and overcoming those obstacles to become better people and better professionals.

We will forever be grateful to Michael Starks for his pioneering spirit, his bold actions of integration, and the opportunities that he ensured would be available to us.

And today, the members of the Black Law Students Association wear Black in honor and in memory of Mr. Michael Starks, TLS 1968.

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Ashley Banks

I just returned from a special and very moving event held in Weinmann Hall---a memorial service for Michael Starks, the first African-American graduate of Tulane Law School.  That Mr. Starks's family wanted the memorial service to take place at Tulane Law School was an honor in itself.  Sometimes those of us who are here every day don't realize how important this institution is to its graduates.  That came out again and again as those who knew Mr. Starks talked about his connection to Tulane Law School.  But particularly special were the words of Ashley Banks, a graduate of Duke University and a second-year student at Tulane, who is also the President of our BLSA chapter.  Ashley talked about standing on the shoulders of giants, with Michael Starks as one of those giants.  She talked about how difficult law school can be under the best of circumstances and imagined what it might have been like for Michael Starks to have been both the first and the only African-American student when he was enrolled at Tulane.  And she talked about how this man, who she never had the opportunity to meet, has become a part of her.  So I sit here thinking, today, both about Michael's bravery, and about how Ashley has so much poise and wisdom and perspective at just 23 years of age. 

One of the major points of emphasis at the Career Development Office is providing our students with educational programming. We try to provide an array of programming options for our students to assist them in learning about topics such as different practice areas, public versus private sector, networking, interviewing and other job search skills. February is always a busy month for programs at Tulane Law School, and this year is no exception.  In the next several weeks, there will be many events for students to attend on various career-related topics. Next Tuesday, we will start off with our “Interviewing Tips from the Experts” program, where we will host hiring attorneys and recruiters from both the public and private sector.  The week will continue with an information session with the Navy JAG and a meeting to introduce an expansion to our already-successful externship program.  In addition to the existing opportunities for academic credit for school-year externships, this year the program is expanding to allow students to receive class credit for student-generated and pre-approved summer internships in the public sector. This is a wonderful new opportunity at TLS, and we are very excited to provide this to the student body.  The following week, the CDO counselors will host a special Valentine’s Day-themed résumé and cover letter review session. The month will close out with a speed networking program with local-area practitioners, where the law students will be able to practice their networking skills in a “speed dating” format.  A networking reception will follow. Finally, we’ll end the month with our annual judicial clerkship panel, where TLS alumni who are current and former judicial law clerks will speak with students about the value of judicial positions, the application process and the like.  We are sure that our students will be eager to take advantage of these programming opportunities.  This is definitely a busy and exciting month at TLS!