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This year, for the first time, we will offer a week-long Intersession for 2Ls and 3Ls, right before the start of the spring semester in January. The Intersession was designed as an intensive skills training experience, with the objective of helping students to learn the skills that will enable them to hit the ground running when they take on their first legal jobs. We expect that students who take these courses will, in effect, signal to future employers their readiness to practice, and we hope that employers will view these courses (along with the expanded externship opportunities that we instituted last year, and along with our clinics) as Tulane's commitment to graduating students who have the skills that employers value.

Our Vice Dean for Academic Affairs just announced our new Intersession courses, and they sound terrific.  There are 3 tracks:  Transactional Boot Camp, Pretrial Civil Litigation Boot Camp, and Pretrial Criminal Litigation Boot Camp. The courses will be taught in small sections with student-teacher ratios of no more than 10 to 1, and each course will carry 2 credits.  The classes will be taught by an excellent slate of practitioners from both our local legal community and the rest of the country.  Students will be kept very busy by these courses, and we think they'll love every minute.

Yesterday, the CDO hosted an information session with Richard Parker, an attorney in the tax section of the appellate division of the Department of Justice. Although Mr. Parker was not able to travel to New Orleans, we were able to have him speak directly to the students and present a power-point presentation and students were able to ask questions through our amazing video-conference capabilities. This allows the Career Development Office to have people from all around the world speak to the students about their careers as if they were in Weinmann Hall. Mr. Parker even commented that this was the first time they had used video-conference to make this type of presentation and was very pleased with the entire program.

Mr. Parker presented information about the Attorney General’s Honors Program, the Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP), the Volunteer Legal Intern program, and Experienced Attorney hiring procedures by the Department of Justice. The Attorney General’s Honors Program is the only way that entry-level attorneys are hired by the Department of Justice. Every year, a number of third-year law students apply for this opportunity. The SLIP program is a way for students to receive a compensated summer internship with the Department of Justice. This past summer, we were very fortunate to have a few students participate in SLIP. The Volunteer Legal Intern opportunities are also ways to work for the Department of Justice if you are not able to be admitted through SLIP. Every year, we have a number of students working for the Department of Justice as Volunteer Legal Interns, particularly with different US Attorney’s Offices throughout the nation.

In applying for these positions, Mr. Parker gave several pieces of advice on how to make your application stand out. My favorite tip was that students should determine “what about you is unique and authentic and makes you a good fit for the particular component.” He also encouraged the students to keep applying; even if they are not able to be admitted through SLIP, then do a Volunteer Legal Internship or if you are not admitted through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, then apply later as an Experienced Attorney. Mr. Parker’s compelling speech gave our students a “behind the scenes” glance at the Department of Justice and examples of ways to make their application stronger. We are very grateful to Mr. Parker for sharing this information with us and fortunate that we were able to have him speak directly to our students through the wonderful video-conferencing abilities.

Thanks to our awesome government counselor, Amanda Moeller, for organzing the DOJ program and blogging about it. Look forward to working with Amanda for all of your government-related career questions.

Orientation for our 1L students is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the Law School staff. During the program, the Career Development Office staff puts on a 2 hour program about career-related topics, featuring panels of current law students and alumni speaking about their job search experiences.  The Professional Panel is my favorite part of orientation and my favorite program of the entire year.  We always invite dynamic alumni representing a variety of practice areas who are doing amazing things within the legal community, and this year's group was no exception. 

This year's panel featured our US Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Jim Letten, Orleans Parish Criminal Court Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson, and Managing Attorney for Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Bernadette D'Souza, among other practitioners.  The attorneys provided wonderful practical advice on everything from succeeding in the first year of law school to searching for summer internships to transitioning to legal practice and beyond.  But I think my favorite piece of advice came from Mr. Letten, who is always a compelling public speaker. 

He shared with the incoming 1Ls that his long and prestigious career as a prosecutor, both at the state level within the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office and with the US Department of Justice, was briefly interrupted during a two-year stint with a private civil litigation firm. Although he loved prosecution and working as a litigator and felt it was his true calling, he couldn't help but be enticed by a bigger salary and a fancier office.  He said that he immediately regretted the decision and ended up right back where he always knew he belonged, with the US Attorney's Office, where he remains today as the highest ranking government law enforcement official in South Louisiana.  Mr. Letten urged the students to follow their own passions above all else, to be true to themselves, and to listen to their gut instincts about their skills and experiences.  He told the students to take the well-meaning advice of loved ones, friends, professors and alumni, consider it, and then store it in their back pockets, but to always keep their own interests at the forefront. 

Starting law school can be a difficult transition, and it is so easy to get caught up in what classmates are doing, or what family members are encouraging.  But so many of our students come to Tulane with all of the passion, enthusiasm, and accomplishments required to be successful in the legal field.  I have no doubt that if the members of the Class of 2014 follow their hearts and remember who they are, they will go on to do amazing things when they leave Tulane Law.  And that's why I love being apart of the journey.

Orientation week for our incoming students is coming to a close, and everyone seems very happy--students and faculty alike.  Our orientation for 1Ls includes a few days of administrative matters and two days of substance.  It's always interesting to see how anxious--no, enthusiastic--students are to get past all of the typical orientation stuff and start wrestling with the reading and the analyzing and the reasoning.  Of course, they also enjoy the opportunities to get to know each other.  Monday's programming ended with a reception hosted by the state bar association, Tuesday's programming concluded with our annual Rock n Bowl event (only in New Orleans!) where the live band included the US Attorney himself, and today--after an opportunity to meet representatives of about 50 student and community organizations--our Student Bar Association is hosting an event at a local watering hole.

But the party is just about over.  This weekend, students will no doubt be hunkered down over casebooks, reading their first assignments.  Class starts on Monday, and our upper level students will return.  So in just a few days, our building will be filled once more with the pitter-patter of 775 JDs and 35 LLMs.