Permanent link All PostsWell, the summer flew by and we're back to school already! Last week, we welcomed the Class of 2015 to the Law School with a week-long orientation program. The program featured a lot of interesting presentations put on by various departments within the Law School. As always, the Career Development Office hosted a morning program on two days. Putting together this orientation program is always one of my favorite tasks of the year. This year, I was more excited about it than ever, since I have been given the job of serving as 1L counselor. After a very brief introduction from me, we invited six upperclassmen from the Law School to chat about their summer work experiences and provide the 1Ls with job search tips. The students had worked in such varied areas, everything from BigLaw in New York to smaller firms in various cities, from judicial internships, to government, to sports law and public interest. My favorite story was from a 2L who worked as an intern in the General Counsel's Office at Land O' Lakes in Minneapolis. She learned all about contracts and butter this past summer, an excellent experience, no doubt.
After the student panel, we ushered in some of our most esteemed Tulane Law School alumni to share about their careers with the 1Ls. The panel included the managing partner at one of the larger law firms in New Orleans, a newly-elected Louisiana state court judge, an assistant United States Attorney, director of a local non-profit organization, and in-house counsel for a human resources company in the area, among others. The alums are always great ambassadors for Tulane, and spent as much time discussing how much they enjoyed their Law School experiences as they did chatting about careers. I was pleased when the 1Ls asked insightful questions and participated in the discussion. One of the judges even gave out a copy of her favorite book, "The Happy Lawyer" as a gift to the first brave 1L to ask her a question. I think the students really enjoyed hearing from these members of the alumni community, and though I've put on this program for the past five years, I always enjoy hearing from them as well. You always learn something new. Judging by the success of orientation, I think this is going to be a great year.
Now time to get down to the business of the Fall semester. Monday marked the first day of school, and we welcomed the 2Ls and 3Ls back from their summer job experiences. It's so much more interesting here at the Law School when our students are walking the halls. I'm looking forward to seeing what this year brings.