Career Services Announcements Week of September 14, 2009

Career Services Announcements – Week of September 14, 2009

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• New Information

Research Assistant Position for Professors Whitford and Macaulay

Informational Sessions About Opportunities with the Navy JAG Corps

Student Debt Relief Webinar

3Ls: Interested in the Presidential Management Fellowship?

3Ls: Want to Prepare for Applications and Interviews with District Attorney and Public Defender Offices?

Considering Starting a Practice After Law School? Consider attending the Solo and Small Firm Conference

Resume Reviews for 1Ls

Military Recruiting on Campus this Year

• REPEAT ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM LAST WEEK

Keenen Peck Summer Fellowship

2009 Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair

3Ls: Registersoon if you plan to takeNov. 7 MPRE

Information Session byDirector of the Boren Scholarship and Fellowship programs

MLA Law School Student Program
Ten Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Practice Area

Law Crossing Access for Law Students

NEW INFORMATION
Research Assistant Position for Professors Whitford and Macaulay
Professors Whitford and Macaulay will employ a research assistant for the fall semester. The pay will be the standard law school rate, which is $15.82 per hour. The job includes many tasks in preparation of the manuscript for the 3rd edition of our casebook (Contracts: Law in Action). The manuscript is due at the publishers in January. Many of the tasks will involve proof reading and making sure that formatting is proper. There will also be minor research jobs, such as checking to see whether a cited case is overruled, etc., and perhaps a few larger ones. Hours are quite flexible. You can do the work at your convenience. It is hard for us to estimate in advance how much total work there will be over the semester.
Applicants should have completed the Contracts I class using our casebook. If you are interested, please send Professor Whitford an email at . Attach a resume, including email address and phone number, and state whatever special qualifications you have for this job. We expect to make a hiring decision by Sept. 18th, so please apply promptly.
Informational Sessions About Opportunities with the Navy JAG Corps
Lt. Chris Cook, a Navy JAG recruiter, will be conducting two informational sessions here at the Law School next Wednesday, September 23rd. He will be presenting informational programs in Room 3260 from noon until 1:15; and he will also be conducting an informational session from 3:30 to 4:30 in Room 3250 that day. We hope that most of you will be able to attend one of those sessions. No RSVP is necessary. However, Lt. Cook has also agreed to be available to answer questions for 2L and 3L students who are unable to attend either of those sessions, by meeting with them on an informal basis here in the Career Services Office between 11 and noon, and between 1:30 and 3:30. Therefore, if you are a 2L or 3L who cannot attend one of the info sessions, feel free to drop by the Career Services Office between 11 and noon, or between 1:30 and 3:30, next Wednesday to chat with Lt. Cook.
Student Debt Relief Webinar
Would you like to learn more about the income-based repayment and loan forgiveness provisions of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act? If so, Equal Justice Works is offering free, live Student Debt Relief Webinar Series, with sessions in September and October. Webinar details and registration information are available at: Space is limited, so visit the website and register today for this very timely and informative webinar!
3Ls: Interested in the Presidential Management Fellowship?
The Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) is a two-year fellowship at a federal government agency, and is intended to give the fellow leadership and policy training, with the goal that the fellow would convert to a competitive position (permanent) with the agency at the end of the fellowship term. This is NOT a fellowship for students who want to be attorneys in federal government; instead, it is for students who are interested in leadership and management of public policies and programs. More information about the PMF is available at
The application period for the PMF is set for October 1-15, 2009, and consists of an online resume, questionnaire and nomination form, which will all be available on October 1 via a link on the PMF website. Please note that the nominating official for the Law School is Dean Davis; however, you must turn in your nomination form to Kristin Davis in Career Services on or before Thursday, October 15, 2009. In addition to the formal application, the LawSchool requires you to complete a short questionnaire for nomination purposes, which you will be able to pick up in Career Services during the application period. The questionnaire is due to Kristin Davis in Career Services on or before 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 22.
If you have any questions, please contact Kristin at .

3Ls: Want to Prepare for Applications and Interviews with District Attorney and Public Defender Offices?
If so, then please come to an informative panel discussion where representatives from the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, the Dane County District Attorney's Office and the Office of the State Public Defender will talk about applying for, and interviewing with, their offices. This program is particularly timely for those of you with upcoming OCI interviews with the MilwaukeeCountyDA's Office and the CookCountyState's Attorney's Office. In addition, applications for and interviews with public defender offices, including the Office of the State Public Defender, will be forthcoming (some offices across the country will be interviewing at the Equal Justice Conference and Career Fair in October). There will be time allotted for questions at the end of the discussion, which will be Friday, September 18 from 12:20-1:20 p.m. in Room 2211. If you have any questions, please contact Kristin Davis at .
Considering Starting a Practice After LawSchool? Consider attending the Solo and Small Firm Conference
The State Bar of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Bar Association are hosting the 4th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference on October 29 - 31 in the Wisconsin Dells. The Conference provides an opportunity to learn about technology, ethics/quality of life, substantive law, and practice management issues faced by solo and small law practices. It will also provide an opportunity to network with practitioners and ask questions on how they started their practice and what challenges they face.
Law students can attend the entire conference for $125.00. You can find registration information at: A full conference schedule, including presentation topics, is available at
If you are interested in the conference but unavailable to attend, the Career Services Office will have the conference materials available in our library in early November. 3Ls considering opening a solo practice or joining a small practice should seriously consider attending the conference. If you do register for the conference and want to find out about coordinating rides with others, please email Nilesh Patel, , by October 15, 2009. For more information, visit
Resume Reviews for 1Ls
If you are a first-year law student who would like to have your resume reviewed, you are welcome to email it to either Asst. Dean Jane Heymann at , or to Brenda Bernstein at . We will be happy to review them whenever we have time, although 2L and 3L requests will be given priority. Please remember, before you submit your resume, to make sure it is in a format that is similar to the format of the sample resumes on our website at
Military Recruiting on Campus this Year
The JAG Corps of various branches of the U.S. military will be interviewing here at the Law School this fall and spring. Although the U.S. military's practice of not hiring openly gay individuals does not comply with the Law School's nondiscrimination policy, representatives of the U.S. military are nevertheless permitted to interview at the Law School because of the loss of federal funds to the University that would otherwise be imposed under federal statutes, commonly known as the Solomon Amendment. Set forth below is an excerpt from Dean Kenneth Davis's 2005 letter to the LawSchool community on this topic:
Congress has adopted a provision, known as the Solomon Amendment, which requires schools to provide the military with full access to students for recruitment purposes or risk termination of certain federal funds. This provision has been interpreted to place at risk not simply any federal grant and contract funds of the LawSchool, but those of the entire University of Wisconsin. The LawSchool thus permits on-campus interviewing by military recruiters for pragmatic reasons.
The presence of military interviewers within the LawSchool should not be misunderstood to reflect a decision by the faculty to endorse the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, or to tolerate discrimination in any form. I want to reiterate the commitment of the faculty, administrators and staff to making the LawSchool, and the Office of Career Services, a welcoming and supportive place for all our students. The fact that these interviews will occur does not mean that the Law School has retreated in any way from our strongly held view that our gay, lesbian and bisexual students should be able to seek any and every job for which they are qualified, and that they should be allowed to serve in those jobs with honesty, integrity and pride.
I want to underscore that the LawSchool is opposed to discrimination, not to military service. Generations of our students and alumni have served in the military; many are serving today. We are proud of them and grateful to all the men and women of the Armed Services for the sacrifices they make to defend this nation. It is because we hold the military in high regard that we believe it is especially important for all students to have equal access to the exceptional opportunities offered by the military to serve our country.
We at the LawSchool cannot, alone, change the hiring policies of the Armed Services. We can and will, however, make clear our own opposition to discrimination of any kind, and we will continue to do all that we can to assure our gay, lesbian and bisexual students, staff and faculty that they are welcome and valued members of our community.

REPEAT ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM LAST WEEK

Keenen Peck Summer Fellowship

Keenen Peck was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School who pursued a career in public service until his untimely death due to illness at an early age. A fund was established shortly after his death, including a major contribution from Senator Kohl, his most recent employer, which has been used to fund public service activities of the type that Keenen himself was involved in.

Among other things, Keenen had an acute interest in protecting privacy and assisted Senator Kohl on privacy questions arising in connection with pending legislation. Consequently, it seemed fitting to use the interest generated by the fund to finance a fellowship for work with the ElectronicPrivacyInformationCenter ( in Washington, DC., an organization taking a leadership role both nationally and internationally on privacy and technology issues. The fellowship is for $4500 and entails approximately 10 weeks work with EPIC in Washington, DC, from mid/late May to early August.

Students interested in applying for the fellowship for the summer of 2010 should submit a brief letter which explains their interest in the fellowship along with a resume. Such applications should be placed inProfessor Frank Tuerkheimer's mailbox before the end of the day on September 30.Professor Tuerkheimerwill then meet with interested students. A schedule for these meetings will be taped tohis office door (#7106) (15 minutes per student – a convenient study break).He expects to select someone shortly after the meetings. If you have any questions, please either drop a note in Prof. Tuerkheimer's mailbox or send an e-mail to him at .

2009 Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair

The 2009 Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair will take place on Saturday and Sunday, October 23-24, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. In past years, the EJW Conference and Career Fair has brought together over a hundred public interest and government employers from across the country to interview students for summer and permanent positions.
Registration for the Conference and Career Fair is open until Monday, September 14 (please note this is an extension from the earlier deadline). You can learn more about the conference, upload application documents, and register to interview with employers, by going to: . Registration is through the Symplicity system, but you will need to create a new account for yourself, since this Career Fair is separate from the UW Law School. You may not apply to meet with the attending employers except by applying through the EJW Symplicity system (in other words, do not mail applications to participating employers directly).
In addition to uploading required application materials for employers in which you have interest, you must also register for the Career Fair under the "Events" tab.
Please read all of the information on the EJW website carefully! If you have additional questions, please contact Kristin Davis at .

3Ls: Registersoon if you plan to takeNov. 7 MPRE

Every state except Wisconsin, Washington (the State of Washington, not D.C.), and Maryland requires that you pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam in order to be admitted to practice law there. The MPRE is offered three times a year: in March, August and November. TheNovember MPRE will be administered here at the LawSchool on Saturday morning,November 7. The non-refundable registration fee is $60 for people who register on or before September 28; the registration fee is $120 if you register on or before October 15, which is the latest possible registration date for theNovember exam. For more information or to register online go to

Information Session byDirector of the Boren Scholarship and Fellowship programs
US graduate students interested in finding out more about the National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren fellowship program are invited to attend an information session conducted by the Director of the Boren Fellowship Program, Christopher Powers. The session will be held in 336 Ingraham Hall on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 4:00 PM. Graduate students: To register your interest in the session, please email Dr. Erin Crawley, .

MLALawSchool Student Program
Ten Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Practice Area

Major, Lindsey & Africa, a leading global legal search firm, has developed a series of programs to help law students make more informed career choices. On Monday September 21, from Noon to 1:15 in RM 3250, representatives of MLA will be here at the LawSchool (room to be announced later) to present its newest program, "Ten Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Practice Area." We believe it is critical information for second-year and third-year students, and will also be of interest to 1Ls.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Based upon MLA's years of experience working with lawyers in all practice specialties, they believe that job satisfaction can depend upon a lawyer’s choice of practice area. Because each practice area offers different rewards, challenges and frustrations, how well it fits with an individual’s personality and preferences is crucial. Because it is hard to change practice areas after the first yearor two of practice, that first decision is very important.

The program Ten Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Practice Area is designed to provide law students with an overview of the wide array of law firm practices and give them a framework to use when choosing their practice area. The one-hour presentation is supplemented with written materials to help students make an informed decision. Pizza and soda will be provided for students who RSVP through Symplicity. To do so, log on to Symplicity, click on "events" in the top line, click on the "Workshops" tab, click on the name of the program, and then click on "RSVP." 1Ls, since you do not yet have access to Symplicity, send an email to if you plan to attend.

Law Crossing Access for Law Students

Access to LawCrossing is free for law students until December 2009. Students interested in accessing this resource should go to , scroll down and enter their information. Note that you must enter your law school email address (the one ending in wisc.edu) and you must enter the Promotion Code (which is wisclaw2009) in the Promotion Code box. You will then receive an email from LawCrossing with an address to copy and paste in your browser to activate your account. Follow the instructions there concerning choosing your user name and password. At that point you will be signed up and able to use all the features of the site. If you do not receive that email with the link you may have to check your security settings and make sure that the email is not being treated as spam. If you have difficulty signing up or viewing jobs, contact LawCrossing Customer Service by phone at 800-973-1177 or by email at .