Ideas for the Winter Break

Who will you meet over the Winter Break? Did you know that most jobs are obtained by word of mouth, or who you know? Don’t worry if you don’t know any lawyers personally; they are all around you. While at holiday functions, let everyone know that you are in law school and are looking for a summer or permanent job. Getting a haircut or going to the dentist? Let them know too. Seek out the local bar association to see if there will be any luncheons or holiday receptions while you are in the area. Take control of your future -- go out there and NETWORK.

Complete your bar application. Winter break is an ideal time to prepare your bar application for submission. While you are home, track down that missing information. We all know how daunting a task it is, and finding time to put this information together while keeping up with class work is close to impossible.

Volunteer. Whether you are at home or in Gainesville, tis’ the season to volunteer to help others and gain hours toward your Community Service or Pro Bono Certificate.

Conduct an informational interview. Meet with lawyers or professionals in your area to learn about their career path, how they prepared, and to seek their recommendations.

Prepare for next semester’s recruiting. Prepare your resume and cover letter. Application deadlines begin right after the first of the year for many opportunities including government positions, internships, fellowships and OCI. Sample resumes and cover letters are available on the CCS website, and you can email your drafts to a counselor for review.

Go to court. Observe proceedings and talk to the attorneys during breaks.

Read a book from the CCS:
• Kimm Walton’s Guerilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of your Dreams, What Law School Doesn’t Teach You...But You Really Need to Know, or America’s Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree are good bets.
• Try Never Eat Alone or How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Savvy Socializing in Person and Online or Choosing Small - Choosing Smart: Job Search Strategies for Lawyers in the Small Firm Market.
• Close to Graduating? Pick up The Legal Career Guide: From Law Student to Lawyer.

Heading South?

If you are interested in doing a judicial clerkship or practicing in the South Florida area and can be in Miami on Thursday, January 15, 2009, be aware of the Florida Bar Mid-Year Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Miami. On Thursday afternoon the Young Lawyers Division of the Florida Bar will be hosting a program for law students followed by a networking event. UF Law also hosts alumni reception from 6:30-8:00. Career Services will be able to invite 10 students to attend the alumni reception with Gator practitioners and judges. Full details and sign up information will be available January 6th.

CCS HOLIDAY HOURS

The Center for Career Services will be open during regular hours, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm EXCEPT when the University is closed-Thursday, December 25-Friday, January 2, 2009. Regular hours will resume on Monday, January 5, 2009.

Sarasota County Internship and Scholarship Opportunity

The Sarasota County Bar Association Diversity Scholarship Fund is intended to provide an opportunity for first through third-year law students of under-represented minority backgrounds (e.g. race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical disability, or socioeconomic background) who have an interest in practicing law in Sarasota County upon graduation, to obtain summer placement. At the conclusion of the student’s summer employment in a law firm or governmental agency, the law school the student attends will receive scholarship funds of at least $5,000.00 per student to be used by the student to continue his or her education. During employment, the student will be assigned an attorney mentor from the Sarasota County Bar Association and will attend a reception to welcome and honor the student and the employer with representatives from the Bar Association and Community Foundation. Applicants must be attending any accredited law school in the state of Florida and be able to devote at least 30 hours per week to employment in Sarasota County in the Summer.
The application deadline is December 1, 2008. Applications can be downloaded from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s website, which is: http://www.cfsarasota.org/ (see the Special Interest Scholarships page) and also the Sarasota County Bar Association’s website which is: http://www.sarasotabar.com/.

Government Deadlines May Change

The deadline for the Department of Interior Pacific Northwest Region's Summer Law Clerk Program (1L/2L, unpd) has just been moved up to January 23, 2009 (the origninal deadline was February 15th). Be sure to check the Government Honors and Internship Handbook regularly to make sure you don't miss any deadlines!

Sweet Home Chicago Reception

The Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms will host its annual Sweet Home Chicago reception on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm. It will be sponsored by Chapman & Cutler LLP and take place at The Library. This will be a great opportunity for law students to learn more about the Chicago legal community and the advantages of practicing law in Chicago. Law students will also have the chance to meet and mingle with minority attorneys and recruiting directors from Chicago's most prestigious law firms.
Students are asked to submit a one page résumé, which will be included in a student résumé book that will be distributed to all Chicago Committee member firms prior to the event.
The deadline to RSVP and submit a one page résumé is Friday, December 12, 2008. Please go online to www.chicagocommittee.org/sweethome to RSVP and upload your résumé.
If you have any questions, please contact Eileen Rosete, Program Assistant, at erosete@chicagocommittee.org or 312.577.8549.

FBA Judicial Reception

The North Central Florida Chapter of the Federal Bar Association invites interested law students to attend a Judicial Reception on Thursday, December 4th from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at the elegant Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club. Members of the federal, circuit and county benches in the Gainesville and Ocala areas will be in attendance along with federal bar practitioners. Space is limited and only 10 non-Federal Bar Association law students will be permitted to attend. If you will be available to attend this event in Ocala, the evening before the end of fall classes, please send an email to career2@law.ufl.edu. The deadline to express your interest in attending is NOON on Wednesday, November 26th. Those selected to attend will be notified before December 1st. The dress will be business attire.

Blanket Drive

Help the homeless locally during the cold winter months. The CCS once again offers a collection site for the Homeless Coalition's Annual Winter Blanket Drive. Gently used or new blankets can be donated in a collection box outside of the Center for Career Services at 244 Bruton Geer Hall from 8am-5pm on weekdays.

Fellowship in School Finance and Education Equity

The Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity ("IFEEO") is a non-profit organization dedicated to the pursuit of educational equity and opportunity, particularly for disadvantaged U.S. public school children through legal means. The IFEEO is especially interested in fair and equitable public school finance laws. Towards this interest, the IFEEO created the IFEEO Legal Fellowship Program and will provide funding for a 2009 law school graduate to work with attorneys or public interest organizations in the areas of school finance and education equity. The one-year fellowship award will be in the amount of $60,000 for salary, with additional fund for benefits. In addition, the IFEEO established a Summer Associate Award in the amount of $1,000 per week for 12 weeks. Click here for details and application.

Interested in working in Nashville?

The Nashville Bar Association's annual Damali Booker First Year Minority Clerkship Job Fair seeks to recruit aspiring minority attorneys who desire to pursue a summer clerkship and professional career in Nashville, Tennessee. The event will take place on Saturday, February 28, 2009, in Nashville. Participants must register by January 28, 2009. Contact CCS for details and student registration form.

You never know what you'll find in the Government Honors and Internship Handbook . . .

Check out these interesting new opportunities:

• National Gallery of Art's 2009 Summer Internship Program
• San Francisco Office of the DHS Immigration & Custom's Enforcement's Summer 2009 Law School Intern Program

Click here to access the Government Honors and Internship Handook. Username and password are available on the Announcements page in Symplicity.

LETTER TO FALL RECRUITS: An Offer You Might Have to Refuse

Considering offers for summer employment? Check out this AmLawDaily article for some great advice from an employer's perspective: http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2008/11/post.html.

Program This Week

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & PATENT LAW

Wednesday, November 19th at noon in room 345

Join two attorneys from the Gainesville Law Firm of Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Saliwanchik, James J. Claus and Sarah J. Knight as they share their perspectives on how to prepare for a career in IP, patent and trademark law. Both are Registered Patent Agents and will talk about taking the Patent Bar as a law student. Learn more about this growing field to help you decide whether to participate in two late summer patent law recruiting events that require registration in February.

CSRRR Summer 2009 Yegelwel Fellowship

The UF-Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations (CSRRR) is sponsoring the 2009 Yegelwel Fellowship. For students who are interested in issues of anti-Semitism and bigotry, the fellowship provides a wonderful opportunity to work at the Anti-Defamation League in Florida. The 8-10 week fellowship is for Summer 2009 and comes with a $4000 stipend. Students who have completed their first year and constitutional law courses (by the time of the fellowship) and are in good academic standing, are eligible to apply. For further information on the application process, please contact Melissa Bamba, CSRRR Asst. Director at bamba@law.ufl.edu or 273-0614. The deadline for applications is Monday, Dec. 1.

Antitrust Summer Fellowship

The ABA Section of Antitrust Law sponsors the Janet D. Steiger fellowship program for 20 first and second year law students to serve for a minimum of eight weeks in the consumer protection department of one of the participating State Attorneys General during the summer of 2009. Each selected student will receive a $5,000 stipend for the summer. The program also offers a supplemental housing/travel allowance of up to $2,000 for those students who are not living at home for the summer. The deadline for students to submit an application is Friday, January 30, 2009. Students must submit: (1) the application form (available at www.abanet.org/antitrust); (2) resume; (3) writing sample; and (4) statement of interest. For additional information or questions, contact Deborah Douglas, Assistant Director, ABA Section of Antitrust Law, at 312/988-5606 or douglasd@staff.abanet.org.

U.S. Attorney Summer Law Intern Program

The Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida is soliciting applicants for the Summer Law Intern Program for 2009. Students who will have completed one or more years of law school by the end of the 2009 Spring term are eligible to apply. All 2009 Summer Law Intern positions in the Middle District of Florida are unpaid. Check the job bank in Syplicity for the full job description and application instructions.

CCS PROGRAM THIS WEEK:

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE STATE ATTORNEY

AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS' OFFICES

Wednesday, November 12th at noon in room 345

Join us to hear attorneys with these offices talk about preparing for being an Assistant State Attorney or Public Defender, benefits and rewards, and what they handle during a typical day.
Refreshments will be provided.

American Society of International Law Arthur C. Helton Fellowship Program

Helton Fellowships provide financial assistance in the form of "micro-grants" for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas. The application deadline is February 13, 2009, but only the first 50 completed applications, submitted on-line, and received in full by the submission deadline will be reviewed. For more information and the online application go to www.asil.org.

Nonprofit Law Fellowships

The National Center on Philanthropy and the Law (NCPL) at New York University School of Law is offering two fellowships in Nonprofit Law: the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowship in Nonprofit Law at the Vera Institute of Justice (The RBF Fellowship) and the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law Fellowship in Nonprofit Law at New York University’s Office of Legal Counsel (The NCPL Fellowship). Both fellowships last for one year and fellows are funded annually at a salary of $47,000 plus benefits. Online applications are available at www.law.nyu.edu/ncpl. Completed applications must be received by theNCPL no later than December 5, 2008.

Florida Bar Foundation Summer Fellowship Program

The 2009 Summer Fellowship Program offers approximately 40 full-time fellowships to first and second year law students working in legal aid and legal services programs in Florida. Fellowship stidpends are $5,500 for first-year students and $7,000 for second-year students for the 11-week period. Details about the program and the on-line application are available at http://www.flabarfndn.org/. The application deadline is January 22, 2009.

Local Networking Opportunity

Interested in Working in the Alachua, Marion or Columbia County area upon graduation?
UF Law will be sponsoring a reception on Thursday, December 11th from 5:30-7:30 in Gainesville for area alums and the local bar association. The Office of Development and Alumni Affairs graciously is permitting a number of interested students to attend this networking reception.
Alumni receptions provide an excellent opportunity to hone your networking skills, meet members of the local legal community and make potentially valuable professional contacts. Business attire required. Space is limited and preference will be given to 3L’s interested in working in this area. If you are interested, email careers@law.ufl.edu indicating your class year by Friday, November 21st . You will receive email notification of your status by November 25th.

PRLDEF Corporate Legal Internship 2009

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund's Corporate Legal Internship is a paid summer internship program for first and second year law students of color who are interested in pursuing careers in corporate legal departments. Since corporate legal departments typically do not maintain summer internship programs, PRLDEF's internship program provides students of color with an otherwise rare opportunity. Current corporate partners include Bristol-Myers Squibb (NY and NY), IBM (NY), Johnson & Johnson (NJ), Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (NY), and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (NY).

Students interested in being considered for this internship opportunity should send a resume, cover letter, transcipt (undergraduate if 1L), and legal writing sample postmarked no later than Friday, December 19, 2008 to:

Ms. Sonji Patick

Education Programs Director, PRLDEF

99 Hudson Street, 14th Floor

New York, NY 10013-2815

No electronic applications will be accepted.

Stop by Career Services for additional information or contact Sonji_patrick@prldef.org.

ABA Judicial Intern Opportunity Program

The American Bar Association Section of Litigation is currently accepting applications for its Summer 2009 Judicial Intern Opportunity Program for second-year law students. Applications for first-year law students will be accepted December 1st, in accordance with NALP guidelines. The program is a full-time, six-week minimum, summer internship program open to all first-or second-year minority and/or financially disadvantaged law students. Students will be placed with judges in various courts in Illinois, Texas, Florida, Arizona, California, and Washington D.C.
Click here for details.