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COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL MAGAZINE SPRING 2012 Departments Columbia Law School Spring 2012 Magazine SUPER PAC MANIA Has the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for campaign spending in ways that will change elections forever? GLOBAL INFLUENCE Columbia Law School's international arbitration legacy AHEAD OF THE CURVE Leadership in the field of national security law Fromthe Dean The Job Market for Our Students For more than 150 years, Columbia Law School has trained leaders from all over the world. Our graduates serve in the highest levels of government, the bar, public interest organiza- tions, boardrooms, and the academy. We are proud of this legacy and determined to preserve and enhance it even as—indeed, especially as—the job market for new law school graduates has become tighter. We all know that the environment has become more challenging since the financial crisis of 2008. Although the downturn’s effects have been less pronounced at Columbia than at many schools, it has touched us as well. We have responded in a range of ways to try to ensure that our extraordinary students have opportunities comparable to those of the generations who came before them. After all, it is profoundly unfair for someone’s career opportunities to be constrained by the timing of when they happen to graduate. Therefore, we have tried to help in every way we can. The more challenging job market has been one of our motivations in the broad range of curricular ini- tiatives we have launched in recent years, including our new Three-Year J.D./M.B.A. Program, our pro- gram on national security law, our center on public leadership, our joint center with the Business School, our semester-long government externship in Washington, D.C., our overseas partnerships in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and much more. In addition, we have introduced a range of new initiatives focused on job counseling and placement, and these are the focus of this update. 1. JUDICIAL window into the work- come to appreciate the interview summer associ- CLERKSHIPS ings of our judicial system. long-term value of these ates at the beginning of their Yet, because clerkships pay prestigious opportunities. second year of law school—at he number of significantly less than first- least two years before these Columbia Law year associate positions at 2. PRIVATE SECTOR future lawyers start full time. T School graduates leading law firms (which As a result, employers have clerking has increased typically pay $160,000), t is well-understood that to predict how busy they will by nearly 50 percent in it used to be a challenge most leading law firms be in two years, which is not recent years. A judicial to persuade some of our I have been hiring smaller easy in volatile economic clerkship is an exception- students to apply. A silver entering classes in recent times. This means the expe- ally valuable experience, lining in the current job years. Law firms traditionally rience of each recent J.D. offering outstanding market is that more stu- determine the size of their class has been somewhat training and a unique dents and graduates have entering class when they different, since the effects of the financial crisis were business at many law firms 2012 compared with 271 for A further silver lining is felt at a different point in the was low, and they already 2011). Meanwhile, the sum- that graduates who are able recruiting cycle for each class. had more associates coming mer programs for the Class to get an interesting job Most members of the (including deferred associ- of 2013 are generally larger after graduation in a tight Class of 2009 who were ates from the Class of 2009) than for the Class of 2012, job market become part of a planning to work at law than they could accommo- so we are expecting a higher relatively small cohort with firms had already received date. As a result, the summer percentage of the Class of unique training and experi- permanent offers by the fall associate programs in 2010 2013 to be placed in sum- ence, and thus become even of 2008 when the financial (for the Class of 2011) were mer programs. more in demand over time. crisis began. When law significantly smaller at many During these difficult This dynamic is familiar to firms came to realize that firms than in prior years. economic times, there are people like me who were in they would not have enough About 74 percent of the Class some “silver linings” in the law school two decades ago work for the Class of 2009, of 2011 worked at law firms private sector job market for during the S&L crisis. In the they deferred start dates for during their second summer, Columbia students. First, early ’90s, law firms cut their many of them by six months down from 92 percent the Columbia’s market share of entering classes, so entry-level or more, and instead offered year before. the available law firm jobs jobs became more scarce. But generous funding to volun- Although the market for the remains quite high. Fifty within a few years, when the teer at government or public Class of 2012 and 2013 is not years ago, leading law firms tech boom of the mid- and interest organizations. as robust as it was for classes hired only at Columbia and late ’90s was in full swing, Members of the Class of before the financial crisis, it a few other schools. Yet these experienced young lawyers at 2010 who wanted to work appears to be getting better. leading law firms are many leading law firms found them- at law firms had mostly While about 77 percent of the times larger than they were selves in great demand in part interviewed for summer Class of 2012 worked at law 50 years ago, while Colum- because there were relatively jobs (for the summer of firms during their second sum- bia Law School’s entering few of them. Our graduates 2009) by the time the finan- mer (up a bit from 74 percent J.D. class is only about 1/3 from the past few years may cial crisis began; as a result, for the Class of 2011), the larger than it was then. In have a similar experience in most already had offers by number of students who did order to accommodate this coming years. But that will be the time firms realized that the case only if they are able their summer programs “SINCE THE FINANCIAL CRISIS OF to find positions that provide were too large. Ninety-two 2008, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL them with valuable training. percent of the Class of 2010 HAS RESPONDED IN A RANGE OF In seeking these jobs, they spent their second summer WAYS TO TRY TO ENSURE THAT OUR have two great advantages: at a law firm. Although the EXTRAORDINARY STUDENTS HAVE They are exceptionally tal- historic pattern had been OPPORTUNITIES COMPARABLE ented, and they come from a that nearly all summer TO THOSE OF THE GENERATIONS school with a strong interna- associates were invited back WHO CAME BEFORE THEM.” tional reputation. But in this permanently, for economic challenging market, more is reasons fewer offers were sometimes needed. extended to the Class of In response, we increased 2010; 48 students (slightly the size of our job counsel- more than 10 percent of the ing group so they could work class) were not invited back. one-on-one with students. At the same time, only a not receive a permanent offer growth, over the years these Our Dean of Career Ser- small number of firms were was down significantly: to firms began hiring at a much vices, Petal Modeste, and looking to hire additional about 2 percent of the Class broader range of schools. But her colleagues have worked associates who had not been of 2010 compared with about after the financial crisis, the incredibly hard. As part of in their summer programs. 6 percent for the Class of pendulum swung back. While that effort, the faculty and I As a result, for the first 2011. In addition, some law we always have been a lead- have made numerous calls on time in many years, it was a firms have become under- ing feeder to top law firms, behalf of individuals inter- challenge for a group of stu- staffed at the most junior Columbia’s presence in these viewing for posted positions. dents who wanted to work level, so firms are hiring more institutions has become even We recruited members of at private law firms to find third-year students who were more pronounced. For exam- our alumni boards to serve these opportunities. not their summer associates; ple, in the summer of 2011, as mentors, advising stu- In some ways, the Class of at this year’s early interview Columbia Law School stu- dents and helping them find 2011 faced an even greater program, for instance, the dents represented at least 10 interesting opportunities. challenge. They were inter- number of interview slots for percent of each of the nation’s We included graduates in a viewing for summer jobs third-year students increased 25 largest summer associate range of initiatives to help in the summer and fall of by 51 percent over the previ- programs, and at least 20 train our students for inter- 2009, when the volume of ous year (410 for the Class of percent of nine of them. views and to give them advice LAW.COLUMBIA.EDU/MAGAZINE 1 about how to have a success- efforts has been quite effec- in public interest organiza- lowships were added to a ful experience as a summer tive.
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