March 2, 2021 – The Career Development Office’s (CDO) Passport to Success Professional Development Series recently provided fundamental career advising and professional training to first-year University of Houston Law Center students, giving direction on how to best seek out job opportunities and understand the employment process.
“The goal from a career perspective, while you're in law school, is to gain practical hands-on legal experience,” said Tiffany J. Tucker, Assistant Dean for Career Development. “You can then brand and market yourself to post-graduate employers as a budding young attorney that is well-equipped to handle real-world, client centered legal work.”
Session III of the Passport to Success series, “Charting the Course: Communicating Where You are Going and Why You Want to Go There,” focused on teaching students how to identify their career interests, discover employer priorities, and properly present themselves and interact with prospective employers.
“Law students should form relationships in the legal community, including attorneys in the field, Law Center faculty and staff, CDO Career Counselors, and classmates,” Tucker said. “These relationships are vital to the mentorship, career support, and professional development necessary for all attorney’s successful careers.”
Tucker noted that it is imperative to jumpstart a career with hands-on activity, and the more participation, the greater the references, resources, and skills acquired. Whether working for a Law Center Clinic, a government agency, non-profit organization, law firm, or corporation, practical legal experience gained as a law student is key to identifying career goals and securing post-graduate employment.
“We also encourage you to participate in as many of the CDO recruiting and networking programs as possible this semester,” Tucker said. “They were all organized specifically based on the interests of our students and hiring needs of legal employers.”
Paul Klinger, Assistant Director for Career Development, encouraged students to utilize the professional mentors available for assistance in transitioning from law school to practicing law. Students are paired with an attorney to strengthen research development, interview techniques and employment strategies, as well as provide further exposure into the legal realm.
The final session of the Passport to Success Series, “You've Landed: Making the Most of Your Dream Destination” will be held on March 31, offering strategies and tips for successful summer legal employment experiences and guidance for part-time legal students in gaining experience.
