The return on investment (ROI) in alumni networking can be significant. Investing resources in an alumni program has the potential to result in significant ROI over time, from professional networking opportunities to substantive billable work.
The NALP Foundation shares data from the recently released Law School Alumni Employment & Satisfaction Study for the Class of 2021. The study has historically explored employment levels, career satisfaction, and assessment of legal education’s efficacy, and this year it adds important new information on graduates’ career aspirations and geographic dispersion while continuing to highlight the ongoing high levels of mobility for young lawyers at the three-year mark after graduation.
Here are some of the ways CSOs can be helpful both to alumni and to employers.
The third alumni study included analyses of employment status, compensation, and mobility among the Class of 2012 law graduates, as well as on an array of satisfaction dimensions.
Want to learn how to increase alumni engagement through data research? Fenwick’s Baina Renaud explores five cost-effective ways to improve your data and better connect with alumni.
Facebook and LinkedIn offer some great starting points for CSOs to enhance their connections with alumni. Here are some tips.
Law schools have an interest in identifying alumni clerks to know which judges are hiring their graduates, to refer other candidates to them for networking, and to add those clerkships to their “tally” for marketing purposes. Here are strategies you can implement to find your alumni law clerks.
One of the most uncomfortable situations career counselors find themselves in each year is engaging recent graduates who have not passed the bar or face another admissions hurdle delaying their entry into practice. Here are some suggestions for locating and helping to support those alumni.
These tips will help law graduates set SMART goals for their continuing job searches.
Using inclusive language creates inclusive communities. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Hayley Niven explains why legal alumni programs should start using the word “alum” in place of the traditional alumnus/alumna.
University of Windsor Faculty of Law’s Kathleen Behan shares helpful pointers for encouraging law students to strategically use social media to build their networks and help define their career goals.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s Michael A. Gerstenzang and Elizabeth Claps discuss how a strong alumni relations program can help support law firm leadership.
McDermott Will & Emery’s Adrienne Jaroch offers tips for building a corporate alumni relations program that captures some of the best elements of university-based programs.
BLG’s Hayley Niven explains how to sharpen your alumni relations program by expanding your collaboration with business development teams.
Law school alumni from the Class of 2014, when surveyed three years after graduation, reported higher employment rates, higher aggregate salaries, lower rates of intention to change jobs, were more often working as a practicing lawyer, and reported higher overall satisfaction with their current job than did graduates from the Classes of 2010 and 2011. The data give us another measure to assess the improvement in the law school graduate employment market following the recession.
Former NALP President Karen Britton explores how job roles have evolved in legal career services and law firm recruitment over the past 50 years.
Building a strong, well-connected alumni community is an important strategy for law firms given that alumni can be a firm’s strongest brand advocates. A thoughtful alumni program often leads to referrals of business and stickier client relationships.
From law students and summer associates exploring career paths, to firm lawyers who need training and access to future opportunities, to firm alumni who have left but want to enhance their professional network, integrating a firm’s law student and lawyer populations creates a community that benefits its members and the firm.
Many job candidates are now taking the quality of law firm alumni relations programs into consideration when researching and evaluating their employment options.
While there is no silver bullet for retaining diverse associates, the shared interests and outcomes from partnering beyond one organization benefit individuals, law firms, and the legal industry.
At Mercer University School of Law, we are a smaller school of roughly 400 students, but we pride ourselves on an active alumni network. This article looks at some of the ways that our alumni show up (and show out) to help enrich the professional development of our students.
The Law School Alumni Advising Interest Group is open to members with an interest in or responsibility for advising law school graduates.
