INSIDE SCOOP: Wyatt McHale (center), Alissa Caldwell (to his right), and other 1Ls learn about the law firm Dechert during one of the Coffee Chat Series programs. Photo by Laurie Frasier

As legal recruiting continued to evolve and start earlier in students’ first year of law school, Berkeley Law’s Career Development Office (CDO) considered different ways to support 1Ls and put them in the best possible position for success.

“We recognized a need to allow 1Ls to meet with employers sooner in their law school journey,” says Assistant Dean for Career Development Eric Stern.

This year, the CDO moved many of its flagship student and employer networking programs from spring to fall and launched a new program — the Coffee Chat Series — allowing 1Ls to meet with employers sooner, creating earlier opportunities for exploration and in-person research.

The weekly program opened the door for informal conversations to help 1Ls explore career options and get to know potential public sector and private sector employers in a more casual, lower stress, smaller group environment.

The coffee chats were “an easy way to meet employers and better understand the different ways I could use my law degree,” says 1L Sharan Sethi. “I enjoy getting a humanized perspective on the work, which I find much more useful than just exploring career paths through websites.”

On 11 Thursday mornings last semester, the CDO used an open house-style, drop-in format for 1Ls to have 1-on-1 conversations with four to five employers during a 90-minute window. In all, 43 employers participated in the program with 60 to 100 students attending each session.

TALKING SHOP: Litigation associate Heidi Kong ’24 (right) describes the work environment at her firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. Photo by Laurie Frasier

Stern says the CDO aimed to “encourage genuine conversation and discovery between students and employers — without expectations — allowing students to gain valuable insights that will help shape their career vision and understand the pathways to achieve their goals.”

Employers included representatives from Big Law and plaintiff-side firms, district attorney and public defenders’ offices, city and county attorneys, direct legal service nonprofits, judges, judicial clerks and staff attorneys, the California Supreme Court, the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, and nine California Department of Justice sections.

The CDO also invited both 2Ls and 3Ls who did summer work for participating employers to join the coffee chats and provide a peer perspective on their experiences.

“The wide range of employers allows me to get to know how lawyers, and often Berkeley Law grads, have taken their expertise into different facets of society,” 1L Wyatt McHale says. “This has been especially helpful as a first-generation law student.”

Ten months after graduation, 99% of the J.D. class of 2024 was employed — a Berkeley Law record since the school began tabulating such data. Staffed by nine attorney-counselors, each of whom has practiced law and can offer real-world insights into various career paths, the CDO strives to help students stay ahead of the legal marketplace curve.

“Through this networking program, in conjunction with earlier career and professional development programming, we’ve observed a 1L class that is highly sophisticated, fully engaged, and intentional,” Stern says. “They are ready to meet this moment head-on and we are prepared to support them.” — Andrew Cohen

A new course this semester taught by Professor Frank Partnoy, which he developed with Assistant Dean for Career Development Eric Stern and Career Development Office Deputy Director Elizabeth Klein, helped first-year students learn about the practice areas, structure, economics, and culture at large firms.

Introduction to Big Law Practice for 1Ls highlighted the evolving needs of individual and institutional clients, skills and interests that fit given Big Law practice areas, the importance of interfacing with regulators and judges, the role of experts and other third-party service providers, and how technology and AI are disrupting Big Law. Each student wrote a potential business plan for their career as the main final class assignment.