Career Preparation

The Career Development Office
Libraries
Technology
Statistics

The Career Development Office

The CDO is dedicated to providing you with the personal service you need to achieve your goals. All of our career advisors are experienced attorneys with diverse backgrounds who will coach you on your career plans, no matter your area of interest. You can work with our CDO team to identify your career goals, learn how to approach a job search and take advantage of the many resources available to you, inside and outside the School. CDO’s online appointment system is available 24/7/365, allowing you to make appointments easily with the advisor of your choice at a time that is convenient for you.

You can attend programs that expose you to a range of career options and practice settings, including pro bono, nonprofit and government work, large and small firm practice, corporate and international practice, judicial clerkships and non-law opportunities, to name but a few.

You can attend workshops that will help you master the nuts and bolts of a job search, including conducting market research, preparing résumés and cover letters and honing interviewing skills. As a 1L, you will be paired with a volunteer BU Law “Alumni Mentor,” who can provide additional insight about the legal profession, course selection and career management.

You will have many options to pursue the career you want. Over 200 employers from at least 25 states come to BU Law to recruit students. The CDO sponsors eight additional regional recruiting programs in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles. You will have opportunities to network with our alumni, learn about public interest jobs and participate in national hiring programs, including two major government and public interest job fairs held annually in Boston.

Today, legal careers are often fluid and dynamic. CDO advisors will not only help you search for your first job—they will also help you gain a long-term perspective on managing your career. After graduation the CDO is available to provide resources for your lifelong career development.

Libraries

BU Law’s Pappas Law Library contains one of the largest law school research collections in the United States. You will have access to more than 650,000 volumes and thousands of licensed electronic resources for both legal and interdisciplinary research. You may also use other Boston University libraries, including the main Mugar Memorial Library adjacent to BU Law.

The Law Library is a member of several consortia with other major law libraries in New England and New York that share scholarly resources through document delivery services.

The library offers basic, advanced and topical-research training classes. Librarians teach research classes and refreshers, provide daily research assistance to law students and offer individual research consultations for papers.

Technology

BU Law houses four computer labs with Windows-based computers. A wireless network is available in the law school and in many coffee shops and gathering places on campus with service to the Internet, e-mail, LexisNexis, Westlaw, a wide variety of Web-based research resources and interactive products from the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction. You’ll also have free access to a wide variety of computing resources through Boston University’s Information Technology Office and Personal Computing Support Center.

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Statistics

• BU Law ranks #1 in Teaching Quality in the Leiter Law School Rankings—the only New England law school to be ranked in the top 10 for this category.

• The Princeton Review voted BU Law among America’s top law schools in the categories of:
  “Faculty Quality”— #1
  “Best Career Prospects”— #10

• BU Law ranks #20 in the U.S. News & World Report survey.

• U.S. News & World Report ranks:
  BU Health Law — #4
  BU Tax Law — #6

More than 200 employers from 25 states come to BU Law to recruit students. More than 700 law firms, government agencies, public interest organizations and corporations recruit BU Law students at regional and specialty job fairs.

Starting salaries for BU Law graduates in the private sector average $135,000—among the nation’s highest.

You’ll learn how to manage your career for the long haul. Some graduates choose traditional routes, becoming partners, general counsels or public prosecutors; others choose law enforcement, politics, entertainment or the life of an entrepreneur. At BU Law, you will learn not only about the law but also how to use your legal education to pursue the life and career you want.

BU Law: far and wide
BU Law alumni work in 50 states (more than half in the South, West and Mid-Atlantic states), Washington, D.C., and more than 65 countries.

Graduates of the Class of 2008 who secured jobs in law and business began their careers in the following areas:

Current BU Law students come from 43 states, 2 foreign territories and 9 foreign countries.

J.D. classes often include foreign-trained LL.M. students who contribute a global perspective to classroom discussions.

BU Law students hold degrees from 245 colleges and universities. The top 10 feeder schools among the current student body are:

University of Pennsylvania

University of California at Berkeley

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Boston University

University of California at Los Angeles

Boston College

Tufts University

University of Washington

Princeton University

George Washington University

BU Law Incoming Class Profile:

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Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Silber Way
Boston, MA 02215

27 September 2009
Boston University
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