If you work with LL.M. students or international programs at a U.S. law school, you should join us later this week at the International Legal Education Abroad & LL.M. Administrators Conference! Many thanks to Melanija Radnovic and everyone else involved in this fantastic conference.

In Spring 2015, I entered the 3.0 version of my career. I was at the International Legal Education Abroad & LL.M. Administrators Conference (https://www.wcl.american.edu/impact/initiatives-programs/international/ileac/), held at American University Washington College of Law. I was on a panel for semester-long externships at international organizations (I was advising J.D. students at the time who wanted these types of positions). While attending the other sessions, I learned about the world of international LL.M. recruitment, heard about ways other law schools were globalizing and met leaders in the field. As a very junior, inexperienced law school staffer, this conference was an eye-opening look at the types careers I wanted. Over the next 18 months, I shifted from student services to international recruitment, law school partnerships, and global engagement.

I encourage law school staff in junior positions or looking to enter our field to attend the conference. I’m paying the $25 registration fee out-of-pocket (as I imagine some others may need to do). If you attend, please reach out to me and I’ll do my best to assist based on your interests/goals. I’m also happy to offer advice to those looking to break into this area of work.

Schedule: https://www.wcl.american.edu/impact/initiatives-programs/international/ileac/schedule/.

Advice for junior professionals and those looking to break into the field:

1. Look for revenue generating positions or positions with direct impacts on USNWR rankings. If you do a good job, you’ll likely have an easier time lateraling into revenue neutral and revenue losing programs at law schools. A great area to start in, in my opinion, is Non-J.D. enrollment. But development & alumni relations and employer relations are other good areas.
2. If you don’t work in higher education, reach out to someone you trust for application and interview preparation (ideally someone who works in a law school). As someone who went immediately from law school to law school staff work, I try to explain how working in higher education is different from what some might expect (#1 piece of advice: avoid saying you want to work at a university for a relaxing, non-stressful position where you stop working at 5:00pm each day).
3. Once you’re hired, find something that isn’t being done that you think adds value and prestige for your school. Once you start doing it, a school doesn’t want to stop doing it. At that point, you’re in a position of being needed a lot more than before. And why hire an outsider and go through a search when the school already has someone doing that activity well. This works even better if it’s something that more qualified people don’t want to do.

I hope to see you this week!