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Career Development Office

The Career Development Office (CDO) assists students and graduates in identifying career objectives and obtaining employment that meets those objectives. Its approach is to assist in self-assessment and in defining career goals, as well as in teaching students and graduates the career skills that will serve them well in law school and beyond. CDO is staffed by counselors who have expertise in both the public and private sectors, as well as in judicial clerkships and fellowships. Through CDO, students locate summer and full-time positions with law firms, public interest organizations, government agencies, law schools, legal services organizations, corporations, fellowship programs, judges, and others.

Because the student body is small and diverse, CDO emphasizes individual counseling and career information services to students. These services include sponsoring informational programs, maintaining a library of materials on career options, holding and sponsoring interviewing programs, publishing guides and directories, and counseling. CDO sponsors more than fifty programs each year, including panel discussions, lectures, and informal discussions about public interest and private sector opportunities as well as judicial clerkships and fellowships.

In addition to serving current students, CDO counsels graduates wishing to change positions or seek new opportunities. Job listings and advice are available to interested graduates on the CDO Web site at www.law.yale.edu/cdo.

In order to foster mentoring relationships between students and graduates, CDO invites graduates to serve as mentors in residence and meet individually with students seeking career advice. In addition, CDO coordinates the Alumni Mentoring Network whereby students have access to hundreds of graduates who have offered to serve as career advisers.

Every fall CDO sponsors a recruitment program for second- and third-year students. Approximately 250 legal employers from all parts of the country and abroad register to interview students for summer and permanent positions. An additional thirty employers interview first-year students every spring. Yale also cosponsors two public service recruitment events and one international graduate student interview event off-campus each year. Hundreds of employers post job opportunities for Yale Law students and graduates on CDO’s Web site.

Upon graduation, virtually all Yale law students have accepted employment. Of the members of the Class of 2001 who reported their employment, 44 percent accepted judicial clerkships, 33 percent accepted jobs with private law firms, 10 percent accepted public interest or government jobs, 6 percent accepted jobs in business and industry, and 5 percent continued their education or accepted positions in academia. After taking into account the first jobs taken by students after their judicial clerkships, the total percentage of graduates in public service typically rises to 15 percent.

Geographically, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles are the most popular destinations for our graduates, but members of the Class of 2001 accepted employment in thirty-three different states.

Nearly all first- and second-year law students who seek summer legal employment are able to secure positions with law firms, government agencies, public interest organizations, legal services organizations, or judges. Through Summer Public Interest Fellowships, the Law School ensures that everyone who needs funding for summer public interest or government work—in the United States or abroad—receives it.

All graduates since 1988 are eligible for the Law School’s loan deferral and forgiveness program, the Career Options Assistance Program. COAP reduces educational debts for graduates working in relatively low-paying positions, including public interest careers. See Career Options Assistance Program for further details.

The Law School has long taken a vigorous stand against any discrimination on grounds of age; color; handicap or disability; ethnic or national origin; race; religion; religious creed; gender (including discrimination taking the form of sexual harassment); marital, parental, or veteran status; sexual orientation; or the prejudice of clients. Accordingly, all employers using Yale Law School’s placement services are required to abide by this policy.


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