Office for Career Services(OCS) partners with students and alumni to address their career development needs. The office is open from 9 am to 5:30 pm and may be reached at 442-6625. Evening appointments are available by prior arrangement.
OCS staff provides comprehensive career services to law students and graduates. Students have access to individual career counseling, a resume and cover letter review service, recruiting and employment opportunities, career resource library, and a variety of online resources and social media outlets. Up-to-date job listings are available through the LCDonline system at https://law-ggucsm.symplicity.com/students/.
OCS educates students about the job search process and legal career options by presenting workshops and inviting attorneys to campus to share their experiences with students. In addition, OCS promotes a variety of networking and professional development opportunities through bar associations, mock interview events, and other programs.
OCS staff members conduct orientation meetings with first-year law students at the end of the first semester of law school. At these mandatory orientation meetings, staff members begin the career planning process and introduce students to the variety of services and resources available to them. Office for Career Services continues to work in partnership with students throughout law school and after graduation to coach them through refining their career goals and planning and implementing job search strategies.
Eligibility for Assistance
The services and resources of OCS are available to all students currently enrolled in the JD, LLM, or SJD programs at Golden Gate University School of Law, as well as alumni of these programs. Students and alumni of other ABA-accredited law schools may request access to the resources of the Office for Career Services through the terms of a reciprocity agreement between Golden Gate and their school. Access to the office is limited to the terms specified in the reciprocity policy, available from OCS.
Use of Office for Career Services
Students may use the resources of OCS for job search-related activities only. The computers, telephone, scanner, fax machine, photocopier, letterhead, supplies and other resources of the office are not for personal use. Students using OCS resources must agree to abide by all policies posted in the office regarding the use of office equipment and resources.
Services to First-Year Students
Golden Gate University School of Law is a member of NALP, the Association for Legal Career Professionals. According to Part V.D. of NALP’s standards and procedures:
- To position law students to be as successful as possible, their efforts during the first semester of law school should focus on their studies rather than on job search activities. Nonetheless, opportunities to learn about professionalism, professional development and the legal profession are appropriate early in law school. Recognizing that law schools will differ in philosophy as to first-year career development activities, law schools nevertheless should not begin offering one-on-one career counseling or application document reviews to first-year students before October 15 (except in the case of part-time students who may be given assistance in seeking positions during the school term). Individual law schools may set later dates as appropriate.
- Prospective employers and first year law students should not initiate contact with one another and employers should not interview or make offers to first year students before December 1.
- All offers to first year students for summer employment should remain open for at least two weeks after the date made.
JD Student Employment Limitations
GGU prohibits JD students from being employed for pay in excess of 20 hours per week during any week in which the student is enrolled in more than 12 semester units. (Hours worked for academic credit are not counted towards the 20 hours.) First year full-time students may not be employed for pay at all. Failure to comply with this requirement may be considered a violation of the Standards of Student Conduct.
OCS Resource Library Circulation Policy
The OCS Resource Library, which is located in the Office for Career Services, is integrated with the Law Library’s collection. Students may search the Library’s online catalog to identify resources housed at OCS.
Students must have a valid Golden Gate ID card or membership card in order to borrow books. Many OCS materials do not circulate but may be used on the premises and, in some cases, copied. Students should consult the Law Library’s circulation policy for details regarding the length of resource loans, overdue fines, and other relevant information.
Possible consequences of failing to return items or pay fines include loss of Law Library borrowing privileges or blocked grade reports, transcripts, registration, or graduation.
LCDonline and Recruiting Programs
LCDonline is the official system for all information regarding recruiting programs, job listings, deadlines, presentations, and other OCS activities. All students will be assigned a username and password for access to the LCDonline system. Students will be required to maintain an updated profile, including a current email address. During the on-campus interview season, a student must maintain an updated profile with current contact information and check the LCDonline system at least once a day for updates to his or her interview schedule. Students are required to have a resume and at least one cover letter approved by OCS if they wish to participate in on-campus recruiting programs. Failure to have application materials approved may result in exclusion from on-campus recruiting programs.
Cancellation Policies
Interview Cancellations
In the event that a student needs to cancel a job interview arranged through the School of Law’s recruiting programs or sponsored job fairs, the student must provide at least 48 hours’ notice to OCS (and to the employer for interviews located at the employer’s office). A student who does not attend a scheduled interview, or cancels an interview fewer than 48 hours in advance, will be required to send a letter of apology to the employer and provide the Associate Dean for Office for Career Services with a copy. The student will not be permitted to participate in the on-campus interview program until the Associate Dean receives a copy of the apology letter. Cancellations, especially with short notice, reflect poorly on the student and on the School of Law.
Employment Offers
Evaluating an offer for a job, internship, externship, or clinical experience is an important process. Students should contact OCS for advice and assistance. In addition, students must review and comply with the following principles:
- Accepting an Offer
Students should consider the acceptance of an offer to be a binding obligation. Students should not accept offers of employment if they do not intend to honor that commitment. Once a student accepts an offer of employment, he or she must immediately contact all other employers who are evaluating his or her candidacy and withdraw from consideration. All students should contact OCS to report their job acceptance.
A student should not continue to interview or “shop around” for competing opportunities that would conflict with the commitment he or she has made to his or her employer. Doing so could damage the student’s reputation as well as that of the School of Law.
- NALP Standards Governing Offers with Employers Having More Than 25 Attorneys
As a member of NALP, Golden Gate University School of Law expects its students, personnel, and employer community to adhere to NALP Principles and Standards for Law Placement and Recruitment Activities. School of Law students must review and comply with the Principles and Standards stated on NALP’s website, http://www.nalp.org/fulltextofnalpprinciplesandstandards. The key components of these guidelines for your review are:
- Part III. Principles for Candidates
Part III largely discusses students’ responsibility to conduct themselves in a professional manner throughout the job search process, which includes honoring their employment commitments and representing their qualifications and interests fully and accurately. To assist OCS with their reporting requirements, students are encouraged to communicate any offers received to OCS.
- Part V. General Standards for the Timing of Offers and Decisions during Fall Recruitment
NALP member schools and their students, along with NALP employers, should comply with the timing standards set forth in Part V of NALP Principles and Standards. Students should review the guidelines in their entirety at http://www.nalp.org/fulltextofnalpprinciplesandstandards.
Nondiscrimination Policy
Employers who utilize OCS have agreed to abide by the School of Law’s nondiscrimination policy:
Golden Gate University’s Office for Career Services does not make its facilities or services available to employers who discriminate on the basis of race, sex, creed, religion, age, color, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification, ancestry, national/ethnic origin, nationality/citizenship, political affiliation, marital status, medical condition, or any other status protected from discrimination by federal, state, or local law.
The use of OCS services constitutes adherence to this policy.
In the event an employer acts in a manner inconsistent with this policy or places a student in an uncomfortable situation, the student should contact OCS immediately. The Associate Dean for Office for Career Services can help determine how to remedy the situation.
Employment Surveys and Requests for Information
On a periodic basis, Office for Career Services will request that students provide information evaluating their various law school work and internship experiences. OCS will gather the information to make it available to other students to assist them in evaluating future employment opportunities. We encourage students to be both honest and professional when preparing these evaluations.
Following graduation, OCS will also seek information from students regarding their post-graduate employment status. The Law School is required to collect and report this information anonymously to the ABA and NALP. The Law School also presents this information in an aggregated form to US News & World Report, employers, current students, alumni and prospective students to provide insight into hiring practices and salary trends.
Students are required to comply with these information requests in a timely fashion and in an honest manner.
Standards of Student Conduct
Actions that bear upon students’ ethical and moral fitness (i.e., honesty and integrity) to practice law, even though such actions do not occur on the property of Golden Gate University, are subject to the School of Law’s Standards of Student Conduct. This may include (but is not limited to) interactions involving employers, externship supervisors, pro bono activities, job fairs and conferences. Students are required to review the Standards of Student Conduct in their entirety.
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