Director of Public Interest and Community Engagement - Cornell Law School

Founded in 1887, Cornell Law School is a top-tier law school, currently ranked 14th by U.S. News & World Report. We offer a 3-year JD program for about 200 students per class, a one-year LLM program for about 90 students from countries throughout the world, and a doctoral (JSD) program for about 2-3 new students per year. Cornell Law School has 41 tenured and tenure-track faculty, including 20 with chaired faculty positions; and 15 clinical professors in the legal research and writing program and in clinics at the local, national, and international level. Our faculty is consistently ranked among the top in the country for scholarly productivity and influence, and has pre-eminence in many areas, including quantitative and qualitative empirical legal studies, international and comparative law, and robust doctrinal scholarship in core fields. Our school is committed to being recognized as the leader among law schools at combining inspiring theoretical, doctrinal, and experiential teaching with cutting-edge scholarship in a supportive, intellectually rich community, so that our graduates can achieve excellence in all facets of the legal profession.

   

What you will do:

The Director of Public Interest and Community Engagement serves as an integral member of Cornell Law School’s Career Development Office, supporting student and alumni career goals with a focus on experiential public interest opportunities. In particular, the Director supports all current students and alumni who seek to incorporate public interest and to address access to justice issues into their legal careers. This includes leading employer services in the public interest sector and providing counseling to students and alumni on all aspects of their public interest and government job searches (e.g. short-term and long-term employment opportunities with government employers and non-profit organizations, and summer opportunities with local, state, and federal judges). Other duties include:

• Collaborating with the Associate Dean of Experiential Education and the Associate Dean for Career Development to identify and develop community and public service opportunities for current students and alumni, supervising projects as needed.

• Enhancing existing resources, programming, and outreach to government agencies and non-profit organizations.

• Developing and maintaining relationships with legal employers, including recruitment of new legal employers.

• Planning and implementing signature events, including the annual Public Interest Academy, Public Services Awards Reception, and the Rhodes Symposium.

• Creating various publications, reports, and resources.

• Preparing and administering the annual budget for public service.

• Partner and support the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development’s funding initiatives.

• Representing the Law School on national organizations and attending national meetings and conferences such as NALP, Equal Justice Works, and the New York State Committee on Access to Justice.

While position responsibilities vary, all people leaders are expected to foster a culture of belonging and a psychologically healthy work environment by being trustworthy; respecting all individuals; being flexible; supporting work/life integration as well as healthy boundaries; inviting new ideas, alternatives, and perspectives; speaking up and taking action if others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and recognizing the contributions of others.

What we need:

• Bachelor’s degree and 5-7 years of experience, or equivalent professional experience in higher education administration or legal practice.

• Thorough understanding of the legal field to facilitate the counseling of students and alumni. Creativity and initiative to develop new programming and enhance existing offerings.

• Organizational and analytical skills to capture and evaluate statistical data.

• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.

• Demonstrated maturity and tact under pressure.

• Creativity and initiative in producing placement material.

• Ability to organize and analyze statistical reports.

• Experience in and/or demonstrated commitment to supporting diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and wellbeing.

• Proven experience connecting diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing practices to business goals.

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If you possess these experiences and skills this may be the role for you! Another qualification that we would view as incredibly helpful in this role would include: