Georgetown is the Latest Law School with New Initiatives for Unemployed/Deferred Graduates
Georgetown is the latest top school to try to come up with innovative ways to help its graduates deal with the global economic crisis. The headline news is that GULC will be offering an extended health care plan to graduates who need it. At least for a little while:
Health insurance. If you currently carry the University’s student Premier Plan, you will be covered under the current policy until midnight on August 14, 2009. All students covered under this plan will then be eligible to enroll for a six month extension through February 14, 2010; shorter or longer extensions are not available. Contact the Student Health Insurance Office at https://www4.georgetown.edu/uis/keybridge/keyform/form.cfm?FormID=2954 for further information about coverage, cost, and registration. While the Law Center does not endorse any insurance plan other than our own Premier Plan, there are other options that you might wish to explore. Dean of Students Mitch Bailin will be sending to you this week detailed information about options available through the ABA Law Student Division and www.studentcare.com, as well as more information about extending coverage through the student Premier Plan.
An extension to February 14th should help people with January start dates.
After the jump, we see that Georgetown is doing a whole host of things to try to help its new graduates.
Georgetown will be instituting a limited public service program:
Post-J.D. Public Service Program: To facilitate entry into practice for our 2009 J.D. graduates, Georgetown Law will offer stipends to fund a number of short term, unpaid internships with government agencies or public interest organizations for fall 2009. Participants will receive $3,250 for three months (pro-rated for shorter periods.) Priority will be given to those who have not secured an offer of post-graduate employment. Applicants are responsible for securing their own internships; OCS and OPICS can assist in identifying appropriate opportunities. Interested students must submit an initial application by May 29th, but a confirmed internship offer is not required at that time. The final application must be submitted by August 31st, and the internship must be completed by the end of the 2009 calendar year. Application forms will be posted on the 2009 Graduate Web Page.
Will three months be enough time for ‘09 graduates to get full time employment?
The law school is also offering a few students an opportunity for on campus employment:
On-Campus Employment. We expect to have ten to twenty short-term positions (up to three months) available at the Law Center beginning in August or September to assist 2009 JD graduates who are seeking permanent employment. Such positions would include research assistantships with faculty, the law library, and Law Center institutes and centers, or working for a Law Center office. Participants will be paid the research assistant rate. Open positions will be posted in Symplicity and highlighted on the 2009 Graduate Web Page.
And Georgetown is doing a number of other, smaller things to help ease the transition from law student to out-of-work lawyer. The school is offering a scholarship program for students interested in pursuing an LL.M, offering free CLE through the spring of 2010, and extending their GULC email accounts through the end of 2009.
Obviously, none of these solutions can replace having a paid legal job. But these incremental steps are important. If nothing else, it gives students some extra time during which the economy might recover and the legal industry might start hiring again. At the very least, the law school’s heart seems to be in the right place:
The Law Center understands the challenges you face as you approach final exams and Commencement. In response, we have put together a plan that offers a variety of short-term opportunities for employment as well as special resources and practical assistance to help you navigate the legal market after graduation. We hope that these opportunities allow you to focus on your exams and papers, and to experience the joy of your law school Commencement.
Good luck Georgetown law students. Let’s hope 2010 brings a much better market than 2009.
Earlier: Northwestern Law Gets ‘Proactive’
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Comments
There once was a RINO named Spectre,
Who became just a shameless defector
He knew he would lose
Without votes from the Jews
Or from poor blacks in the welfare sector.
--Sir Frederick B. Limerick
(circa 2009)
(and FIRST?)
It's like putting a cork in the Hoover damn. If these law schools really wanted to help, they would stop freaking lying to US News about their post-graduate career stats.
It's like putting a cork in the Hoover damn. If these law schools really wanted to help, they would stop freaking lying to US News about their post-graduate career stats.
It's like putting a cork in the Hoover damn. If these law schools really wanted to help, they would stop freaking lying to US News about their post-graduate career stats.
There once was a RINO named Spectre,
Who became just a shameless defector
He knew he would lose
Without votes from the Jews
Or from poor blacks in the welfare sector.
--Sir Frederick B. Limerick
(circa 2009)
(and FIRST?)
GW is the best school for IP outside the state of CA, much less in DC.
GW THE IP POWERHOUSE GW THE IP POWERHOUSE
interesting how yesterday was about knocking GULC and today it's GULC actually helping it's graduates
if only law schools would cut administrator and professor salary and lower tuition and fees so that they are in line with the rest of the economy
I really don't mean to whine,
But isn't this post out of line?
Who wants to go skulk
Around the campus at GULC
When they're law program's only part-time?
--Above the Limerick
(with apologies to Sir Frederick B. Limerick)
Limerick dude = racist
Is Georgetown accredited by the American Bar Association?
Emory Law already offered this to their graduating 3Ls-
Giving health insurance to sweaty and desperate Georgetown Law grads is a sign that the health care industry in this country is dysfunctional and badly in need of reform.
Everyone knows that GULC students are hopeless.
8,
Check your grammar before hating on THEIR part-timers.
What is the average PPP at Kasowitz?
12 here again.
Should have clarified --
"Everyone knows that GULC students are terminally hopeless."
Re 8, "their" program, not "they're."
--Above the Limerick
GULC has offered the 6 month extension plan on their student health care in prior years, with the student bearing the cost.
Do students still bear the cost? If so, then this is nothing new. If not, then this is a nice perk.
-GULC aTTTorney
What is the difference between a GULCer and a fetus?
innovative? really?
Awesome. I can pay for their overpriced health care plan with the minimum wage stipend they offer me for my sucky unpaid job. Or I can go work in career services and help students get jobs (because I was so successful at that). None of this is remotely helpful. Oh, wait- they will extend my e-mail account.
2, 3 - "Hoover Damn" - really?
Ooh an extended e-mail account! How about you stop sending me letters asking me to contribute to the law fund? I can't give you money because I've been unemployed for over a year! How about a career services office that gives better advice than "work part-time at Barnes and Noble" or "network"?
Good luck to the unemployed 2009 GULC grads. It's brutal out here and the Georgetown degree doesn't help.
- Bitter and Unemployed GULC Class of 2008 grad
Seriously, does anyone know what the average PPP is for Kasowitz?
22, '08ers have only been employed 7-8 months. Unless you're doing BIGBLACKHOLELAW, in which case time is relative.
Georgetown has offered this type of extended health care coverage since at least 2007. That's nothing new.
Good call 24. I've been looking for over a year and it's been almost a year since graduation, so time is running together.
Do you think GULC students might have a claim against the school under a theory of promissory estoppel? Resection 90 might be useful here.
You fool, 27! It's RESTATEMENT 90.
random question - i am a 3L, and just took a bad in-class final. can you flat-out fail a class and lose your eligibility to graduate (due to not having enough units)? or, do you just get a bad grade? thanks!
29 - I am sure you can, but I doubt you will. I think it takes a lot to get an actual F.
I'm at a TTT school and even they are offering continued health insurance coverage. I'm surprised that the "good" schools are so far behind.
don't RAs make like $10/hour?
Wow, and Georgetown becomes the latest to find trumped-up jobs to hide unemployed graduates for the USNWR numbers.
ATL should do a side-by-side comparison of what different schools are offering their unemployed grads. Example: UTexas is offering $6000 for 10+ weeks of full time non profit work, but no word about health insurance.
Is Georgetown biased against heterosexuals or does it just seem like it?
Managed to land a great job from GULC.
GULC '07
This is a joke, you still have to pay for your health insurance if you get the extension. Nothing new there.
The public service option is sort of ok, but a shade over $1000 a month to work full-time is around $6 an hour. You could make more working at Target or Wal-Mart. And as someone else mentioned, it is in Georgetown's interest to offer this for employment stats.
Got a question: Is getting to the min. billable hours just a matter of putting in the time and numbers, or is there a large element of luck and ass kissing involved, both of which I am good at?
And how many hours do you have to work to get a billable hour, to get to 2000 hours a year, how many hours do you actually put in at the office?
This has nothing to do with the fact that Cardozo chicks are crazy for poopoo pounding.
I've gotta ask, why all the bagging on the GULC part-time program? I'm an evening student and I've never seen such an impressive array of students: medical doctors, paralegals at prestigious law firms, White House staffers, Hill staffers, police detectives, and so forth. It makes for great class discussion from people who have very interesting experiences.
29,
If you fail, just cry about it to a dean and everything will be fine. I know a girl who failed civ pro, but ended up with a D after she cried to a dean about it.
You probably won't fail unless you took someone like Ginsburg or Abernathy. Which class are you worried about?
40 -
Yeah, nothing brings prestige to a program like loading it up with paralegals.
BC's attempt: http://www.eagleionline.com/news/2009/4/28/bcls-rolls-out-plans-to-help-graduating-students-loan-repaym.html
Time to put their new-found knowledge of Restatement 90 to good use. Slam-dunk estoppel case here.
Maybe they can put them into pro bono / public interest, helping parasites sue from the comfort of their own couches.
Not even reading this post. Because I am 100 percent certain that Georgetown is neither cutting its tuition nor cutting or modifying the third year. Firms have been riding on the financial bubble gravy train, just like firms and their clients, and they need to do something radical to help the profession they supposedly lead survive and adapt.
GULC FTW
40 - why bother trying to justify yourself to anonymous posters on the internet? I don't judge myself based on my law school's ranking, and I sure as hell don't judge myself based on what internet trolls think of that ranking.
- GULC '08
42 -
Tell that to your paralegal next time you need something filed.
Stay classy!
I love Georgetown.
GULC 2009?
with a job?
and a start date?
I feel like a mythical creature.
I AM THE GULC UNICORN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Careful 51 - one of these guys is likely to go Legend on your ass...
beware GULC co-eds: no coverage for birth control + no employment = childsupportpwned
University of Denver offered the same thing a while back.
University of Denver offered the same thing a while back.
how has OCI been at UVA?
couple of guys in my high school used to offer extended health insurance all the time. it was no big deal.
The evening students may ultimately save GULC from an otherwise sure decline in post-graduation employment. With existing professional ties in the area and proven professional success (not to mention amazing time management skills), the evening students are among the most ideally situated to actually BE employed after graduation.
58, I agree with your analysis. Many of my fellow evening students at GULC are pretty well connected in government, lobbyist firms, and law firms. I was a White House staffer and that was VERY helpful in getting me a summer internship. Unfortunately, I've noticed that many of my day-student colleagues aren't usually so well connected as they just got out of college.
The extended health insurance is not new or in response to the recession. I took advantage of it when i graduated from GULC and landed an interim clerkship without health benefits.
The extended health insurance is not new or in response to the recession. I took advantage of it when i graduated from GULC and landed an interim clerkship without health benefits.
13 -
I think you meant "its" part-timers.