Ole Miss Law School's Career Services Director Abdicates Her Job Duty
The Director of the University of Mississippi Law Schools Career Service Director has garnered national attention--and not in a good way. The hugely popular Above the Law blog reported this week on the director sending an email to students taking the position that the career services office is not in the business of finding students jobs. The email states in part:
“A little birdie” stopped by my office after I sent the last e-mail and informed me that there was some type of agreement among several of the 2L’s and 3L’s to refuse to supply this information in some form of protest against Career Services not “doing our job” — apparently misconstrued as “finding people jobs.”
My first reaction upon reading this was: My God! Joyce Whittington would never say that. She must no longer be the Career Services Director. Turns out I was right.
The law schools website lists the current Career Services Director as Kristin Flierl. Joyce Whittington was the director for over 25 years. I had heard that Joyce was going to retire, but I wasn't sure when.
It didn't take long to find a 2003 UM Lawyer article about Joyce in which she took the exact opposite position of Ms. Flierl on what her job was:
I think one of the most stressful parts of this job is that it’s never done—a class may graduate, but not everyone in the class has a job. So I’m still working with those kids, sometimes for months, to help them find jobs. And there’s always a 2L or a lL who needs a summer job. Then there are the alums who have Job A but seek Job B, or quit Job A before they have Job B.
For a person who likes to have things “finished,” it took me a while to realize that I’m never going to be finished, that there’s always another student or another alum who needs something. But that’s the nature of the job. I consider this office to be truly service-oriented and client-based, with my kids and my alums being the clients.
So the law school has gone from having a career services director who was a beloved and award-winning figure who viewed her work as never done; to a patronizing impostor who views her work has never starting? Nice!!!
Oh, she's terrible, from what I hear from current UM Law students. Sends the students inspirational e-mails from Dr. Seuss.
If the new dean doesn't send her packing, that will tell us just what quality he has. A law school that doesn't care about placement is a law school heading for the 4th tier.
I've heard it said that this year's law clerks at the MSSC and COA are heavily MC Law grads, which was by no means the case when I clerked back in the day. MC is evidently cashing in on its proximity, but I suspect it's also putting a lot more effort into getting its students those positions. I can't really imagine Dean Rosenblatt tolerating a do-nothing placement officer.
I am a current law student at Ole Miss, and while I agree with everything stated in this post, Kristin Flierl is not the author of that email. It was sent by her newly-hired assistant director, Karen Peairs. Kristin did, however, author the Dr. Seuss email that caught the eye of Above the Law. So, Kristin is not the only one fed up with doing her job, her assistant is as well.
It is a well-known fact among students that the career services office is not the route to go to find a job. It is also a well-known fact that MC's career services goes above and beyond to find students jobs. Flierl and her cronie might need to use their lackluster job-finding skills to search for a new job themselves...
Link: http://abovethelaw.com/2011/09/youre-saying-the-cat-got-a-job-because-of-his-hat/#more-97957
As Mike said, Kristin Flierl did not write this email. Maybe Mr. Thomas should stick to litigation review instead of repeating ATL's facts without corroboration. I have some harsh criticisms of the Career Services here but this doesn't deserve to be pinned on her. Check your facts.
Even though I didn't attend UM, I interviewed there for years with the various firms with whom I've practiced. Whittington always remembered my name, had a cup of coffee and would sing the praises of her students. She was a great asset to that school. Sad to see that she was replaced with staff that don't have the same attitude.
I value the corrections in this thread, but unless the CSO sent out an e-mail disavowing her assistant's message, we must infer that she does not disagree. Chain of command, folks.
Maybe Joyce Whittington was a great career services director in "the good old days," but I have to say, I had the (mis)fortune of seeking help from her and from her successor, Ms. Flierl, and I wasn't exactly impressed with the performance of either. Of the people I know who went to law school with me, many either were set up with jobs by very well-to-do parents or were forced to go into solo practice in far-removed areas of the country.
Those options weren't really available to me, so now I'm back in school for another degree that hopefully will lead me to a job that will pay for the student loans I had to take out to get through law school. Thanks for nothing, career services.
For context, I am an employed alum. Trust me, OCS is that bad.
I highly doubt she took the "it's not my job to find them jobs" attitude into her interview for OCS director.
I did not and do not expect her to find everyone a job, but I did and do expect her to do everything she can to find everyone a job -- and she certainly is not accomplishing either.
What isn't in the published emails are actual experiences students have had when dealing with Flierl. At the beginning of 2L year most everyone is looking for a job for the second summer and this translates into: "If I don't land a job this summer I'll be unemployed." I don't know where this sentiment comes from, but it's certainly real.
Upon hearing nothing from the on campus interviewers, my friend visited Flierl asking where to go and what to do next. Please take this as seriously as you can from an anonymous commenter: my friend came back from his meeting with Flierl with a pamphlet that essentially instructed him to spell check his resume as one of the tips. He told us that she basically said, "I don't know what else to tell you, you've got to get out there and find something."
What also isn't included in the emails is the difficulty in reaching Ms. Flierl as she most times has a scheduling conflict or isn't in her office, etc...
To echo what UnderdogSoldier closed with, I believe that students at OM Law aren't expecting Ms. Flierl to magically appear with a job. No, instead students that visit Ms. Flierl typically expect some sort of guidance or direction that one would expect from her job title, "Director of Career Services." It isn't "Director of Typographical Error Free Resumes."
Ms. Flierl needs to be accessible and provide pragmatic advice to those that approach her in need, because I don't believe that any current law student or recent graduate needs to tell you how terrible the market is right now.
And, if anyone that pulls the strings at OM Law is reading this right now- you might want to put a lid on this type of press if you want to pay off the new, shiny building...don't you think?
Phillip,
I think there is more not known than known in reference to the post of this blog and comments in re U of M Law career services.. You might want to dig deeper, much deeper, before hanging Ms. Flierl or anyone else in effigy for the plight of its recent law school graduates. The core of the problem started several years ago when law school administrations across the country saw student loans, boom times, and an irresponsible flow of Federal grants as a source of "cash cows" for administration excesses. Those excesses were obtainable only by suckering an increasing enrollment of well-intentioned young people into a profession already superfluous with talent.
Not Ms. Flierl, Joyce Whittington, or anyone else can "get students jobs". Please inform me of one firm who interviews an employee of career services in preparation for obtaining new hires. The resources at the disposal of those in career services at U. of M. Law are a pittance of those available at most top first or second tier law schools. If you doubt this, look into a few. A first stop might be the lengths to which Wake Forrest went in supporting its recent graduates.
Blaming anyone in career services for the lack of legal employment in this market is astoundingly naive and gives a pass to those guilty of years of irresponsible recruitment by law schools across this nation.
The comments attributed to U of M career services were unfortunate, but they are easily taken erroneously when not put into the full context of a truly deplorable situation.
Correction. I meant to refer the reader to the efforts of W & L, not W.F. in supporting their recent graduates. The school placed those without jobs in various "pro bono" positions and paid them stipends to supplement their income.
The one giving a pass is J Green. It's common knowledge that MC is working harder to place students. Yesterday at lunch I met someone whose small firm needs a new attorney. They didn't call MC; MC called them. They've never heard from CSO at Ole Miss.
Denying the existence of the problem is great for J Green and Ole Miss. Keep on with that. I'm sure when people wise up and quit going to Ole Miss, the problem will take care of itself.
Wow, Anderson, I'm just blown away. I wasn't aware of your enlightening experience at lunch yesterday. That certainly changes my entire perspective of the challenges facing new law school grads. Forget everything that I said. The jobs are actually there. The problem is that career services isn't finding those jobs. A million thanks for your insight.
The employment problems that are facing new lawyers is a product of the law firm business model and the current state of the economy. The old model does not work in this economy. For better or worse law, has and will continue to be, a business.
I think the biggest problem with law schools are the reports they issue concerning employment statistics. Either the employment statistics are factually inaccurate, or are so deficient in the information they provide that they do not allow consumers to make educated decisions. The rise of lawsuits on this very topic does not surprise me, and it is my personal opinion that the claims in those lawsuits have merit.
There are also additional forces at work that exacerbate this problem. During the Clinton administration the ABA tried to limit the number of accredited schools (I am shooting from the hip, but I know there was an anti-trust case that dealt with this issue between the DOJ and ABA). As part of the settlement of the lawsuit, the ABA backed off their stance of limiting law schools/more stringent accreditation requirements (which is a terrible shame in my opinion).
Thus, perhaps the problem is a political one. I do know that some US Senators are now issuing public statements that admonish law schools to be more forthcoming about employment statistics. Perhaps this needs to be taken further in the political arena.
Then again, these are just my 2 cents worth from the peanut gallery.
Ian,
I think your two cents is much more valuable than two cents. I have heard allegations from responsible parties that some law schools, when reporting employment statistics, will lump all employment of their graduates into one pool. Thereby they give the impression that they have a high number of graduates employed in the legal profession in the capacity of attorneys when, in fact, they may be paralegals, clerks, or fry cooks.
Whatever, it is obvious that the causes of this situation are numerous, some of which can be laid at the feet of law schools who are encouraging enrollment when they know full well the jobs are not there.
Whoever said she is nothing more than a resume reviewer hit it spot on.
1. They will not try to attract small to mid-size firms. They let those firms contact her, which they rarely do. So, our OCI is about 5 to 6 Big firms, who, due to the economy, can hire the top 1-3 students from Ole Miss and take a median student from Vandy. Everyone else is left in the dust. They may interview the top 15% or so, but if you are near that cutoff you realistically have no chance.
2. The only advice you get when you contact them is "Would you like us to review our resume?" Um, no, not only have you already done that, which was really worthless, I have held a job before.
3. They will also send out loads of literature, give multiple presentations on...getting a job on your own. Just the other day they sent out an e-mail telling us there was a book in the law library on preparing your resume, where to look for jobs, etc. Oh, okay, so instead of buying the book on how to start my own solo practice on Amazon.com I get to use it for free? Awesome.