University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Associate Director for Judicial Clerkships and Academic Careers, Office of Career Strategy

Job Profile Title

Associate Director D, Student Services, Advising

Job Description Summary

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished law schools. The School offers a unique approach, incorporating cross-disciplinary legal education, a distinctly collaborative environment, and an innovative curriculum to enrich student learning. The small and highly interdisciplinary faculty achieves scholarly excellence while emphasizing a shared effort to advance understanding of the law. The result is an intellectual community that bridges traditional boundaries and disciplines within a renowned internal culture of collegiality, making the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School an extraordinarily supportive academic community for all its members.

Reporting to the Associate Dean for the Office of Career Strategy, the Associate Director for Judicial Clerkships and Academic Careers creates and implements strategic approaches to preparing students and alumni to succeed in the highly competitive judicial clerkship and academic career marketplaces, oversees the development and delivery of related career education, manages and directs recruitment programs and events, and leads the provision of counseling services to students and alumni. This role requires significant collaboration and strong relationships with the faculty committees for clerkships and academic careers (including the Dean), as well as with colleagues within the Office of Career Strategy, throughout the law school, with judges and their chambers, and with alumni.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

• Lead programs & services for judicial clerkships & academic careers

  Develop and oversee the vision and strategy of clerkship and academic career programs and services. Working in close collaboration with faculty committees, design and develop programs, services and resources to best support the judicial clerkship and academic career aspirations of PCL students and alumni.

  Develop and maintain expertise of judicial clerkship opportunities across all judicial forums, including the nature of the work, alumni networks, selection practices and hiring trends for these opportunities.

  Develop strategies to identify, reach and serve all students with judicial clerkship and academic career aspirations. Ensure curated services to help ensure the students are as competitive as possible for the opportunities to which they seek to apply. Grow relationships and develop career curriculum for the elite most opportunities, as well as all others, ensuring curated support tailored to the individual’s needs and interests.

  Understand the needs and interests of students who seek to include judicial clerkships in their career paths, and the unique challenges that are presented depending on the timing of the clerkships, along with their other employment goals, e.g., nonprofit, law firm or governmental. Educate and collaborate with OCS colleagues on judicial clerkships and academic careers to ensure integrated career advising services.

  Counsel students on judicial clerkship and academic career strategy

  Develop and oversee the vision and strategy of judicial clerkship and academic career counseling, in collaboration with OCS colleagues, to develop and deliver exceptional and individualized counseling to students seeking these opportunities upon graduation, as well as those who are interested in incorporating judicial clerkship or academic career opportunities later in their careers.

  Tailor career counseling and coaching to students based on specific needs and interests and for all aspects of judicial clerkships and academic careers, including the full range of schools, courts and geographies. Coach and advise students in the development of application materials, networking, and interview preparation, including as may be required for specialized and elite opportunities.

  Lead clerkship application programs

Direct, administer and organize clerkship application processes including cover letter and resume review, creation of judge lists and compilation and delivery of application materials. Collaborate with law school colleagues (e.g. OCS, faculty support and facilities) to ensure effective and efficient process for compiling and delivering paper and electronic clerkship applications.

Identify best practices for robust judicial clerkship application support to ensure exceptional programs, resources and application support for PCL students and alumni. Liaise with judges and judicial chambers’ staff to understand and follow recruiting and hiring process and preferences.

Provide counseling to students interested in judicial internships and faculty research assistant opportunities

Develop and deliver programs, services and counseling for students interested in judicial internships during law school. Coordinate with faculty to connect students to faculty research assistantships. Collaborate with OCS colleagues to provide information about these opportunities during 1L counseling sessions.

Provide general program support and student counseling as needed

As needed and schedule permits, provide counseling services to all students, including career counseling meetings, mock interviews, and resume and cover letter review. Provide counseling and administrative support for 2L law firm recruiting programs.

Communication, Reporting, Representation

Develop and implement practices and tools to communicate events and measure program success. Prepare and present reports as requested, including semiannual faculty committee reports to the faculty committees and the Dean. Embrace innovation, technology and user focused design tools to maximize the quality and success of programs, services and resources.

Manage technology resources relating to judicial clerkship and academic career information and events, including Canvas courses, OCS website, Symplicity and social media. Leverage communication tools to maximize participation of students seeking judicial clerkship and academic career opportunities.

Build and maintain relationships with judges by attending events, inviting judges to participate in clerkship and judicial career programs, and interacting with chambers staff. Participate in the Penn Cary Law Inn of Court. Develop relationships and presence with law schools and other industry colleagues, including by attending conferences, programs and meetings, including, e.g. NALP, the ABA and peer groups.

Facilitate activities of faculty judicial clerkship and academic committees, including tracking student interest, guidance and mentorship, and application support. Keep faculty committee apprised of clerkship-related programs and services, as well as employment outcomes. Incorporate input from these stakeholders into strategic planning. Communicate with faculty to ensure the timely completion of letters of recommendation. Facilitate faculty outreach to chambers on behalf of candidates.

Other duties as assigned

• Candidate Qualifications:

J.D. strongly preferred and a minimum of five years of increasing responsibility relating to judicial clerkship careers, or administration and/or law school career counseling. Experience, either as a judicial clerk, or working as a judicial clerkship counselor, is highly preferred. The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to apply innovative and strategic thinking to design, plan and implement educational programming in career planning. The candidate will have a history of working successfully with diverse constituencies, including employers, law school senior leadership (including the Dean) faculty, alumni, current students, prospective students, and colleagues. We seek candidates who have established track records as collaborators in the workplace.

• A cover letter is required with the application.

  Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Law School

Pay Range

$61,046.00 - $90,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, as well as internal and market factors and grade profile.

Affirmative Action Statement Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts : Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition : Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits . You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources : Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services : From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

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  To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay

  The University of Pennsylvania's special character is reflected in the diversity of the Penn community. We seek talented faculty and staff who will constitute a vibrant community that draws on the strength that comes with a substantive institutional commitment to diversity along dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, veteran status, interests, perspectives, and socioeconomic status. Grounded in equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and affirmative action, Penn's robust commitment to diversity is fundamental to the University's mission of advancing knowledge, educating leaders for all sectors of society, and public service. The University of Pennsylvania prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.