Career in Service and Externships in Law by Vick Huebner
by John J. Barnes
Vicki Huebner, Chapman University's Assistant Dean for Career Services and Externships, discusses the two-fold mission at her law school.
If your law school, located not far from San Diego, is not 10 years old and already famous, you need to take aggressive measures to get news of your school and your students out into the community. Vicki Huebner, Chapman University's Assistant Dean for Career Services and Externships has managed to combine both missions in the conduct of her job and do so in a creative and unusual way.
"We have a two-fold mission here at the Chapman University Law School," she told us in a recent interview. "The first mission is the traditional Career Services one, which is to help students navigate the job market by teaching them how to put together an effective resume, conduct a solid interview, network effectively and utilize job-search vehicles such as Martindale and other on-line resources. This in itself, along with Fall and Spring on-campus interviews, can be a full-time job.
"The second mission, Vicki added, "is to facilitate connections between our students and employers. We do this through a variety of methods. However, one of our most successful means has been our student-attorney mentor program. Last year, 115 of our 450 students agreed to be paired with an attorney who helps them transition into a law-practice mode by example. We believe that exposure early in a law school career to what attorneys actually do helps our students focus on what is and is not important. Additionally, this program helps students develop long-lasting professional relationships early in their career."
Vicki Huebner has been trained well for her new role at Chapman University Law School. She has a B.A. in International Relations from Brigham Young University and a law degree from that same institution. Prior to pursuing a federal clerkship in Washington D.C., she took and passed the California Bar because all of her family lived in California and she wanted to eventually return there. Following her clerkship, she returned to California and joined a solo practitioner who specialized in plaintiff's personal injury and medical malpractice, which had always interested her. Approximately one year later, she became Brigham Young Law School's Assistant Director of Career Services, worked there four years and then came to Chapman when the Career Services Director job opened up there.
We asked how the mentoring program was going and whether it was helping Chapman law students get jobs.
"Yes, it has," Vicki said, sometimes with the mentor's firm, but not necessarily. What actually happened surprised us. By going to depositions and arbitrations and general court hearings with mentors, students make connections on their own while they're learning the nuts and bolts of law practice. It's the networking and formation of relationships that has proven to be most valuable."
We asked what else in this area of community out-reach she was doing.
"Plenty," she answered. "We also have normal career panels on various subjects scheduled throughout the year. Additionally, we host small group informal sessions off-campus in which students go to lunch with a lawyer. This program not only gives students the opportunity to learn more about a practice area, but also to begin a relationship with a legal professional. Often, it is through the interaction in these small group settings that students are able to find employment. Then there is the Dean's Round Table. Dean's Roundtable participants are high-profile individuals within the legal, business or political community. Since its inception, the Dean's Roundtable has become an important adjunct to the formal curriculum. Roundtable participants meet with a small group of students over lunch. Although the purpose of the Roundtable is to foster an exchange of ideas in an informal setting, participants do prepare approximately 20 minutes worth of remarks with the remaining time devoted to questions and answers.
"I've experimented with how to select students for the Roundtables. Originally I chose those who came from the best undergraduate institutions or had prior interesting work histories; however, the best interactions are produced by groups consisting of students diverse in gender, ethnicity, and age."
We asked about future plans.
"To keep doing what we've been doing," she said. "Our school will swell from 450 to 500 students next year despite keeping standards very high. We attribute most of this consistent growth to our rising academic reputation and profile in the community. Additionally, the practical training our students receive through externships, clinical programs, lawyering skills courses, and our own career services programs has provided them with necessary skills to compete in the job market. Graduates tell me often how much of a difference all of these programs have meant. We like to think that because of our programs, Chapman lawyers, more than those of most other schools, really do hit the ground running when they join a firm. I think of all the innovations we've made in the Career Services Office, the mentoring program makes me the most proud."
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