| Summary |
John Feldman has been a Career Student Services Director at The University of New Mexico (UNM) Law School for almost a decade, where he works with hundreds of students each year to provide career counseling and support. He helps students by teaching them about job search strategies, interviewing skills, resume writing, networking and more. He also advises on law school studies, career planning and job market trends.
John brings a wealth of experience to the career counseling role. He had a long career in private practice before coming to UNM Law, working in the areas of labor, employment and education law. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor at the law school, teaching courses on legal research and writing.
One of John's main focuses as a career services director is to help students develop the skills needed to be successful in their job searches. This includes teaching them how to write resumes, create cover letters and practice successful interviewing techniques. He works with them to develop networking skills, too, as networking is essential in the legal world.
John also helps students with the law school application process, including the LSAT and other entrance exams. He assists in the selection of courses and helps them prepare for the bar exam. He also maintains contact with various alumni and employers, keeping the students up to date on job opportunities in their areas of interest.
In addition to his career services role at UNM Law, John has been actively involved in the local legal community. He is a board member of the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque, an organization that provides legal representation for those in need. He is also a member of the New Mexico State Bar Association and other local bar groups.
John Feldman has been a Career Student Services Director at UNM Law for nearly a decade, utilizing his wealth of legal experience to provide valuable career counseling and support to the students. He teaches job search strategies, resume writing, interviewing skills and networking, while also maintaining contact with alumni and local employers to stay current on job market trends. In addition, John is active in the local legal community, serving on the board of the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque, as well as in several other local bar associations.
The History of John Feldman
John Feldman has been the Career Student Services Director at The University of New Mexico Law School since 2015. He initially established his career in Denver, Colorado, where he worked for 12+ years as the Director of Career and Professional Development for the University of Colorado Law School. Mr. Feldman holds a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.John Feldman's Professional Achievements
Before joining The University of New Mexico Law School, Mr. Feldman was the co-founder and president of an association of career services professionals. He has been published in numerous publications, and his work recently featured in the ABA Journal of International Law. Furthermore, Mr. Feldman has trained, counseled, and coached law students at many reputable institutions, including Northwestern University, the University of Colorado, and the College of William & Mary.John Feldman's Professional Leadership
John Feldman has also been a leader in the legal profession for over two decades. He has serviced on the board of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), and currently sits on the National Conference of Bar Examiners Board of Trustees. He has received a number of awards for his professional leadership, including the ABA's Margaret Brent Award, the National Association of Law Placement's Professional Excellence Award, and the St. Thomas More Award.John Feldman's Impact on Law Students
At The University of New Mexico, Mr. Feldman has created an innovative program that has been the model for other career services programs. His years of experience and unparalleled legal knowledge have helped countless law students find their career path. Thanks to his guidance and support, students have gone on to successful careers in private practice, government, public interest, and academia.John Feldman's Commitment to The University of New Mexico Law School
John Feldman has demonstrated a strong commitment to The University of New Mexico Law School by creating resources and initiatives to enhance the school's career services program. He has worked to improve the job search process for law students, and has been instrumental in establishing the Career Services Internship Grant Program that provides financial support for law students in need of assistance in obtaining unpaid internships. Mr. Feldman is also very active in promoting pro bono service opportunities to students.Talk with John Feldman for any length of time and you get a strong sense of both his passion and his dedication to what he does. Quite simply, he helps students at his law school sort out the rest of their lives, which, as it turns out, may not always involve a 'traditional' law career.
"New Mexico does not have an overabundance of jobs for newly-minted attorneys," he offers. "So many do not go the classic route, which is into large or medium-sized firms, where they may well spend the rest of their lives working within the confines of a single practice area."
So where do your students end up? we asked.
"Many go with small firms or with a sole practitioner, and many choose government service," John told us. "Our typical first-year class consists of about 100 students and we're the only law school in the state. This means that we're well connected with the judicial branch, with local bar groups in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and other New Mexico cities, and with a variety of small-size firms scattered throughout the state.
"The significance of all of this is that when job openings occur, we are likely to hear about them and can immediately link our students to available opportunities. But along with this advantage is a disadvantage that is created by an overall lack of potential jobs. In New Mexico, this can mean many of our students must take a less traditional route than that of going directly to a private law firm."
John Feldman got to his present position through an atypical circuitous route, coming to law as a second career, by attending the University of New Mexico Law School from which he graduated in 1989. He clerked for a justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court, worked a while in private practice, and then served as a mediator for the State in workers compensation cases. He also managed a stint as an assistant D.A., all the while teaching courses in alternative dispute resolution at the same law school from which he had earlier graduated. When he assumed his current position as Career Services Director, he became the first person with a law degree to do so.
"I look for ways to allow more of our students to do public advocacy work. We provide a lot of help to students as it is. UNM offers externships which allow our law students to do work off campus and get credit for it. We also require them to take a clinic in which they must function as lawyers before they are allowed to graduate. We have one graduate in the Class of '04 working in Washington D.C. as the director of an advocacy group, meaning she is not only serving as a legal officer of her agency, but she also handles finances, lobbying, and whatever else is required. I like to see graduates realize their dreams."
The lack of graduate public service employment is every law school's problem, we added, along with student debt. John Feldman agreed. "Yes," he said, "But I think we are especially sensitive to this in New Mexico, because we and our students have to be more flexible. We try to deal with a lot of this right at the onset. We help students understand the particular environment of New Mexico and what is both possible and not possible. We help them find summer jobs and whatever else we can to lessen their financial burden.
"We are careful to ask about the student's interests and try to find out why they decided to attend law school and what they seek from it. We find that sometimes their real focus lies outside the law and that this is a surprise to them. We are comfortable with that. We're here for the students. We're not here to mold them into a specific product for a specific market. For starters, we want them to be excellent attorneys. In addition to that, we want them to follow a career path that makes them happy. If this includes the traditional law career, fine. If it does not, we will help them chart a non-traditional path. I think flexibility and compassion are the most important messages we wish to convey.
