The Career Services Office (CSO) Staff at Chicago-Kent College of Law

Jeanne Kraft is the Assistant Dean for Career Services at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Her many responsibilities include managing services for students, as well as marketing and employer outreach. Prior to serving in this role, she served as Director of Career Services both at Chicago-Kent, and Northwestern University Law. In addition, she managed the hiring of attorneys for several area law firms. She earned a Master's degree in Educational Psychology & Counseling from the University of Wisconsin.

Michelle Mohr Vodenik is the Director & Public Interest/Diversity Advisor. She is the main contact and coordinator for public interest careers, and diversity, and oversees all programming, resources and career fairs in these areas.


She served for five years with Amnesty International's Midwest Regional Office as Acting Deputy Director and Membership Coordinator. She also worked at the Ohio Coalition on Sexual Assault as an Americorp (VISTA).

During law school, she worked in a variety of public interest programs, including the Loyola University Childlaw Clinic, and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. She also worked at the Chicago firm of Davidson & Schiller, which focuses on immigration law. There, she helped many clients seeking asylum.

Currently, she is a member of the Associate Board for CARPLS Legal Aid and a pro bono attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation and First Defense Legal Aid. In addition, she is a member of numerous other organizations, including the Chicago Bar Association Legal Aid Committee, and the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) Public Service, Diversity, and GLBT committees.

She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and a B.A. from Ohio State University. She is a member of the Illinois Bar.

Pascale J. Bishop is the Director of Career Services and Recruitment Programming. Experienced in both law career services and the practice of law, she counsels both JD and LLM students. She also manages Chicago-Kent's Fall On-Campus Interview Program, and the administrative functions for off-campus job fairs, including the International Student Interview Program (ISIP).

Her other responsibilities include developing and implementing career programming, and liaising with student organizations.

Prior to coming to Chicago-Kent, she served as Associate Director of Career Services at The John Marshall Law School, and as the Director of Legal Recruiting for Mestel and Company, a legal search company. In addition, she practiced at the law firms of McDermott Will & Emery and Barnes & Thornburg, where she focused her practice in the areas of litigation and international trade.

She holds a B.A. from the University of Missouri, where she graduated summa cum laude, and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she graduated cum laude.

Elsa ''Yadi'' Trujillo is a Career Counselor at Chicago-Kent. She is responsible for general career counseling duties for all Chicago-Kent students, including LLM students. She assists with diversity programming, recruitment initiatives, serves as CSO liaison to a number of student organizations and implements tailored career programming. She is the liaison for a variety of job fairs, including the Cook County Bar Association Minority Law Student Job Fair (CCBA) and the International Student Interview Program (ISIP).

After earning her Juris Doctor degree with high honors from 2001, Yadi served as a law clerk for over three years at the Circuit Court of Cook County and the Illinois Appellate Court, First District.

Yadi practiced for several years at Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP and Jenner & Block LLP, in the areas of appellate practice and insurance coverage litigation. She also served as a guardian ad litem in probate court on a pro bono basis through Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.

A member of the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) Diversity and GLBT committees, she recently helped to update NALP's Diversity Best Practices Guide.

She holds a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she graduated with high honors, and a B.A in Psychology from Rice University. She is a member of the Illinois Bar.

Meredith Schmitt is a Career Counselor with Chicago-Kent. In this role, she is responsible for general career counseling duties for all Chicago-Kent students. She also assists with public interest programming and counseling, and the implementation of career programming. She also acts as CSO liaison for a number of student organizations, and serves as a point of contact for students enrolled in the Public Interest Law Certificate Program.

She practiced at the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian Juvenile Division, where she represented abused and neglected children in child protection proceedings. During law school, she served as an intern with Chicago Legal Clinic, was the Community Service Initiative Coordinator for DePaul University College of Law's Center for Public Interest Law. She also served as a clerk for a Chicago family law firm.

She holds a J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude, and she holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois. She is a member of the Illinois Bar.

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