Position Introduction:
The Assistant Dean of Career Development is the College of Law’s senior leader for student and alumni career development, employer relations, professional identity formation, and employment outcomes. The Assistant Dean designs and executes a comprehensive, data-informed career strategy that prepares OU Law students and graduates for meaningful legal and law related employment.
The Assistant Dean leads the Career Development Office, advises the Dean and senior leadership on legal employment trends and outcomes, supervises career development staff, builds strong employer and alumni relationships, and serves as a principal ambassador to the bench, bar, judiciary, government, public interest organizations, corporate legal departments, and law firms of all sizes.
The ideal candidate will combine substantial knowledge of the legal profession with strong student advising skills, employer development experience, sound judgment, comfort with data and technology, and the operational discipline necessary to improve employment outcomes, strengthen professional pathways, and support student success.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Strategic Leadership for Career Outcomes
- Develop and implement an annual and multi-year career development strategy for JD students, recent graduates, and alumni.
- Advise the Dean and senior leadership on legal market trends, employment outcomes, recruiting practices, employer needs, student career interests, and opportunities to improve placement.
- Set and monitor annual goals for student engagement, employment outcomes, employer participation, judicial clerkships, public service placements, private sector placements, government placements, JD Advantage roles, and alumni career support.
- Use data and market intelligence to identify employment gaps, underemployment risks, and targeted interventions for students and recent graduates.
- Prepare regular dashboards and reports for the Dean, senior leadership, faculty committees, and other stakeholders.
Serve as a senior administrative voice on issues affecting professional development, employment outcomes, employer relations, and the student to lawyer transition.
- Student and Alumni Career Advising
- Oversee individualized career counseling for students and alumni across a wide range of legal and law related career paths.
- Ensure that students receive early, sustained, and developmentally appropriate career advising beginning in the first year of law school.
- Provide or supervise counseling on resumes, cover letters, writing samples, interviewing, networking, professionalism, job search strategy, offer evaluation, clerkship applications, lateral markets, and long-term career planning.
- Develop targeted advising structures for 1Ls, 2Ls, 3Ls, transfer students, first generation students, nontraditional students, students pursuing public service careers, students pursuing private practice, students seeking clerkships, and graduates still seeking employment.
- Support alumni seeking career transitions, relocation, reentry, lateral moves, government or public service opportunities, and alternative legal careers.
- Ensure career advising is practical, accurate, student-centered, candid, and aligned with the realities of the legal employment market.
- Professional Identity and Career Education
- Design and lead a sequenced professional development program that helps students understand the legal profession, build professional identity, develop workplace judgment, and prepare for meaningful employment.
- Collaborate with faculty and administrators to integrate career education, professionalism, networking, leadership, financial literacy, wellness, ethics, and professional identity into orientation, first year programming, upper-level programming, experiential learning, and bar preparation initiatives.
- Develop workshops, panels, boot camps, employer programs, mock interviews, networking events, professionalism programs, and practice area exploration series.
- Work with student organizations, journals, competition teams, clinics, externships, academic centers, and faculty to connect student interests with career pathways.
- Coordinate with Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Experiential Learning, Bar Success, and Admissions to ensure that students receive consistent guidance about academic planning, professional preparation, experiential opportunities, and employment goals.
- Employer, Alumni, Bench, and Bar Relations
- Serve as the College of Law’s principal employer relations officer.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with law firms, judges, government agencies, prosecutors, public defenders, public interest organizations, corporate legal departments, compliance offices, tribal governments and organizations, policy organizations, alumni employers, and emerging legal market employers.
- Develop a proactive employer outreach strategy for Oklahoma, regional, national, rural, small firm, public service, and specialized practice markets.
- Increase the number and quality of job postings, internships, clerkship opportunities, networking events, resume collections, interview programs, and direct employer connections.
- Conduct employer visits and maintain regular contact with hiring partners, recruiting professionals, judges, alumni, bar leaders, and organizational decision makers.
- Partner with Alumni and External Relations and Development to engage graduates as mentors, speakers, interviewers, employers, sponsors, and career connectors.
- Help employers understand OU Law students, programs, recruiting timelines, professionalism expectations, and hiring opportunities.
- Recruiting Programs and Employment Operations
- Oversee career development recruiting programs, including on campus interviews, resume collects, job fairs, employer receptions, mock interviews, practice area events, public interest programs, judicial clerkship programming, and other recruiting initiatives.
- Administer and improve use of 12Twenty or other career management platforms for job postings, employer engagement, student appointments, event registration, document review, recruiting programs, and outcomes tracking.
- Develop clear recruiting policies and procedures for students and employers, consistent with NALP principles, University policy, and applicable law.
- Ensure students are trained in recruiting etiquette, professionalism, confidentiality, interview preparation, offer management, and ethical job search conduct.
- Manage communications with students, employers, alumni, faculty, and staff regarding career programs, employment opportunities, deadlines, and outcomes.
- Employment Data, Reporting, and Compliance
- Oversee collection, verification, analysis, and reporting of graduate employment data.
- Ensure timely and accurate reporting for ABA, NALP, U.S. News, internal dashboards, accreditation, public information, and other required purposes.
- Maintain data integrity protocols and documentation for employment status, job type, duration, funding, start date, bar passage requirements, JD Advantage positions, graduate follow up, and related reporting categories.
- Lead graduate employment outreach during the post-graduation reporting period and coordinate with faculty, alumni, employers, and University partners to assist graduates still seeking employment.
- Use employment data to inform programming, advising, employer outreach, admissions messaging, alumni engagement, and strategic planning.
- Train staff on ABA and NALP definitions, documentation standards, confidentiality, and ethical reporting obligations.
Team Leadership, Budget, and Office Management
- Lead, supervise, mentor, and evaluate Career Development staff
- Establish office goals, performance expectations, service standards, workflows, staff portfolios, annual calendars, and professional development plans.
- Manage the Career Development budget, including events, travel, technology, employer outreach, professional memberships, student programming, and vendor relationships.
- Foster a collaborative, proactive, student-centered, results-oriented office culture.
- Ensure office workflows are clear, student communications are timely, and staff members are trained to provide high quality advising and employer service.
- Collaboration and Institutional Leadership
- Serve as a member of the Dean’s senior administrative team
- Collaborate closely with Admissions, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Experiential Learning, Development, Alumni and External Relations, Registrar, and central University units as needed.
- Collaborate with Admissions to communicate career outcomes accurately and ethically to prospective and admitted students.
- Collaborate with faculty and academic leadership to identify curricular and co-curricular opportunities that strengthen student readiness for the profession.
- Represent the College of Law in University wide, local, regional, and national career development, employer relations, and legal profession initiatives.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Dean.
Application Materials
Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and list of three professional references. The cover letter should address the candidate’s experience with legal career development, employer relations, student or lawyer advising, staff leadership, data informed decision making, and strategies for improving employment outcomes.
