Law Students: Ready for the Profession

Outstanding career placement year after year!

Prepared Students

At St. John’s School of Law, our students learn the fundamentals of practicing law while developing the specialized knowledge and skills new lawyers need to succeed in a rapidly evolving legal profession:

Writing
Analysis
Critical thinking
Effective communication with clients
Professional and business development
Time management
Problem solving

As they progress through the Law School’s unique writing curriculum, our students learn how to draft motions, briefs, memos, and other documents that are the cornerstones of real-world legal practice, enhancing their ability to make immediate and positive contributions in a range of business and practice settings.

Practical Curriculum

The law is an ever-changing profession, and law students have to be adaptable. In addition to receiving all the benefits of a traditional law school education, St. John’s students take innovative courses that prepare them to be capable problem solvers and strong advocates for their clients. In their second year, students choose from a wide array of core elective courses representing a range of career pathways. For their final year, they continue to focus their legal education in practice-oriented courses.

Sampling of Practice-Oriented Courses

Banking Law
Business Planning
Comparative Law
Consumer Protection
Corporate Finance
Counterterrorism Law
Drafting Contracts
E-Discovery
Estate Planning
Fact Writing
Family Violence and Sexual Assault
Health Law
Insurance Law
International Business Transactions
Labor Law
Local Government Law
Mediation Skills
Medical Malpractice
New York Criminal Practice
Patent Law
Real Estate Transactions

Engaged Faculty

In the classroom, our faculty of dedicated teachers and accomplished scholars fosters out students' analytical abilities and lawyering skills. Outside the classroom, many of our professors are leaders who have written the book in their areas of interest of expertise. Whether exploring and commenting on civic matters, criminal law, statutory construction, consumer rights, or intellectual property law, our faculty members bring legal theory alive in ways that make a real impact in the world. Learn more about faculty media mentions, activities, and achievements on our Faculty Scholarship Blog at stjlawfaculty.org/.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

As any lawyer knows, there is no substitute for learning by doing. In addition to providing an engaging curriculum, the Law School is home to nine student-run journals as well as hands-on advocacy and dispute resolution programs. Our students also gain practical training through our externship program and our in-house and partner clinics, where they take the lead on real cases. Our eleven academic centers benefit students by offering forums for exploring practice areas, opportunities to participate in conferences and symposia, and avenues for collaborating with practitioners on research and writing projects.

Clinics

Bankruptcy Advocacy Clinic
Child Advocacy Clinic
Consumer Justice for the Elderly: Litigation Clinic
Criminal Defense & Advocacy Clinic
Domestic Violence Litigation Clinic
Economic Justice Clinic
Prosecution Clinic
Refugee and Immigrant Rights Litigation Clinic
Securities and Arbitration Clinic
Tenants' Rights Advocacy Clinic

Academic Centers

Center for Bankruptcy Studies
Center for International and Comparative Law
Center for Labor and Employment Law
Center for Law and Religion
The Intellectual Property Law Center
Center for Race and Law
Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution
Mattone Family Institute for Real Estate Law
Public Interest Center
Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights
Writing Center
Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy

Students of Character

St. John’s Law students do not approach their education with a sense of entitlement. They understand that success comes with hard work, and they bring a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit to their studies and into their careers. Animated by St. John’s Vincentian mission, they also understand that caring for the less fortunate and imbuing work with a sense of purpose are keys to professional success and personal fulfillment. The foundation for this understanding is set through their experiences in the Law School’s many public service initiatives.

Dedicated Alumni

"Over my years of recruiting at St. John's we have been able to hire some incredibly talented students. They are hard-working, intelligent, and passionate about their work while remaining kind and respectful toward their colleagues. These are all traits that align with the core values of a Debevoise lawyer." -Peter J. Irwin '96, Partner and Chair of the Real Estate Group at Debevoise & Plimpton

This same tenacity and generous spirit infuses the St. John’s Law alumni community — a tight-knit network that is 16,500 strong. Our alumni actively nurture the next generation of St. John’s lawyers by bringing relevant, real-world experience back to the Law School as adjunct professors, advisors to student organizations, guest lecturers, program participants, and mentors to our students.

Career Development

St. John’s Law students and graduates contribute to an employer’s mission in many ways:

Unpaid internships
Externships for credit
Part-time jobs
Summer employment
Permanent employment

Employers are welcome to post job opportunities on our Symplicity Career Services Management System. Our On-Campus Interviewing Program brings legal employers to St. John’s throughout the year to interview students in the Career Development Office suite for summer and permanent positions. The program attracts law firms of all sizes; federal, state, and local government agencies; and corporations. Additionally, employers may take advantage of our Resume Collection and Resume Referral services and interview our students at their offices.

Bar Preparation

St. John’s Law partners with bar review leader BARBRI to offer students an unmatched level of legal education and professional support that includes automatic access to BARBRI’s bar review and other critical academic success resources as part of the law school curriculum. This provides you with integrated bar prep from day one and cost-savings post graduation.

Students will get early access to their bar prep program and MPRE, 1L mastery series, and other resources available in bar-tested subjects.
Students will get to practice with bar questions in each subject area, as faculty will have a bank of over 1000 multiple choice questions available in every subject area tested on the bar exam.
Bar prep course post-graduation will be free, as the cost is in included in the academic success fee.

All of this develops practical skills and targeted expertise so St. John’s Law students graduate profession-ready to pass the bar.

Contact Us

For information on St. John’s Recruitment Programs, please contact the Career Development Office:

T: 718-990-6614
F: 718-990-1918
[email protected]