U. of Michigan Law Retools Career Services Office, Merging Office of Public Service into It
By: Steve Grumm
Some news affecting legal Wolverines:
My career planning office is now a one-stop shop.
A beefed-up and retooled Office of Career Planning debuted this week with the aim of helping Michigan Law grads become even more marketable to employers than they already are—which, based on the office’s existing strengths, is no easy task.
The most dramatic change in the new office—which will be known formally as the Office of Career Planning for the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors—is the merging of the Office of Public Service and Office of Career Services. The new entity will be led by assistant dean Susan Guindi, a 1990 Michigan Law grad who began her career at the law school in 1995, as the first associate director in the Office of Public Service, before being selected to lead the Office of Career Services in 1998. Her own path—which includes two clerkships and private practice at a large D.C. firm—equips her well for carrying out one of the missions of the new office: allowing students to more seamlessly explore opportunities in a variety of practice areas.
But the key motive for reorganizing the office, Guindi said, was the actual course of most students’ and graduates’ professional lives.
“In studying the careers of our students and alumni, we’ve learned that most enjoy a combination of opportunities across public, private, and nonprofit sectors,” said Guindi. “It makes sense to structure the office to mirror that fact.”
