Career Services: Prospective Students

The Career Services Office assists students and alumni/ae with career planning and development, and does so in a variety of ways. Besides the resources and programs described on the other Career Services pages of this website (which we invite you to explore), we also offer skill-building sessions during the school year in such areas as interviewing and résumé-writing, as well as informational panel presentations featuring practitioners in various areas of practice, judicial clerks, and law school graduates working in nontraditional legal careers.

In addition, each student is encouraged to meet individually with the Career Services Director, who will assist in reviewing résumés, cover letters and other application materials, as well as provide counseling on available career opportunities (including summer and post-graduate fellowships and internships), job search strategies, and the like.

Below are some employment statistics from last year, indicating the ways our graduates are putting their law degrees to use.

The Class of 2010 (based on 100% reporting, 9 months after graduation):
Employment Status of Graduates

  • 52.4%  Bar Passage Required
  • 12.2%  J.D. Preferred
  •   8.5%  Other Professional
  •   7.3%  Non-professional
  • 14.6%  Unemployed - Seeking
  •   1.2%  Unemployed - Not Seeking    
  • 4.5%  Pursuing Further Degree (Full-time)

Areas of Employment

  • 48.5%  Private Practice (87.1% Full-time; 12.9% part-time)
  • 24.2%  Government (100% Full-time)
  • 7.6%  Judicial Clerkship (100% Full-time)
  • 12.1%  Business and Industry (58.8% Full-time; 41.2% Part-time)
  • 6.1%  Public Interest (100% Full-time)
  • 1.5%  Other

Geographical Distribution of Employed Graduates

  • 72.8%  New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
  • 9.1%  Mid Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)
  • 3.0%  East South Central (AL, KY, MS, TNI)
  • 7.6%  South Atlantic (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)
  • 3.0%  Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY)
  • 3.0%  Pacific (AL, CA, HI, OR, WA)
  • 1.5% Foreign

Please direct comments and inquiries to lawcareer@usm.maine.edu.