Penn State Law offers new career development program as part of Orientation

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Law school orientation is a rite of passage for first-year law students. The event strives to create a welcoming environment where students connect and establish a network with faculty, staff, students, and other members of the Penn State community. This year, organizers at Penn State Law in University Park are taking Orientation a step further with something new: the 1L Summer Career Jumpstart Program.

The 1L Summer Career Jumpstart Program, created by the Career Services Office, is a new asynchronous Canvas course offered to all incoming 1Ls to provide them with the building blocks for legal career exploration, professional development, and job searches. The goal is to provide the materials, resources, and support for these new Penn State Law students to get a “jumpstart” on their law school journey. Doing this work during the summer allows these new students to focus solely on acclimating to law school when the semester starts and helps minimize stress related to career and professional development decisions and work, including what type of law to pursue, identifying technical and transferable skills to assist in resumé and cover letter writing, and more.

“We created Career Jumpstart to help our 1Ls more effectively and with confidence navigate their first year of law school,” said Maria Stein, assistant dean for career development. “The course provides an opportunity for 1Ls to begin their legal professional development including developing their first legal resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile, as well as laying the groundwork for building their legal networks.”

The program’s impact is already being felt. Said incoming first-year student Chris McNaughton, “Thanks [to Penn State Law] for creating the Summer Career Jumpstart! It has been cool so far and I feel like I will be much better prepared when I start law school in the fall.”

The Jumpstart Program is available on Canvas so that students can access it throughout the summer prior to their arrival on campus, allowing them the flexibility to work through it at their own pace, bringing questions and new ideas to Orientation that might not have otherwise developed.  An exciting part of this program is the requirement for students to complete part of the Procertas Legal Technology
Assessment (LTA), a competency-based learning and benchmarking platform that integrates core legal technology training in programs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe, and more, into the law school curriculum. Law graduates are expected to be “practice-ready,” and a large part of that is the proficiency in, and ethical awareness of, legal technology.

“Procertas’ Legal Technology Assessment (LTA) is a super effective way of turning future and current legal professionals from technically inefficient to becoming ‘technically proficient,’ as it relates to working in Word, Excel PowerPoint, and PDF,” said Joe Colucci, principal, and co-founder of Procertas LLC. “These are the core technologies future law students will be leveraging in professional practice, but more importantly within their three years of law school as well, which makes it a critical exercise during the orientation phase of law school.  This way, students can focus on learning the law during their time in law school rather than trying to learn the technology at the same time.”

Tom Sharbaugh, professor of practice and director of the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic, has required his students at Penn State Law to use the LTA to demonstrate their proficiency with basic technology that is used by practicing lawyers since he left private practice about seven years ago.  Sharbaugh first became aware of the LTA when he was the managing partner of a global law firm and the LTA’s founder, who was then the general counsel of a large company, was requiring the law firms that he hired to show their proficiency with common tech tools. 

The Jumpstart program, combined with the traditional Penn State Law Orientation experience, offers students a robust start to their law school journey, and ultimately, legal career. This year’s programming includes accessing campus-wide resources; panels with current students; diversity, equity, and inclusion resources; law student wellbeing; and so much more. Orientation will be held on August 16 and 17.

“The Penn State Law Orientation experience, including the Jumpstart program, introduces the academic values, professional standards, and ethical obligations expected of students as members of the Penn State Law in University Park community and as aspiring members of the legal profession,” said Dr. Wende’ Ferguson, assistant dean for student services and associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion. “This comprehensive approach is designed to equip students with tools necessary to achieve their academic and professional goals.”