Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Changes in the Law School Career Services Office

Tom Ksobiech is the new Assistant Dean for Career Services at the law school. He worked in admissions before that, so he's been at UA for a few years. I'd never met Mr. Ksobiech before this weekend, when we had a wonderfully encouraging conversation.

I met with someone in the CSO in the first semester of my 1L year, and the meeting didn't go very well. At the time the book deal wasn't final yet, but I was hopeful that it would work out and had started thinking about the possibility of not practicing law when I graduated and trying to make a career out of writing -- possibly writing about the law and legal decisions. When I proposed this to the person I met with in the CSO, they responded with "Well, then why are you in law school?" The tone of the entire meeting was negative, and I left feeling that they didn't have much confidence in my ability, weren't interested in helping me achieve my goals, and that I probably didn't belong in law school to begin with. Needless to say, I left the meeting very discouraged.

Mr. Ksobiech, however, has a very different outlook on his job. When I talked to him at the tailgate before the football game this weekend, he spoke about how he wants to change the reputation of the CSO and help the students achieve their goals after graduation, even if we didn't want to follow the typical route and practice in a law firm. That's great to hear, especially since the market for lawyers is pretty saturated right now. We need somebody who can think outside the usual parameters to help us get the jobs we want, and I'm glad Mr. Ksobiech is there now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You wrote, "When I proposed this to the person I met with in the CSO, they responded with 'Well, then why are you in law school?'"

The more appropriate way to have written that sentence is as follows: "When I proposed this to the person I met with in the CSO, they responded, 'Well, then why are you in law school?'"

Also, you should not refer to a single person as "they." You should refer to that person as "he" or "she." Alternatively, you can refer to that person as "that person."

signed,
Grammar Cop

Sharon said...

I used the gender neutral pronouns so I wasn't directly smearing the person. The CSO is small, and identifying the gender would give it away.

Anonymous said...

and I want to end my addiction to internet porn, but much like CSO, it's not gonna happen

SneakySimian said...

I've been in that situation way too many times. I have rather unique goals in life, and goals I've known pretty much all along. I guess this makes me a double threat. I've had counselors that have told me one thing, then another told me something else, and it has created a gigantic mess for me.

I hope the same doesn't happen to you. Good luck with your endeavors!

Bryan Grissom said...

Thanks greatt post