Monday June 25, 2007

I am writing this blog on a Sunday, having returned late
last night from a two-day trip to Chicago with about 25
University of Detroit Mercy law students, the vast majority
of whom just finished their first year.

What were we all doing in Chicago? Well, I know that
Chicago has become a very "hot" market in terms of student
desires for law jobs, and it's a market where UDM School of
Law has many contacts. On my Dean's Advisory Board sit
Chicago-based partners from a range of major Chicago firms:
Baker and McKenzie; Katten Muchin Rosenman; Mayer Brown
Rowe and Maw; and Winston and Strawn, to name a few. We
also have alumni at other firms, such as Jenner and Block;
Vedder Price; McDermott Will and Emery; Neal Gerber
Eisenberg; and others.

Given student interest in the Chicago market, we decided to
take a group of students to Chicago to introduce them to some of
the players at the major firms, give them a sense of the
opportunities, and also have a little bit of fun while we're at it.

Of course, it doesn't make sense to visit every firm, so we
chose three that represent different aspects
of the Chicago market. First stop was Dykema Gossett,
which is a Detroit-based firm with a growing Chicago
presence. As we were talking with a partner there about
their practice and their summer associate program, he
mentioned the firm's longstanding relationship with the
School -- as more than 20 of our alumni work at Dykema,
including Rex Schlaybaugh, the firm's Managing Partner.

Having seen the Chicago office of a Detroit-based firm,
we also wanted our students to meet some of the players at
one of the major Chicago-based firms, Jenner and Block.
At the firm, our students had an opportunity to speak with
one of the hiring partners as well as with attorneys in the
corporate and litigation areas. Also joining us at the
firm were a UDM alum who just graduated this past December
and is now an Associate at the firm, as well as a current
student who is a Summer Associate there this summer.

Our final stop was the Chicago office of New York-based
Skadden Arps. Here we spoke with several attorneys,
including a tax partner (whose niece is a student at UDM
School of Law), the head of recruitment, and attorneys from
the corporate, real estate, and litigation departments. A
partner from Skadden's New York office is on my Dean's
Advisory Board, and their New York office flies to Detroit
to interview our students in the fall. We also discussed
ways that students more interested in the Chicago office
can be considered for summer associate positions.

After visiting these three firms, we hosted a reception for
our Chicago-based alumni (we have more than 100 alumni in
Illinois, and more than half of them are based in Chicago),
which provided an opportunity for our students to network,
ask questions, etc. For example, one of our alumni who is a
partner at Mayer Brown, spoke informally with students
about his firm, as did an associate at Vedder Price.

Since the reception ended around 7:00 p.m., our students were
able to spend a Friday evening having fun in Chicago. On Saturday,
we went to see the matinee performance of "Wicked" before
getting back on the bus for a spirited ride back to Detroit.

Since this was the first time we did one of these
excursions, I was particularly interested in hearing from
our students about their reactions, which were all
extremely positive. In fact, I was peppered with
suggestions that we make this an annual event and that we
also do road trips to a series of other cities.

Based on this recent experience, I certainly think that
these kinds of trips make sense. We'll be exploring what
we should do next year. I am eager to hear about the cities
in which our Fall 2007 1Ls hope to practice. If you are an
incoming student, please feel freeto contact me at
gordonmc@udmercy.edu.