Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Dear Readers:

Last week's column, about a 40-something Mom who wanted to reenter the workforce after graduating from law school almost 20 years ago and taking a 10-year break to raise her kids, prompted a very kind individual to offer up some advice for people who cannot figure out how to reenter the legal workforce. These are trying times for all of us but I imagine they must be especially difficult for someone such as "Back to Work" who wrote to me last week.

The program you are about to read about is particularly helpful for people looking to come back into the legal world, but I believe this is a program that might benefit anyone who cannot find work at this time but wants to continue to put his or her law degree to good use. Please be advised that there is a tuition involved as this is a law school putting on this program; the tuition for the second session has not been determined as of this printing.

Although the intent of this column is to single out one question each week and then write an answer, in these times we all need any help we can get. Those of you who can offer suggestions such as the one you will read about today are asked to please send them to me and I promise to publish them. Much thanks to Amy Gewirtz for the program she directs and especially for sharing it with us. Best wishes.

Sincerely,
Ann M. Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates

Hi, Ann.

I hope this finds you well.

I just read your Advice for the Lawlorn column today -- great advice!

I wanted to let you know of a potentially helpful resource for attorneys such as the attorney who sent you the question about reentering the workforce.

I am the Director of a program for attorneys who are seeking to reenter the legal profession or use their law degree in an alternative way. The program is a Pace Law School program, run in collaboration with the Westchester Women's Bar Association, and is called "New Directions: Practical Skills for Returning to Law Practice."

I've attached a brochure for your reference. Now in our third successful year, we have received considerable press coverage, including the New York Law Journal, National Law Journal, and The New York Times, among other publications.

Part of this structured, comprehensive 6-month program is an UNPAID externship. Our participants, who are all admitted attorneys, work for a minimum of 150 hours over a 10-week period.

Externships have been with prominent arts institutions, entertainment organizations, corporations, law firms of all sizes, government agencies, judges and not-for-profit organizations.

The next session of our program will take place from July 13 -- December 18, 2009 and we are exploring running the next session in New York City (although we are just in the exploration stages).

I'd be happy to talk with you further about our program in further detail at your convenience.

Kind regards,
Amy E. Gewirtz Esq.
Director, New Directions Program
Pace Law School

NEW DIRECTIONS: PRACTICAL SKILLS FOR RETURNING TO LAW PRACTICE

New Directions is a two semester, three-part bridge program designed to give lawyers the substantive law updates, professional skills and the practical experience they need to return to the legal workforce. Many business, legal and other professionals are seeking to return to their professions after taking a break for child-rearing, pursuit of a different career or other reasons. Pace Law School has developed a program to assist attorneys in their efforts to return to the legal marketplace as an attorney or in an alternative legal career.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• Two-semester program consisting of an academic semester and an externship semester.

• Externship will place participants with a sponsor organization which will provide supervision and mentoring.

• Session 1 will continue the 2008 focus on training General Counsel (and their outside counsel or other practitioners) and will offer practical legal skills covering a variety of practice areas. The focus for Session 2 has not yet been confirmed.

• Refresher courses in legal research and writing

• Networking with the legal community

• Resume and cover letter preparation

• Interview preparation including mock interviews

• Training with on-line legal databases as well as other information and software systems

The Open Houses for the second session will be held on April 28, 2009 and May 21, 2009, from 5pm-7pm.

Second session: July 13, 2009 -- December 18, 2009

Each session begins with a weeklong "boot camp" designed to refresh lawyers' skills with the basic tools of the job market, including how to craft a resume, how to approach an interview, how to use the Internet for legal and job-related research, communications skills, basic computer skills, and networking and marketing skills. Classroom work runs for 10 weeks, on Tuesday mornings from 9am-1pm and Thursday evenings from 5pm-9pm. The 10-week externship begins upon completion of the classroom component. The externships require a minimum commitment of 150 hours.

The application deadline for Session 2 is June 15, 2009.

To apply, please send a current resume and statement of interest, (no longer than 2 type-written pages), which explains why you are interested in this program and how it fits in with your career goals. Please e-mail these materials to Amy Gewirtz at agewirtz@law.pace.edu. There is no application fee, but an interview may be required.

In order to provide the individual attention that we believe is integral to the New Directions program, we purposely aim to enroll a relatively small group of attorneys for each session of the program. In that regard, we encourage you to apply early.