“Dean Beznoska, I know that so much of what you do is on the backend and rarely seen by anyone in the school. I wanted to take a moment to write a quick note of thanks and recognition to all of Career Services, but especially to you as the leader of a fantastic team, for all you do and for all of the support you provide. I appreciate and realize that your job cannot be an easy one but you make it look easy. You always have a positive attitude and even on days when I’m at my lowest or grouchiest, I know that I can come to you for advice and support. Thank you for all you’ve done for me and for the law school community.” - 2L Student about Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services Sarah Beznoska
This morning I want to pay tribute to Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services Sarah Beznoska who will be leaving us on April 15 to pursue a new opportunity at a prominent Cleveland law firm. Sarah joined CSU|LAW in 2013 and during her 12 years with us she has helped chart the successful career paths of countless students and graduates. Finding the right position, especially in today's market, requires a well-developed network of supporters and the interpersonal skills to engage that network, and Sarah has led that effort.
Our mission as a law school is unambiguous: Learn Law. Live Justice. It is a mission we carry as faculty and staff of the College of Law, and a mission we ask our students to carry forth into the legal community when they graduate and begin their post law-school career paths. We focus on making our students career-ready and future-ready and to use their law degree to make a difference in the world.
Living Justice means something different to each of our graduates. For most, however, at the very least, it means finding post-graduate legal or law-related employment that aligns with their professional goals and their values, and that helps them to launch their careers. Although fewer law school graduates stay with the same employer for the duration of their careers than in the past, the reality is that the first job post-graduation is critically important to our graduates, and is a critically important measure of our success as a law school.
Throughout a student's experience at CSU|LAW, they have many opportunities to develop as a professional and to build skills that position them for post-graduate employment. Clinics, externships, internships, and coursework all support our students to make thoughtful decisions about their professional lives. The engagement of our alumni on-campus, through mentoring, participating in programs, and offering networking opportunities support students to make connections in the legal community and learn about career paths.
As of the American Bar Association's employment measurement date (which falls approximately ten months after graduation - March 15), 94% of the CSU|LAW class of 2024 were employed. More specifically, 87.4% of our graduates were reporting employment in Bar Passage Required or JD-Advantage roles that were full-time and long-term, an increase from 82% in the class of 2023.
20 graduates joined firms of 101 attorneys or more (firmwide), 26 joined firms of 1-25 attorneys, and 17 joined firms of 26-100 attorneys. Two graduates are working in federal judicial clerkships, and 17 are working in government (all levels). While most of our graduates stayed in Ohio, we also saw graduates join the legal communities in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington state.
The ABA requires every law school to post its outcomes on the law school's public website. To learn more about how we launch careers, review our employment reports here: https://www.law.csuohio.edu/career/employmentstatistics.
Employers often tell us that what distinguishes our graduates from other law schools’ graduates is grit and perseverance. It’s the difference between approaching your next chapter as a job, a career, or a calling.
Thanks to Assistant Dean Beznoska and her colleague Jaime Gay, our Assistant Director of Student and Career Services, our graduates are:
Practice-Ready and Prepared: our graduates come to us with significant employment and life experiences, and while with us develop the legal knowledge and practical skills required to successfully contribute immediately upon graduation to any dynamic workplace. We produce graduates with strong legal writing skills, the ability to thoroughly navigate complicated legal issues, and the confidence to apply innovative thinking to solve problems.
Skilled in Leadership: our graduates leverage on and off campus opportunities to develop core leadership skills, including communication, cultural competency, active listening, project management, teamwork, and technology.
Committed to Professionalism and Ethics: our graduates know the value of hard work, integrity, and accountability. We challenge them as they learn law in the classroom so they are prepared to live justice as lawyer leaders, in whatever field they choose.
Under Sarah’s leadership, we combined our student services department with our career services department. Our reimagined Student and Career Services office focuses on the whole student. The combined student and career services team helps students, from day one, to assess and plan their entire law school experience with the goal of employability—coursework, student organizations and leadership, wellness support networks, externships, work experiences, and career outcomes. The Student and Career Services team meets students where they are in their personal and professional development, and they talk with them about everything they are doing at the College of Law.
Sarah developed a required first year course, Professional Identity Formation, designed to expose our students to the responsibility and commitment that lawyers have for serving clients, and to foster a commitment to proactive, continuous professional development, as a student and throughout their career. The course requires our students to conduct a self-assessment of their skills, learn about the values of the profession, assess the legal market, and develop an academic and professional plan for their time in law school. She reimagined our alumni association mentor program several years ago. Because of her team’s extraordinary work, we expanded and improved the program, matching all of our first-year students with a mentor early in the first semester of law school.
Sarah Beznoska lives and breathes her work and thinks day and night about the academic and professional lives of our students. I learned something every day from Sarah about how to enhance the student experience and ensure the short and long-term success of our students – that’s our North Star.
Have a great day. Have a great week.
The views and opinions expressed in my Monday Morning Message are solely my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of the law school or the university.
For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages
Subscribe to Monday Morning Message and CSU|LAW Newsletter
Subscribe to Dean Fisher Living Justice, Living Leadership Podcast
Donate Here: Learn Law. Live Justice.
My best,
Lee