If you are interested in hiring second year students for summer internships or third years for post-graduation jobs, we encourage you to register for our Fall OCI, which takes place from late-August to mid-September each year. The majorities of our 2L and 3L classes participate in the program and are employed as a result of these interviews. Registration begins in early March.
Our spring program in early February focuses mainly on first year students (though a number of 2Ls interview), and due to its timing, is ideal for both private and public sector employers. Interviews are held at the law school and there is no charge to participate. Registration begins in Mid-December.
To register for the Fall or Spring on-campus interview program please log on to the Symplicity website.
The documents and links below are designed to guide you through our policies and help you with the logistics of recruiting at Stanford Law School.
The recruiting policies and guidelines of Stanford Law School have been developed to contribute to a positive and successful experience for students and recruiters. These guidelines are designed to support the academic mission of the School. Stanford Law School's Policy on non-discrimination in employment has been in effect since 1985 and parallels the policy required of member schools by the Association of American Law Schools: Stanford Law School makes its facilities and services open only to employers who do not discriminate on the basis of age, religion, disability, ethnic background, national origin, gender, race, sexual orientation, or veteran status. However, the School's non-discrimination policy permits, and Stanford Law School encourages, lawful affirmative action in hiring women and the members of minority groups that are under-represented in the legal profession. Download our tips on conducting a successful non-discriminatory interview.
Since at least 1988, and along with virtually every other law school in the country today, Stanford Law School has maintained and enforced a general policy banning discrimination in its educational functions on grounds of race, ethnic background, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation. In adherence to this policy, the Law School provides the facilities and services of its Office of Career Services only to those legal employers—public or private—that do not discriminate.
Because our commitment to this policy threatened to bring us into conflict with the Solomon Amendment, the faculty of the Law School voted late last year to join a pending law suit seeking a ruling on the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment. The suit alleged, among other things, that the law operated to deny us and other law schools free expression of our commitment to the ideal of nondiscrimination and that it compelled us to play host to a discriminatory message. In its recent ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit agreed. It therefore ordered the lower court to enjoin enforcement of the law.
As the lower court has not yet acted, we cannot yet assess the breadth of the injunction. We emphasize, however, that no step we take will forbid military recruitment of our students. Stanford Law School students have been and remain free to interview with the JAG Corps both on and off the Stanford campus. Likewise, any student group would be free to invite representatives of the Armed Forces to speak at a student forum, which we would accommodate according to our usual procedures. Our nondiscrimination policy applies in this regard to the services extended by our Office of Career Services.
We are gratified by the ruling of the Third Circuit. We regard nondiscrimination to be a bedrock educational policy. And we hope to maintain in the future the commitment that we have long made to every student who enters our halls: We will not allot grades, services, or privileges according to any other criterion than each student's performance on the merits.
| A+ (4.3 - 4.2) | B+ (3.4 - 3.2) | R (2.2) |
| A (4.1 - 3.9) | B (3.1 - 2.9) | F (2.1) |
| A- (3.8 - 3.5) | B- (2.8 - 2.5) |
Students may elect to take a limited number of courses on a credit/no-credit system. The 3K election may be exercised in all courses in the first term of the first year. Thereafter, student may exercise the option as to no more than a total of two courses. K shall be awarded for work that is comparable to numerical grades 4.3 to 2.5; RK for R-level work; and NK for F-level work. There are several courses that are graded mandatory 3K either as a school policy or at the discretion of the faculty member. These grades show on the transcript as KM.As of September 2001, in all examination courses, the mean is 3.4 unless otherwise stated. There is no school mean for Directed Research or writing courses. The mean grade among student writing in any particular course is listed after the grade given to the student.
Students are prohibited from disclosing their shadow grades in the above "K" system courses to employers. Additionally, employers who use the Law School facilities, including OCS, may not ask students abut their shadow grades during either on-campus or off-campus interviews. The faculty felt that the old system, where students typically volunteered shadow grades when they were advantageous to disclose, undermined the policy's original intent which was to allow students to take truly ungraded courses.
Because Stanford Law School imposes a mandatory mean, grades reflect relative abilities among a very selectively chosen group of students. While large (e.g. 0.4 or greater) average differences in grades may tend to reflect differing legal analytic abilities, smaller differences are less likely to reliably indicate meaningful differences between students.Grades should be considered in the context of other information about a candidate, such as faculty recommendations, pre-law school academic and professional experience, law school activities, and an interviewer's own impressions of the individual.Employers who use grade point average requirements as part of their hiring criteria should set standards specifically for Stanford students. Grading policies vary from school to school. As a result, imposing the same GPA requirements on candidates from different schools may result in the inadvertent elimination of highly qualified candidates from schools such as Stanford with highly selective admissions standards. By understanding Stanford's grading policies, setting appropriate GPA requirements, and considering other factors when evaluating students, employers will increase their chances of successfully recruiting at Stanford.
Law students have the option of taking classes throughout the university. Some attend courses at the Business School where the grading system is different from that at the Law School. The following grades used at the Business School will appear on some transcripts: H is awarded for distinction or honors (work considered to be of excellent quality); P for pass (work that satisfies all basic course requirements); U for unsatisfactory; and EX for exempt (courses exempted by examination with no credit granted). The Law School and the University both use an N for a course that is continuing into another semester or quarter.
Employers and students who make use of the facilities and services of the Office of Career Services must limit interviews (including transportation to and from interviews) to callback week, vacation periods, weekends, or other times that do not conflict with scheduled classes. Callback week, when classes for second- and third-year students are suspended, is typically scheduled in October, one week after the annual fall Campus Interviewing Program. This policy was instituted to address students' and faculty's concern about the number of classes students were missing because of callback or in-office interviews. The American Bar Association, in following up its Accreditation Committee's inspection of the Law School in 1987, also expressed its concern about the lack of regular class attendance and required the President of the University and the Dean of the Law School to report on steps taken to address this problem.
We expect all employers who recruit at Stanford Law School to comply with NALP Guidelines with respect to callbacks and offers. Specifically, we do not condone exploding offers or signing bonuses. An employer may not extend an offer that only remains open until the target number of acceptances is received at which point the offer is withdrawn. Nor can an employer offer a signing bonus that is contingent upon the student accepting before a specified date.We also expect employers to comply with the deadlines established by the National Association of Law Placement (NALP).
Employers having 40 or fewer attorneys firmwide are not subject to these NALP guidelines. Instead, we ask that you leave offers made after December 15 open for at least two weeks.
Under NALP and Stanford guidelines, employers using the School's placement services must keep offers made to first-year students open for a minimum of two weeks.
The Law School will not release to any third party, except with the consent of the student, data pertaining to the student's educational record. Employers wishing grade information may ask the student to submit a Law School grade sheet.
Stanford degrees and periods of attendance are matters of public information and may be released to employers. You may refer such questions directly to the Information Secretary, Office of the Registrar, Old Union Bldg., Rm. 141, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
| Winter 2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 4 | Fri. | OCI Registrations Due (will accept late registrations on a space-available basis) |
| Jan. 8 | Tues. | Interview Dates Available to Employers |
| Jan. 18 | Fri. | Resumes/Schedules Available to Employers |
| Jan. 24-30 | Thurs.- Wed. | Spring OCI (no interviews on Jan. 26 & 27) |
| Spring - Fall 2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mar. 28 | Fri. | OCI Registrations Due (to coordinate) |
| May 2 | Fri. | Interview Dates Available to Employers |
| June 13 | Fri. | All materials due (except for fees and policies due upon receipt of the confirmation) |
| Aug. 14 | Thurs. | Interview Schedules/Resumes Available to Employers |
| Aug. 20 - Sept. 5 | Wed. - Fri. | Fall OCI (no interviews on Sept. 1) |
| Sept. 15 - 19 | Mon. - Fri. | Callback Week |
Each year, Stanford Law School admits approximately thirty foreign trained attorneys to its highly selective Masters in Law (LL.M.) program. Candidates in Stanford’s LL.M. program are established legal practitioners with experience and contacts at top international law firms, multinational corporations, and international bodies. While at Stanford, LL.M. students concentrate on one of the following practical business specializations:
In addition to the LL.M. program, Stanford Law School offers a Master of the Science of Law (JSM) degree to a select number of foreign trained attorneys through the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS). SPILS students focus on interdisciplinary research on a wide variety of issues, including international trade and finance, law and economic development, comparative corporate governance, privatization, deregulation, and international dispute resolution.
There are several ways that your organization can tap into the legal and regional expertise of Stanford Law School advanced degree candidates, including:
For more information regarding any of the advanced degree recruiting options listed above, please contact our Director of International and Advanced Degree Programs.