In the Office of Career Planning, we are frequently asked about JD Advantage careers and jobs. In general, a JD advantage job is one where the JD itself is helpful in performing the job duties, but an actual license to practice law is not required. In other words, JD Advantage jobs do not involve the active practice of law, but may require a strong legal understanding and education.

Although a large number of lawyers in JD Advantage careers make this transition after first practicing law, increasingly more graduates are choosing to pursue these careers immediately after graduation from law school (or even during law school, as summer and school-year positions). At Cleveland-Marshall, in the class of 2016, 14.5 percent of our graduates were employed in full time, long term JD Advantage positions at ten months after graduation.

You will not find websites dedicated to “JD Advantage jobs” and some of the formal structures of the traditional legal job search (OCI, job fairs, etc.) do not exist for this type of search. Narrowing your specific interests, conducting professional networking aligned with those interests, and performing research to identify specific employers will all be important elements of your JD Advantage job search.

Hear how three alumni found their JD Advantage career path this week, on Tuesday, October 3 at 12PM. The alumni work for SureSite, which was was founded in 1999 to provide site development services to the wireless telecommunications industry. The organization has regularly hired a law student to assist during the semester and/or the summer.

Mary Martin, Andrew Crouch, and Chris Repp all work as Project Managers at SureSite. They will join the Office of Career Planning in the Learning Commons at 12PM on Tuesday, October 3, to talk about what they do, why they enjoy it, and to answer student questions.