My school offers a couple different certificates you can earn along with your JD in different areas (energy & natural resources law, business law, etc). I talked to Career Services about them and they seemed to suggest they were not incredibly valuable but if I "wanted to and had the extra time" then I should do it.
How are specialization certificates viewed by potential employers???
Certificates - Yes or No? Forum
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racheltessa
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Re: Certificates - Yes or No?
Not sure from your post which type of employer you are targeting, but from the BigLaw perspective: I think that if you are a candidate who has a strong, demonstrated interest in a niche area, energy being a very good example, and applying for a 1L/2L SA position in a BigLaw office in a region where that niche is very strong--using the energy example, an office located in Houston or Dallas--then having the certificate in this area could be a valuable conversation starter as long as you are interviewing with attorneys who practice in the niche. You need to do what you can to orchestrate the interview, ie: lay the groundwork prior to interview, to make sure that you are getting in front of the right people in the niche, and that you can speak knowledgeably about the niche and why you are interested. Without doing so, the value of having such a certificate on your resume lessons considerably.JayDubya wrote:My school offers a couple different certificates you can earn along with your JD in different areas (energy & natural resources law, business law, etc). I talked to Career Services about them and they seemed to suggest they were not incredibly valuable but if I "wanted to and had the extra time" then I should do it.
How are specialization certificates viewed by potential employers???
