» Policies: Careers

Students may schedule appointments with a counselor for one-on-one counseling anytime, with one (NALP) exception: In accordance with National Association for Law Placement guidelines, first-year students may not receive one-on-one counseling until October 15 of their first year.

Counseling may occur on a drop-in basis or students may schedule an appointment. While walk-ins are available, our counselors cannot guarantee their availability.

Here at the Career Services Office, we work with every student and graduate, regardless of class rank, grade point average, or area of interest. We encourage you to schedule a session with a counselor so that you can explore the resources we have at the CSO and share specific advice for your job search. 

Unfortunately, while it is the CSO’s policy to work with every student and graduate, some employers that recruit at the law school have certain prerequisites for applicants. These requirements are usually related to grade point average, class rank, or undergraduate major. For instance, many large firms will require candidates to rank in the top 10% of their class. Tax or patent firms may require applicants to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam or the patent bar exam, meaning an undergraduate degree in accounting or science will be required. You should carefully review each job posting on Symplicity to determine if you meet all eligibility requirements before applying.

To accommodate employers and facilitate the hiring process, the CSO has developed a screening policy for students and alumni with respect to those employers that have eligibility requirements. Specifically, the policy states:

1. All eligibility requirements will be listed in the job posting for candidates to review.  
2. Any person who applies for a job and appears to not meet the requirements (e.g., insufficient class rank) will be sent a communication from the CSO explaining the discrepancy. The candidate will then have a limited time period to either withdraw the application or provide the CSO with timely evidence of eligibility to apply. 
3. If the applicant does not provide the CSO with timely evidence of eligibility, his or her materials will not be sent to the employer. 
4. For purposes of determining class rank, the CSO will use the official rankings calculated annually by the Registrar’s Office.

We ask that you respect the guidelines described above, as they allow us to work efficiently with a wide variety of employers. Please also note that job postings with these types of minimum requirements represent a minority of the postings on Symplicity. Therefore, we encourage you to meet with a CSO counselor to explore all the relevant resources we have available to see what best meets your job search needs. We work with all students and alumni, so please feel free to contact a counselor for assistance.

The Fowler School of Law reserves the right to post or remove any job opportunity from its website, with or without cause, at its sole non-grievable discretion.

The Chapman University Fowler School of Law CSO expects that students participating in the on-campus interview program will demonstrate the highest level of professional behavior. To enhance and preserve the professional reputation of all law students, the CSO has adopted the following policy, which is binding upon all students.

Arriving late for an interview or failing to timely cancel a scheduled interview reflects poorly upon the individual candidate, all Fowler School of Law students, and the law school in general. If you need to withdraw from an on-campus interview, please contact the CSO no later than 48 hours prior to your interview. In the case of unanticipated illness or emergency, please contact the CSO (714-628-2517) as soon as possible.

If you fail to attend a scheduled on-campus interview without prior notice, you will need to meet with the Assistant Dean of Career Services and send an apology letter to the employer. Failure to comply with this policy may result in suspension of future on-campus interviewing privileges at the discretion of the Assistant Dean of Career Services.

The Career Services Office is available to assist Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law current law student and graduates.  Additionally, we are happy to work with graduates and students of other ABA-accredited law schools located outside of the Southern California area through the reciprocity process. In order to provide effective service to both our students and visitors, please note the following:

1. Requests for reciprocity must be made in writing via e-mail by the Career Services Office of the student's/graduate's law school. This must be done before using our Career Services Office. Please include the requestor's e-mail so that acceptance letters may be sent to both the student/graduate and the requesting law school.
2. The requesting ABA school must be located outside of the immediate Southern California area (i.e., Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties).
3. Reciprocity services include temporary online access of our online job listings as well as in-office use of our resource library. These services are granted at the discretion of the Career Services Office and priority will be given to Fowler Law School students and graduates. Reciprocity services do not include individual counseling, resume and cover letter review services, on-campus interviews, or the ability to borrow books or videos. Reciprocity services will be granted to the same extent that Fowler Law School students and alumni receive reciprocity from the requesting school.
4. Reciprocity is granted for a period of three months, after which time the student/graduate will need to reapply for reciprocity. A reciprocity guest may only make a request twice in an academic year.
5. Reciprocity will be granted on a one-to-one basis with the requestee’s school.
6. No services will be granted during Fall OCI. The blackout period begins July 1 and ends December 1; however, if the requesting school has a longer blackout period (e.g., July 1- December 31), Fowler Law School will not grant the request until the requesting school’s later date.
7. The Career Services Office may restrict or revoke reciprocity privileges to any individual who misuses the facilities or services or to any law school surpassing a reasonable number of requests within any academic year.
8. Fowler Law School students are limited to ten (10) school requests during one academic year.

Please send your requests to via email to the Law Recruiting Program Manager.

Chapman University Fowler School of Law is committed to a policy against discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other basis prohibited by applicable state or federal law. The services and facilities of the Career Services Office are available only to those employers who observe the principle of equal opportunity and whose practices are consistent with this policy.

Use of the law school's facilities by any prospective employer constitutes a representation by the employer that its employment practices are in accord with the law school's nondiscrimination policy. Fowler School of Law expects that all employers will consider, in good faith, each applicant on the basis of his or her individual merits.