Career Services

47 law firms participate in 2023 Spring Firm Mingle to connect with rising 2Ls

Mar. 29, 2023—Students connected with attorneys hiring summer associates for positions in 74 cities in the U.S. and abroad. More than 70 percent of the 137 attorneys who attended the spring career fair are VLS alumni.

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Alumni Career Services General News Home Page News


28 employers participated in 2023 Government and Public Interest Day Jan. 13

Jan. 27, 2023—Representatives of 28 government and public interest employers came to VLS to speak with students on Government and Public Interest Day on Jan. 13. The annual event’s informal format allows students to learn about the work of various government agencies and legal aid organizations and explore summer and semester internship and pro bono opportunities.

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Career Services Public Interest News


Leighton Lord and Jeff Grantham, both Class of 1989, to head Maynard Nexsen following firm merger

Jan. 5, 2023—Lord will be president and chief strategy officer for the new Maynard Nexsen firm, and Grantham will serve as the new firm's CEO. The new firm merges the operations of Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and South Carolina-based Nexsen Pruet to form a single firm with offices on both coasts and more than 550 attorneys. Lord and Grantham met at Vanderbilt Law School.

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Alumni Career Services General News


Career Services announces Spring Firm Mingle March 22, 2023

Dec. 16, 2022—Members of the Class of 2025 can connect with legal employers with offices throughout the U.S. at this table-talk-style event to be held at the JW Marriott Nashville organized by VLS Career Services.

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Alumni Career Services General News


38 firms participate in Career Services 2022 Fall Firm Mingle for 1Ls

Dec. 16, 2022—More than 80 percent of the 1L class attended, connecting with attorneys representing 38 law firms with offices throughout the U.S.

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Alumni Career Services



Sabrina NeKay Lewellen ’02 named 2022 staff vice chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures

Aug. 31, 2022—Lewellen will serve as NCSL's chair in 2023-24. She is deputy director and assistant secretary of the Arkansas Senate.

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Alumni Career Services L&G News and Events


More than 75 1Ls attend Public Service Orientation

Aug. 19, 2022—The event exposes incoming students to public service opportunities at VLS and in Nashville and connects them with faculty and local attorneys who work in the public interest.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Career Services Public Interest News


Monique Winkler, Class of 1996, named regional director of SEC’s San Francisco office

Aug. 16, 2022—Winkler had served as the office's acting director since March and as its associate regional director for enforcement since 2019.

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Alumni Career Services L&B News and Events L&G News and Events


Erin Merrick ’14 (MA’11) appointed Tennessee’s Chief Legal Counsel by Gov. Bill Lee

Aug. 16, 2022—Merrick had previously served as Gov. Lee's deputy legal counsel since 2019. She was an assistant attorney general in the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General before joining Lee's legal staff.

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Alumni Career Services L&G News and Events


Adele El-Khouri ’13 joins Office of the White House Counsel

Aug. 1, 2022—El-Khouri has joined the White House Counsel's Office as an associate counsel. She previously served as counsel to the assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice.

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Alumni Career Services L&G News and Events


Neel Chatterjee, Class of 1994, profiled in Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine

Jul. 26, 2022—Chatterjee is a Silicon Valley-based partner in Goodwin Proctor's IP practice. His profile, "Breaking the Algorithm," chronicles his background and experiences as a nationally renowned IP litigator.

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Alumni Career Services


Law and Business Program launches fellowship program for entry-level business law scholars

Jul. 25, 2022—The Law and Business Fellow will be in residence at VLS for four semesters under the mentorship of VLS corporate law faculty.

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Career Services L&B News and Events


VLS ranks 7th in Lawyers of Color 2022 listing of 65 Best Law Schools for Black Students

Jul. 20, 2022—Lawyers of Color, a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity in the legal profession, ranked the Top 65 Law Schools for Black Students based on number of J.D.s awarded to black students, J.D.-required job placement, placement of graduates as Big Law associates, bar passage rate, black student enrollment, federal and state clerkships, distinguished black alumni, grants and scholarship awards, selectivity and tuition cost.

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Career Services Equity, Diversity and Community


Jackson Hill named 2022 George Barrett Social Justice Fellow

Jul. 8, 2022—Hill will work with the Powell Project, offering resources and assistance to capital defense teams.

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Barrett Program News and Events Career Services General News Public Interest News


Brian Ruben named 2022 George Barrett Social Justice Fellow

Jun. 24, 2022—Ruben will work with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy to support the development of an automated process for criminal record sealing.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Career Services Criminal Justice News and Events Public Interest News



Mikkaela Salamatin ’21 receives Honorable Distinction for Governance Insight Award from Investments & Wealth Institute

Jun. 3, 2022—Salamartin accepted the award at the institute’s 2022 ACE conference for her article, “Balancing Innovation and Protection: Understanding the Landscape of DeFi Regulation,” which she wrote as a VLS student with support from Professor Michael A. Newton. Salamatin is an associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in New York.

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Alumni Career Services International Legal Studies Program


Gautam Rana ’97 nominated to serve as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Slovak Republic

May. 26, 2022—Rana is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Algeria.

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Alumni Career Services International Legal Studies Program


Ryan Buchanan ’05 sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia

May. 4, 2022—Buchanan joined the Department of Justice in 2010 at an assistant U.S. attorney in Birmingham, Alabama. He has worked as a federal prosecutor in Atlanta since 2013.

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Alumni Career Services General News


Philip Morel, Class of 2021, Law Clerk, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Mar. 24, 2022—As a law clerk at FERC, Philip Morel works at the intersection of law and energy policy. He joined FERC's Office of Administrative Law Judges as a clerk after graduation.

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Alumni Alumni Profile Branstetter Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program Career Services EELU News and Events L&G News and Events Public Interest News


Khalil Bryant, Class of 2022, named Distinguished Law Student for the Sixth Circuit by American College of Bankruptcy

Mar. 4, 2022—To qualify for this prestigious award, students must be nominated by a College member or a professor or dean of their law school. Nominees undergo a rigorous evaluation process that includes interviews, submission of written materials and a review of the candidate’s academic standing by members of the ACB council.

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Alumni Career Services General News L&B News and Events


22 government and public interest employers participate in new Public Interest Viritual Recruiting Program

Oct. 19, 2021—Employers participated in one of two ways—through virtual interviews that took place Sept. 20-Oct.1 and through resumé collections in mid-September. 2L students had opportunities to apply and interview for internships in summer 2022, and 3Ls could apply and interview for postgraduate opportunities, including those supported by sponsored fellowships.

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Alumni Career Services General News Public Interest News


James Truong ’21 selected as Presidential Management Fellow at USAID

Oct. 15, 2021—Truong is focusing on labor and employment issues at USAID, which provides humanitarian aid and fosters economic development in foreign nations.

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Alumni Career Services Public Interest News


97 VLS students to work pro bono for judges, government agencies and law offices, and nonprofits in summer 2021

Jun. 16, 2021—Students will be working for course credit or stipend support in state and federal courts and government, nonprofit and corporate law offices in 20 states, Puerto Rico,, Washington, D.C., and Canada.

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Alumni Career Services General News Public Interest News