The Cook County Bar Association (“CCBA”) is pleased to invite your school’s minority law students to participate in the 41st Annual Minority Law Student Job Fair (the “Job Fair”). In an effort to keep the student-to-employer ratio as low as possible, we are only inviting J.D. students in the classes of 2025 and 2026 (rising 3L and 2L students). Participating students must be from fully accredited law schools that are ranked among the top 30 as determined by U.S. News and World Report, from law schools at historically black colleges and universities, from law schools located in the Midwest as defined by the National Association for Law Placement (“NALP”), or the student must be a fellow or associate of the Council on Legal Educational Opportunity.

This year’s Job Fair will be held on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Job Fair will return to the Embassy Suites Chicago – Downtown/Lakefront, located at 511 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60611. The Embassy Suites is located two blocks from Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping and entertainment district and is minutes from Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, and several world-class museums. The hotel’s large suites are conducive to conducting formal interviews, as the sleeping area may be closed off while interviews are in progress. Moreover, the Embassy Suites Hotel is spacious enough to accommodate the growth of the Job Fair.The Job Fair typically attracts more than 500 students from the eligible law schools. Each year, law firms, corporations, and governmental agencies register for the Job Fair. These employers are located primarily in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C. In addition, we have had several employers registered from Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska. For more information, please visit our website at www.ccbaminorityjobfair.org.

The Job Fair Committee adheres to the definition of “minority” provided by NALP which includes students that are part of certain racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation groups. It is our policy that all students from eligible law schools may register for our event. However, the employers registered for the Job Fair expect to be able to interview law students of color that are part of racial and ethnic minority groups.

Policy on Discrimination: The Job Fair Committee is committed to a policy against discrimination in employment based on age, sex, sexual preference, race, handicap, veteran status, or national origin. Job fair services are available only to those employers whose practices are in agreement with this policy. By registering, law schools affirm their intent to comply with this policy.

Please be advised that we will not have any sort of on-site matching process. Instead, with the help of the Law School Career Services Offices, we will keep the amount of “no shows” to a minimum, except in cases of extreme emergencies. To that end, we ask that each Law School Career Services Office provide us a contact person who will serve as your school’s CCBA Minority Law Student Job Fair Liaison. Each Job Fair Liaison will be the point person that should serve as the school’s primary informational resource for the Job Fair. Additionally, each school’s Job Fair Liaison will be called upon to verify each student’s class year and graduation date once student registration closes.

Law School REGISTRATION is NOW OPEN.  To register, please visit CCBA Symplicity by visiting https://law-ccba-csm.symplicity.com/ and select faculty.  Each school’s Job Fair Liaison will be required to register his or her law school online for the 2024 Job Fair.  WE ASK THAT YOU REGISTER IMMEDIATELY. Students from your school will not be completely registered until their law school’s registration is complete.

The registration fee for law schools is $500.00. Please remit your registration fee check made payable to the Cook County Bar Association. Checks should be mailed to: Cook County Bar Association, 2925 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60616, Attention: Cordelia Brown. Registration will not be considered complete until registration funds are received by the Cook County Bar Association.

Law Student registration is opens. Please note that the student registration process will be completed via a multi-step process. First, each student must register as a participating student by entering his or her profile information on the Simplicity website. Second, each student must upload his or her resume by May 8, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time (NO EXCEPTIONS).

Next, each student’s registration will undergo the Job Fair Committee’s approval process which includes the following steps:

Please note that the Job Fair Committee will compile a list of participating law students from each school and send it to the designated Job Fair Liaison in early May. This participation list will be sent in an email attachment. Each Job Fair Liaison must review his or her school’s individual participation list, sign it (indicating that is a true and accurate representation of each law student’s participation to date), and fax (or email) it back at the fax number and/or email address listed on the form.  Each student will be able to bid for 25 ranked employer selections only after they have been approved. Please note that students whom we are unable to verify will be deleted from the Simplicity website.

The interview matching process will take place in June. Once the interview lottery has been conducted, students will receive an email notifying them that their initial interview schedule is now available through Simplicity. During the month of June, students will be given the opportunity to cancel individual, unwanted interviews or drop out of the Job Fair completely. Students may also be afforded the opportunity to pick up additional interviews with employers that have open interview time slots during that time.

We ask that you, as Job Fair Liaisons, confirm each student’s participation in the Job Fair. Please advise your students that once a student confirms his or her participation in the Job Fair, only under extreme emergencies will a student be allowed to cancel. Due to the inconvenience of “no shows” to participating employers, any unexplained “no shows” by your students will jeopardize your school’s participation in future CCBA Minority Law Student Job Fairs.

Please note that in order for students from your law school to participate, they must register online and your law school must also register. In addition, please instruct your students that participation in the registration process is mandatory; absolutely no “walk-ins” will be allowed to participate in the Job Fair.

Finally, a Student Registration Instruction Memorandum and a List of Important Dates regarding the Job Fair will be sent to your attention. Please distribute these materials only to eligible minority students who wish to participate in this year’s Job Fair. Please make sure all eligible students have your name and email address. Students will be required to list you as their designated Job Fair Liaison and provide us with your email address when they register.

If you, as Job Fair Liaisons, have any questions about registration for the Job Fair, please consult our website first at www.ccbaminorityjobfair.org. If you are unable to find the answer to your question online, feel free to contact the Law School Sub-Committee Chairs via email at info@ccbaminorityjobfair.org. Student inquiries should be directed to this e-mail account.  Please note that student inquiries will not be addressed until after the aforementioned date.