WHITE PLAINS, New York, Mar. 7, 2007 – As recently noted by the news media, many lawyers, bankers, consultants, and other professionals are seeking to return to their chosen professions after time away for child-rearing, pursuit of a different career, or other reasons. Pace Law School, in collaboration with the Westchester Women’s Bar Association, is developing an innovative new program to facilitate attorneys’ efforts to return to the legal marketplace. The inaugural session will start immediately after Memorial Day.

New Directions is specifically for attorneys who have taken a leave from practice or who have never practiced and would like to reenter or enter the practice of law. The program is the brainchild of Amy Gewirtz, associate director of Pace’s Center for Career Development, program coordinator for Career Development for the New Directions Program, and cochair (with Maja Hazell, assistant dean of Pace Law School’s Center for Career Development) of the WWBA Placement Committee. Amy has made a specialty of creating new programs intended to empower lawyers and law students who are starting or restarting their careers. To give the program flesh, we relied heavily on input from WWBA leaders, including WWBA President Jody Fay, and members of the chapter’s Lawyering and Parenting Committee.

Consisting of an academic semester and an externship semester, this program is geared to assist these attorneys in bringing their legal skills up to speed, developing their resumes, and refreshing their interviewing skills. The first track will be based on the practice of family and matrimonial law, but different tracks will be offered in the future. Pace Law School Professor Janet Johnson and WWBA members Kathleen Donelli and Lonya Gilbert were instrumental in shaping the curriculum of the initial track. Each track will teach the core competencies most useful for those planning to re-enter the workforce. Future tracks will likely address real estate and commercial law, depending on the demand. In addition to the core track, participants will be eligible to attend regular classes at Pace.

Instruction will be highly personalized and pitched to the returning professional. One instructor will oversee the entire program, but individual sessions will be taught by practitioners with specific expertise. In addition to useful education on substantive law and updates on research skills, the program will offer career development workshops on such topics as advanced interviewing skills.

“I am delighted that Pace Law School is able to offer a jump start for the careers of such deserving lawyers,” said Dean Stephen J. Friedman. “The New Directions program will perform an important and inspiring mission.”

The program will be held on Pace’s White Plains campus, convenient to lawyers from all around the lower Hudson valley. To be added to the mailing list and to receive a brochure, please register on the program’s Web site at www.law.pace.edu/newdirections.html. Interested attorneys can submit a personal statement setting forth the reasons they intend to return to legal practice along with career goals. Please submit this statement along with a resume to Amy Gewirtz, by email to AGewirtz@law.pace.edu. The base tuition for this program is expected to run approximately $9,000, and scholarship support may be available. Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis. All applicants are encouraged to apply by April 1. For more information, contact Ms. Gewirtz at (914) 422-4606.

Founded in 1976, Pace University School of Law has nearly 6,500 alumni/ae throughout the country. It offers full- and part-time day and evening JD programs on its White Plains, NY campus. The School also offers the Master of Laws in Environmental Law and in Comparative Legal Studies. The School, which has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs, also offers the SJD program in that field. The School of Law is part of a comprehensive, independent, and diversified University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. www.law.pace.edu.

A private university in the New York Metropolitan area, Pace University is commemorating 100 years of providing opportunity, educating achievers in business, industry, healthcare, education, government, and law. Pace has a growing national reputation for teaching and learning based on research, fostering engagement with critical issues locally and globally, for international perspectives and measurable outcomes. It is one of ten founders of Project Pericles, developing education that encourages lifelong participation in democratic processes. Pace has seven campuses, including downtown and midtown New York City, Pleasantville, Briarcliff, and White Plains. Approximately 13,700 diverse students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, Lubin School of Business, Ivan G. Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, and School of Law.  www.pace.edu