The following is an excerpt from the article, Law school clinics matter, but how much, published by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 25, 2015 (http://chicagolawbulletin.com/Law-Day/2015/Law-School-Clinics-LD2015.aspx):
Getting the job
Know what you want. Know how to get it.
Regardless of the size or type of employer or even the preferred practice area, a law student in 2015 would be well served to adopt that as a personal motto.
[Pari] Karim did.
She spent her first summer at IIT Chicago-Kent in the school’s mediation clinic, starting with 40 hours of training through the Center for Conflict Resolution. As a result, she could mediate small civil claim disputes, mostly at the Daley Center.
After the clinic concluded, she volunteered at the center. When she earned her J.D. in 2010, it hired her full time.
Today, Karim conducts the 40 hours of training, working with students now working in the clinic that launched her career.
“I think just the relationships and the networking that I was able to do through that — both the introduction through the clinic to the organization and the continued relationship that I maintained afterward — was essential,” she said.
And here is an interview with Pari from October 11, 2015: