Interview with Neil Dennis
Neil Dennis is the new Director of the Career Development Office. We took some time to sit down with him and ask about his new role at the CDO. The following interview has been condensed and edited.
UV: There’s a little bit of a blurb on you on the faculty website; is there anything else you’d like the student body to know about you?
ND: I was born in Montreal, but I spent my whole adolescence here [in Toronto]. I decided to go to the States for law school and, after graduating, I ended up working at a large D.C. firm that no longer exists.
I wasn’t talking to other lawyers but gravitating towards students. Telling them what to do, what not to do. That appealed to me more than writing briefs, memos, factums, that sort of thing. As things were turning down in 2008 and the firm looked to be in a bad place, I interviewed with Georgetown for a career clerkship counsellor position. I didn’t get that position, but I was brought on in a new position [Georgetown] created for me in their career services office.
From there, I always had my eye on Howard University Law School. It wasn’t the position, but the students and what the school stood for that spoke for me. Howard didn’t have the same level of resources as Georgetown. So, I built much of their career services program up. Howard was the only university for me, in the United States.
“You get to the point where your career and family don’t intertwine properly. When you start viewing a world like America—with all the racism, gun violence—through the eyes of your child it changes you.”
So what brought you to UofT?
You get to the point where your career and family don’t intertwine properly. When you start viewing a world like America—with all the racism, gun violence—through the eyes of your child it changes you. There’s a case in Ohio where a twelve-year-old boy was shot dead by a cop on the playground. My kid was nine, at that time, and that scared the heck out of me.
To be honest, it was always the plan to raise our kids in here. While I was at Howard, I was building things up, I had a network here, I had some experience for the Canadian and American recruiting. I threw my hat in the ring.
Are there any new projects planned for the next year?
We have in the works a pilot program for the incoming 1Ls. It’s going to be small groups for self-reflection on each student’s goals, strengths, and what they want to work on. Students’ strengths stay with them. So, no matter what grades a student comes out with, first semester, they will remember that they have something marketable.
Have you made any changes to the current programs the CDO offers? Are there any planned changes for any of the current CDO programs?
We restructured the employer carousel for the 2L recruit. We used to hold it in J250 with stadium seating. This year, we used flat classrooms and we all put the students in rotating groups so there are no empty rooms and every student has the opportunity to split every employer. It allowed the employers to always see a full room, and it allowed students to see the full spread of employers.
“I also want to do more for students interested in pursuing a career in public interest.”
What about any big picture projects?
I have three very broad ideas, and out of those, specific programs and initiatives will be rolling out.
I’ve been talking with students that want to take alternative routes—go into consulting, business, other kinds of policy work. These are alternatives where you didn’t need the JD, but the JD has value. I found an alternative career myself.
I also want to do more for students interested in pursuing a career in public interest. We place students at MAG offices, Ontario services, City of Toronto, the DOJ. Students who want to do that should know we aren’t just catering to the law firms. I don’t want to hear a student say to me: “I wanted to do public interest work, but I feel like I need to go to a big firm.”
To the extent that our students are looking to come to the States. There are so many more firms out there than those come on campus or do resume pickups, and there is room to expand. I know about the American market, I made a lot of great connections in my time in New York and the U.S. I think Massachusetts could be a market for our students. They pay New York rates, they have a great pharmacy industry, they have interesting corporate work, Boston’s a little more livable. That’s something I’m looking into developing.
And I also want to encourage more of our students who have an interest to apply to the New York recruits. There are some firms that will only take the HH students. But there are other firms that bring in hundreds of summer student at a time, three times as many as the largest firm here, and they aren’t only looking at the top 10% of our classes. We had the same problem [at Howard], because they were not T14. Students thought only the top 10% of our student body would be able to land interviews. I encouraged more students to apply, and firms dug into the top third of our class. I was able to do that [at Howard], and I want to do that here.
What do you anticipate the impact of the Ontario government tuition cut is going to be on the CDO?
I do not know just yet. The powers that be (that are above my paygrade) are trying to find ways to deal with that issue. Whatever it is, I am very much secure that they understand our office is very important to our students. I built [the Howard Career Services Office] from nothing. So, whatever we are dished, it’s not going to take away from the students’ experience with us.
