We’ll offer you open, candid communication about your career path. Through our career counseling program, under the direction of our Professional Development Group, you’ll learn about the range of internal and external opportunities available to you as your career progresses, and receive individualized guidance on how best to achieve your goals.
If you plan a long-term career at the firm, the career counseling program will help you develop the skills necessary to become a strong candidate for senior attorney, counsel or partner.
But we know that for many law graduates, a law firm job is a training ground, not a final career choice. That’s even been true for some of our partners, in a tradition dating back to Henry Friendly and Pierre Leval (Cleary Gottlieb partners elevated to the federal bench) and including currently the General Counsel for Citi’s Global Banking Group, a successful private equity partner, and a professor or two, among others.
So, if you decide not to stay with Cleary Gottlieb, our career counseling program will help you develop a resume of deals or cases designed to help you secure the right opportunity outside of the firm. We have a network of stellar alumni and clients all over the world, many of whom regularly call on us to help fill jobs in their organizations.
Our alumni have gone on to join hedge funds, investment banks, and corporations; to work for the government, teach at universities, and even pursue fields completely outside of the law. We count among our alumni:
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15 Judges
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Senior Restructuring Officer of the U.S. Treasury Department
- A former UN General Assembly President
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Co-CEO and Co-Chairman of IMAX
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A former U.S. Treasury Secretary
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More than 30 hedge fund and private equity executives
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Two senior partners at private equity firms
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Over 300 investment banking and finance executives
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General Counsels of Burger King, Pfizer, Capital One, Tom Ford Retail LLC, as well as several large hedge funds and international corporations
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Senior officers at Campbell Soup Company, Ann Taylor, Mastercard International, The New York Times, HBO, Google and 3M
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Vice President at the Ford Foundation
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A former Economics Minister of Belgium
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The head of Business and Legal Affairs at Paramount Pictures
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146 law professors
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Six published fiction authors
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26 United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials
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Founders or current directors of not-for-profits such as Equality Now, Legal Outreach and Sanctuary for Families
We hope you’ll start your career at Cleary Gottlieb whether your long-term goal is to be a law firm partner or the Secretary of the Treasury; to spend your career here or at Goldman Sachs; to sit in a corner office or a streetcorner law clinic.
At Cleary Gottlieb, we’re looking for lawyers capable of the highest levels of excellence in law, business, diplomacy and beyond. That’s why for more than 60 years, Cleary Gottlieb has been turning out not just fine lawyers, but fine leaders.