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CAREER SERVICES PROFILE
Matthew Wayman: Assistant Director for Law Graduate Employment, Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, CA [By Kenneth Davis] Matthew Wayman brings seven years of experience as a transactional attorney to his job as Assistant Director for Law Graduate Employment with Santa Clara University School of Law. Before joining the career services staff at Santa Clara University School of Law in April 2005, Wayman worked as in-house counsel for several Silicon Valley technology companies, including Synopsys, Inc.; Veritas Software Corporation; Cisco Systems, Inc; and, most recently, Magma Design Automation, Inc., for which he still does consulting work. Wayman said he left the practice of law to work
all they’re doing, they’re going to be really
teams of lawyers and business people on
in career services because he wanted to work
hurting their odds,” he said.
multinational transactions.
Wayman also advised law students not to
“You know, transactions with people in
depend solely on on-campus interviews for
different countries-that was probably the most
their job searches, but to have a broader vision.
fun,” he said.
“If you look at it nationwide, only 15 percent
Wayman went on to explain what he enjoyed
of law students get jobs through on-campus
most about working in career services.
more with people and less with documents. A sentiment echoed by many others in the field of career services, the desire to work one-on-one with law students is often the driving force behind interest in this field. Currently, Wayman works primarily with third-year law students and recent graduates,
interviews,” he said.
“It’s really just when you realize you’re really
assisting with their career and job-search
He explained that on-campus interviews are
helping students find their first job,” he said.
efforts. Additionally, he works with employers
particularly unproductive for third-year law
“I helped one recent graduate in getting his
to develop more job opportunities for students
students.
dream job. That’s the most rewarding part.”
at Santa Clara University School of Law. The employers he works with include law firms, legal departments in companies, legal temp agencies, and municipalities.
“By the time you’re a 3L, it may be too late for on-campus interviews,” he said. “Some firms will interview third-year law students on campus, but not as many.”
“I basically try to understand their hiring
Wayman said that students should try to take
practices and figure out how I can help them
a variety of approaches in their job searches to
achieve their goals, either with sending them
ensure the best results.
applicants or giving them opportunities to meet more students,” he said. Wayman said his prior experience as an attorney was good preparation for his job in the career services department at a Bay Area law school.
He said one of the most difficult challenges of his job is getting up to speed on everything and keeping on top of new developments and changes in the legal job market. “In this job, there’s so much to learn,” he said. “You know, having been a lawyer for seven years, I was an expert in my field. As a law
“You need to network,” he said. “You need to do
school career counselor, people also want you
other things to try to get a job.”
to be an expert; but it just takes time to get up
Wayman graduated from UCLA in December
to speed.”
1993 with a B.A. in History. He then enrolled
Wayman had the following advice for law
at Santa Clara University School of Law and
students:
earned his law degree in May 1997. He said he
“Well, I certainly know the legal market pretty
got into law by default, because “it seemed like
“Pursue something that [you] really enjoy
well in the Bay Area,” he said. “And I worked in
the best option at the time.”
doing,” he said.
“Having graduated as a history major from
ON THE NET
UCLA during the 1993 recession, I didn’t see a
Santa Clara University School of Law
lot of other choices,” explained Wayman.
www.scu.edu/law
the Bay Area the whole time. And so I learned what it takes to be a successful lawyer. I also learned how to job hunt. I learned by doing.” He also added that he got most of his jobs
As an attorney, Wayman did transactional
through networking, not through job postings.
work, which involved contract negotiating.
“I tell all my students that they should
He said what he liked best about his work as
definitely do that [use job postings]; but if that’s
an attorney was working with international
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Synopsys, Inc. www.synopsys.com Cisco Systems, Inc. www.cisco.com