Individual Career Counseling
This program is designed to provide students with a safe, confidential space where they can ask questions about job search skills, being out on your resume, in interviews and in the workplace, and other related issues.
In conjunction with the Career Fair, students will have the opportunity to meet on-site with legal career service professionals. These legal career counselors are qualified to provide students with advice on resume, cover letter, and interviewing, plus these counselors all have significant workplace experience in various legal sectors, including LGBT advocacy groups, big firms, and the government.
How will it work and how do I sign up for an appointment?
When students check-in at registration, they may sign up for a scheduled appointment with the counselor of their choice. Each of the scheduled appointments will be 30 minutes in length.
Some counselors will also be available on a “walk-in” basis for quick questions you may have in connection with the career fair itself.
Career Counselors
Jeff Becherer is an Assistant Director of the Office of Career Services for the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York where he advises both JD and LLM students. Jeff handles all aspects of counseling students and alumni with their career development, with a particular emphasis on developing strong networking skills. Jeff joined Cardozo in April 2009 after practicing law for more than seven years with Dickstein Shapiro LLP where he focused on commercial litigation as well as internal investigations for large corporate clients. Jeff also maintained an extensive pro-bono practice which included work for civil rights organizations, representing refugees seeking asylum and counseling non-profit organizations on general corporate matters. Jeff is active in National Association of Law Placement (NALP) as the Chairperson of the GLBT Section and a member of the Newcomers and Diversity Sections, as well as the International and Advanced Degree Advising and Recruiting Section. Jeff is also the Managing Director of the Broadway Dreams Foundation – an arts education non-profit organization that conducts intensive theatre workshops for students interested in a career in musical theatre. Jeff graduated, magna cum laude, in 1998 from John Carroll University with a B.A. in Political Science and English, and received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2001.
Marcy Cox currently serves as Assistant Dean for the Career Development Office at the University of Miami School of Law. Marcy received her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. She has eight years of litigation practice experience in Los Angeles and Miami, and joined the CDO staff in the summer of 1997. Marcy has been a member of the law school community for 14 years. Prior to joining UM, she practiced law in both Los Angeles and Miami. She is active in the legal career professionals network and has held numerous leadership positions within NALP, including President-Elect (currently), Treasurer; Chair of the Diversity Section; member of the Commission on Legal Recruiting in the Profession; and Liaison to the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. Marcy has also served as the President of the South Florida Association for Law Placement, Chair of the Southeastern Law Placement Consortium, and a member of the Florida Bar Committee on Professionalism and the Florida Memorial University Board of Visitors.
Carlos Dávila-Caballero is Assistant Dean for Career Development and Diversity Initiatives at Tulane University Law School. Mr. Dávila-Caballero counsels LGBT students and is the advisor to Lambda, the LGBT student organization at Tulane Law School. Over the years, Tulane Law School students have devised creative ways to raise awareness about the Solomon Amendment within the law school student body, including initiatives funded through amelioration resources. In addition, Mr. Dávila-Caballero collaborated in NALP’s response to the Department of Defense proposed rules during the summer of 2007 and is a frequent speaker at the National LGBT Bar Association Conference and Career Fair. Mr. Dávila-Caballero is admitted to practice in the state of New York; is former chair for the NALP GLBT Section; and member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the National LGBT Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA). Mr. Dávila-Caballero earned a BA in Economics from the University of Central Florida in 1993; and a JD from Tulane University Law School in 1997.
Troy Elder is an Associate Clinical Professor at Florida International University Law School. Professor Elder graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, where he was named to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. degree from the Yale Law School, where he served as Senior Editor and then Articles Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. While in law school, he was a member of the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization, representing homeless, HIV-positive, and other clients in individual benefits and housing matters. After law school Professor Elder worked for five years as a litigation attorney with two of the country's leading law firms, first at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (New York and Paris offices) and later at Shearman & Sterling (Paris office). While practicing in Europe, Professor Elder became one of the first US-trained litigators to be admitted as an Avocat à la Cour in Paris, where he specialized in treaty-based disputes involving foreign sovereigns. Since 2000, he has been an attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami, in the Employment and Economic Security Unit; and Catholic Charities Legal Services, practicing poverty immigration law with an emphasis on political asylum, refugee and detainee rights, and immigrant benefits issues. Immediately before coming to FIU, Professor Elder was a clinical fellow at the University of Miami School of Law, where he directed an interdisciplinary, community-based poverty health and immigration clinic. He is fluent in Spanish and French, and conversational in Haitian Creole. In 2007-2008, Professor Elder was Visiting Associate Professor of Law at American University's Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C., which consistently ranks among the best U.S. law schools in clinical legal education.
José Gabilondo is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor of Law at the Florida International University College of Law. Born in Santiago de Cuba, Dean Gabilondo joined the College of Law after working in financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the World Bank. Dean Gabilondo teaches contracts, tax, and corporate finance. His scholarship focuses on debt markets and (separately) heterosexual subject formation in law and has appeared in the Journal of Corporation Law, Wake Forest Law Review, Seton Hall Law Review, Maryland Journal of Business & Technology Law. and the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender, and Society, among others. He has presented his research at the Universities of Chicago, Buffalo, Maryland, DePaul, Emory, Georgetown, Kent (UK), and Wake Forest, and American University. He has also been a featured speaker at meetings of the American Society for International Law, the American Association of Law Schools, the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the Georgetown University Conference on Socio-Economics, Law and Society, LatCrit, and the Latin American Studies Association. Growing out of his research on heterosexuality, he has taught in court-ordered diversity training for judges, lawyers, and other judicial staff in the Florida courts. He comments regularly in the Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters.
Mark Goldfarb is a Career Advisor at the University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City, IA. Mark counsels students and alumni on career exploration and job search strategies, including interviews, networking, resumes, cover letters, and letter writing campaigns. Prior to joining the Career Services Office at Iowa Law, he was an associate in the financial services group at Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C., specializing in the regulation of mutual funds and insurance company separate accounts. He received his B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan and his J.D., with honors, from George Washington University Law School. He is a licensed member of the Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bars and of the Iowa and Illinois State Bar Associations. He currently serves as a member of Iowans for Fair and Impartial Courts, educating Iowans on the importance of judicial integrity and independence.
Gary Greener is the Associate Dean for Career Services at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. He holds a LL.M. degree from Georgetown University Law Center, a juris doctor degree from Southwestern Law School, and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. He practiced law in the private sector for almost a decade before returning to Southwestern as an Associate Dean. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National LGBT Bar Association as the Association's delegate to the American Bar Association's AIDS Coordinating Committee. In the past, he has served on the Board of Directors of the HIV and AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA), he has chaired the GLBT Committee of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), and has served on the State Bar of California Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination.
Phyllis Diane Kotey is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Florida International University Law School. She comes to the FIU College of Law with a distinguished record of service to the bench and bar in Florida. From 1996 to 2004, she served as Judge, Alachua County, in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida. While on the bench, Judge Kotey served for four years as Associate Dean of the Florida Judicial College and lectured widely at numerous judicial conferences and legal education programs, including the National Judicial College. From 1985 to 1996, she was an attorney in the State Attorney's Office, Eighth Judicial Circuit, where she attained the position of Chief of the County Court Division. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Judge Kotey has devoted much of her career to professional service on bar committees, law reform commissions and legal education. To name only a few examples, she has been a member of the Florida Supreme Court's Judicial Ethics Advisory Commission, including terms as vice chair and chair; the Code and Rules of Evidence Committee of the Florida Bar; the Executive Council of the Criminal Law Committee of the Florida Bar; the Advisory Committee for the Family Violence Department of the National Council of Juvenile and State Court Judges; and the National Consortium of Task Forces on Bias and Fairness in the Courts. Judge Kotey served for 14 years as an adjunct professor at the University of Florida College of Law, teaching trial practice and coaching trial competition teams. She earned her B.A., J.D. and M.A. (Public Administration) degrees at the University of Florida . She will oversee and teach in the Criminal Law Clinic.
Lori Lorenzo is a Career Services Counselor specializing in diversity planning and outreach at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to working for Florida Coastal, she was the Business Operations Manager for the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy she and her husband own. She has also practiced in the areas of structured finance and capital markets at the firms Dewey LeBoeuf and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lori received her law degree from Duke University School of Law.
Margaret (Peggy) Maisel is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Clinics at Florida International University Law School. She has more than 25 years of legal experience, including fourteen years of law school and clinical teaching experience both domestically and abroad. Throughout her career, she has devoted herself to promoting equal justice for the disadvantaged, especially in the areas of civil and human rights. Most recently, Professor Maisel was Fulbright Professor of Law and then Associate Professor of Law at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa (UND). While at UND, she helped to restructure the Law Clinic to support the changes in South African society and also led the transformation of the first year curriculum from broad survey courses into ones that emphasized human rights issues and legal and problem-solving skills. Her previous law school clinical positions include Director of the Law Clinic at the Center for Public Interest Representation, Western New England College School of Law; Clinical Supervisor, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau; Attorney, Legal Services Institute (supervising law students from Northeastern and Harvard Universities); and Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Social Security and Landlord/Tenant Clinics, University of Maryland School of Law. She has also served as Dean of the New College of California School of Law; Executive Director of the Housing Discrimination Project, Inc.; Regional Training Coordinator, Legal Services Corporation; and Trial Attorney, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Professor Maisel was a pioneer in the development of supervisory skills training within national legal services and currently for law teachers. She is a member of the International Steering Committee of the Global Alliance for Justice Education and serves on other national and international boards. A highly regarded teacher and clinician, Professor Maisel speaks frequently at conferences and professional meetings.
Mercedes Pino, Director of Career Services, joined St. Thomas University School of Law in May 2007. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law, where she served as Chief Ambassador and Research Assistant for the Career Services Office. Upon her law school graduation, Mercedes served as an Assistant State Attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Misdemeanor Domestic Violence Unit. After working for the State Attorney’s Office, she returned to Stetson to work as Assistant Director of Career Services. She later moved to New York to serve as Assistant Director at Touro Law Center.
Charles R. P. Pouncy is an Associate Professor of Law at Florida International University Law School. He has has been a law professor since 1995, previously serving on the faculties at the University of Florida College of Law and the Temple University School of Law. Highly regarded by his students, he teaches in the areas of business associations, corporate finance, commercial law, banking law and professional responsibility. Professor Pouncy has lectured widely, and in 2000 taught Business Associations and Securities Regulation to Chinese law professors at Jilin University School of Law in Changchun, Jilin, P.R.C. In his relatively brief time in academia, Professor Pouncy has written in a wide range of areas, including corporate law, stock markets in developing countries, law and economics, and critical race and gender theory. Before entering the academy, he had served as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and at the Office of Thrift Supervision, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Martha Probst is the Assistant Director of the Career Development Office Florida International University Law School. Ms. Probst assists students with all types of career development matters including: resume and cover letter review, individual counseling regarding career planning, and outreach to law firms and corporations. Ms. Probst received her B.A. in Psychology with a Minor in Sociology from The University of Virginia where she was on the Dean’s List and also a member of the nationally-ranked Women’s Swimming & Diving Team. She then received her J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University where she was an active member of the Student Bar Association. After graduating from law school, Ms. Probst was an associate attorney at a law firm in Miami for three years where she handled civil litigation matters. Prior to joining the FIU College of Law, Ms. Probst worked for the last four years as a legal recruiter, where she placed attorneys in permanent positions at law firms and corporations throughout South Florida. In 2009, Ms. Probst earned her Professional Human Resources (PHR) Certification. She is a licensed member of the Florida Bar.
Debbie Rowe-Millwood is the Director of the Career Development Office in the Florida International University College of Law. She earned both her BBA(’93) and MBA (’96) degrees from the University of Miami and her law degree from the University of Florida (’01). As a law student, Ms. Rowe-Millwood was a Virgil Hawkins Scholar and received a Florida Bar Foundation Public Service Fellowship. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Rowe-Millwood was an Assistant Vice President at Bank of America and a Staff Financial Analyst at Ryder System, Inc. Over the course of her legal career, Ms. Rowe-Millwood has practiced in both private and government entities in the following areas: civil and complex family law litigation, employment, landlord-tenant, insurance, corporate and commercial law. Prior to joining us here at the College of Law, she served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for O. Turner and Company, LLC and taught at the Florida Memorial University. Ms. Rowe-Millwood’s professional affiliations include the Associate of Corporate Counsel, Florida Bar-Family Law and General Practice Solo and Small Firm sections, Family Law Inns of Court, the ABA, Dade County Bar Association, Gwen S. Cherry Women Lawyers Association, Caribbean Bar Association, Broward County Women Lawyers Association and National Association for Law Placement. She is a licensed member of the Florida Bar and the Federal Bar: Southern District of Florida.
Tom Schoenherr is the Assistant Dean of Public Interest Resource Center at the Fordham University School of Law. Dean Tom Schoenherr is the founder of the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) at Fordham Law School and has served as its director since it was established in 1991. Previously he was the Associate Director of the Career Planning Center at Fordham Law School for 5 years. He has counseled thousands of law students and alumni extensively in all phases of career planning and development. Dean Schoenherr has been a moderator and a speaker on numerous public interest career panels at conferences including: the American Bar Association/National Legal Aid and Defenders Association (ABA/NLADA) Equal Justice Conference, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Equal Justice Works (EJW), Lavender Law, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY), the Lesbian & Gay Law Association of New York (LeGaL), and the New York County Lawyer’s Association. He is a member of the ABA, AALS, the New York State Bar Association's Pro Bono Coordinators' Network, the ABCNY’s Public Service Network, and the NYC Metro Law School Public Interest Administrators Network. He did his graduate coursework in Clinical and Counseling Psychology at New York University and holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Binghamton University. Dean Schoenherr currently serves as the co-chair of the National Advisory Committee of EJW. He has also served as the chair of the AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities, chair of NALP’s Public Service Committee and LGBT Committee, and as the Member-at-Large on NALP’s National Board of Directors.
Erin Wright is the Assistant Director of Career Services at Roger Williams University School of Law, in Bristol, Rhode Island. In 2006, she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where she was a member of the Women's Legal Forum and the Asian Law Students' Association. She also earned her Masters of Human Relations, with a focus in Women's Studies, from the University of Oklahoma in 2000 and her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Humanities and a minor in music from Providence College in 1998. After graduating from law school, she practiced corporate litigation, employment law, and immigration with a full-service law firm in South Bend, Indiana. Erin is a member of the LGBT Bar Association and is active with the student Alliance organization.