RALEIGH – Campbell Law’s Career Center held its first-ever Career Crawl on Friday, April 6, ushering first, second, and third-year law students around Raleigh to meet impactful attorneys and business professionals in the health law and healthcare industries. Participating students met and networked with leaders at Poyner Spruill, WakeMed Hospital, and Alliance Medical Ministry.
The day was led and organized by Campbell Law Career Center Director Kala Taylor, assistant director Kelly Noble, and director of development and health law professor David Bohm.
“It is very important for students to physically see and experience a work environment when exploring various career paths,” said Taylor. “The Career Crawl provided an educational opportunity outside of the classroom and allowed participants to get a taste of three unique workplaces without having to commit to a semester long internship.
“We hope that creating experiences like this for students will give them a variety of opportunities to explore the ever-changing legal market, meet and learn from industry experts, and most importantly provide clear imagery of themselves in these workplaces in the future. This is a recipe for greater self-discovery which is key in career and professional development.”
The Career Crawl began with students meeting with health law attorneys at Poyner Spruill for an office tour and career-oriented conversation over lunch. Students then met with the legal and compliance staff at WakeMed Hospital for more conversations on career opportunities and a campus tour, before meeting and mingling with non-profit leaders at Alliance Medical Ministry.
“The crawl gave me an opportunity to interact with attorneys in three uniquely different facets of healthcare law,” said first-year Campbell FLEX student Mysty Blagg. “We had the opportunity to ask in depth questions and the attorneys gave thoughtful responses. As a result of the crawl, I have opened my eyes to hospital in-house opportunities that I probably would not have considered otherwise.”
“I really enjoyed the Career Crawl,” said third-year student Megan Phifer. “Learning about health law in three different contexts was very interesting, but what I found most beneficial was seeing the three work environments and their unique characteristics. It was interesting to see how different a private practice firm, in-house counsel at a hospital, and a non-conventional legal career compare to one another.”
The Career Crawl concept, utilized here for the first time, will expand to explore alternative legal industries and sectors moving forward in the coming semesters.