A post at Above the Law discusses career alternatives for law school graduates who are open to using their law degrees and legal training working somewhere other than a large law firm. The post, Career Alternatives: Internship Market Maker, features an interview with Brooklyn Law School alum Cari Sommer, Class of 2001. Cari is one of the co-founders of Urban Interns, a recruiting website that connects small businesses with part-time assistants. Through the site, employers pay $40 for a job posting and access to the candidate database for 30 days. Job seekers can search the listings for free, but also have the option of highlighting their profile for a fee. The site started with NYC area positions, and has expanded to Boston, Chicago, and DC. It was named one of America’s Most Promising Startups by Business Week and was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN.com World Business and Crain’s New York. Through ongoing research on the hiring trends of business owners across the country, Cari and her co-founder Lauren Porat are experts on the topic.
After attending Brooklyn Law School, Cari began her career as a litigator at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and later Bryan Cave LLP. Lauren, who graduated from the University of Michigan, worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and later worked in private equity at Oaktree Capital Management and at the internet conglomerate IAC, where she worked in a variety of financial and strategic planning roles. Cari and Lauren met when they both served as board members of Step Up Women’s Network, a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to creating community resources for women and girls.
This video of Cari and Lauren explain how their business model works: