Janet Zureki
Toledo Law's Professional Development Program (PDP) enables students to build foundations in professional identity and professional development while advancing their career goals and service to the community. Janet Zureki describes the benefits of the experiences gained with PDP activities.
- Hometown: Dearborn, Mich.
- Class Year at Time of Experience: 2L
- Legal Interest Areas: General counsel, contract management
- Experiential Learning Opportunity: Professional Development Program
Q&A with Janet Zureki
What type of experiences and activities did you complete for PDP credit?
During the PDP program we learned how to handle negative feedback, use different communication
skills, and recognize our own biases among other useful tools that are needed in a
legal setting. This was accomplished by lectures, guest speakers, and keeping a journal.
What were the benefits of participating in PDP?
Participating in the PDP allowed me to gain real-life experience while receiving college
credit. I have been out of the workforce for a while and it helped me brush up on
my professional skills such as handling difficult situations, working with a diverse
group of people, and the real-life experience allowed me to practice what I had learned.
How will the experiences you had in PDP help you advance your career goals?
Knowing how to handle situations and being able to work with a diverse group is an
asset that will help advance my career goals by being able to handle a variety of
situations that may arise such as being able to deal with a last-minute change or
how to interact with a group of people that I am working with on a project.
Did your PDP experiences help you in your externship with Accenture?
The PDP experience was valuable with my externship with Accenture. The PDP class started
with a reminder of how to write memos which I wrote a lot of at Accenture and would
refer to the materials that were provided to us. I also worked with a variety of people
during my time there and having the diversity training was an excellent reminder for
me to be mindful of who I was working with at the time.
Why did you choose Toledo Law?
Because I wanted to be a name, not a number. In researching law schools and seeing
Toledo's commitment to women, I thought it was a good match and when I visited they
were very welcoming and made you feel like you belonged there.
What advice do you have for incoming students?
Being organized is very important as is staying on top of your reading and assignments.
What are your plans after graduation?
I plan on continuing with general counsel or contract management after graduation.
My original intent when I came to law school was to go into health care law to help
disabled people like myself. However, after my time at Accenture, I feel that general
counsel or contract management is where I belong.
Anything else you want to share?
This experience helped me to decide my career path and I encourage others to work
in the field they are interested in to make sure it is the correct fit for them.