Karen Comstock

Assistant Dean for Public Service, Cornell Law School

As Assistant Dean for Public Service at Cornell Law School, Karen V. Comstock provides career counseling to students and alumni on all aspects of the public interest and government job search, organizes programs to educate students about legal career opportunities, manages the Cyrus Mehri Public Interest speaker series, and develops employer contacts and job search resources. She organizes pro bono projects, and oversees fundraising efforts for Law School public interest programs, including the Public Interest Low Income Protection Plan. In addition, she created and continues to spearhead Cornell Law School’s annual Exemplary Alumni Public Service Awards Celebration in New York City. In conjunction with the faculty Judicial Clerkship Committee, she coordinates and directs judicial clerkship career counseling, programming and resource development for student and alumni law clerk applicants. Assistant Dean Comstock serves as an adjunct professor of law for the law school’s summer externship program, and has co-taught a seminar on “Social Justice Lawyering”. She received the 2010 Equal Justice Works “Outstanding Law School Professional Award” at the organization’s national conference on October 21. The award is designed to recognize a law school faculty or staff member for his or her outstanding support and innovative approaches to public interest law.