Job Search Preparation Checklist

Explore Career Options - Your legal career should: 

• Suit your personality as well as your education
• Align with your values and goals
• Leverage your strengths from law school

Speak with professionals: 

• Use Litigation Profile Suite to find them. 
• Ask questions to understand your possible fit.  
• Learn how they got their start.

Build Your Network 

• Start now to develop lasting professional relationships: 
• Locate attorneys on Litigation Profile Suite.
• Target attorneys and other professionals in your area of interest.
• Identify acquaintances, in and outside of the legal profession, that could help you.

Learn more about legal career networking: 

• Read this essential Overview of Professional Networking, including a sample Introduction Letter you can customize and use.
• Use Martindale.com^® to find alumni from your school and attorneys in your legal or geographic area of interest. Use fewer criteria to retrieve more results. Register with Martindale.com Connected to personalize your connected experience with attorneys.

Develop Practical, Professional Skills

• Learn how to research cost-effectively.
• Employers also expect statutory, regulatory and legislative history research skills.
• Show you have the skills necessary to think like a lawyer.

Gain Experience 

• Put experience on your resume to demonstrate professionalism: 
• List clinic, moot court, public service and pro bono work and part-time work in a law office.
• Unrelated work experience also shows you can handle yourself under pressure in any job.

Prepare Your Resume and Cover Letter
Get expert assistance: 

• Use guidance from your network.
• See Legal Resume and Interview Tips.
• Develop a compelling message about yourself, and use research about the firm you are targeting to position your fit.

Learn How to Prepare for Interviews 
Discover all you can about the firm: 

• Study their website.
• Check out your interviewer's profile. Learn how to use the Lexis Advance Litigation Profile Suite.

Get interview tips:

• See Legal Resume and Interview Tips
• Practice interview questions with other recent graduates.

How to Follow-up Your Efforts

• Keep a record of all job applications and correspondence.
• Follow-up whether or not someone has responded to you, by:
  • Briefly providing new information about yourself or your thoughts about the position.
  • Using LexisNexis to discover new legal activity by the firm and comment on it.
• Briefly provide new information about yourself or your thoughts about the position.
• Use LexisNexis to discover new legal activity by the firm and comment on it.

Benefit from Free Job Resources 
Visit the LexisNexis Law School Graduates Home Page often to for a wealth of support in finding a successful legal job search.