Career and Professional Development Resources for Law Students: Researching an Employer

Firm or Court Website

It is a good idea to start your research by checking the firm, corporation, or attorney's website.  A quick Google search will likely lead you to useful information.

Directories

West Legal Directories

• Profiler-WLD (databases) on Westlaw
• Search by attorney name, firm name, find firms/attorneys that specialize in particular areas of law
• Free on Findlaw.com: Search by attorney name or law firm

Martindale Hubbell

• Free online at http://www.martindale.com/
• Locate law firms, government agencies, and practicing attorneys by location, practice area, or law school.

Lexis Legal Directories

• Found under the Content Type tab, "Directories" in LexisNexis Advance
• Attorney and law firm profiles
• Judicial profiles

NALP Directory of Legal Employers

• Mostly large firms
• Wealth of biographical and demographic information

MN Find a Lawyer (through MSBA)

American Bar Association - Bar Directories and Lawyer Finder

Biographical Directory of Federal Judges

Minnesota Legislature Directory

50-State Legislative Information

• Information on the membership, leadership, and partisan composition of every standing committee

Search Strategies

Case Law/Litigation

• Use fields/segments
• Attorney (at) or counsel/Judge (ju)/Court (co)
• Case law databases, briefs, motions, pleadings, and verdicts
• Mealey’s Litigation Reports – LexisNexis
Bloomberg's Litigation Analytics  – Bloomberg Law

Scholarship

• JLR and TP-ALL databases in Westlaw
• Law Reviews, CLE, Journal articles & periodicals – LexisNexis
• Search by author (attorney/judge) or firm name

News Sources

• Westlaw and LexisNexis have many news databases
• Mealey’s – LexisNexis
• Bloomberg News Search  – Bloomberg Law
• Legal Services News – Thomson Reuters
• Use fields/segments to search by attorney and/or firm name
• Free Internet searches – i.e. Google News
• Minnesota Lawyer
• Bar Association newsletters (LawMoose database in MN)

Bloomberg Law - Career Resources

• Review detailed Company Profiles for all public companies and many private companies, including many law firms. Impress your interviewers with your understanding of the law firm or corporation.
• Connect with the right people with People Search. Find in-depth profiles of graduates from your law school or undergraduate school. Learn more about your contact’s employment history and read through related news.
• Read more about a particular legal field or industry by setting up Search Alerts in News for a particular law firm or area of law. 

Judicial Clerkships

• Use Bloomberg's Directory of State and Federal Courts, Judges and Clerks to search the entire directory of the nation’s judges and clerks. Research People Profiles to learn more about a particular Judge, including his or her career history, news, and caseload. 
• Review Dockets to better understand which cases the Judge has ruled on, along with cases that the Judge is reviewing at the time of your interview. Understanding a Judge’s caseload will provide you with interesting questions to ask during your interview. 

Law Firm Litigation Analytics

In addition to providing insights about federal judges, Litigation Analytics includes extensive information on the litigation activities of companies, as well as the law firms that represent them.  Watch this video on how researching Law Firms can give you a jump start on your job search.  

Office of Career & Professional Development
Hours: M-F 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Phone: (651) 962-4860
Fax: (651) 962-4861

University of St. Thomas
School of Law, MSL 124
1000 LaSalle Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403

lawcareers@stthomas.edu

Blog Searches & Blogs

• Google
• Minnesota Lawyer Legal Partner Blogs

Social Media

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter

Other Useful Tools

• Career Resources Tab – Westlaw
• Career Help Tab – Lexis Nexis
• Career Resources – Bloomberg Law

Schoenecker Law Library
651-962-4900
1000 LaSalle Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403