BLAW Legal Career Toolkit

You need a partner in law school and in your career. Rely on Bloomberg Law for the latest intelligence and expert resources.

The Essential Career Toolkit

Jump-start your career and successfully transition from law student to lawyer. Discover how to stand out in class, land the perfect role, and stay ahead of industry intel. Follow the arrow to dive in.

You got into law school. What comes next?

<a target="_sel" href="#!/page/3">Adjust to Law School</a> Access tips on picking a study group, writing an effective outline, managing your time, and more. <a target="_sel" href="#!/page/4">Stand Out in Class</a> Learn how to choose topics for law review, find clinical opportunities and internships, and thrive as an intern. <a href="#!/page/5">Land Your Perfect Role</a> Get the right tools and advice to help you research firms and companies and ace your interviews. <a href="#!/page/6">Stay Ahead of Industry Intel</a> Find up-to-date, exclusive intelligence on legal developments and trends so you’re ready to impress on day one.

Maintain Your Momentum

Hold onto your competitive edge as you complete the first year of your law school journey. A successful 1L finish will help you hit the ground running in the fall. Use our resources for 1Ls to create a study group, maximize your time and study habits, write effective outlines and memos, and more.

Resources for 1Ls

Life in law school is an intense experience. Our First Year Resources page can make it easier and help you excel in class.

Find practical tips for picking a study group, managing your time, and dealing with stress
Learn strategies for legal reading – it's very different than other types of reading! – as well as how to write an effective outline and master the art of the memo
Expand your research and get to know the litigation process using our tools for finding and accessing dockets

Speaking about the materials that we learn is just as important as listening to it. It’s a different way of learning, to articulate your own ideas.”

Katharina Pistor, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law, Columbia Law School

Earn Your Bloomberg Law Certification

Master the skills you need to succeed with our certification program, designed for busy law students and summer associates. Courses range from the fundamentals of research to the advanced utilization of litigation and transactional resources to help you expand your skill set and demonstrate a proactive commitment to learning about the latest tools and research methods.

How to Outline Your Way to Success

Why outline?

The outline is a valuable tool for every law student, as long as it is done correctly and contains the accurate – and relevant – information. In reality, the process of outlining is more important than the outline itself. Through outlining, you are processing everything you have learned in an entire semester, putting it into your own words, ensuring that you really understand it, and condensing it into a usable, summarized document.

When to outline?

If you outline too soon, you will end up focusing on individual cases, because that is all you know so far. Individual cases do have a place in an outline, but the focus of your outline needs to be on legal concepts and rules. So, wait until a few weeks, or even a month (but no later!) into your semester. When you finish a big topic, outline that topic.

Start your outlines on a weekend, when you can give yourself a large block of time to work on them (four hours per subject is good to start). Once you are caught up with your outlines, you won’t need such large blocks of time – a few hours at the end of each week will be sufficient to outline what you have done that week.

How to outline?

A good place to start is with a general overview of your course content – either your syllabus or the table of contents in your textbook. Use that as the skeleton for your outline, and it will guide you in terms of what substance needs to be filled in. When you sit down for the four-hour block of time that you have dedicated to the outline, bring all of your materials to the table – literally! Have your textbook, your class notes, your case briefs, and any hornbooks or study aids you have been using to help you understand the black letter law.

Focus on and organize by the rule of law, and then use your cases to illustrate the rule of law. Do not organize your outline by cases! More important is the rule of law, and how a court will likely apply that rule to the given hypothetical on your final exam. The cases, therefore, will serve to illustrate to the professor why you think a court would hold a certain way in your final exam fact pattern.

Log in to Bloomberg Law to read to the full article,
Law School Outlining – Why, When, and How To Do It.

Don’t have an academic account yet?

Register here.

Four Things Professors Wish Students Would Do

Tips from legal educators at Columbia, Georgetown, UCLA, and USC

1. Dare to Approach Your Professor

Confused about a concept discussed in a lecture? Unsure of how to proceed with an assignment? Don’t let intimidation stop you from seeking clarity as soon as possible. Professors want students to use informal discussion time after class or during office hours to clear things up.

“If you can clarify questions right after class, before wrong things or misunderstanding[s] settle in the minds of the students, that can be really very effective,” said Columbia Law School Professor Katharina Pistor.

2. Take a Page From Your
Business School Friends

Leadership skills training and career development – hallmarks of business school curricula – are becoming increasingly prevalent in law schools. “People come to law school because they want to make a difference … but that's not traditionally what we prepare them for,” said Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Trainor. “We teach them contracts, we teach them constitutional law, we teach them torts. We don’t teach them how to make a difference or how to lead, so there’s an incredible hunger for this.”

What is the most important leadership skill for law students to learn? For Dean Trainor, it’s resilience – realizing that life is full of setbacks and developing tactics to overcome them.

Listen: Learning to Lead

3. Don’t Worry About Robots Taking Your Job

From e-discovery and machine learning to blockchain and smart contracts, legal technology is a critical part of practicing law – and it’s good to get ahead of the curve early and gain exposure to these tools in law school. Approaching legal tech with a growth mindset and understanding that it is meant to help – not replace – are key to unlocking its potential.

“A lawyer is highly trained and very, very capable … using a tool that has machine learning capabilities will only enhance the work that a lawyer is able to do and complement it and will not substitute for a lawyer,” said Beverly Rich, lecturer in law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

4. Go All in on Hypotheticals

Taking advantage of experiential learning opportunities such as moot court and mock trial programs can help you get a taste for practicing law. Or look for courses that feature simulation-style exercises as part of the curriculum.

“You have a lot more scope to push the students to their limit in the simulation environment than you do in a live client environment,” said UCLA School of Law Professor Dan Bussel. “To me, that’s an opportunity that we have in law school that they don’t have in law practice – that’s where we have a comparative advantage because we can put them in the partner role and they can learn what it’s like to be the senior lawyer on the file, and it takes years to get to that point in a law firm setting.”

Listen: Mastering Legal Technology

For more professor insights and podcasts, check out the full article, Succeeding in the Modern Legal Classroom.

Stand Out in Class

Before you graduate and begin your career, your final years in law school are essential to preparing for your first job. You’ll be able to focus more deeply on the areas that interest you as you learn how to make a great impression. Our upper-level resources will help you discover hot topics for law review, find legal clinical opportunities and internships, learn to thrive as an associate, and more.

Resources for Upper-Level Law Students

When you transition to an upper-level law student, our guides turn more career focused. A rapidly changing professional world awaits after graduation, and law students are seeing the scope of their education shift to better equip them for success.

Learn how to ace interviews, thrive as an intern, select courses to advance your career interests, and network strategically
Prepare for practicing law using quick links to the resources you’ll soon consider essential, including court opinions and rules of civil procedure

Listen: Preparing to Practice

You get respect by showing up prepared and ready to undertake the responsibilities of a law student operating at the highest level that you can achieve. You should start that now, because you’re going to have to do that for the rest of your career."

Robert J. Grey Jr., President, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity

Research and Write for Law Review

Our timely, in-depth news and analysis cover the latest trends and issues in the legal industry and provide inspiration for writing standout papers and law review articles.

News coverage is organized into more than 35 areas of interest, so you can easily find the content most relevant to you; we feature articles by our own reporters, as well as Bloomberg Law Insights – thought leadership by expert practitioners on emerging issues
Sign up for newsletters and alerts related to your favorite topics to receive the latest developments right in your inbox
Bloomberg Law analysts offer data-driven perspectives on trends in developing areas, such as litigation finance, legal operations, and data privacy, while also staying abreast of changes in more traditional topics
If you prefer to listen to your news and analysis, check out our podcast series focused on law, government, and tax news

What I Learned as a Summer Associate

Law students share their experiences as summer associates at firms throughout the country.

You can mess up and still survive

“Your assigning attorney knows that you might not – and likely do not – know what you are doing at first. The learning curve can be steep, but rewarding. After rising to a level of competence my first summer, I came back my second summer with a game plan, ready to go. By the end, I was drafting full motion briefs and contributing in real, meaningful ways.”

– Serena Gopal, Blank Rome LLP

Make lasting connections

“Having others who are in your position and who you can always run to for a sanity check is invaluable. Those friendships have carried on into my first year as an associate and any time one of us has a ‘silly’ question, no one hesitates to run it by the group. Some of the people who were in my summer associate class have become my best friends.”

– Keshav Ahuja, Mintz

Don’t be afraid to ask questions

“Do not be afraid to ask questions because that is how you truly understand what the assignment entails. Asking questions will also show your assigning attorney that you are thinking through the issues. They would rather answer all your questions than have you spin your wheels on your own for hours because you do not fully understand the assignment.”

– Sobeida Peralta, Greenberg Traurig

Remember to be a person

“Sure, you should focus on work and be professional, but when you are at social events or virtual hangouts, remember to be a person. You don’t have to pretend your hobbies are reading SCOTUSblog or listening to NPR (but if they are, good for you). Share (appropriate) stories about your favorite vacations, funny experiences, or family and friends.”

– Whitney Swart, Foley & Lardner

Law School Preparedness Survey

Bloomberg Law’s Law School Preparedness Survey recently asked 1,143 practicing attorneys and law school students, faculty, and librarians about skills needed for practice and how well law schools prepare individuals to enter the legal profession.

Four Ways Law Schools Can Close the Practical Skill Gap

Teach practical skills as part of the doctrinal courses
Provide more real-world experience and opportunities
Increase the number of required experiential learning skills
Introduce more skill-based courses and programs

Read Analysis

1st-Generation Law Grads Have More Debt, Survey Finds

Bloomberg Law’s 2021 Law School Preparedness Survey results show that nearly half of respondents have amassed at least $50,000 in law school-related debt—and debt levels are higher for those who came from families with lower educational attainment levels.

Read Analysis

Land Your Perfect Role

Finding the right legal job for you isn’t an exact science, but let technology do the heavy lifting. See how company data, analytics, and judge comparisons can help you decide where to apply, and then use Practical Guidance to hit the ground running as a summer associate or new lawyer. Continue reading to learn how to find the right law firm or corporate counsel job, prep for your interview, and build your network.

Identify the Right Firm for You

Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics can help you identify the scope of a law firm’s practice areas, trends in its representation, top-performing attorneys, and more. Use this information to inform your job search, applications, and interviews so you can find the right law firm for your first legal position.

Quickly mine law firm and attorney representation data, judicial and court behavior, case law, and dockets
Gain insights into a firm’s top performers using attorney and law firm analytics covering more than 100,000 attorneys at nearly 800 law firms
Assess litigation activity by practice area, volume of cases, and significant clients

We know there are a million law firms or a million legal organizations, but at the end of the day, we want to hire the person who really wants to work for us. [We want to hear] why you chose our firm versus the ones down the road. What is it about us that you think will be a good fit?”

Moy Ogilvie, Managing Partner
McCarter & English, LLP

Work as an In-House Counsel

Navigate to our Business Intelligence Center to find the right company for you or read up on a company before your interview. With Bloomberg Law you can:

Choose from more than 3.5 million downloadable company profiles, each of which provides a single point of access for financial statements, shareholder information and filings, management profiles, credit ratings, capital structure data, SEC filings, and more
Track information on a company, its customers, and its industry – easily access filings, news, dockets, laws and regulations, patents, and more, – and add your own messages, action items, and other notes to each dashboard
Stay ahead of market, regulatory, and legal developments with real-time social media and docket alerts
Access thousands of news sources by topic, from rumored mergers to bankruptcies to investigations, in order to get ahead of emerging developments

When pursuing an in-house opportunity, learn as much as you can about the company, its products and operations, industry, and risks/challenges. What are the company’s reputation and long-term prospects? Do you respect its values? Are you comfortable tying your fortune to the fate of this company over the foreseeable future?”

Denis Demblowski
Legal Analyst for Bloomberg Law
Former Assistant General Counsel, Alcoa, Inc.

Your Interview Prep Cheat Sheet

When applying to summer internships or seeking your first full-time legal job, feeling ready for your interview will give you the confidence to make a lasting impression and score the position.

Whether the interview is over the phone or face to face, prepare the same way: review your resume, cover letter, job application, writing samples, and any other relevant information; develop your illustrative anecdotes; and know what benefits you offer the employer or what problems you can help them solve.

For video interviews, which will be the norm as the pandemic continues, take time to work on technical and visual concerns in addition to the substance of your answers:

Consider your background: clean up any mess and ensure you’re the only person who can be seen and heard

Check your lighting: natural lighting is best, so ideally set yourself up in front of a window, and avoid light directly behind you
Make sure your internet is working properly, and that you’ve silenced your email and phone notifications
During the interview, look into the camera lens, not into the computer screen
Dress as professionally as you would for an in-person interview, with additional considerations
Colors are entirely different on screen than they are in person; a blue shirt or blouse is preferable to white or reds; avoid stripes or strong patterns

For in-depth info on how to answer specific questions, how to discuss your strengths and weaknesses, and more, visit Bloomberg Law’s career resources page.

To learn more about how to research law firms, or even your interviewer, check out the career research section of Bloomberg Law’s webinars geared toward law students.

Bring your authentic self to the interview rather than tailoring your responses for what you think the interviewer ‘wants’ to hear – at the end of the day, you are looking for a firm that values you and all of the unique characteristics you possess, and the firm is looking for lawyers in the same way. Authenticity will help you find a stronger, long-lasting match.”

Abid R. Qureshi, Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ recruiting committee

Do You Really Need to Network? Yes, and Here’s How.

Whether it’s before or after you’ve landed an interview, networking is key to learning about opportunities and making sure you’re top of mind.

“You have to build a personal brand, and it’s a long-term process that starts when you’re in college. All these connections are going to keep growing as you do, so keep updated on where they are. Networking is a practice that invites people to connect with strangers with the understanding that even if you are not friends, you might be able to help each other somehow.”

Claudia Chafloque-Siu, Associate, Eversheds Sutherland

“Be bold. Get out there, but be very judicious and respectful of the time that you’re taking away from somebody. Don't over ask – a 15-minute virtual coffee [is good]. If you’re an engaging law student with great questions, it’s energizing for me to spend part of my day with you.”

Esther E. Cho, Shareholder and Chair of Executive Committee,
Keesal, Young & Logan

“Build your LinkedIn network – work at it. You should be spending time on this every day, not once a week, not once a month. You should be reading articles. You should be understanding who’s active. You should be understanding how their relationships interact with others that may connect to you. You need to start early and work consistently because it takes time to build a network.”

Connie Brenton, Chief of Staff and Senior Director of Legal Operations, NetApp, Inc.

Nail your interviews by reading the full article, The Right Answers to Law Interview Questions.

Turn Your Passion for Social Justice Into a Law Career

Many law students and young attorneys are eager to roll up their sleeves and use their skills to fight for change. But knowing you want your legal career to have impact is only half the battle.

1. Identify the right opportunity for you.

When pursuing a career in social justice, experts suggest law students lean into issues close to them and look for inspiration from their own life or experiences.

That’s not to say you have to be an immigrant to do immigrant rights work, but you’ll need to be personally connected to or motivated by the work if you’re going to succeed. And if you don’t have the answer right now, try different types of work to figure out what moves you and what doesn’t.

“Something will call you and then you’ll make a life out of it,” said Efrén Olivares, who currently serves as the deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project. 

2. Stand out from the crowd.

When applying for jobs, spend a few extra minutes on an organization’s website to learn about its mission statement, then craft a cover letter and resume that demonstrate how your values align with the company’s.

It's important to demonstrate dedication to a movement by thinking explicitly about what change you are trying to achieve, and what tools, strategies, and steps will help you get there.

During the interview process, candidates should show themselves as critical thinkers and lifelong learners. And while a strong academic record is important, a track record of community engagement is critical for employers looking to strengthen their teams.

Where you went to school is not really as important to me as what you did there. What else about you as a human being demonstrates a real passion and a real willingness to dig in, and an understanding that these battles are long?”

Jason Starr, Litigation Director, Human Rights Campaign

3. Prepare for an emotional rollercoaster.

The core of social justice practice is the effort to change society as a whole and do it case by case. The journey is long and arduous, and there are many ups and downs along the way.

Attorneys in this area of law admit that the failures are tough to swallow, and burnout is a reality of their kind of work, but that talking about it is the key to surviving it.

Those who will succeed in a social justice legal career are the ones who understand that the end isn’t always in sight and the losses can be painful, but the work is noble and important – and will leave a lasting mark on the world.

“There’s this saying that ‘The arc of history bends towards justice,’” Olivares said. “It doesn’t bend. We need to bend it. And it’s very, very hard to bend.”

Bloomberg Law convened three leading social justice attorneys to share their personal experiences and advice to those looking to follow in their footsteps – or carve out their own path to a meaningful law career. Learn more from the full article.

Stay Ahead of Industry Intel

The legal profession is constantly evolving, which means that staying up to date on the latest developments and the topics that are front of mind for your colleagues and competitors is essential to success. Learn how to stay ahead of new legal developments by exploring legal news publications used by practicing attorneys.

Be Impressive on Day One

Bloomberg Law’s Practical Guidance library provides task-based, how-to coverage, including overviews, checklists, sample forms and agreements, timelines, drafting and negotiating guides, and more. These resources quickly show you how practicing attorneys accomplish legal tasks.

All sample documents and policies can be downloaded into Microsoft Word so you can edit to fit your needs

Practice areas covered include nearly every part of the industry, such as bankruptcy, benefits and executive compensation, transactions, employment, health care, intellectual property, labor relations, litigation, privacy and data security, tax practice, and tech
The guidance we offer is consistently updated based on current events and trends; for example, recently expanded topics include force majeure and bankruptcy, both of which have been in the spotlight this year

Learn how Practical Guidance can walk you through specific legal tasks.

News and Analysis

The first stop to learn what’s hot in the legal industry at any given moment is our real-time news and analysis – particularly our industry-focused sections such as business and practice and in-house counsel.

Visit our Bloomberg Law 2022 resource page for examples of our comprehensive, forward-looking analysis of the legal landscape. By focusing on four key categories – litigation, regulatory and compliance, transactions and contracts, and the future of the legal industry – our analysts offer insights and data about nearly every aspect of the industry during this time of great change.

Our team’s videos dive into current developments and issues affecting legal professionals. Examples include interviews with our analysts as well as the industry experts who are immersed day to day in a given subject.

Leaders from some of the country's biggest law firms to share their return to office plans and whether hybrid work is here to stay.

In Focus Pages

When you need a deep understanding of a particular topic, our In Focus pages
offer curated resources to cover every angle of the most pressing issues
transforming the legal markets.

Each In Focus page is a one-stop shop, featuring a variety of Bloomberg Law
resources centered around a specific topic; you’ll find news and commentary,
legal primary sources, dockets, business information, Practical Guidance, litigation
filings, and regulatory developments
We build new In Focus content based on the fast-paced world around us,
spotlighting hot topics such as lawyer well-being, legal technology, remote work,
and global developments in privacy.

See how In Focus pages give you all the information you need on hot legal topics.

Professional Perspectives

What better way to learn about the legal industry than from experts already well established in their fields? Our Professional Perspectives are long-form articles that take a closer look at the current legal issues and developments impacting practitioners.

Contributors range from law firm practitioners and in-house counsel to regulatory and compliance experts – whatever your area of interest is, we have you covered
Search more than 400 Professional Perspectives by keyword or filter by practice area to narrow down the wealth of information to best fit you and your career

Access your academic
account now

Bloomberg Law combines the latest in legal tech with analytics, comprehensive research tools, primary and secondary sources, news, expert analysis, and business intelligence.