Career Toolkit

Career Toolkit: Career Search

Job Search Databases/Job Boards

Type of Resource Resource Description
Job Board Public Interest Job Search Sites List List of public interest job search sites
Job Board USAJobs Federal government job postings
Job Board Department of Justice Legal Careers Department of Justice job board
Job Board USCourts Federal judiciary positions
Job Board Senate Employment Bulletin Senate job vacancies
Job Board House Employment Bulletin House of Representatices vacancy announcements
Job Board PSJD Public interest job board
Job Board National Association of Women Lawyers National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) job board
Job Board ABA Job Board ABA Job search
Job Board Law Crossing Legal job database
Job Board Legal Staff Association Career Network legal job search
Job Board Above the Law Legal blog job board
Job Board Law Jobs Legal job search
Job Board Lobbying Jobs Lobbying job board

Resume

Type of Resource Resource Description
Guide Resume Advice Yale Law School’s resume advice and samples.
Guide Legal Resumes Berkeley Law School’s resume guide.
Guide Killer Legal Resumes University of Denver’s legal resume guide.
Guide Public Interest Resumes Harvard Law School’s public interest resume guide.
Blog 11 Expert Tips for Writing a Lawyer Resume that Gets You Hired To help set your application apart, this Clio guide for new or experienced legal professionals will help you optimize your legal resume to secure an interview. Whether you need design tips, guidance on how to best showcase your accomplishments, or ideas for tailoring your resume to engage multiple stakeholders, these tips will help you create a winning legal resume that will get you noticed—and hired.
Blog Building a Top-notch Legal Resume for Today’s Market: Part I Resume guidance from JD Supra (Part I).
Blog Building a Top-notch Legal Resume for Today’s Market: Part II Resume guidance from JD Supra (Part II).
Guide Legal Resume Texas A&M School of Law’s guide to resume writing, with samples.
Article How to Write a Legal Resume and Build Your Brand As an attorney resume writer, Wendi Weiner, The Writing Guru, is often asked whether a legal resume requires a different formulaic equation compared to resumes written other industries. Resume writers mistakenly believe that they can formulate a resume for a lawyer the same way that a non-lawyer’s resume is written. Why is a legal resume different? Why is a corporate counsel resume different than law firm lawyer resume? She explains in this article.
Podcast Resumes and Cover Letters (with an ex-BigLaw Recruiter) Welcome to the Law School Toolbox Podcast. Today, they welcome back former BigLaw Recruiter, Sadie Jones, to give her insights on resumes and cover letters. She’s reviewed thousands of legal resumes in her life and is here to answer some frequently asked questions on the dos and don’ts of resume and cover letter preparation.
Podcast How to Craft a Resume That Recruiters Will Love An ABA Journal discussion with two legal search consultants on resume writing.
Guide Legal Resume Guide Marquette University Law School’s comprehensive resume guide, with samples.
Guide Resume Guide Chicago-Kent College of Law’s resume guide, including resume and reference samples.
Guide The Federal Resume Guide: What You Should Know When Applying for a Federal Career The National Archives’ federal resume guide, with samples and winning words.
Guide Resume Handbook Boston University School of Law’s resume handbook.
Guide Sample Lateral Application Materials Stanford Law School’s sample resumes and cover letters for lateral moves.
Guide Resume Guide The University of Miami School of Law’s resume guide.
Article 10 Tips for Writing Your Lawyer Resume Whether you’re just starting out as a lawyer or you’re a seasoned legal professional, you’ll want to have an excellent resume that increases your chances of securing the ideal lawyer r ole. A well-planned and strategically written resume can enhance your likelihood of getting noticed by employing firms. In this article, we discuss why it’s important to have a strong resume when you’re applying to be a lawyer, and we provide you with tips to accomplish that goal.
Blog 9 Tips for Writing a Great Legal Resume Writing resumes can be tricky for lawyers or paralegals applying for a position at a law firm or corporate legal department. You might wonder how best to order the components and  whether certain information should be included at all. And  would a flashy design help your chances or hurt them?  The tips in this blog for  writing legal resumes  can help you land the  position you’re pursuing.

Cover Letter

Type of Resource Resource Description
Podcast Resumes and Cover Letters (with an ex-BigLaw Recruiter) Welcome to the Law School Toolbox Podcast. Today, they welcome back former BigLaw Recruiter, Sadie Jones, to give her insights on resumes and cover letters. She’s reviewed thousands of legal resumes in her life and is here to answer some frequently asked questions on the dos and don’ts of resume and cover letter preparation.
Guide Cover Letter Advice & Samples Yale Law School’s cover letter guide, with samples.
Blog How to Write a Cover Letter for Law Firms That Gets You Noticed No matter your level of experience, a persuasive cover letter can help you get noticed—and hired. Whether you’re a law student, recent graduate, or experienced legal professional, this post will guide you through the essentials of how to write a compelling cover letter for law firms you’re applying to. To inspire you, included are a few different sample cover letters for lawyers.
Guide Cover Letters Berkeley Law School’s cover letter guide, with common cover letter mistakes.
Guide Public Interest Cover Letters Harvard Law School’s comprehensive guide to writing public interest cover letters.
Guide Cover Letters and E-mail Correspondence Georgetown Law’s guide on cover letters and email correspondence.
Guide Legal Cover Letters The University of Toledo College of Law’s sample cover letters, tailored to different employment sectors (e.g., firm, government, business, clerkship).
Guide Cover Letter Handout Texas A&M School of Law’s cover letter guidebook.
Guide Sample Cover Letters Sample cover letters from Columbia Law School.
Website Georgetown Writing Center Georgetown Law’s legal writing guides, with cover letter guides and samples.
Website Cover Letters and Thank You Notes University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School’s sample cover letters and thank you notes for employers.
Guide Cover Letter Guide The University of Notre Dame Law School’s cover letter guide, including samples.
Guide Sample Lateral Application Materials Stanford Law School’s sample cover letters and resumes for lateral moves.
Guide Cover Letter and Thank You Guide The University of Miami School of Law’s cover letter and thank you letter guide, with samples.
Podcast How Attorneys and Law Students Can Craft the Perfect Cover Letter Harrison Barnes, a legal mentor, offers advice on how to write a covery letter.
Book Telling Your Story: A Step-by-Step Guide to Drafting Persuasive Legal Resumes and Cover Letters Everyone has a story, and in a professional context, students tell their stories in resumes and cover letters two of the most important pieces of persuasive writing they will ever draft. Telling Your Story uses techniques students learn in legal writing classes to teach them how to draft memorable resumes and cover letters. This book can be used as part of a legal writing curriculum, as a weeklong or weekend course on professional development, or by career advisors (both in law school and undergraduate school) when working with students.
Article The Cover Letter: Bringing Your Skills to Life Cover letters are a crucial part of the application process and can determine whether you get an interview. Unlike resumes, which are given a quick skim, cover letters are usually read a little more closely by recruiters. It is important to take the time you deserve to craft a strong cover letter to sell yourself and bring your skills to life. This article incldues tips from Lewis & Clark Law School to help you get started.
Samples Sample Cover Letters Harvard Law School’s sample cover letters.
Blog 7 Cover Letter Tips for Traditional Lawyer Jobs A former attorney and career coach’s process for writing cover letters that eliminates dread and lands interviews fast.

Writing Sample

Type of Resource Resource Description
Guide Writing Sample Texas A&M School of Law’s guide to preparing writing samples.
Guide Revising and Preparing a Writing Sample Georgetown University Law Center’s guide to revising a piece of writing and turning it into a writing sample.
Guide Writing Sample Cover Sheet Samples Writing sample cover sheet samples provided by Yale Law School.
Podcast The Dos and Don’ts of Writing Samples Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! In this episode, ex-BigLaw recruiter Sadie Jones talks about preparing a great writing sample, which you might need when applying for a law job, a clerkship, or an internship/externship.
Guide Help! I Need a Writing Sample CUNY School of Law’s writing sample guide.
Article How To Prepare A Legal Writing Sample For A Legal Job Interview Being prepared for a job interview is the main rule for legal jobs. You should prepare thoroughly by reading sample questions, drafting your own questions, printing your resume, and having your writing sample ready. It is important to have a writing sample ready even if not all employers request one. The following article will help you prepare for your legal writing sample in the best way.
Article Legal Writing Samples: 5 Things You Need to Know for Your Interview Legal writing samples are necessary during the interview process for attorneys at all stages. If you are an experienced attorney, the demand for them will vary depending on your area of practice. Do not take it lightly when a writing sample is requested. You may be asked to provide writing samples when applying or interviewing for legal jobs – and it’s best to be prepared for that scenario. This article is written by a legal consulting firm.
Article What Should I Choose for a Writing Sample? There’s no perfect answer — but here are a few guidelines, from veteran recruiter Abby Gordon.
Guide Writing Samples Writing sample guide provided by Chicago-Kent School of Law.
Guide Writing Samples, References & Transcripts Yale Law’s school’s guide to writing samples, references, and transcripts.
Guide Writing Sample Guide The University of Baltimore School of Law’s writing sample guide.
Article Common Mistakes When Creating Legal Writing Samples Top-notch writing skills are crucial in the legal industry, especially for lawyers and paralegals. If you are applying for a legal position, employers will frequently request a writing sample. Furnishing a poor writing sample can destroy your chance of landing the job. On the other hand, an excellent writing sample can help you get a leg up on the competition. It is a good idea to build a portfolio of writing samples during school and your early years of practice. This portfolio should include your best work in a variety of genres. This article includes five common mistakes applicants make in submitting writing samples.

Interview & Interview Follow-Up

Type of Resource Resource Description
List Interview Questions Questions you might be asked and questions you may want to ask.
Website Interviewing Harvard Law School’s public interest interviewing guide, with information on preparing, presenting, interview questions and follow up.
Website Interviewing Guide The University of Miami School of Law’s interviewing guide, including preparing, presenting, interview and behavioral questions, questions to ask, and the top 12 reasons candidates don’t get hired.
Guide Call Back Interview Guide The University of Miami School of Law’s call back interview guide.
Article Top Interview Questions for Lawyers Finding a lawyer that checks all of the boxes you need—stellar lawyering skills, strong domain knowledge, ambition, self-motivation, the ability to inspire confidence and sustain warm relationships with clients and co-workers—can be tricky. How can you be sure a candidate is the right fit for your company or firm? Knowing what to ask will help you identify wonderful possibilities and a robust fit in your next lawyer. Below you’ll find questions to help assess a candidate’s hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills. This is also helpful for interviewee preparation.
Article How to Excel in Law Firm Interviews Let’s review how even excellent lawyers can suddenly find themselves in need of new jobs. Then we’ll take a look at some helpful pointers that will greatly increase every attorney’s chances of receiving a job offer for the right position at the most opportune moment.
Guide Interview Tips from the Interviewers Practical, real-world interview advice from Washington, D.C. law firm attorneys and recruiting managers.
Guide Questions Employers Often Ask Yale Law’s School’s list of questions that interviewers often ask.
Article Six Ways to Stand Out At Your Law Firm Interview Tips from Valut on standing out in interviews. As you prepare for job interviews, cross-check that you have covered these key areas. If you are interviewing virtually, all of these tips apply.
Article The Definitive List of Law Firm Interview Questions and Answers BCG’s definitive guide to legal interview questions, with guides for answers.
Book Nail Your Law Job Interview: The Essential Guide to Firm, Clerkship, Government, In-House, and Lateral Interviews Nail Your Law Job Interview provides tips, examples, and substantive advice. This award-winning book is the only comprehensive interview guide for lawyers interviewing for any type of a legal job. Through real-life examples, interviews, and tips from hundreds of prominent legal professionals, judges, recruiters, and firm partners, this book reveals successful interview strategies, insider perspectives, bold moves, and unique challenges facing candidates in a difficult economy.
Book Top 22 Law Firm Interview Tips: How to Excel in Law Firm Interviews Over the years, Andrew Harrison Barnes, the CEO of BCG Attorney Search, has offered his advice on nearly every facet of the legal job community and, throughout Barnes’ career, he has been intimately involved with the ebbs and flows of the legal job market. As a legal recruiter and practicing attorney, Barnes has specialized knowledge and is willing to share his wisdom for the benefit of law students, junior attorneys, senior attorneys, and partners. “His new book, entitled “Top 22 Law Firm Interview Tips: How to Excel in Law Firm Interviews” is an aggregate collection of the advice columns and articles he has written relating to the topic everyone looking for a legal job dreads: the interviewing process.”
Article The Right Answers to Law Interview Questions f you want to make it as a lawyer, you have to be good under pressure, and often the first true test of that (after first semester exams, of course) is your legal job interview. Whether you’re applying for a summer associateship at a law firm or an in-house position at a company, one of the most critical – and stressful – steps is the interview. It can be your one opportunity to make an impression and showcase what makes you the right candidate for the job. Like most things, preparation is key. In this Bloomberg Law article, practicing attorneys and legal advisers share their best tips for how to answer some of the most common and challenging questions that are sure to come up in your law interview.
Guide Successful Interviewing Guide Washington University School of Law’s guide to successful interviewing.
Article How to Prepare for a Lateral Interview as an Associate: Looking to Improve Your Chances of Receiving an Offer? Lateral Link shares its insight and some the most useful preparation activities and strategies for lateral associate interviews. Research is conclusive, more interview preparation significantly increases the probability of succeeding in the process.
Guide Interview Guide The Univeristy of Notre Dame’s interview guide.
Webinar Preparing for Initial and Callback Interviews Join Harvard University Office of Career Services for a webinar on Preparing for Initial and Callback Interviews. Carolyn Wehmann, an experienced law firm consultant and career coach, will share her tips on how to sharpen your interviewing skills and how you can close the deal in an interview setting. Topics will include how to prepare, converting anxiety to curiosity, differences between initial and callback interviews, managing a behavior-based interview, questions to ask (and questions to avoid), how to answer tough questions, using intangibles (like eye-contact and demeanor) to strengthen your interview presentation and – how to be memorable, if you want a callback or an offer.
Webinar How do you ace OCI? The experts help you prep for on-campus interviews Are you getting ready for on-campus interviews? Nervous about how you’ll do? To help you get ready for OCI, lawyers from both sides of the interview table shared their advice on the interview process and how to land the “call-back” in this ABA webinar.
Guide Jones Day Interview Tips Interview tips provided by Jones Day.

Negotiating Offers

Type of Resource Resource Description
Article How to Successfully Negotiate the Offer You Want The road to the offer stage in an interview process is usually a long and winding one with a few bumps along the way. Once this destination is reached, a candidate may anticipate a deep breath, but for many, the thought of negotiating the offer creates added stress. What should I ask for? How do I know what areas have room for more? How do I ask for more without appearing greedy? How do I behave appropriately so my offer does not get pulled? These are the most common questions candidates ask themselves when contemplating a negotiation. This article addresses those questions.
Website Compensation Resources Compensation resources for attorneys, provided by Stanford Law School.
Website Negotiating Your Offer One of the toughest parts of the job search is knowing what to do once you receive an offer; it is difficult to know how to communicate with your potential employer, choose between offers, and accept or decline job offers. Harvard Law School’s resources can help with navigating this tricky process.
Guide Evaluating and Negotiating Job Offers The University of Miami’s comprehensive guide to evaluating and negotiating offers.
Guide Sample Letters Accepting and Rejecting Offers The University of Miami’s sample letters for rejecting and accepting offers.
Article Negotiating a Job Offer: Helping Law Students Learn to Ask for What They Deserve An article that was reprinted from the National Association for Law Placement Bulletin. It includes advice on negotiating job offers.
Website Salary Negotiation Yale Law School’s guide to salary negotiation.
Website Tips for Negotiating Your Lateral Associate Offer Every good lawyer knows you don’t accept the first offer, yet so many lateral associates do just that when moving firms. Big firms generally pay market compensation, so many assume there is no room for negotiations—but that isn’t remotely true. Sure, you’re unlikely to get a Vault 10 firm to move on an associate base salary, but there are plenty of things in the offer letter that are not set in stone. First, let’s talk about ways to make sure you have as much leverage to negotiate as possible. Then we’ll look at all the places you can negotiate.
Website Offers and Salary Georgetown University Law Center’s quick tips on job offers.
Article Negotiating a Low Ball Offer You’ve gone through the grueling attorney job interview stage, written the painstaking thank you notes, and made every possible effort to land your dream job as a lawyer. The offer letter with your lawyer salary arrives and now your dream is about to come true… that is, until you open the letter. Your heart sinks and your anger level rises. The firm has offered you a “low ball salary.” This article provides tips on how to approach this scenario.
Website Lawyer Transitions: The Art of Negotiation This article discusses the art of negotiation. It is part of a Lawyer Transitions series, which includes several other articles on negotiating job offers (e.g., talking about compensation, what’s on the negotiating table, figuring out multiple offers, giving notice without burning bridges, and encountering counteroffers).
Blog How to Negotiate Salary: 3 Winning Strategies A blog post from Harvard Law’s Program on Negotiation. When considering how to negotiate salary, job candidates sometimes make decisions that go against their best interests. Research suggests guidelines for effective salary negotiation.
Blog Salary Negotiation: How to Ask for a Higher Salary Bargaining skills in wage and salary negotiation from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.
Blog Are Salary Negotiation Skills Different for Men and Women? For women, salary negotiation is about more than just a paycheck. This blog post from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation offers negotiation tips specifically for women.
Blog Renegotiate Salary to Your Advantage When it’s time to renegotiate salary, we often downplay our contributions to the organization. Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation offers advice on how to bargain up rather than down—and earn what you truly deserve.
Blog Compensation Negotiation Tips: Lessons from Broadway Compensation negotiation tips need to go beyond negotiating salary, as illustrated by a profit-sharing deal reached by the original off-Broadway cast of the hit musical Hamilton illustrates.
Article Salary and Negotiations Information, Salary Calculators and Articles on Negotiating Salaries and Responding to Salary Requirements, provided by Berkeley Law.
Podcast How lawyers can negotiate for better salaries and positions While negotiating for one’s client is second nature to most attorneys, many find it a lot harder to negotiate for themselves. How can you advocate for a better position without being seen as too aggressive or off-putting? In this month’s Asked and Answered podcast, the ABA Journal’s Stephanie Francis Ward talks to Kathleen Kelley Reardon about how attorneys can ask for what they want without jeopardizing good work relationships.
Podcast Negotiating a Job Offer In this podcast, ex-BigLaw recruiter Sadie Jones talks about negotiating job offers.
Podcast Salary Talk SalaryTalk, the official podcast of salary.com, features the most useful advice on career advancement, job-hunting, resumes and salary negotiation. Hosts Aaron Gouveia and Wendy Ryan interview the most knowledgeable and accomplished authors, who dispense expert advice on everything from negotiating a six-figure salary to creating a sustainable work-life balance.
Website Responding to Offers Yale Law School’s guide to responding to offers.
Guide Accepting and Declining Offers Berkeley Law’s guide to accepting and declining offers.
Article How to Reply to a Job Offer Receiving a job offer is an exciting part of the job search process—congratulations! Like writing a resume and going to an interview, how you respond is a step that you should approach with care, professionalism and respect. Carefully consider how to accept or decline a job offer so you can positively begin your new employment or maintain a positive relationship with a business contact. In this article, we explain how to respond to a job offer and provide sample responses to help you compose your own.

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