Fall On-Campus Interviewing Program: Researching Employers
We
strongly encourage you to research employers prior to completing
your preferences on Symplicity and before you attend any interviews. In
addition, once you have received your interview schedule you will
have the name(s) of the attorney(s) who will interview you. Keeping
in mind that interviewers can change at the last minute, it is
still important to gather information on the interviewer as well
as the firm. Below are some resources you can use to gather information
on both the employers and interviewers:
I) National Association for Law Placement (NALP) Directory
of Legal Employers
NALP conducts annual surveys of member firms and governmental organizations and publishes that information on-line at www.nalpdirectory.com. The NALP surveys give an overview of the practice areas, hiring
history, salary information for summer associates and entry level
associates, billable hour requirements of the firm, number of
attorneys per practice area, the names of other law schools at
which they interview, and other relevant information about a given
legal employer.
A bound copy of the NALP directory is located in the private
practice section of the Career Services Office.
Past NALP forms are in the gray files of an individual employer's
file in the Career Services Office.
II) Firm Websites
The sites are likely to include a firm profile, a list of practice
areas, lists of branch offices, attorney biographies, and a listing
of internal firm publications for which the interviewing attorney
has written. Many firms also include extensive descriptions of their summer associate programs.
III) Firm Resume Binders
Some legal employers who plan to interview on campus have sent "firm resumes" and/or marketing materials to the career services office. The binders are located on the bottom shelves of the non-circulating section of the resource center and are updated as new information arrives throughout the summer. The binders contain NALP sheets (see above) if available and any firm brochures or pamphlets that the employer sends us.
IV) Martindale-Hubbell
Directory
This directory gives basic information about the practice areas
of a firm as well as biographical information about its attorneys.
Martindale-Hubbell is available both in a database on Lexis-Nexis in the "CAREER"
library's "MARHUB" directory, and on-line (click on link above.)
Example Searches:
Searching online for a list of employers based on specified
criteria (In this case, Securities Law):
- Go to www.martindale.com
- Select Lawyer Locator
- Select Search
- A search template appears with six tabs: Name, Firm, Location/practice,
Corporate, Govt., and Faculty. Select Location/ Practice
- Choose Look for: Law Firms Only
- Select Major Practice Area: Securities
- City: Chicago
- Select the Search button at the bottom of the screen.
Searching online for a specific employer (In this case, Arnstein
& Lehr):
1. Go to www.martindale.com
2. Select Lawyer Locator.
3. Select Search.
4. Choose Firm Name: Arnstein
5. Choose City: Chicago
6. Select Search.
Searching online for an attorney (In this case, you are looking
for Fay Clayton at Robinson Curley & Clayton):
- Go to www.martindale.com
- Select Lawyer Locator
- Select Search
- Select Name from tabs
- Enter the attorney's last name and first name
- Choose city: Chicago
- Select Search
Aside from bringing up the individual attorney, it will also
provide a link to the firm listing, if available.
Searching for alumnae/i within a practice area (In this case,
you are looking for alumnae/i in Chicago who are practicing Securities
Law):
- Go to www.martindale.com
- Select Lawyer Locator
- Select Search
- Select Location/Practice from the tabs
- Choose Look for: Lawyers only
- Select Major Practice Area: Securities
- Select Law School: Chicago-Kent
- Select city Chicago
- Select the Search button.
V) Lexis-Nexis
Nexis is the Lexis news service which enables the researcher
to search various legal and contemporary publications for information
about the employer and about the person who will be interviewing
for the employer. This will provide the interviewee with
insight into the issues the firm is currently facing and the professional
background of a particular interviewer. These issues may
have an impact on the outcome of your interview.
VI) Lexis and Westlaw
Search the Lexis or Westlaw databases to find the most recent
cases in which the employer has been involved. We recommend
using this research technique in preparation for call-back interviews.
VII) Gray files
The "gray files" are the file cabinets located toward the rear
of the resource center. The files contain information about
employers that our office has collected from legal publications.
The files include information on ‘Illinois Law Firms," "Out-of-state
Law Firms," "Corporations," "Government," "Public Interest," and
"Academic."
VIII) Summer Experience Survey Binders
These binders, located in the miscellaneous reference section
of the Resource Center, contain surveys completed by Chicago-Kent
returning students. The surveys are filed alphabetically
by employer and give an overview of what it was like for that
student to work for a particular employer.
IX) Word of mouth
In the words of Professor Spak, "be chatty." Find out about
organizational culture, division of labor, and other issues from
people who have worked with the employer with whom you will be
interviewing. First-hand experience is an invaluable resource
for the type of information you want to know and will never find
in directories or firm resumes. Remember to talk to
a variety of people before drawing conclusions about an employer.
Sources of this type of information may include professors, alums,
and current students who worked for the employer during the summer
or school year.
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