Legal Staff Job Descriptions: Crafting Effective Job Descriptions for Legal Support Staff The legal industry is one of the world's most dynamic and competitive sectors. The legal support staff is essential in helping legal firms provide quality services to their clients. However, recruiting and retaining the right legal support staff can be a challenge. Crafting effective job descriptions for legal support staff is essential to attract the best candidates and... (1 views)
Secrets To Writing a Winning Legal Resume: Tips for Making an Impression with Employers A strong legal resume is essential for anyone entering or already in the field of law. Ultimately, creating the perfect document to showcase your qualifications, experience, and skills can help you grab the attention of potential employers and lead you toward an impressive career path. Writing a legal resume can be complicated as various elements, including formatting and... (3 views)
Strategies for Successful Law Firm Interviews for Attorneys and Law Students Preparing thoroughly and practicing good etiquette during the interview process is essential for those applying for attorney or law student positions. To make a good impression, applicants should reflect on their strengths and weaknesses before the interview, avoid common mistakes such as asking inappropriate questions about salary or vacation time, and follow up with a... (13 views)
Succeeding in a Judicial Clerkship Summary: The application process can be daunting, but if you take it one step at a time and focus on putting your best foot forward, you'll end up exactly where you want to be - with a great job offer in hand. And once you have that job offer, the hard work isn't over yet. Be sure to take some time to celebrate your accomplishment, but then get ready for the next... (3 views)
How Paralegals Can Get a Job by Building Their Paralegal Network A paralegal career is all about networking. By nature, paralegals are people-oriented and like to build relationships. This makes them ideal networkers. The ability to network effectively is a critical skill for paralegals seeking a job. (2 views)
The Main Reasons Staff Attorneys Are Valuable for Law Firms Staff attorneys are often considered "less than" in the legal industry. They may sometimes do the same amount of work for a law firm and even have titles like associate or counsel on the firm's documents. However, they earn significantly less than their full-time counterparts. They do not have the same advancement opportunities. Many major law firms do not consider... (339 views)
Public Defender Interview Questions: The Real Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer If you’re interested in becoming a public defender, there are public defender interview questions you should be prepared to answer. Whether you’re preparing for an interview as a federal public defender or a public defender at the state or county level, these interviews are far different than preparing for a law firm interview. In this article, we will review the most... (160 views)
Managing Your Time on a Legal Staff Job Time management is essential in any professional field, but never more so than when in the legal field. Most work in the legal arena is a team effort. When one attorney or legal staff member is not effectively managing their time, it impacts the workload for other attorneys, paralegals and legal staff involved in the same project. The trickle-down effect deflates morale... (58 views)
Five Tips that Lead to Paralegal Offers Whether you are changing jobs or entering the paralegal field for the first time, you want to be in the position of choosing between offers. What do you need to do to ensure that your education, training, and experience translate to firm offers of employment? (345 views)
Justice Without a JD: Careers in Law That Don’t Require a Law Degree Summary: You don’t have to be an attorney to work in the legal industry. There are many jobs in law firms and corporations that don’t require going to law school or earning a J.D. Are you into tech and social media? Are you great at research? Have great organizational skills? Then you may be able to have a great career in the legal industry. This article explains your... (403 views)
Think Outside the Law Firm: Alternative Working Environments for Paralegals Summary: If you are an experience paralegal or just starting out in this profession, you are not limited to jobs in law firms. Learn where paralegals may work. (298 views)
How to Avoid Bringing Salary Up Too Soon in a Legal Job Interview There's no telling when the salary discussion may come up in an interview, but bringing up your desired salary too soon could be a risky move. It's important that you are able to present yourself, your abilities, and what you can contribute to the company before your price tag. (18 views)
How To Bomb Your Legal Interview In 10 Minutes Ever wonder why you don’t get a call back after what you thought was a “great” interview? (599 views)
Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile for the Legal Job Search Of all the social networks, LinkedIn is the most important when it comes to presenting yourself professionally to potential legal employers and recruiters. Although it may seem tedious and awkward at first, investing time and energy into your LinkedIn profile as you would a job application; helps build your online presence among 175 million job seekers and professionals.... (23 views)
Work Goes on: What If a Coworker Quits Your Law Firm? Career experts have it right: Office friendships—both the real kind and the virtual kind—are tricky. Today I’m thinking of another kind of office relationship, maybe the trickiest of all: Someone you couldn’t do your job without. Think of someone who, if they left, you’d just have to follow them out the door. (16 views)
1st Day Introductions At Your New Legal Job Today is your first day on the job and you’re prepared: You have your outfit picked out, you packed your lunch last night, and you’ve plotted out the best route on Waze. Suddenly you break out in a cold sweat as flashbacks of being the new kid in school all those years ago sets off memories of awkward introductions and curious eyes flashing in your direction. (241 views)
Why You Should Intern as an Experienced Legal Professional After graduating from Georgetown University in 2008, Margaret Breslin entered the working world as a fulltime paralegal at a Philadelphia law firm. But when she lost her job a year later, Breslin used her extra free time to pursue a budding interest in the nonprofit sector by interning at a Washington DC-based nonprofit that helps women gain economic independence. (27 views)
How to Ace Performance Reviews for Paralegals "Every time I sit down for a review with my boss, I feel like a deer caught in the headlights. Talking about myself makes me incredibly uncomfortable, so I can go the whole hour without saying a word. My boss will ramble on and on, and I'll just sit there and nod dumbly like an idiot. When he's done, he'll push the review in front of me and ask me to sign it. I'll do it,... (48 views)
How to Turn Down a Legal Job Offer: Let 'Em Down Easy Interviewing, much like dating, begins with careful preparation, nervous anxiety, and finding just the right outfit. And if things go well, you might be extended an offer to see each other more regularly. (54 views)
Listen Up: How to Use Your Ears in a Legal Job Interview Plenty of law students spend their time in the back of a classroom, tuning in and out of hour-long lectures. While this may be good for catching up on sleep, it does nothing to hone your listening skills. In fact, it’s quite the opposite of the kind of listening needed to ace an interview. (23 views)
Thinking of Sending a Thank You Gift to a Law Firm After an Interview? It’s a given that you should always send a heartfelt thank you note after a legal interview, but it’s also possible to express a little too much gratitude. Sending in a flower bouquet after an interview may be a little too extreme…however, sending a thank you note via email with 24 hours after your interview is a must! (303 views)
How to Nail a Legal Interview You've snagged an interview at the most prestigious law firm. Now what? Here, top recruiters, career consultants, and even shrinks offer shrewd tips and subtle tricks for moving from "How do you do?" to "When can you start?" (60 views)
5 Things Job Applicants Do That Annoy Legal Hiring Managers With employers being flooded with candidates for any job they post, it's more important than ever to make sure you understand how your behavior may look on the other side of the hiring desk. Here are my top five pet peeves that I see over and over from job applicants. (38 views)
How Can A Legal Applicant Bomb an Interview In 10 Minutes Ever wonder why you don’t get a call back after what you thought was a “great” interview? (45 views)
Get Equipped for Legal Network As with all major projects, the right tools can make a difference—so the right networking tools will yield the best results. Nothing projects professionalism and competence better than being organized and prepared, and there are a few tools you can use to help you make the most of your networking efforts. Just as you wouldn’t build a house with only a hammer, you’ll... (27 views)
Finish Strong: End Your Legal Job Interview on the Right Note In high school, my lacrosse coach used to constantly remind us to “finish strong”—whether we were running sprints, completing a 3-mile run, or ending a game. I can still remember her standing on the sidelines, yelling “Finish strong, ladies!” The point she was trying to make, I think, is that when you’re in the home stretch, you shouldn’t wind down—you... (50 views)
The 5 Defining Moments of Every Legal Job Interview In every job interview, there are five “make-it-or-break-it” moments that send the candidate onto the next round of interviews, possibly even a job offer, or to the discard pile. (5 views)
Tailoring Resumes & Cover Letters to Fit the Legal Position You're ready to begin the job hunt. You know what types of positions and firms you'd like to apply to. Now you just need to whip together a resume and proceed, right? Sounds simple-but writing a resume that raises you above the pack and conveys your perfect fit to an employer is a handsome challenge indeed, especially if you take into account that most legal recruiters... (23 views)
How to Handle "Curve Ball" Questions in a Legal Interview You landed an interview for a legal position you really want. You meet all the stated requirements and you’ve got the requisite experience. You’ve prepared for the interview, nailing down your responses to all the tough questions you expect to be asked. (60 views)
10 Questions You Should Never Be Asked by Law in an Interview There are numerous state and federal antidiscrimination laws designed to assure that employers hire based upon skill, rather than stereotypes. Therefore, there are some things a legal interviewer isn't allowed to ask. How do you know what's fair game? Here are some questions that should raise red flags. (29 views)