Preparing for an Associate or Summer Associate law firm interview. Do your research!

Congratulations, you’ve landed an interview with a promising firm. What’s next?

1. 1. 1. Request the interviewers’ names: Email the recruiting manager or HR person who scheduled your interview and request a list of interviewers. This is a perfectly normal request so don’t be shy.
      2. Research the interviewers: Review each interviewer’s firm bio, experience tab, and LinkedIn bio. Look for something in common: schools, connections, boards, organizations, interests.
         1. • Are they homegrown or a lateral?
            • What practice? Litigation? Corporate? Specialist?
            • Under the experience tab, what deals have they worked on? What cases did they try?
      3. Review the Firm’s Website: If you are in Dallas, search for all Dallas attorneys. Skim their practice areas. Is the Dallas office heavy litigation or heavy corporate? Is one practice dominant in this particular city? Firms generally hire in their largest practice. If they only have one L&E partner, they likely aren't hiring summer associates for L&E every year. If they have 100 corporate associates and 10 litigators, it's a better bet for students to pitch their skills in corporate. You MUST dig into the bread and butter of the firm and know the specialties in your particular office location.
      4. Read The Texas Lawbook: This is my favorite resource for researching a firm. Under the search tab on the Texas Lawbook website, enter the firm name. You will see numerous articles on trials, corporate deals, and even bonus information.
      5. Use your network: If you are a law student, start asking questions about the firm. Ask career services, ask your neighbors, ask former summer associates at the firm, ask friends, ask a recruiter in that city for intel, post questions on FishBowl, or message an associate on LinkedIn. You can ask questions like:
         1. • What do you know about this firm’s Dallas office?
            • What are they known for? Do they have an L&E group? Do they do M&A?
            • What practice area is the largest by headcount? What groups are busy?

         These sources can provide you with intel you won’t find easily online.

      6. Read the Firm’s LinkedIn Page: Law firms promote news of big deals or litigation on their LinkedIn page. They also promote recent lateral hires.
      7. Vault & Chambers Associate: Both have useful information, especially for associates about culture, hours, compensation, practice areas, training and mentorship, and partnership.