Q. How do I find information on law firms, lawyers and judges for my job or clerkship search?

If you are looking for information on legal careers, preparing for an interview or applying for judicial clerkships, there are a number of sources provided by the Harvard Law School that can help.

The Harvard Law School Office of Career Services has provided a number of resources that can help you with your job search.  They can also answer questions specific to the job search process.

The Harvard Law School Library also provides a number of guides and directories either online or in print that can help you gather background information on potential employers.

Mega Directory and Resource for all Law (firms, clerkships, other):

Harvard Law School:  Leadership Directory (HLS me access)

This is a highly valuable source for finding information on all sorts of potential employers. Search by organization type, such as Law & Lobbying Firms, Government (Federal, State or Local), Associations, Nonprofits, among others.

Create customized lists of law firms or individuals. For some ideas on how to find lawyers by region, law schools, and other criteria, check out: Job Searching on Leadership Directory

Lawyer and Law Firm Data:

Harvard Law OCS: Researching Employers

For data on law firms and law firm hiring, start with the NALP guide either online or in print (most recent edition at Reference KF190 .N327) 

Lexis and Westlaw are also rich sources for lawyer and law firm research. Directory information on law firms and individual attorneys can also be found in Martindale Hubbell (available via Lexis or on the web at martindale.com) or via the WestlawNext Profiler.  Search legal news and cases to identify recent transactions and representative clients.

For rankings and reviews of law firms, try law firm guides like the Vault Guides, ALM, American Lawyer. OCS has provided several on their Law Firm Rankings and Guides page, or you can search HOLLIS for the subject " Law offices -- United States -- Directories"

Judicial Clerkships:

Harvard Law OCS: Judicial Clerkships

The library also has a number of judicial directories in print and online:

The Judicial Yellow Book (online or in print at the Reference Desk)

The American Bench (in print at the Reference Desk). The American Bench includes representative publications and leading cases for each judge.

Almanac of the Federal Judiciary (online via CCH, online via Westlaw or in print on Reserve at the Circulation Desk). The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary includes publications, blurbs about leading cases and lawyers' comments.

You can also try searching HOLLIS for "Judges--United States--Directories"

Find representative opinions by using the advanced field search functions in Westlaw or Lexis. Try these sample searches:

Westlaw (search in the appropriate case database):   JU(lastname) or JU(firstname /3 lastname)

WestlawNext: advanced:JU(lastname) or advanced:JU(firstname/3 lastname)

Lexis (search in the appropriate case database): JUDGES(lastname) or JUDGES(firstname w/3 lastname)

Additional resources for researching judges have been compiled in this helpful guide from the University of Cincinnati Law School: http://www.law.uc.edu/sites/default/files/Researching%20Judges.pdf   

Finally, make sure to check the court's web page for additional information such as the court structure, contact information and recent cases.

Firms Advising on SEC Transactions, includes:  M&A, Debt & Equity Issuances & Governance Issues

Harvard Law School:  Bloomberg Law Dealmaker (Bloomberg Law Account)

Bloomberg Law Dealmaker is a well curated list of SEC filings (EDGAR).  These filings, often contracts, provide precedential language for deals and other transactions, including for M&A, equity issuances, and governance issues (e.g., corporate proxies).

Search the Dealmaker template by law firm advisor.  From near the bottom of the template, select Search by Law Firm, Party, Industry, and More.  Searching by firm will allow you to see recent deals and types of documents created for transactional practice areas.

Firms Advising in Private Equity and Venture Capital:

Harvard Business School: Zephyr (HUID & PIN)

Once in, select the middle bubble for Advanced Queries.  

Zephyr allows you to create lists of firms who advise start-up.  Learn which firms advise on funding to angel investors, private equity firms and venture capital firms.. 

Search, for example, for Deal types & methods of payment; this includes Financing stage.  And then under Deal advisors, add limiters on Role (law firm) and Region (global and domestic).

Harvard Business School: Preqin (HUID & PIN)

Get to the Advanced Search (from the left navigation), and then use the template to set up customized searches.

Preqin allows you to set up searches on financing (stage, region, etc.), but not specifically by role (such as by law firm advisors). However, once you narrow the deals by stage and region, the specific deals give information on the firms and lawyers.

Creating Customized Firm List for any Industry:

Harvard University:  LexisNexis Academic (HUID & PIN)

Once in LexisNexis Academic, from the left navigation, select Companies.  Then, select Dossier™ Create a Company List. 

From this template, create customized Excel spreadsheets of employers based on a wide variety of criteria, including:

• Type (private, public, subsidiary, etc.)
• Size (based on revenue or sales)
• Number of Employees
• Industry (description or SIC & NAIC)
• Geographic scope (country, state, city, zip code, etc.)