Career Research

This page highlights many of BLS Library's career guides under these headings:

Legal Resumes & Cover Letters I U.S. Legal Profession: Introductions & Early Career Guides I Big Law I Legal Skills I Leadership I Legal Innovation & Legal Practice Technology I Marketing I Starting & Designing a Law Practice I Specific Legal Careers 

Tip: To find more sources on legal careers in BLS Library's SARA catalog, enter: careers + words describing a legal practice area, for example: careers sports law 

BLS students also can view videos on many types of legal careers provided by the BLS Career Development Center.  Access these videos through: BLSConnect > Career > Programs and Videos. 

TIP: Law student members of the ABA also should be able to access: How New Lawyers Can Build Their Brand on Social Media (June 13, 2024).

See:

BLS Library's subscription sources Law.com and Law360.com provide legal news/analysis regarding many types of law firms (including large law firms). 

Subscription database: Bloomberg Law News.  Includes Roy Strom's column: Big Law Business.  BLS Librarians can show you how to run search: "Big Law Business" and Strom to retrieve the author's prior columns. 

For recent data, see subscription Law.com: The 2024 Diversity Scorecard. 

Academic Legal Careers/Teaching Law:

See:

Association of American Law Schools, Becoming a Law Teacher

SSRN, Legal Scholarship Network Job Openings

Administrative Law:

See:

American Bar Association, Section of Administrative Law & Practice, Careers in Administrative Law (Dec. 5, 2022), which includes new/updated (in 2017) chapters to the book Careers in Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (2010), such as:

Animal Law:

See:

BLS Library guide page: Animal Law: Careers. 

Arbitration:

Business & Corporate Law:

See:

Yale Law School: Career Pathways: Business: In-House Legal Practice

Compliance:

BLS students: BLSConnect > Career > Manuals and Handouts includes multiple sources under career topic: Compliance.

Tip: Many of BLS Library's compliance resources focus on a specific practice area.  Examples: Bloomberg Law: Banking & Finance Practice Center > Fintech Compliance, Corporate Practice Center > Compliance and Litigation Intelligence Center: Practical Guidance: AML Compliance.

One introductory e-book in BLS Library is:

Criminal Law & Criminal Justice:

See:

Yale Law School, Career Guides: Criminal Defense & Criminal Prosecution

Entertainment Law:

Health Law:

See:

American Bar Association, Section of Health Law, What Is Health Law? (series of 1-hour webinars on health law careers/the healthcare industry)

International Law:

BLS students: BLSConnect > Career > Manuals and Handouts includes an International Law Handout authored by the BLS Career Development Center.

BLS students: Because BLS is an ASIL Academic Partner, ASIL offers:

• Dedicated "Careers in International Law" training sessions
• Free registration (for BLS law students) to ASIL's Midyear Meeting

Intellectual Property Law:

BLS students: BLSConnect > Career > Manuals and Handouts includes Intellectual Property Law Resources.

Litigation:

Public Interest Law:

BLS students: BLSConnect > Career > Manuals and Handouts includes many sources under career topic: Government.

See also:

PSJD: Your Pathway to Public Service Legal Careers page: Explore Advice

Yale Law School, Career Pathways: Public Interest

Real Estate Law:

BLS students: BLSConnect > Career > Manuals and Handouts includes Planning for a Real Estate Career authored by the BLS Career Development Center.

Sports Law:

Tax Law:

See:

Anthony Deriso, Montana Funk & Carneil Wilson, Insights from a Transactional Tax Attorney on a Career In Tax Law (publicly accessible ABA Young Lawyer Rising podcast, Dec. 21, 2023)

Heather M. Field, An Introduction to Tax Careers for J.D.s (June 13, 2019)

Trusts and Estates Law:

See:

Career Advice & Planning Articles in this BLS Library guide: Grace Wagner, Wills, Trusts & Estates