Law 360 Can Help You Land a Job

The BLS Library recently licensed the full Law 360 legal news product (http://www.law360.com)   This premiere service is frequently the first place breaking legal news will hit the web – but you can’t use Google to get at it.  This is a subscription product which means you must be at school or using the proxy instructions for access (proxy instructions: http://brkl.brooklaw.edu/screens/proxy.html)

The service covers 26 sections, some of which are based on topic (like Intellectual Property), others are based on jurisdictions (like New York), and others are based on function (like Appellate).  The full slate includes Appellate; Bankruptcy; California; Class Action Section; Competition Section; Contract Section; Corporate Finance; Employment; Energy; Environmental; Financial Services; Government Contracts; Health; Intellectual Property; Insurance; International Trade; Midwest; New York; Product Liability; Securities; Southeast; Technology; Texas; White Collar Section.

Law 360 also has a Tools tab that lets you track law firm and company news.

How can it help you in your job search?

Aspiring lawyers should always be up to date in the area of law they intend to practice, or at least in the area(s) of law that the firms who interview them are working.  Law 360 is one of many ways to stay in touch with developments in the law.  It is also helpful to keep track of new practice sections added to law firms, or spin offs from law firms by successful practice groups, to target your job search.

Law 360 tracks every major litigation development in the U.S. federal district courts and every major lawsuit filed against the world’s 2,000 top companies.  It reports on significant legislative initiatives at the state, federal, and international level.  Transactional work at the country’s top 250 law firms is reviewed, and major hires at the nation’s top 800 firms is reported regularly.

At the very least, you should be subscribing to updates from the Top News section, and, if you plan to stay in New York, the New York section.  And, because this is a premiere service, you may be interviewing or interning at a place that does not have access to  cutting edge information Law 360 provides.  Using Law 360 to stay ahead of your prospective employers can only be a good thing!

How do you subscribe?

There are two ways to get alerts.  On the main page, you can register for an e-mail style alert that will send updates to your e-mail account.  Or, if you prefer collecting your information using an RSS reader, within each section, there is an RSS feed.  You have to be in a specific section to see the RSS option.

Keep yourself educating about your profession and give yourself the best edge possible.  If you don’t like Law 360, you can always unsubscribe – but we think you will LOVE it.