Key Qualities To Look For When Interviewing For Your Firm

Legal research is one of the key tasks in any firm. Here are some potential qualities to look for when evaluating a potential hire’s skills.

onApril 3, 2017 at 12:16 PMApril 4, 2017 at 1:16 PM

One of the key tasks that an attorney will be expected to complete throughout his or her career is legal research. When hiring or interviewing prospective candidates, a Partner will often want to ensure that the candidate has top-notch legal research skills that can be put to use by the firm. Here are some potential qualities to look for when evaluating a potential hire’s research skills.

Flexibility

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Legal researchers who use a variety of search strategies are the most successful. While many attorneys believe the best searches require a complicated terms & connectors or Boolean searches, oftentimes using plain language or WestSearch on Westlaw is most successful. This is because the WestSearch feature uses behind the scene enhancements that make it especially good at locating a concept as opposed to specific terms. In fact, running a plain language search before a terms and connectors search will allow an attorney to test his or her search and see where these terms are appearing in the document. This search could then be used as a rough draft for a future terms and connectors search.

Read the full article for the full list of qualities to look for when interviewing for the best legal researcher.

About the Author

Jessica Zaiken Sienkewicz is a Reference Attorney at Thomson Reuters. A native of Minnesota, she received a B.A. from Drake University, and she received her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.