LinkedIn Tips for Law Students

LinkedIn Tips For Law Students

Be sure your profile is 100% complete

• Include your contact information so people can reach out and connect with you.
• Be sure to have a professional picture, past employment, relevant coursework, awards, etc. LinkedIn’s dynamic user interface will guide you through the process and indicate when your profile is at 100%

Make a strong first impression

• Make your profile public and create a customized URL. By default, your LinkedIn URL is a long string of letters and numbers. Change it to linkedin.com/in/FirstnameLastname by editing your Public Profile.
• Present a specific title, including roles such as Law Review Editor, Law Clerk, or Research Assistant.
• Send personalized contact requests. Few things will make a stronger positive first impression than a personalized invitation to connect. This is especially helpful if the invitee does not recall their connection to you.

Connect with people you know

• Use one of the many ways to find new contacts. Use the “People You May Know” feature on the top right of your LinkedIn homepage. Once you have connected with others, you can see their lists of contacts, and their friends-of-friends might be people you know, too.
• A broader LinkedIn network will give you the benefit of becoming a 2nd or 3rd degree connection to more people with whom you might be interested in connecting.
• The quality of your connections is important. Protect your professional reputation by connecting with people you know and respect, and ignoring invitations to connect with everyone else.

Recommendations

• Recommendations from people you’ve worked for or leaders who know you well are powerful tools.  You can use LinkedIn’s simple request form to secure recommendations from professors, lawyers, or even employers unrelated to the law.

Join and participate in LinkedIn Groups

• Use employer and school alumni groups and join groups that you find interesting. If there are specific areas of law you want to explore, join relevant groups. Employers will be pleased to see you engaging with contacts with similar interests.