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Research for your Legal Career

Identifying Potential JD Advantage Employers

Because there are so many jobs that fall under the JD advantage category, your first step is to determine the types of JD advantage job that you're interested in and then search jobs that meet those characteristics. Examples of JD advantage jobs include compliance, human resources, tax, sports and entertainment, law librarianship, data privacy and security, legal operations, intellectual property licensing, insurance and risk management. 

Find detailed information about JD Advantage Careers: 

Once you have narrowed down your areas of interest, the Career Services Office can help point you to job boards that will have the types of jobs that you're interested in. 

Researching for the Application Process

Once you identify the jobs that you would like to apply for, you'll need to research enough about the organization in order to put tailored information into your application materials. Review the organization's website, their press releases to learn about their key initiatives, and some general information about their industry. Because researching this information will depend on the organization and the industry you have chosen, please reach out to a Law Librarian at library@pennstatelaw.psu.edu for assistance or review the resources listed below under Additional Resources. 

Researching for the Interview

Once you land an interview, you'll need to do a deep dive on the organization, their initiatives, industry information, recent cases that the organization may have been involved with or recent regulatory issues impacting their issue. There are many resources that can help you find this kind of information available through the Law Library. 

Research Company Information 

  • Mergent Intellect - find company profiles that give information about general company details, financials, key executives, and corporate family trees. 
  • Bloomberg Law - in the top navigation menu, click on Business > Business Intelligence Center Home. 
    • Look up a company in the Company Lookup search box to find information such as financials, recent corporate actions, management profiles of key executives, corporate family tree/hierarchies, litigation analytics, and recent news about the company. 

Research Industry Information

  • IBISWord - find full-text industry reports and additional information about publicly traded companies. 
  • Mintel - provides access to market research reports for U.S. and European consumer markets. 
  • MergentOnline - helps you find companies by industry. 

Research Court Cases or Litigation Analytics

Research Press Releases and News

Additional Resources

JD Advantage General Information

Company Information 

  • Mergent Intellect - find company profiles that give information about general company details, financials, key executives, and corporate family trees. 
  • Bloomberg Law - in the top navigation menu, click on Business > Business Intelligence Center Home. 
    • Look up a company in the Company Lookup search box to find information such as financials, recent corporate actions, management profiles of key executives, corporate family tree/hierarchies, litigation analytics, and recent news about the company. 
  • Mergent Archives - while typically used for historical research, it does include content from D&B and DnB which can be helpful for private company research. 

General Industry Information

  • IBISWord - find full-text industry reports and additional information about publicly traded companies. 
  • Mintel - provides access to market research reports for U.S. and European consumer markets. 
  • MergentOnline - helps you find companies by industry. 

Industry Specific Information

Court Cases or Litigation Analytics

Regulatory Information 

Press Releases and News

Other Resources