Preparing an Effective Deal Sheet
By following these tips, you can create an effective deal sheet that showcases your experience and helps you stand out in the job search process.
1. Be Specific
Show your experience concretely by including descriptions of your specific role on each matter, especially for junior associates.
This serves four purposes:
Gives a clearer picture of your experience
Helps you remember what you did for easier interview prep
Makes it appear you have more experience at first glance
Shows you are taking the job search process seriously
2. Maintain Confidentiality
Be extremely careful not to include any confidential information.
If the matter is public or listed on your firm's external website, you should be OK.
If in doubt, do not include the client's name or identifying information. Use generic descriptions like "a foreign bank" or "a large pharmaceutical company."
Include a note explaining interesting, uncommon, or complicated legal issues that arose and how they were resolved, if possible without divulging confidential information.
Include deals that did not close if they add to the substantive breadth of your experience, indicating the final status.
3. Make the Information Easily Accessible
Organize your experience into logical categories separated by headings (e.g., M&A deals, capital markets offerings, SEC reporting matters).
Include dates of each deal (month and year) to show how recent your experience is in various sub-practice areas.
List deals in descending chronological order within each category.
Condense nearly identical deals for the same client into one entry, being over-inclusive but not boring.
4. Be Prepared
Be fully prepared to discuss anything you include in your deal sheet, including deal structure, key issues, and challenges you faced.
Brush up on the basics before your first interview.
Delete any deals where you were not substantively involved.
5. Proofread
Carefully proofread your deal sheet multiple times before submitting it.
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