For transactional lawyers, what is a Deal Sheet, how and when do you use it? For litigators, what is a Representative/Significant Matter List, how and when do you use it?
If you read last week’s blog, I advocate that each job entry have three parts—broad competency, description of skills you learned and examples of significant matters in which you learned those foregoing skills. Deal Lists and Representative Matter lists are that last item broken out on its own, usually beginning on a second page.
Why do it?
There is something that I was always taught was the New York Times way of writing—You put a summary up front and then as the article (and resume) goes on, you move to greater levels of detail permitting the reader (prospective employer) to drill down as they want on subsequent pages. For transactional lawyers, employers generally expressly require deal lists after a year or two of transactional practice experience.
When should you start breaking out your significant matters/deals?
For transactional lawyers, really, the earlier in your career you start put together a deal sheet, the better.
The easiest answer to that question is, for litigators, when your resume threatens to go on to a second page, as part of a broader reorganization of your resume, and/or when you have had more than one job.
I would also add that, the more jobs you have had, the more places a prospective employer has to look to see what, in fact, you have done. Why make a prospective employer have to work that hard to answer that question? Instead, a deal list gives the bottom line on the first page, under the job entry and employers who want detail can drill down to subsequent pages.
Litigation Representative Matters
You can structure this lists in different ways. When you’ve had more than one litigation job, you can break your representative matters down by law firm. You can also just list them by subject matter either in general or within each law firm heading.
Identifying matters: In all non-public matters, be mindful of client confidentiality. Detail shows that you are engaged more deeply in your practice and are, by naming names, making yourself more accountable. The more flavor and detail you can give for a matter, the better.
“Defended, in the SDNY, bulge bracket financial institution in $5M shareholders derivative class action alleging insider trading.
Senior litigators can stop here. The list should look like what you might see on a partner’s law firm website entry. N.B. If you first chaired a trial, you might want to pull that away from a Representative Matter List entry and put it under the entry for the particular job because it is that important.
Mid-level and junior lawyers should indicate what they actually did for each matter they list. Ex:
"Drafted prevailing motion to dismiss, interviewed expert witness, supervised and directed 5 person document review team”
Without that level of detail, I know what your firm did and what your practice group did but I don’t know what you did.
If your work has been filed as a matter of public record, there is no reason not to name the parties. If the case was reported case, give the cite.
Deal Sheets
Deal sheets list the major, singular transactions on which you have worked. Don’t list matters of a day-to-day recurring nature. Things like securities compliance, general corporate governance, drafting of employment agreements. Those should be listed in the particular job entry on that first page.
You can organize your deals based upon where you worked when you engaged in them and/or subject matter—ex M&A, Finance, Real Estate Finance.
In the case of transactional practice, size does matter. Give an indication of size by virtue of dollar size or, in the case of leases, square feet of premises. The general idea is that the bigger the numbers, the more complex the deal. In a deal sheet, you should err on the side of providing as much information as possible concerning the parties, industries, kind of transaction,
Senior transactional lawyers can stop here. There is no need to indicate agreements you have drafted or negotiated. That level of experience is presumed. As a model, think of the kind of bare bones list that you might see in a partner’s law firm web bio. That is your goal.
Mid level and junior lawyers need to state what you did on that matter. Detail promotes accountability and demonstrates that you are more deeply engaged in your practice. You give as much detail as possible about individual deals without compromising client confidentiality with respect to matters which are non-public.. Ex:
Represented X Corp S.A. in the $200B acquisition of Eureka Freight Management Group, the freight forwarding division of Eureka (a world leader in freight forwarding). Coordinated due diligence and drafted diligence report for the U.S. division; revised stock purchase agreement.
If the deal is non-public, give as much detail as you can, ex,
Represented multi-national household cleaning products manufacturer in the $8M asset purchase of an EU wallpaper manufacturer. Conducted due diligence. Drafted asset purchase agreement, directed local counsel.
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