If you’re planning a legal career — whether in corporate, litigation or another practice area — it’s worth starting a “deal sheet” (sometimes called a representative matters list) earlier than you think.
A deal sheet is a curated list of the transactions, cases or projects you’ve worked on. While it’s often associated with mid-level and senior attorneys, law students (especially 2Ls/3Ls) and junior associates can benefit from building one as they go.
Keeping it updated serves two key purposes. First, it helps you track and reflect on your developing experience which is useful for interviews, clerkship applications and performance reviews. Second, it highlights gaps in your exposure, so you can proactively seek opportunities to broaden your skills early.
12 tips for compiling a deal sheet
- Start early — Even in law school
You don’t need years of experience to begin. If you’ve completed:
- internships or summer associate positions
- clinics or externships
- research assistant roles
- moot court or significant simulation work
- volunteer projects
you already have material to document.
If you’re still building experience and you don’t yet have much to add to your list, you may not need a standalone deal sheet yet. Instead, incorporate this information into your resume as bullet points under each job or experience entry. As your experience grows, you can expand it into a separate document.
Start your deal sheet now. Don’t wait until you’re preparing for a performance review or looking for a job.
- Keep the format simple and professional
Use a clean, bullet-point format with a font and style consistent with your resume and cover letter. Remember to include your name and contact information at the top of each document.
Group your experience into clear categories, such as:
- Mergers & Acquisitions/Capital Markets
- Real Estate
- Litigation Matters
- Labor and Employment
You may also want to maintain different versions tailored to specific roles (e.g., litigation-focused vs. transactional).
Your goal is clarity. Don’t try to squeeze in too much information. Leave white space. A recruiter or partner should be able to skim your document in under a minute and understand your experience.
- Be clear about your role
At an early stage, your responsibilities may be limited, but they still matter.
Instead of just listing a case or deal or type of transaction, explain what you actually did. For example:
- Drafted research memos
- Assisted with due diligence
- Prepared discovery materials
- Observed depositions or hearings
Avoid overstating your involvement, but don’t undersell it either. Specificity builds credibility.
- Curate, don’t list everything
Your deal sheet is not meant to be exhaustive. Focus on:
- Experiences most relevant to the role you’re applying for
- Matters where you had meaningful involvement
- Work that demonstrates growth or responsibility
As you gain experience, prioritization becomes even more important. You can replace and delete posts to showcase your most relevant and impressive accomplishments. This specific, bulleted and curated list of your experience provides additional context to your resume and provides proof of suitability for working on similar projects in the future.
- Combine similar work
If you’ve worked on multiple similar assignments, such as routine research projects or standardized filings, you can group them into a single entry. This keeps your document concise and readable.
- Highlight interesting legal issues
Even at the student or junior level, you may encounter noteworthy legal questions.
Briefly note:
- Unusual or complex issues
- How you approached them
- How it was resolved
- What you learned or contributed
This shows analytical ability, not just participation.
- Include unfinished matters (when useful)
It’s perfectly acceptable to include matters that didn’t reach a final resolution, especially if your work on them was substantive and it contributed something to the breadth of your experience. Just be transparent about the outcome (e.g., “case settled,” “transaction withdrawn”).
- Include dates
Add the month and year for each entry. This helps employers understand how recent your experience is and how quickly you’re developing skills.
List entries in reverse chronological order within each category.
- Protect confidentiality
This is critical. If the matter is public, you can include the name of the client and the case or deal. But if it’s not, especially avoid naming the client. Use general descriptors like:
- “Fortune 500 healthcare company”
- “Regional financial institution”
- “After-market automobile accessories manufacturer”
- “B2B software developer”
Important rule of thumb: When in doubt, leave identifying details out.
- Use a consistent entry structure
For each matter, aim to include:
- Date
- Client (name or general description)
- Role & Contributions (what you actually did)
- Matter Description (type and scale of work)
- Outcome (if applicable)
- Notable Issues (optional but valuable)
- Be ready to talk about it
Anything you include is fair game in an interview or performance review. Take time to prepare by reviewing the details of the matters and be prepared to explain:
- The context of the matter
- Key issues that arose
- Your specific contributions
- Challenges you encountered
- How you resolved them
- What you learned
A deal sheet not only helps you be prepared for prospective jobs and assessments but also helps the interviewer or performance reviewer formulate appropriate questions to ask according to your listed achievements.
- Keep it updated
Start early, even with small experiences, and update your deal sheet regularly. The key is consistency: updating your list as you go. Waiting even a few months can make it harder to recall details accurately. Review it periodically to note any gaps in your skills or progress and take steps to address them.
Over time, this document becomes one of the most useful tools for managing and presenting your legal career trajectory.
