Research Specialist

King & Spalding; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 83,000 - 104,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellness plan

Life and disability insurance

Flexible spending accounts (FSA)

Health savings account (HSA)

401(k) plan

Profit sharing plan

Paid Time Off

Job summary

King & Spalding is a leading global law firm delivering high-quality legal services and strategic research support to attorneys, clients, and leadership. The Research Specialist provides timely, cost-conscious legal and business research, current awareness, and guidance on research resources across practice areas and initiatives.

The role supports practice groups, client development, and leadership by delivering accurate analysis, training on research strategies, and adopting new tools to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; a combination of relevant education and professional experience may be considered.
• Law degree or MLS degree preferred.
• Minimum of two years of legal, business, corporate, academic, special library, or professional services research experience preferred; law firm experience strongly preferred.
• Proficiency with major legal, business, news, docket, public records, and financial research resources (Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, VitalLaw, PACER, CourtLink, Capital IQ, FactSet, Intelligize).
• Excellent analytical, writing, editing, communication, and client service skills; ability to convert complex information into practical insights.
• Sound professional judgment, discretion, attention to detail, and ability to manage deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with research colleagues, attorneys, practice groups, and administrative staff.
• Technical proficiency with Microsoft Office, collaboration tools, workflow systems, and generative AI tools (validated).
• Commitment to staying current with legal industry trends and information-resource developments.

Responsibilities

• Conduct legal, business, legislative, docket, public records, and general reference research.
• Respond to routine and complex research requests with timely, accurate results.
• Support business development by preparing company profiles, market research, and competitive intelligence reports.
• Create and maintain current awareness alerts and tracking services for developments.
• Train attorneys and staff on research strategy, tools, and best practices.
• Assess new legal research and AI tools and suggest workflow improvements.
• Track and close research requests using management systems.
• Perform regular computer-based research using online platforms and communicate via phone, email, and video.
• Overtime may be required; on-call rotation for after-hours/weekends/holidays.
• Will serve on-call on a rotating basis to support research outside normal hours.

Skills

Analytical skills

Editing/writing

Client service

Attention to detail

Communication

Teamwork

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Law MLS preferred

Tools

Westlaw

Lexis

Bloomberg Law

VitalLaw

PACER

CourtLink

Capital IQ

FactSet

Intelligize

Job description

King & Spalding is a leading global law firm with a commitment to excellence, innovation, and the seamless delivery of legal services. We harness innovative technology and exceptional talent to meet the complex needs of our clients in a fast-paced and dynamic legal landscape.

The Research Specialist provides timely, cost-effective legal, business, and general research services to attorneys, paralegals, administrative departments, and firm leadership. This role supports practice, client development, and strategic initiatives by delivering accurate research, actionable analysis, current awareness, and guidance on the effective use of research resources.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct legal, business, legislative, docket, public records, and general reference research using appropriate electronic and print resources.
• Respond to routine and complex research requests from attorneys, paralegals, administrative staff, and firm leadership with timely, accurate, and cost-conscious results.
• Support business development and client-service initiatives by preparing company profiles, market and industry research, litigation history, transaction research, and competitive intelligence reports.
• Create and maintain current awareness alerts and tracking services for legal, business, regulatory, litigation, client, and market developments.
• Train attorneys and staff on research strategy, source selection, tool functionality, best practices, and emerging technologies.
• Assess new legal research, business intelligence, data analytics, and generative AI tools, and recommend practical improvements to workflows and deliverables.
• Track, document, and close research requests using request-management and timekeeping systems.
• Regular computer-based work using online research platforms and communication by phone, email, and video.
• Pre-approved overtime may occasionally be required.
• Will be expected to serve on-call on a rotating basis, to support research requests after normal business hours and on weekends and holidays.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; a combination of relevant education and professional experience may be considered.
• Law degree, Master of Library/Information Science degree, or equivalent advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of two years of legal, business, corporate, academic, special library, or professional services research experience preferred; law firm experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated proficiency with major legal, business, news, docket, public records, and financial research resources, including platforms such as Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, VitalLaw, PACER, CourtLink, Capital IQ, FactSet, and Intelligize.
• Excellent analytical, writing, editing, communication, and client service skills, with the ability to convert complex information into practical insights.
• Sound professional judgment, discretion, attention to detail, and ability to manage competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with research colleagues, attorneys, practice groups, administrative departments, and other stakeholders.
• Technical proficiency with Microsoft Office, collaboration tools, workflow systems, and approved emerging technologies, including responsible use and validation of generative AI tools.
• Commitment to staying current with legal industry trends, research best practices, and information-resource developments.

The firm offers a generous total compensation package with bonuses and raises awarded in recognition of individual merit-based performance. All full-time Business Services employees may participate in King & Spalding’s comprehensive benefit program including health and wellness plan, life and disability insurance, flexible spending accounts and a health savings account, a 401(k) plan, profit sharing plan, and a substantial Paid Time Off (PTO) program.

Pay Transparency Range

Chicago, Denver and Sacramento: The anticipated full-time annualized salary range is $82,987 - $103,734

New York, San Francisco and Silicon Valley: The anticipated full-time annualized salary range is $90,530 - $113,163

Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles: The anticipated full-time annualized salary range is $86,758 - $108,448

The salary offer will be contingent upon various factors, including but not limited to, relevant experience, internal equity, market data, job location, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

Qualified candidates with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the following laws if applicable: City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act.

King & Spalding LLP (K&S) is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees in full compliance with all state, federal, and local laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetic information, age, disability or any other status protected by applicable law.

We are proud of our remarkably cohesive culture, which now encompasses more than 2,500 lawyers and business professionals worldwide. We seek to attract and develop the very best talent to work with us.