West Legal Directory Profile Scraper
- This tool creates a CSV file from a PDF file downloaded from the West Legal Directory. Follow these steps to generate a compatible PDF:
- Log in to Westlaw and access the West Legal Directory.
- In the search bar at the top, run this search string (replace Firm with the name of one law firm): advanced: ("Texas A&M") & ORG("Firm")
- Firms with & or , in their name can be searched without the symbol. You should use quotes around each name to get an exact match. For example, the firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld would be entered as "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld"
- You can capture multiple firms at once using this string: advanced: ("Texas A&M") & ORG(("Firm1") OR ("Firm2") OR ("Firm3"))
- In the Filter section on the left, click on "Profile Type" and select "Attorneys".
- In the upper right corner of the search results, click the arrow to download a PDF of the profiles.
- Make sure the options are set to deliver "Profiles," in PDF format, as a Single merged file, and all of the documents.
- Click "Download" to get the PDF file (it may take a minute or two to generate). The file you get should look like this PDF.
- (Optional) Rename the PDF filename to something shorter like the firm name (don't include symbols like &,-/().
- Browse and upload the PDF file to get the CSV file using the file selector below.
- Tips / Things to Know:
- Not all profiles contain the same amount of information. Profile fields missing on a profile will be blank in the CSV file.
- When opening the CSV file for the first time, you should select all fields and enable Word Wrapping, then double click on the column expander to automatically stretch to fit the data.
- There may be some false positives in the CSV file. Double-check the Education column to verify affiliation with Texas A&M as a student.
- If you see a random "1", "2", "3", etc, in a cell, that is a page number from the PDF and can be ignored or deleted.
- The generated CSV file can be opened with Microsoft Excel, Apple's Numbers, or Google Sheets and includes the following fields:
- Name
- Organization (Firm)
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- E-mail address
- Website
- Position
- Education
- Admitted
- Total Firm Size
- Office Size
- Areas of Practice
- Past Positions
- Certifications/Specialties
- Affiliations
- Honors
- Publications
- Fraternities/Sororities
- Classes Taught
- West Categories