How should an Indian LLM applicant targeting US law schools build a professional LinkedIn presence before applying?

A LinkedIn profile with only twelve or thirteen connections after several years of legal education is not a professional presence, it is a placeholder. Building a meaningful LinkedIn profile needs to start well before any applications are submitted, ideally at least a year in advance. The strategy is straightforward: connect with students currently enrolled in the LLM programs you are targeting, connect with professors researching international law, cyber law, and AI law, and connect with practitioners at law firms and international organisations in the areas you want to enter after graduating.

• When sending connection requests or messages, keep them short.
• Introduce yourself, mention your area of interest in one or two sentences, and ask to learn from their experience, not for a job or a referral.
• The phrase asking to learn from someone's expertise matters because it positions the conversation as one where the other person is the expert, which makes people more willing to respond.
• Networking through LinkedIn is significantly underrated by Indian law students applying to the US.