Lawyer Resume Templates and Examples for 2024

Lawyer Resume Template Example

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Upholding the law, protecting rights, and facilitating justice are at the heart of what it means to be a lawyer. Your resume should reflect your dedication to these principles and emphasize your relevant legal skills and experience. In this guide, we’ll provide strategies and examples to help you write a lawyer resume highlighting your legal expertise and career achievements.

How To Write a Lawyer Resume

For a polished, professional resume, consider using a premade template to lay the foundation for your document. Your lawyer resume should include these sections:

• Contact information
• Profile
• Key skills
• Professional experience
• Education and certifications

Contact information

Your contact information bridges you to potential employers, clients, and networking opportunities. List your full name, phone number, email address, location, and a link to your online professional profile prominently at the top of your resume.

Profile

The profile of your lawyer resume is like an opening argument in court. It should present a compelling case to hiring managers by summarizing your legal career. Include your job title, years of experience, industry knowledge, and any specializations that could set you apart. Within a few sentences, show that you match key aspects of the job’s requirements.

Key skills

From criminal law to corporate governance, the legal field is a vast and diverse sector. Creating a key skills list will help hiring managers and potential clients identify your legal abilities and areas of expertise. As you build your list, ensure the skills you include align with their needs. This will help optimize your resume for applicant tracking systems (ATS) and show that you understand what employers are looking for.

Common hard and soft skills for lawyers

Resume writer’s tip: Use descriptive action verbs

The language on your resume can significantly influence how potential employers perceive your experience and capabilities. Using action verbs will help you craft a narrative demonstrating a proactive approach to your legal practice. Start each bullet point of your professional experience section with one of these strong words to avoid redundant phrases like “I was responsible for.” The list below will help you get started as you write your lawyer resume:

Professional experience

To create an effective professional experience section, clearly outline your career trajectory as a lawyer. Start with your most recent position first and work backward, discussing the legal work or cases you were involved in and any key details that align with the job you’re applying for. When you can, use numbers to measure and give value to your duties and accomplishments.

Resume writer’s tip: Quantify your experience

Using numbers helps substantiate your claims while demonstrating the scale and scope of your legal work. This can be especially beneficial in competitive job markets with plenty of well-qualified lawyers. Dollar amounts, percentages, and other metrics will set you apart and show the value your legal support can bring to potential employers.

Resume writer’s tip: Tailor your resume for each application

Employment for law graduates continues to increase, and overall job growth for the occupation is projected to rise over the next decade. However, to land your dream job, the best strategy is to tailor your resume to each employer’s needs. Just as you would customize your arguments and evidence to the unique aspects of a legal case, tailoring your resume for every job ensures you remain a relevant candidate.

Carefully read the job description to identify key legal skills and experience the employer values. Look for repeating themes and specific areas of expertise. Then, adjust your resume accordingly, using the same keywords and phrases that appear in the job ad. For example, if the role mentions litigation experience and you have it, emphasize those experiences.

What if you don’t have experience?

As we mentioned above, the job outlook for new graduates is bright, and leveraging your education is a great place to start as an entry-level lawyer. Provide details on your degrees, honors, courses, and any notable projects. If you participated in law review or moot court, include that as well. Discussing internships, externships, or clinics will help to show your experience in real-world settings.

In addition to your experiences and education, emphasize transferable skills necessary for the job. You’ve likely gained many valuable technical and interpersonal skills through part-time jobs or volunteer work. Those that would be valuable in a legal setting include writing, research, public speaking, negotiation, critical thinking, and client service.

Education and certifications

Start the education section with your most advanced degree first, which will likely be your juris doctor. Include the name of the law school, location, and dates of attendance. If you graduated with honors, be sure to mention it. Then, list your bar admission and which state you’re licensed to practice in, as well as any other certifications you’ve obtained to enhance your knowledge.

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Andrew Stoner

Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach

A resume should be a forward-looking value proposition that showcases your most relevant accomplishments for a target role — not a rear view summary of your previous roles and responsibilities.