More applications for training contracts are submitted than there are places available. To impress legal recruiters, follow our legal resume example, also known as a legal resume Experience on a legal resume is crucial, but your training will also be scrutinized. Especially at the beginning of your career as a lawyer. Experience: Whether you have gained relevant experience for legal employers in a paid position, for loans or as a volunteer, any skills you have developed should be included in this section. Include the employer, city and state, your title, dates of participation, and a brief description of your experience. The information should appear in reverse chronological order. Depending on your previous experience or career, you may have several experience sections. Common topics include: Legal Experience, Work Experience, Business Experience, Military Service, etc. There will always be that hungry pack chasing you from behind. To get a legal job in today`s market, you need to make a strong case for success.

Your legal resume should be about two or three pages long and follow this general structure: Are you applying for entry-level legal jobs? Go for a resume goal. In the absence of experience, it highlights your professional goals and enthusiasm for this legal profession. If you`re a true legal eagle in your field, chances are you`ll attend conferences and symposia, or even speak up. Add it as an additional resume section to show your passion and expertise for your area of expertise. We recommend writing one. This is another way to showcase your legal resume. Think of a specific skill, and then back it up with a description of your legal expertise and/or achievements in that area. The CV and CV are two different documents that are used in different ways, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The number of candidates far exceeds the available training or lawyer jobs, so your applications need to shine to stand out. Learn how to perfect your legal resume and cover letter with the right legal resume format. The best structure is the reverse chronological resume. Academic performance: Law school grades can be a key hiring criterion for many legal employers.

Your GPA is assumed to be less than 3.0 unless it appears on your resume. If your GPA is slightly below 3.0, consider including it so that an employer doesn`t speculate that it`s lower than it actually is. If you have any questions, please contact OPD staff. For more examples of other sections you can add to your legal resume template, check out our guide: Resume Sections to Include on Your Resume. For more information on the skills recruiters are looking for in the legal industry, check out 7 Skills for a Successful Legal Career. Your academic resume, commonly known as a CV, is at the heart of your application. You should consider your resume as a single source of information for law school hiring committees. Then, add a little more legal power by listing your relevant courses, student honors, or publications. Skills: Include skills that might be of interest to a potential employer, such as technical writing, language skills, specialized computer skills (no word processing skills or legal databases such as Westlaw or Lexis, unless you have tested and obtained an advanced certification), accounting, etc. If language is particularly important or the only skill listed, a separate category called “Language” may be preferable. When specifying a language, indicate your proficiency, for example, fluent Spanish, knowledge of French, reading and writing Portuguese, translation from Chinese.

Your section on CV legal jurisdiction should not read as the table of contents of the United States Code. This is not a brainstorming exercise where you mindlessly list all the skills you can think of. If you go back to the game with our objective legal resume examples, you`ll find that a smart law student still has valuable legal experience. Even if it only comes from legal entry-level jobs. When applying for an apprenticeship contract, legal recruiters usually do not expect a personal statement on your CV. This document and your cover letter should clearly state what you are requesting. Use the reverse timeline. You can list a brief summary of your most important tasks, or a better approach is to list the skills you`ve developed in the workplace so the employer can see what you can bring to the table. Your experience is worth it, not for what you have done, but for what it says about you and what you can do in the future.

Everything that sets you apart should be included. Include the name and location of the employer, your title, employment information, and a brief summary of your main responsibilities. Focus on law-related work in each area, but don`t have a hard time making your experience seem more law-related than it really is. Many students come to law school without any legal experience, and employers know it. Three or four sentences are usually enough, but go further if you have the space and believe that your tasks were particularly interesting, responsible and/or relevant to your legal career. If the employer`s name is not enough to express the nature of the business, try to include a description of the employer in your duties, such as “prepared marketing materials and sales analysis for a start-up that sells pet products over the Internet.” Avoid insider jargon. Use verbs in the present tense to describe your current work and verbs in the past tense with all previous positions. Provide specific information on actions and responsibilities (e.g. budget, percentage increase in sales or revenues, number of employees served, direct work with clients, etc.) Many skills learned in non-legal professions are transferable to legal practice (e.g., attention to detail, timeliness, writing, research and analytical skills, working under pressure, working with people from different backgrounds, etc.). Try to highlight these skills. If you have been employed for a long time, show promotions and increased responsibilities, if necessary.

If you had a lot of part-time or temporary jobs during your studies, consider summarizing them, such as “working part-time while studying to fund your studies.” (Employers will appreciate the fact that you worked during your studies, especially if you were still able to do well academically.) For some professions, such as retail, gastronomy, or ski instructors, it can be helpful to omit the description altogether, as most people pretty much know what this job entails. Add summer jobs to avoid time intervals on your resume. If a previous job is your only connection to a potential employer`s city, add it. Any experience can be relevant, whether paid or unpaid, so if your volunteering or community service is important, include it in the body of your resume, especially if you`re applying for positions in the public interest. Volunteering can also be featured in a separate section on community services or at the end of your resume under a heading such as “Learn More.” They are generally assumed to be full-time, paid jobs, unless you tell you otherwise. Be careful not to exaggerate your experience. Target group: The legal community is conservative and legal employers expect a traditional legal CV. An eye-catching resume that you have prepared to market yourself in advertising space would be ineffective if sent to a legal employer. It may be desirable to create more than one legal resume, depending on the type of job you are looking for.