Resume and CV Tips for the Legal Industry

Understandably, it can be a bit of a struggle to secure a job in the legal field. I know this because I have been through it.

From the moment I finished law school until I finally got a job, altogether I applied for 100+ jobs, sent cold messages through LinkedIn, emails, and networked in person.

Now, the thing you can’t control is whether the law firms will get back to you. What you CAN control is how you can best present yourself through your Resume and CV.

These were the resume and CV tips that had helped me get my first-ever law firm internship and job. I have used these ever since, for when I wanted to apply for volunteer roles.

Let’s go through the 4 steps.

Step 1: Create a CV that has ALL your experience

Keep in mind that this isn’t the CV that you will submit to every job application or even when you cold contact a law firm with no job openings and give them your CV.

This CV is just a document that will have all your work experience. So, when it’s time to personalise your CV or resume for each job application, you can remove the irrelevant work experience and keep the ones more applicable to the job description.

Think of it as a document that has your work history, and you’re just going to pick & choose for every job application.

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RELATED: My Journey to Becoming a Lawyer at 23

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Step 2 – Review the Job Description

Once you find a job that you want to apply for, review the job description. You are looking for the following things:

• What the role actually does
• Skills they require

They may also add other aspects like “how many years of work experience they require” or that it’s non-negotiable to have a law degree (fair enough).

While you can’t change how many years of work experience you have, you can still showcase the work experience you do have.

But when you actually get a job, the most important thing they need is the skills you have, and whether you can perform the main role. It’s important to showcase that in your resume or CV.

Step 3 – Create a table

Continuing from step 2, you’re going to use the job description to create a table like this:

That’s why Step 1 and Step 2 will be helpful for you in this step. You don’t need to do more writing.

All you’ve got to do is take the job description from Step 2 and pick & choose the work experience most relevant to that job description (from Step 1).

By the way, you can use this for any job application (not just the legal field).

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RELEVANT: 5 Tips for Starting Law School

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Step 4 – Personalise and finalise your Resume/CV

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Take the full CV from Step 1, do “Save As,” and then I would rename the file “Resume_(job I’m applying for).”
2. Delete the irrelevant experience, which are the ones that weren’t mentioned in the table from Step 3

By doing these 2 steps, my CV/resume doesn’t end up being too long and only contains the relevant experience.

BONUS: these steps are also helpful for when you need to do a cover letter as well!

To Wrap Up

Overall, these are the Resume and CV tips to help you get a job in the legal field:

1. Have a document with ALL work experience
2. Review the job description
3. Create a table that helps you match the job criteria to the work experience you have
4. Personalise your resume/CV based on the above 3 steps

The job market can feel crazy, and it can be challenging to find a job. But remember, while you can’t control how crazy the job market can be, you can always control how you best present yourself.

You would rather not get a job & have reassurance that you tried your very best THEN not get a job & wonder “what if I tried harder“.

If you want more law school tips, you can check out the law school blog here and also my Instagram.

-Lauren 🙂

P.S I suggest reading these blog posts next:

• How Hard Was it To Get a Job Aftering Failing 8 Law School Classes?
• How I Overcame Failure in Law School
• How to Improve Your Law School Grades

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