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How to write an attorney resume?

"The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every calling, is diligence."
-Abraham Lincoln

As a diligent lawyer who does an efficient job, you take care of every little detail in your work. And you should apply the same diligence in your lawyer resume writing to help raise your chances of being shortlisted by the recruiters.

By the end of this blog, you will be able to write a job-winning resume and also learn the following points:

• What is the average attorney salary?
• What skills can you put on your attorney resume?
• How to talk about your experience on a legal resume in the best manner
• How to write an attorney resume summary statement?
• How to write an entry-level lawyer resume education section
• How to write your attorney resume objective and how to make them effective

What is the Average Attorney Salary?

Before we jump on to the details of creating an attorney resume, first, lets find out how much does an attorney make.

There are multiple factors that affect the renumeration of an attorney such as geographical location of the firm, the type & size of the firm, experience, and education.

According to payscale the starting salary of an attorney in a corporate firm is USD 80K per year.

Attorney Resume Sections

There are different sections in your associate attorney resume and the standard sections that have to be curated at all times have been listed below:

• Header
• Personal Information
• Profile Title
• Summary/Objective
• Key Skills
• Professional Experience
• Education

Apart from the standard sections, you should also curate the following optional sections whenever required to enhance your legal resume:

• Certifications (if any)
• Awards & Recognition (if any)
• Additional Information (if any)

Attorney Resume: Header

Writing your real and full name as the header of your law resume can help you maintain the unique individual identity of your resume and help the recruiter keep track of your legal resume.

You should keep the following points in mind while framing the header of your legal resume the professional way:

• Write your header at the topmost part of your legal resume.
• Write the header of your lawyer resume in the largest font size.
• This should be in the 16-20 font-size range.
• Write only the initial of your middle name followed by a full stop while writing your middle name.
• Example: If your name is April Beth Price, write your name as "April B. Price".

Also read: Tips for writing the perfect resume header

Attorney Resume Header Sample

Attorney Resume: Personal Information

In case of any likely shortlist, the recruiters may need some of your contact details to get in touch with you.

An ideal personal information section should contain the details of the following contact information:

• Contact Number
• Email Address
• Current Location
• LinkedIn URL

Hiration Pro Tip: Try and avoid providing any detail of your marital status, religious affiliation, or political inclination in your resume unless explicitly asked for. Most countries forbid it by law to mention these things as it may lead to biased hiring.

Contact Number

When you add your contact number on your lawyer resume, make sure that it is your functional number that is active at all times for the recruiters to get in touch with you.

The recruiters may want to interview you over the phone or may want to verbally confirm your shortlist. In such cases, you cannot afford to miss the chance by giving out wrong numbers and make yourself seem like a careless person.

Always make sure that you give out only your active functional number.

Your mobile number can be written as per the guideline that is given below:

• Use your country’s ISD code as a prefix before your phone number
• Put a plus sign (+) before the ISD code
• Eg: +1 84768 92746

Email Address

One of the most convenient and ideal means of communication between you and the recruiter is through emails.

Always give out only your official email ID with your full/real name for any official purposes. It is the right way to maintain a professional approach at all times.

Example: april@xyz.com or aprilprice@xyz.com

Strictly avoid giving out your casual email ID that has fancy and childish names for any professional purposes. It may make you seem like an immature person who is not serious about one's career.

Example: bossgirlapril@xyz.com or aprilrules@xyz.com

Hiration Pro Tip: Your email ID is a professional communication channel between you and your recruiter and it should be written as professionally as you can. Use only your real full name in your email ID and avoid using flimsy nicknames while drafting your email address in your resume.

Current Location

Keep the following points in mind while writing your location in your contract attorney resume:

• If you are looking for a job in your present country, mention the city and state of your residence. But if you are willing to work outside your country, simply mention your city and country of residence.
• Avoid writing your house number, street number, and your locality name because they are unnecessary information that is not required by the recruiters.
• Do not give out your previous office address or your previous home address.

LinkedIn or Website URL

Adding the link to your LinkedIn account will not only help you grow your network but will also help the recruiter understand your professional identity.

A few things to keep in mind while adding the link of your LinkedIn account:

• Add it only if you have a professional account
• Personalize your link

Keep in mind that you need to give out only the required information in your legal resume and avoid giving out unnecessary pieces of information.

Also read: How to create the contact information section?

Attorney Resume Personal Information Example

Attorney Resume: Profile Title

Profile title refers to your level of professional status in your privacy attorney resume.

Make sure that you write the exact profile title that you possess and avoid exaggerating your professional status because it may pass as intentional cheating because you may fail to justify your claim.

Your profile title ideally communicates the following facts to the recruiter:

• Your current designation.
• Your functional industry.
• Your level of seniority in your line of work.

Make sure that it is the second-largest text in your law resume after your resume header by writing it in the range of 14-16 font size.

Pro tip: Exaggerating your profile title may pass off as intentionally trying to cheat the recruiter so you need to avoid that and compose it accurately.

Attorney Resume: Professional Experience

The main goal of writing a resume is to make the recruiters identify you as an eligible applicant so that they can give you the shortlist for the targeted job.

And to do that, you need to follow the below-given three factors which have been discussed further along with attorney resume examples and sample attorney resume:

• STAR Format
• Frame Points
• Grouping & Highlighting

STAR Format

The STAR format can help you create the cause-effect relation in your lawyer resume and make it easier for the recruiter to recognize your potential.

Let us discuss further to understand what it stands for and how it can help enhance your chances of being shortlisted for the targeted job.

• S stands for the situation/backdrop/context of your contributions to an organization.
• T stands for the actual task that was assigned to you as part of your roles and responsibilities.
• A stands for the action in the form of a strategy that you effectively applied to execute the assigned task.
• R stands for the result/outcome of your applied action in the form of an achievement figure.

Framing Points

Framing your professional experience statements are important while writing your legal resume.

Let us look at the attorney resume examples given below to analyze why framing your points is important and how it can be incorporated.

Attorney Resume Example 1

"Administered the legal research for trials and prepared 20+ legal memorandum every week. Registered legal documents that were related to contracts, agreements, and deeds. Accurately filed 200+ legal documents of lawsuits & appeals by analyzing the documents that have already been supervised. Effectively combined courtroom litigation skills to convict the defendants that have been charged with domestic crimes."

Attorney Resume Example 2

• Administered legal trials research and prepared 20+ weekly legal memorandum
• Registered legal documents related to contracts, agreements, and deeds
• Filed 200+ legal documents of lawsuits & appeals by analyzing supervised documents
• Combined courtroom litigation skills to convict those charged with domestic crimes

Framing Points: Analysis

From the two given attorney resume examples, we can see that framing points (example 2) can make the professional experience statements clear and readable.

Framing points can help you communicate your skills as an eligible applicant to the recruiters and help raise your chances of getting the desired shortlist.

Whereas, writing lengthy paragraphs (example 1) can make your professional experience statements look bulky and may lead to the recruiter's disinterest in going though your bulky legal resume.

Therefore as shown in the two given attorney resume examples, avoid writing bulky paragraphs and stick to framing your points to make your professional section readable for the recruiters.

Grouping & Highlighting

Let us look at the two attorney resume examples given below for a better understanding of how to apply grouping & highlighting in your one-liners and why it is important in your legal resume.

Attorney Resume Example 1

• Administered legal trials research and prepared 20+ weekly legal memorandum
• Registered legal documents related to contracts, agreements, and deeds
• Filed 200+ legal documents of lawsuits & appeals by analyzing supervised documents
• Combined courtroom litigation skills to convict those charged with domestic crimes
• Managed 20-30 cases daily by preparing court calls with 3 team staff attorneys
• Conducted pretrial conferences with defense attorneys & judges for the defendants
• Coordinated with 20 new lawyers to prepare & record 40+ client's monthly documents
• Supervised & trained 5 interns for timely completion of the tasks assigned to them
• Negotiated with both business & individual clients to resolve 20+ cases
• Achieved favorable case resolution rate by representing 80+ clients

Attorney Resume Example 2

Legal Documentation & Memorandum

• Administered legal trials research and prepared 20+ weekly legal memorandum
• Registered legal documents related to contracts, agreements, and deeds
• Filed 200+ legal documents of lawsuits & appeals by analyzing supervised documents

Legal Research & Courtroom Appearances

• Combined courtroom litigation skills to convict those charged with domestic crimes
• Managed 20-30 cases daily by preparing court calls with 3 team staff attorneys
• Conducted pretrial conferences with defense attorneys & judges for the defendants

Team Leadership & Training

• Coordinated with 20 new lawyers to prepare & record 40+ client's monthly documents
• Supervised & trained 5 interns for timely completion of the tasks assigned to them
• Negotiated with both business & individual clients to resolve 20+ cases

Key Achievements

• Achieved favorable case resolution rate by representing 80+ clients

Grouping & Highlighting: Analysis

Comparing the two attorney resume examples, we can say that grouping & highlighting (example 2) make the experience section more organized and readable.

Framing points (example 1) alone is not enough to keep the recruiter interested in your law resume intact till the end. You need more to communicate your best to the recruiters.

Creating unique headings as shown in example 2 can make your one-liners more organized and specific. Align all the similar points under the relevant heading to make the recruiters recognize your most effective skills and achievements.

Bold your most significant skills and figure of numbers that highlights your contributions or achievements.

As seen in both the attorney resume examples, frame your points in bullet points and create unique headings for similar points, then bold the keywords through which the recruiters can read and comprehend your one-liners.

Apart from the attorney resume examples, given below is the sample attorney resume that shows how an ideal professional experience section can be framed:

Attorney Resume Professional Experience Example

Attorney Resume: Education

Though it is not an explicit requirement for every job profile, as an attorney, you would be required to possess a certain level of educational qualification.

The education section of your lawyer resume should ideally consist of the following:

• Name of the school/university you have attended.
• Name of the courses you have pursued.
• The location of your school/university.
• Enrollment and graduation dates in the month & year format.

Also read: How to put education on resume?

Attorney Resume Education Example

Here is a legal resume template showcasing the ideal education section of your law student resume:

Attorney Resume: Certifications

Mentioning your certification, provided you possess them, can make the recruiters recognize you as a dedicated applicant who went ahead and got certified in one's field of work.

Ideally, the certification section of your legal resumes communicates the details given below:

• Certification course name.
• Name of the institute of affiliation.
• Location of the institute of affiliation.
• Enrollment and completion date of the course in the month & year format.

You can align the above-given details in the below-given format:

{Name of certification} | {Affiliating Institution} | {Location} | {Date} (month & year format)

Also read: The perfect guide on adding certifications to your resume.

Attorney Resume: Additional Information

You can add your hobby in your additional information section if the mentioned hobby is productive and relevant to the targeted job profile.

Any other language that you can speak/write apart from your mother-tongue can also be added to this section.

Doing so can add value to your law student resume because your additional information highlights your productive side and it may make the recruiters recognize you as an efficient applicant.

Attorney Resume Additional Information Example

What Skills to Put on Your Attorney Resume?

The key skills section is an important feature on your law student resume that can help you stand out amongst other applicants if curated professionally.

This section should be framed in the second-last stage of resume writing because you have to scan through your legal resume and pick the most relevant keywords that the recruiters have used to describe the targeted job profile.

Using those keywords can also help you rank high on the ATS which will automatically raise your chances of being shortlisted by the recruiters.

Here are a few key skills you can add to your attorney resume:

• Legal Documentation
• Memorandum
• Litigation
• Pretrial Conference
• Legal Research
• Legal Registration
• Negotiation
• Pre Negotiation
• Team Leadership & Coordination
• Client Relationship Management

Attorney Resume Key Skills Example

Here is one of the legal resume examples showcasing the perfect key skills section. It illustrates what your law resume skills should look like when composed in this section:

Attorney Resume Summary Statement

A summary of your lawyer resume can make the recruiters recognize your potential as an eligible applicant, but only if you frame it professionally.

Scan through your law resume and give a brief statement of your achievements and contribution to an organization while simultaneously highlighting the best of what you possess as a suitable applicant for the targeted job profile.

Remember and follow the below-given list while writing a summary of your legal resume:

• Write your summary at the end as it is easier to decide what to put in a professional summary in attorney resume.
• Pick the most significant highlights of your career from your professional experience section.
• Try to include the keywords that the recruiter has used in the job listing of the targeted job profile.
• Do not exceed 4 lines while writing your professional summary in attorney resume as it can make your summary look too bulky.
• Write a professional summary in attorney resume only if you have worked for over 3 years but if you have worked for less than 3 years, write a resume objective instead.

Also read: How to craft job-winning resume summary statements?

Attorney Resume Summary Statement Sample

Attached below is one of the lawyer resume examples showcasing the ideal professional summary in attorney resume:

Attorney Resume Objective

An objective of your lawyer resume should be written if you belong to any of the following categories:

• You possess no work experience.
• You possess very limited work experience (less than 3 years).
• You are a fresh graduate writing an entry level attorney resume.

You need not ask what the recruiter can do for you, but ask for what you can do for the organization if you are shortlisted by the recruiter and end up in the targeted job.

Mention the value you can deliver in your next organization, instead of listing the things that you are expecting.

Attorney Resume Sample

Key Takeaways

Remember and follow the points given below to frame your professional lawyer resume:

• Frame your points by grouping & highlighting your one-liners to enhance the effectiveness of your law student resume.
• Use power verbs to start every point and make sure that it is in the past tense for past profiles/projects and present continuous tense for present profiles/projects.
• Use the month and year format to write dates across all sections of your legal resume.
• Write a lawyer resume summary only if you have 3 years and above of work experience. A law resume objective should be written only when you have less than 3 years of work experience.
• Give out only the required information and avoid giving out any personal details or past address of residence or workplace.

With the end of our blog, you will be able to write your legal resume effectively without feeling insecure about what to write and how to frame your resume.

Go to Hiration's Online Resume builder and create a professional resume for yourself. Additionally, reach out to us at support@hiration.com and you can get 24/7 professional assistance with all your job & career-related queries.