Attorney Resume: Template, Skills, and Tips

Attorney Resume: Template, Skills, and Tips

In a law firm or an in-house legal department, an attorney's resume is read with the profession's own standards: precision, structure, flawless writing. Recruiters want to identify at a glance your practice areas, your bar admission, your education (JD, honors), and the nature of your matters: litigation or advisory work, client types, stakes involved. A partner also looks for signs of business development. State your specialty in your headline and illustrate each role with representative matters, always with identifying details removed.

Key skills to highlight

Professional summary examples

• Associate attorney admitted to the bar for 2 years, with a business law background (JD, business law concentration). Handles commercial litigation and contract drafting for small businesses and startups. Working proficiency in Spanish.
• Employment law attorney with 7 years of law firm experience. Provides day-to-day counsel to HR departments and manages a caseload of 60 employment disputes per year, on both the defense and plaintiff side.
• Partner with 15 years of practice in mergers and acquisitions and corporate law. Leads teams of 5 associates, has built a client base of industrial groups and investors, and speaks regularly at professional training events.

Mistakes to avoid

• Staying generalist: an attorney resume with no stated practice area gets screened out quickly
• Detailing confidential matters: always remove client and party names
• Neglecting the education section, which is scrutinized especially closely in the legal field
• Using grandiose language: matters and results speak better than adjectives
• Letting a single typo slip through, a dealbreaker in a profession built on writing

Frequently asked questions