Perfect Law Student Resume Examples (+ Free Templates & Formats)

Law Student resume
Created by CakeResume

A perfect summary for a law student resume would give the hiring manager a good impression. Since there will be lots of different candidates to compete with, you would have a better chance at earning the job by getting the employer to notice your resume.

Therefore, you should emphasize your abilities in the law school graduate resume as much as possible. On the top of the resume, write an eye-catching summary in 2-3 sentences along with your skills, achievements, or experiences that makes you stand out from the others.

How to write an outstanding law school student resume

✅ Tip 1: Use an ATS-friendly law school resume format.

Put down only keywords about your past experiences with bullet points in a law graduate resume. Your law school student’s resume should be easy to read. A rather fancy resume will make it less readable.

✅ Tip 2: Search for online law student resume examples. 

Before jumping into writing a resume, try to search for law student resume examples online. Look for the pros and cons of those samples and be sure to keep them in mind. When finishing up, check once again from the law student resume template and see whether you’ve missed anything.

✅ Tip 3: Customize your resume for each job description.

Different jobs require different abilities. When drafting your resume, take note of the job description. Remember to tailor the law school graduate resume so your skills and experiences match the requirements. 

✅ Tip 4: Make the results quantified. 

Presenting data on your law student resume is important. With statistics or numbers, your potential employer would easily understand how much you’ve devoted to this field and would have a better understanding of your skills. 

✅ Tip 5: Be concise on your related interests. 

Adding relevant experiences can demonstrate your passion as being a law student, but remember the information has to be brief and professional. Try not to fit in too many irrelevant details on your law school student resume.

How to write a professional resume summary for law students

A perfect summary for a law student resume would give the hiring manager a good impression. Since there will be lots of different candidates to compete with, you would have a better chance at earning the job by getting the employer to notice your resume.

Therefore, you should emphasize your abilities in the law school graduate resume summary as much as possible. In 2-3 sentences, highlight the skills, achievements, or experiences that you outstand the others.

How to write a good law student resume summary

  • Keep it short: Use only 30-50 words. Keep in mind that the summary for your law student resume is just a brief view. Put in the crucial information but leave out the unnecessary experiences or skills. 
  • Highlight your expertise: Remember to show your strength on your law student resume summary. Write down things relevant to the job that could help you catch the employer’s attention. 
  • Begin with the perfect adjective: Find the best word to describe yourself. Keep note to use professional words. Try not to use words such as ‘best’, ‘great’, but use words such as ‘fascinated’, ‘outstanding’ in summary for law student resumes.

Examples of professional resume summary for a law student

  • Self-organized, motivated law school student who has exceptional analytical skills recently completing a full-time internship at ABC consulting group. 
  • Energetic law school graduate who is devoted to DEF medical ethics volunteering group. Gained extensive experience in ethics law litigations.
  • Passionate law school fresh graduate currently interning at XYZ law firm. Dedicated to criminal law and had assisted senior counsel with arbitrations upon 10+ disputes.

What are some great skills to put on a law student resume?

The skills section is said to be essential in a law student resume format. If you’re a law graduate, you will be facing candidates from various places. Your resume should cover skills that can prove your potential. Hence, trying to use a skills-based resume would be helpful. 

Known also as a functional resume, a skills-based resume could emphasize your law student skills as your strength on resumes. Meaning, writing down skills on your law school student resume would be the key to beat your competitors. 

4 ways to list skills on a law student resume

💡Before writing down your professional skills, here are four different ways to note them down.

Looking for more? View Skills for Resume|Examples List, Templates, Formats

1. Simple bullet list

👍 Pros: 

Simple, straightforward, and eye-catchy

❌ Cons:

Unclear and undetailed

2. Expanded bullet list

👍 Pros: 

  • Credible
  • Show more value you’re likely to bring
  • Viable choice for fresher

❌ Cons:

  • Sophisticated
  • Could only fit 5 points max.

3. Integrated with work experience

👍 Pros: 

  • Could be listed in chronological order
  • Suitable if gained extensive experiences & skills

❌ Cons:

  • Requires many experiences
  • Not preferable for freshers

4. Categorized skills section

👍 Pros: 

  • Organized
  • Suitable if applying for jobs with a broad skillset

❌ Cons:

  • Requires many experiences
  • Not preferable for freshers

Keys to choosing the right skills to put on a law student resume

After choosing the way to list your professional skills, picking the skills to put on your law student resume is vital. The skills you write down may affect the outcome of your employment towards your dream job.

Keep note to check these crucial elements:

💡 Understand the job description.

As mentioned above, always check if the skills you include are suitable for the job description. Especially when the hiring manager lists the requirements clearly. Be sure to put skills in your law school student resume that would arouse their attention.


💡 List the related skills only.

Try not to put irrelevant skills in your law graduate resume. These skills may look unprofessional towards your employer.


💡 Write them concisely.

Though writing skills clearly could be a plus, a sophisticated skillset may confuse the hiring manager. To stand out, make sure to list your skills on your law student resume in a legible way.


💡 List both hard skills and soft skills.

Many focus on hard skills and neglect soft skills. Hard skills could demonstrate abilities you’ve built up in the past, but soft skills could give your employer a better understanding of your personality traits. Remember to put both in your law school graduate resume.

Examples:

Hard skills: 

  • Civil law
  • Federal income tax
  • Arbitration
  • Real estate
  • Wills & trusts

Soft skills:

  • Self-disciplined
  • Motivated
  • Negotiator
  • Well-organized
  • Time management

How to write a law student resume with no legal experience

As aforementioned, the perfect resume format for law graduates would make you stand out. With no legal experience, you could still pursue your dream job or internship with the best resume for law internships.

If you’re writing a law school graduate resume, here’s some advice gathered for you:

✅ Advice 1: Pick the correct format

Before you begin with your law student resume, make sure you know what a resume is.

Here are two points you shouldn’t neglect:

  • Resume vs. CV: The distinction between a resume and a CV is mostly about the length and whether it’s detailed. Remember to be certain about the difference between a law student resume and a law student CV. (If you’re still confused, read The Key Differences between Resume and CV)
  • 3 different law student resume formats (see more in the end). 

✅ Advice 2: Adopt a career objective

A good career objective will present the vision of your aspiration. A clear career objective in a law graduate resume is necessary. Even for a resume for law internships, it is crucial to tell your future employer what you’re aiming at.

✅ Advice 3: Highlight your education

For resumes for law school freshers, your academic background would be the qualification your employer mainly considers. Remember to write down some details in your educational experiences.

✅ Advice 4: Include additional information

If you’ve done any related work, earned any relevant certificates, feel free to put them in your law student resume. You may as well put down volunteering work, a project you’ve finished especially when you’re preparing a law student resume for internships.

✅ Advice 5: Write a sincere cover letter

Before you submit your resume, be aware to include a law student cover letter. A well-drafted law student cover letter would give a great first impression.

Please keep in mind to include the following details:

  • Contact details: contact information including your full name, email address, and mobile number
  • Introduction: a formal greeting gives a great impression
  • Motivation (Intention to apply): reasons why you’re fascinated by the job, company’s concept, product, or the whole industry
  • Qualification: proof to convince that you’re qualified
  • Closing: appreciation towards the hiring manager

📝 3 different law student resume formats

1. Chronological (Reverse-Chronological):

When using a chronological resume as your law student resume format, you’ll write the experiences in reverse chronological order. Your hiring manager could get to know you faster by reading through your latest experiences first.


2. Functional (Skill-based):

A functional resume format is to write your law school student resume based on your skills. Rather than fitting skills earned into your past experiences, sort those details into skills. By adopting this format, your strength would be emphasized with a firm cause.


3. Combination (Hybrid):

If you want to focus on both the experiences and skills, try to adopt a combination resume format for your law school graduate resume. It includes your work experience in reverse-chronological order and a section of skill summary. This format may be less concise but would highlight your expertise along with your background.

CakeResume provides the best law student resume templates & examples for talents to demonstrate their qualifications. Let us help you land the dream as a law student with a strong resume (free download)!

Which law student resume template is the most successful one?

Should I use a resume template?

Many would question the suitability of using a resume template for law students. The answer is uncertain. The following is the pros and cons of using a resume template:

✅ Pros: 

  • Look more organized: by using a law student resume template, you could easily understand which section to put your information in.
  • Save your time: could spend less time especially if you’re writing a law student resume for the first time.
  • Make a good first impression: a good law school student resume would give your hiring manager a great impression.

❌ Cons

  • May look generic: since you found a resume template for law students online, there’s a possibility that other applicants had used the same format.
  • Can’t be customized: if you apply a template as your law school student resume, there’s less space left for customization.

What is the best resume template for law students? 

To write the perfect resume for law school freshers, you could search for the recommended resume templates as follows:

  • Standard resume format: when using this format as your law student resume template, use no more than 2 colors. This type of template suits when you’re applying for a rather rigorous company.
  • Formal resume format: a formal resume format has to be in reverse-chronological order. Use only fonts like Helvetica or Times New Roman with only one column for the whole resume.

Where can I get a free law student resume template?

If you’re looking for the best website to construct your resume for law school students, here are some suggested websites you may consider:

  • CakeResume : you can seek jobs on this website as well as crafting a resume with templates provided by CakeResume for free!
  • Canva : it provides hundreds of templates for you, so you could find the best template. But keep note that some of the tools are not for free.
  • Google/Word Docs : write one on your own! Try to make your own resume template for law students

Law graduate resume sample

Julie Kim

Conducted research on briefs, both recorded and drafted opinions for judges, and assisted senior lawyers with criminal cases.

Mobile: (+1)000-1234
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliekim
Medium: medium.com/@juliek

Professional Summary

A law school graduate with a passion for criminal law and has decision-making skills. Looking forward to applying knowledge of law codes and court proceedings to an attorney position.

Work Experience

Legal Intern
ZYX

09/2020 to present

  • Worked with several clients and assisted senior lawyers in collecting evidence
  • Collaborated with other colleagues and classified files for ongoing cases

Summer Intern
ABC
07/2020 to 08/2020

  • Wrote depositions and done researches on 50+ cases
  • Assisted with maintaining files of cases with spreadsheets

Education

2017-2021, BSBA in Jurisprudence
University of Oxford

GPA: 3.74/4.3

Skills

Hard Skills: criminal law, constitutional law, felony procedure, typical procedure, criminal defense

Soft Skills: ethical, analytical skills, teamwork, verbal communication

--- Originally written by Eliana Tschnag ---

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