Attorney resume
What the hiring manager reads first
Summary
A hiring attorney usually looks first for bar admissions or credentials, practice areas and the matters actually worked on.
Also posted as: lawyer, associate attorney, counsel, in-house counsel, corporate counsel, litigator, associate.
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Read first
- Bar admissions
- Practice area and representative matters
- Results you can disclose
- Court and client experience
One line, before and after
Original: Associate in the employment group. Drafted the summary judgment motion that ended a wage class action for the client.Suggested: Drafted the summary judgment motion that ended a wage class action for the client, as an associate in the employment group.
Why this changedYour work product and its outcome lead. Every figure in the rewrite is in the original line; nothing is added.
Section order
- Bar admissions
- Experience
- Representative matters
- Education
- Publications
Where your resume has these sections. A section your resume does not have is not added.
Mistakes that cost interviews
- Confidential client details
- Matters you did not work on
- Attorney work claimed by non-attorneys
- Confidential client detail
Evidence that counts in legal
- Bar admissions or paralegal certification as written
- Practice areas and matter types
- The candidate's role on matters
- Courts, agencies or deal types
- Legal tools used
Use what your resume already shows. A line without a number can still be strong when it says clearly what you did and where.
These are common reading conventions drawn from hiring guides and career services, not rules every employer follows.