Tips for Writing a Successful Solicitor Resume [With Templates]

Given the ever-increasing number of lawyers in the UK, if you are looking to enter the legal profession or move to another position, it is essential to present yourself in the best possible way. That means you must have an up-to-date resume, or as we tend to call it in the UK, a curriculum vitae or CV. In this article, we look at the essential solicitor resume tips to secure your dream role.

To help set your application apart, this guide for new or experienced legal professionals will help you optimise your legal resume or curriculum vitae to secure an interview. Whether you need design tips, guidance on how to best showcase your accomplishments, or ideas for tailoring your resume to engage multiple stakeholders, these tips will help you create a winning legal resume or CV that will get you noticed—and hired. A well-organised legal CV structure is crucial, as it ensures that busy recruiters can easily find essential information, making your CV scannable and legible.

Always remember that while your CV or resume is key to landing your dream role, a compelling cover letter goes a long way toward getting you noticed.

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Before you start drafting your resume

Before you put pen to paper, it’s crucial to have a clear strategy for your law CV. Start by gathering all the necessary information, including your employment history, educational background, and any relevant skills or achievements. This preparation will make the drafting process smoother and ensure you don’t miss any critical details.

Consider the job description for the role you are applying for. Identify the essential skills and experiences the employer is looking for and consider how you can demonstrate these in your CV. Tailoring your legal CV to a specific job is vital to making a strong impression on legal employers.

Crafting a compelling legal CV

Presenting a compelling argument right from the start helps you stand out. First impressions matter, so open your resume with a strong profile statement.

When crafting a compelling solicitor profile in your solicitor CV, ensure you include a strong profile statement. Highlight key achievements and experience and tailor your legal profile to the role you’re applying for. In two to four sentences, your profile should summarise who you are as a lawyer, illustrate what you bring to the table, and highlight your accomplishments. Additionally, emphasise your commercial awareness to show your understanding of the business side of law firms and how it contributes to their success.

For example, if you are a senior solicitor looking for a leadership role in a corporate law firm dealing with high-value corporate clients, you might want to use something along these lines:

“Seasoned senior lawyer with corporate law, litigation, and regulatory compliance expertise. Adept at leading legal teams, mentoring junior lawyers, and managing high-profile cases. Proven track record of providing strategic advice to senior executives and board members. Dedicated to upholding the highest ethical standards and advancing the legal profession.”

This statement sets the scene for what will come later in the legal resume or CV.

Showcasing your legal expertise

Don’t prepare a list of the first random skills that come to mind. Consider this section an opportunity to paint a picture of your specialised skill set. Each attribute you choose to include is significant, so be sure to highlight what you’re best at—and be specific.

When listing skills, consider that employers want your lawyer resume to showcase your interpersonal and legal-industry-specific skills—ideally, a combination of both.

Always keep in mind the role for which you are applying and what skills you have are relevant.

To enhance your CV’s effectiveness, emphasise your legal expertise and transferable skills, such as teamwork and communication, gained from diverse work and voluntary experiences.

Here are some examples of relevant interpersonal skills that might be worth mentioning:

Problem-solving and critical thinking
Conflict resolution and mediation
Negotiation
Adaptability and ability to manage pressure

Focus on the skills mentioned in the job description to highlight your suitability for the position. Common examples include:

Oral communication and arguments
Persuasive writing
Legal research
Technology skills

Highlight your relevant skills and accomplishments

Share your relevant accomplishments with your future employer. Briefly describe your achievements and cases in which you have been involved and how you achieved a successful outcome for the client and your law firm. You want to let your future employer know why you are the best candidate for the role.

If you have become an expert or specialist in a particular legal field, you must include this in your legal CV. If your Law Society recognises your specialism, add a link to the relevant entry in the expert record. Make it easy for your prospective employer to check.

Include your education and professional development

It is essential to list your qualifications and professional memberships. Employers will be interested in when and where you qualified and the extent to which you have maintained your legal education over time.

You should indicate when and from which university you obtained your degree. If you have more than one degree, list them from the latest qualification to the earliest. If you specialised in any particular subject, you should highlight that. Those who graduated with an honours degree should consider highlighting their dissertation, but only if it is relevant.

If you have a postgraduate degree that is relevant to the role, make sure you highlight this for your prospective employer.

Prospective employers are also keen to know that their lawyers are keeping up to date in the field in which they operate. You must include relevant professional courses or workshops you have attended or led.

Membership of a Law Society is a must for solicitors, but if you are a member of a legal association or society and it is relevant to the role for which you are applying, make sure you include it in your legal resume.

Person studying for the law exam at a table

Using the CAR Framework

Using the CAR framework is one effective way to present your achievements in your legal CV. CAR stands for Context, Action, and Result, and it helps you describe your accomplishments clearly and structured.

Context: Set the scene by describing the situation or background of your achievement. This helps the recruiter understand the environment in which you are working.
Action: Detail the specific actions you took to address the situation. Use strong action verbs to convey your role and contributions.
Result: Highlight the outcome of your actions. Quantify your results with numbers and statistics to provide concrete evidence of your success.

For example:

Context: “As a law student, I was tasked with researching and writing a report on a complex legal issue.”
Action: “Conducted extensive research, analysed the data, and wrote a comprehensive report that was presented to the law faculty.”
Result: “The report was well-received, and I received a distinction for my work.”

Using the CAR framework will help you create compelling achievement statements that effectively showcase your skills and experience.

Use action words to strengthen employment history

Don’t just list where you’ve worked and what you did—use action words to convey more meaning. Generic words like “participated,” “worked,” and “managed” take up space on the page and are wasted opportunities. Instead, create a story by using appropriate action words like “advocated,” “negotiated,” and “counselled.”

Here are some action words that might fit into your employment history:

Creation-related words: Formalised, conceptualised, orchestrated.
Teamwork- or leadership-related words: Mentored, collaborated, directed.
Achievement-related words: Spearheaded, accelerated, expedited.
Problem-solving words: Overhauled, devised, rebuilt.

Consider these additional action words to create impact and deeper meaning:

accomplished
achieved
administered
advised
analysed
arranged
assessed
authored
compiled
conducted
constructed
coordinated
corresponded
counselled
created
designed
determined
developed

drafted
edited
established
evaluated
facilitated
formed
guided
implemented
improved
initiated
instituted
instructed
investigated
negotiated
organised
performed
planned
prepared

presented
produced
provided
publicised
recorded
represented
researched
reviewed
revised
served
solved
studied
trained
translated
updated
verified
wrote

Harvard Law School has also compiled a list of action words that you may find useful for optimising your lawyer resume.

Optimising your employment history for legal employers

Your employment history is essential, so list your roles, starting from your most recent position and continuing backwards. For each role, include:

The job title
The name of the firm or organisation
Start and end dates
Your main responsibilities
Your achievements in this position

Here you can use those action words to describe specific achievements. For example:

· Led a team of five lawyers in a complex litigation and achieved an unexpected win for the client

· Negotiated significant multiparty licensing contract securing long-term revenue for the client

Ensure the experience is relevant to the position you are applying for. If the results the client experienced can be quantified, do not be afraid to be specific. Remember to ensure the client cannot be identified from your narrative.

Highlight your communication skills by providing evidence of your written communication abilities through specific experiences and achievements.

Suppose you are starting your legal career and don’t have a lengthy employment history. In that case, you can list any internships, voluntary work, or work experience you have had. Follow the layout recommended above and include achievements and significant events.

Demonstrate your tech understanding

Today’s law firms are looking for staff who can start working efficiently right away when using and learning technology. From cloud-based practice management software like Clio Manage to client intake and CRM software like Clio Grow, law firms are increasingly using legal technology to streamline processes, facilitate effective remote work, and offer a better client experience.

Technology skills can help set you apart in the eyes of potential employers, giving them the confidence to know they won’t have to spend time training you to use new software and systems. Keep in mind that if you land an interview, you may be asked to explain or demonstrate how versed you are in the specific programs you’ve listed on your resume.

Demonstrate your knowledge of industry trends and recent regulatory changes

Potential employers want to know that you’re keeping up-to-date with industry trends and evolving regulations within the legal profession, such as:

The digital transformation occurring across the legal industry.
The impact of remote working.
The growing focus on client experience.
Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

By reflecting your understanding of current trends within your desired profession, your lawyer resume can convey a level of professionalism and real-world competence that hiring managers are looking for in an employee.

Design and format best practices

You don’t want your legal CV or resume to contain valuable information that your prospective employer never reads because it looks like a dog’s dinner! Your legal curriculum vitae must look professional. Sometimes, a legal resume with a simple layout is more effective. Many CV templates are available but do not get too carried away with the design. Using colours can be risky, as can multi-column templates. Usually, those who regularly vet legal CVs are looking for one or two pages, at the most, which they can read from top to bottom rather than across different columns.

Use a consistent font and font size throughout your legal CV. Don’t make the font too small or too large, or use an unusual or quirky font. A boring old font such as Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman gets the message across and is eminently readable.

Spending hours agonising over how to lay out your lawyer resume like a pro isn’t an effective use of time. No one expects you to be a graphic designer, so use tools to help. Free design software like Canva can provide professional resume templates—making it easy to give your legal resume a polished look to grab a potential employer’s attention. If you’re looking for lawyer resume samples, Yale and Notre Dame have some examples that you may find helpful.

Follow the content flow described above, keeping it simple and to the point. Use bullet points where relevant.

Include your name and contact information at the top of your legal resume. This makes it easy for the legal recruiter to contact you for an interview.

Finally, there are things you should not include in your legal CV. Here are some of them:

· Your age

· Your date of birth

· Your marital status

· A photo

You don’t need to tell a prospective employer about a disability. However, if they need to make adjustments to allow you to interview, then telling them in advance can be helpful.

Reviewing and refining your resume

Once you have drafted your legal CV, reviewing and refining it is essential to ensure it is polished and professional. Here are some tips to help you perfect your resume:

Use bullet points: Bullet points make it easy for recruiters to scan your CV and quickly identify key information.
Clear and concise language: Avoid jargon or technical terms that may be unfamiliar to recruiters. Use straightforward language to convey your points.
Action verbs: Use strong action verbs like “managed,” “created,“ and “developed“ to describe your achievements clearly and concisely.
Quantify results: Whenever possible, use numbers and statistics to quantify your results. For example, “increased client satisfaction by 20%.”
Tailor your CV: Customise your CV for each job application. Use keywords from the job description to help your CV pass through applicant tracking systems and resonate with legal employers.
Get feedback: Ask friends, family, or a career counsellor to review your CV. They may spot errors or suggest improvements that you might have missed.

By carefully reviewing and refining your law CV, you can ensure that it is well-structured, comprehensive, and tailored to the job you are applying for, increasing your chances of securing your dream role in the legal profession.

Consider starting a sole practitioner law firm

After going through the process of updating your lawyer resume and considering jobs at other law firms, it’s entirely possible that you may not wish to continue your job search or pursue the traditional law firm model. Instead, you may opt for a work-from-home lawyer job, become a freelance attorney, find a way to practice law part-time, or even start your own law firm. With a sole practitioner law firm, you get the benefits of owning and running your own business, being a leader, and gaining more control over who your clients are.

We published this blog post in November 2024. Last updated: November 12, 2024.

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