Our sample resume for law students and step-by-step guidelines will help you win your first case and get that interview. This guide contains some basic suggestions for CV preparation, as well as examples that you can check out. If you would like a lawyer and consultant from the Office of Career Development to review the design of your resume, send it to the career@law.berkeley.edu career email box. The recovery process from start to finish can take much longer than expected. Start early and give yourself plenty of time. Content Use the list below to select your most important skills for law students and find the right resume keywords. If you`ve had a few relevant jobs in the past, follow this template to feature them on your resume: proofreading. Once you`ve set up your resume with the content and layout the way you want, proofread it carefully. Look for inconsistencies in style as well as actual typos. Don`t think you`re the only proofreader; Ask at least one other person for help.
If you discover a typo, you will need to repeat your resume, even if it is already printed. No typo is trivial. The list of the best two-column resumes you can find online – all of them can be downloaded with just one click (free two-column resume templates for MS Word included!) Academic performance: Law school grades can be a key hiring criterion for many legal employers. Your GPA is assumed to be less than 3.0 unless it appears on your resume. If your GPA is slightly below 3.0, consider including it so that an employer doesn`t speculate that it`s lower than it actually is. If you have any questions, please contact OPD staff. LLB graduate with specialization in criminology, knowledge of advances in criminal law with skills in research and preparation of legal documents and case management. Proactively conduct activities outside of academia while demonstrating academic excellence. Like a resume, your resume should include your name, contact information, education, skills, and experience. In addition to the basics, a resume includes research and teaching experience, publications, scholarships, professional associations and licenses, awards, and other information relevant to the position you`re applying for. First, create a list of all the basic information, and then organize it into categories.
Be sure to provide data for all posts you include. LSAT grades, grade and results. Because Berkeley Law does not use a traditional grading system, students do not have surrogacy. Berkeley Law does not rank its students (except for the sole purpose of applying for an internship), and Berkeley Law School policies state that students may not include a representation or class rank estimate in a resume or cover letter. LSAT scores should not be on your resume because they only predict law school performance and are not an indicator of career performance. Use your resume goal to show recruiters that you can add real value to the company. Prove that your skills and talents benefit them. Look for unnecessary words in descriptions to narrow them down to one line if possible.
You may be able to reduce the font size of the spaces between sections of the resume to condense them (for example, if the text is an 11-point font, the spacing between the sections can be an 8-point font). Of course, balance is necessary and you don`t want your resume to look narrow or difficult to read. If in doubt, seek advice from OPD staff. A resume is a marketing tool that you use to present the most attractive and true image of yourself, with the aim of convincing an employer to meet with you. To ensure quality and consistency for all students, classes of 2017 and later should follow the format shown in the sample resumes below. Contact a CDO consultant if your personal experience warrants an exception to this standard format. Your legal CV is your personal marketing tool. It provides highlights of your professional and educational experiences. Design your resume carefully to fit your background into a document that shows your accomplishments. Also, keep in mind that it provides an example of a functional product that must be impeccable, pleasing to the eye and concise.
Resumes should be concise, accurate, error-free, well organized, clear, easy to read, and visually appealing. Keep in mind that the reader of your resume will probably not spend more than 30 seconds reviewing it. To be effective, it must be short and still provide enough information to interest the employer. Most law student resumes should be one page long. Use a standard font such as Times New Roman and an 11-point font size. Due to the diversity of areas of law, it can be difficult to determine what to include and what to leave out in your law school resume. (And if you`re not in school, you`ll also need to write a cover letter.) We looked at many law school resumes to find out what works and incorporate what we learned into these five law school examples. In your resume, include your name, current address, email address, and a phone number where an employer can reach you or leave a message. Make sure your email address is appropriate and that the message on your voicemail is conservative and professional. If your voicemail only reflects your phone number and doesn`t identify you, now is the time to record a work voice message with your name.
A permanent address can be provided with your current address if you wish to demonstrate a connection to the geographic region of an employer to which you are applying. Target group: The legal community is conservative and legal employers expect a traditional legal CV. An eye-catching resume that you have prepared to market yourself in advertising space would be ineffective if sent to a legal employer. It may be desirable to create more than one legal resume, depending on the type of job you are looking for. This way, you can change the way your experience descriptions are worded to match what might be of interest to this type of employer. In addition, the experiences you include may vary from employer to employer. For example, the resume you file with a public interest legal organization may include additional volunteer experience that is important to that employer. Font: Choose a font that is easy to read.
Avoid using a font that makes it look like you`ve typed your resume on a typewriter (such as a letter), script, ornate style, decorative style, or multiple fonts. Use only the black font color. Be sure to remove all blue hyperlinks. Use uppercase, small caps and uppercase letters, bold or italics for sections, your name, schools and employers to generate interest and improve readability. How many pages should a CV have? Find the perfect resume length with the help of this quick guide. Your law student`s first paragraph is just as important. CV rules. There are a few hard and fast rules for writing resumes. Your resume should be: Interests: In this section, candidates can demonstrate that they are well-rounded and have interests that are valued by an employer. They can be seen as networking or business development benefits, as well as good conversation starters (like golf, science fiction novels, Cajun cooking, hiking through seven European countries in the summer, the many trips across South America, marathons, etc.) if included in your resume.
Honours and activities. The honors associated with your degree should appear in lowercase letters after graduation, for example, B.A., summa laude, June 2006. (If tributes are in Latin, they should be written in italics.) Other academic awards are listed separately under your degree, as well as school activities. If you have many honors and undergraduate activities, you may want to consider listing only a representative number. Make sure it is clear which activities are in which institutions. If you participated in a non-school related activity during your studies, it should be in a different section of your resume. For law school, list all major honors and activities such as law review, participation in other journals, mock trial, advocacy, clinics, scholarships, scholarships, committees, membership in student organizations, and academic awards. If an activity at the college or law school was or is particularly involved or relevant, you should include it in the Experience section. For example, if you are a student of public interest, your participation in CARC could be listed under Experience with a description of the work you did on your refugee claim. Title: The title must include your name, mailing address, phone number, and Yale email address at the top of your resume.