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Lawyer and Attorney Resume and Interview Guide: What to Show

A legal resume should show your bar admissions, your practice areas and the kind of work you have actually handled. Keep client details confidential and describe matters in general terms.

Skills hiring teams look for

List the ones you have genuinely used, and put the most relevant to the job first.

Bar admissions and jurisdictions
Practice areas (litigation, corporate, employment, and others you have worked in)
Legal research and writing
Drafting and reviewing contracts
Case management and discovery
Client communication
Negotiation
Compliance and regulatory knowledge
Legal research tools you have used
Court or hearing experience

How to write your experience

List each bar admission with the jurisdiction and, if you wish, the year.
Describe matters by type and your role, without naming clients or revealing confidential details.
Show the scope of your work: matters handled, documents drafted, hearings or negotiations you took part in.
Include clerkships, law review, clinics or pro bono work if you are early in your career.
Keep the format conservative and consistent. Legal employers value precision.

Interview topics to prepare

Walk me through a matter you handled and your role
How you research an unfamiliar area of law
Handling a disagreement with a client or opposing counsel
Ethics and confidentiality scenarios
Managing deadlines across several matters
Why this practice area and this firm

Tailor it to each posting

Read the job description, find the required skills, and make sure each one you genuinely have is easy to find in your summary, skills and recent bullets. Do not add skills you have not used. See the guide: how to tailor your resume to a job description, and the ATS resume checklist.

Put this into practice.

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Lawyer and Attorney Resume and Interview Guide: What to Show

Skills hiring teams look for

How to write your experience

Interview topics to prepare

Tailor it to each posting

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