Attorney Resume Template

Free attorney resume template for Word and Google Docs. Bar admissions sit under the summary, and law school comes before skills.

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What is in the file

[Your Name]

[Associate, Senior Associate or Counsel] · [Practice area, e.g. commercial litigation or M&A] · [Admitted in (states)]

[City, State] · [email@example.com] · [(555) 555-0100] · [LinkedIn or portfolio URL]

Summary

[Attorney with N years in (practice area) at (firm type, government or in-house). Handle (motions, depositions, trials, or deals, contracts, closings) for (client type). One measure of your independence (e.g. first chair on N matters, lead drafter on deals up to $N).]

Bar and Court Admissions

[State bar], [YYYY] · [Second state bar, YYYY]

[U.S. District Court for the (district)], [YYYY] · [U.S. Court of Appeals for the (circuit)], [YYYY]

[Pending: (state) bar exam taken (Mon YYYY), or eligible for admission on motion in (state)]

Experience

[Associate or Counsel], [Firm, agency or company], [Practice group]

[City, State] · [Mon YYYY] – [Present]

  • [Manage a docket of (N matters) in (state or federal court, agency) involving (claim types), with (supervision level)]
  • [Drafted and argued (N dispositive or discovery motions); results include (dismissal, summary judgment granted in part, ruling)]
  • [Took or defended (N depositions) or (first- or second-chaired N trials, hearings, arbitrations) to (verdict, award, settlement range)]
  • [For transactional practice: led drafting on (N deals) worth (range) in (industry), from (diligence, negotiation) to closing]

[Earlier role: associate, staff attorney, judicial clerk], [Employer]

[City, State] · [Mon YYYY] – [Mon YYYY]

  • [Handled (caseload or matter type) for (client or population), including (hearings, filings, negotiations)]
  • [For a clerkship: drafted (N bench memos or opinions) on (subject areas) for (Judge name, court)]
  • [Result or responsibility that shows growth: (first trial, first deal led, supervision of junior attorneys)]

Education

[J.D.], [Law school], [YYYY] · [Honors, e.g. cum laude; Law Review, Articles Editor; Moot Court]

[B.A. or B.S. in (field)], [University], [YYYY]

Skills

  • Practice: [Your area in specific terms: e.g. employment discrimination defense, commercial leasing, SEC reporting, Chapter 11]
  • Litigation or transactional work: [Motion practice, depositions, trial, appeals; or drafting, negotiation, due diligence, closings: the side you practice]
  • Research and tools: [Westlaw, Lexis, Relativity or Everlaw, iManage, contract lifecycle tools, foreign language if you work in it]

The first thing a hiring partner or general counsel needs to know is whether you can practice where they practice. This template puts bar and court admissions in their own block right under a two-line summary, so that question is settled before anyone reads a matter. Experience follows, then education, then skills. Law is one of the few fields where the school, the journal and the clerkship still matter after several years, so education sits above skills rather than at the very end.

Every experience slot asks for the matter type, your exact role and how it ended, in ranges rather than client names. Fill in the brackets with your own practice and delete anything you cannot describe without breaching confidentiality. Keep a separate list of representative matters or a deal sheet for firms that request one; the resume itself should hold your strongest results only.

Litigation and transactional practices read the same layout with different evidence, and the guide covers both. The attorney resume example shows a litigator's version with every bracket filled in.

Updated .

How to fill in each section

  1. Summary: practice, forum, independence

    Two sentences are enough. State your years, practice area and setting, then give a measure of how much you do without supervision: matters you run, chairs you have sat, deals you have led drafting. Avoid adjectives entirely; partners read *zealous* and *detail-oriented* as noise. Lateral candidates should name the practice group they are applying to only if they are changing focus, otherwise the area itself says it.

  2. Admissions: every bar and court, with years

    List each state bar and each federal court separately, with the year of admission, because a reader may need you to appear in a particular court next month. Mark inactive status honestly. If you are awaiting results or eligible for admission on motion or by reciprocity, say so; it changes the timing for an employer outside your current state. Pro hac vice appearances belong in experience, not here.

  3. Experience: matter, role, disposition

    Litigators should name the claim, the forum, what they personally drafted, argued or examined, and the outcome. Transactional lawyers should name deal type, size range and industry, and their part in it, from diligence to the signing set. Be exact about chair and lead roles; opposing counsel and partners know what those words mean. Describe clients by industry and amounts in ranges so nothing confidential appears.

  4. Education: honors and journals early on

    List the J.D. with school, year and honors, then journals, moot court and clinics for roughly your first five years out. Include class rank only when it helps. A clerkship can sit here or in experience; put it where the reader will see it soonest. Senior lawyers can cut this to one line per degree, but keep it above skills, because firms still read it.

  5. Skills: specific practice terms, platforms you run

    Name the practice in the terms clients search for: *ERISA litigation*, not *employment matters*. The second line shows which side of practice you work on; do not list trial skills if you are transactional. Name review and research platforms you use daily, which matters to firms running large discovery or diligence. A working language other than English belongs here, with the level you can draft or negotiate in.

Next steps

See it filled in

The attorney resume example uses this structure with a realistic candidate, with versions for entry, mid and senior level.

Read the attorney resume example

Or build it online

Start from the same content in the Professional design, tailor it to a posting and export a PDF. Free to start.

Open it in Resume Master

Questions about the attorney resume template

Why does education come before skills in this attorney template?

Because legal employers still weigh the law school, honors, journal and clerkship well into a career, and a skills list rarely changes a decision. Education placed above skills means the reader sees it on the first page without hunting.

How do I fill this template as a new lawyer or recent graduate?

Move education right under admissions and give it detail: journals, clinics, moot court, honors. Use the experience slots for summer associate positions, clerkships and clinic work. The law student resume example shows how that earlier stage reads.

How should an in-house lawyer adapt this template?

Replace matter counts with the business scope you cover: contracts reviewed per quarter, functions you advise, policies drafted, outside counsel you manage and the spend involved. In-house hiring managers want evidence you give practical advice that lets the business move, so include one result of that kind.

Should I include a representative matters list with the resume?

Many firms ask laterals for one, and some recruiters expect it. Keep it as a separate page with the same confidentiality rules, organized by matter type. The resume points to your best results; the list shows the depth behind them.

Is it free?

Yes. The Word files and the Google Docs copy are free to download, edit and use for any application. There is no signup and no email.

Will it read correctly in an applicant tracking system?

The layout is one column with standard headings and real text: no tables, text boxes, icons, columns or images, which are the parts parsers most often misread. Keep it that way as you edit.

Word or Google Docs?

Use whichever you edit in. The Word file opens in Microsoft Word, Pages and LibreOffice. The Google Docs link asks you to make a copy in your own Drive; the original stays blank for the next person. Send the posting the format it asks for, usually .docx or PDF.

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