How to Write a Law/Legal CV (Template + Example)

Many of the legal professions are intensely competitive and to get into the best firm, company or programme, your law CV needs to be razor sharp and polished to perfection. But knowing how to write a legal CV that gets you interviews is only part of the challenge. Finding a good cultural fit is another.

You need a legal CV that’s beats competition and does a good job of describing you as a legal professional. In this article, you'll find a law CV example that's better than many others, and a legal CV template you can use for reference.

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We created the sample on the right using our builder. See other good CV examples like this one.

Need a different CV example? Check these guides:

• Accountant CV
• Account Manager CV
• Administrator CV
• CEO CV
• Consulting CV
• Data Analyst CV
• Finance CV
• Investment Banking CV
• Law Student CV 
• Office Manager CV
• Solicitor CV
• Paralegal CV

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Law CV example (Legal CV example)

Now you know what a perfect CV looks like. Here’s how to write your own CV, law or, if you prefer, legal.

1. Start your legal CV with a compelling personal statement

Trust and first impressions are very important in all forms of legal work. When sending out your law CV, your personal statement (also called a CV profile or CV summary) is where you’ll make that first impression.

A good personal statement for a legal CV will do three things well:

• Introduce you as a legal professional
• Show the employer what you have to offer
• Describe your goals, which just happen to fall in line with the employer’s.

You’ll have to write a new personal statement for each and every new job application. Luckily, there’s formula of sorts that you can use to make the process easier without compromising on the quality of your personal statement. Simply answer each of these questions using a total of only 3–4 sentences:

• What kind of legal professional are you and what’s your experience?
• What industries, specialisations or niches have you been working in?
• What’s your most impressive/relevant achievement?
• What’s your most unique achievement? (Optional)
• What are you hoping to be able to achieve in this job? (Always for the employer, not yourself).

Your answers to the above questions should take up a combined 50–150 words, no more.

Your application is likely to be processed by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) of one kind or another before a person lays eyes on it. Be sure to mention the firm or company to which you’re applying by name as well as the name of the position. Substitute synonyms to better mirror the keywords used in the advert.

Your personal statement will come first in your law CV but it’s best to leave writing it until last. You’ll be able to do a much better job of it once you’ve at least prepared all your job descriptions. So keep it in the back of your mind for now and be on the lookout for impressive achievements.

Legal CV template: personal statement example

A strong CV summary will convince the recruiter you’re the perfect candidate. Save time and choose a ready-made personal statement written by career experts and adjust it to your needs in the LiveCareer CV builder.

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2. Include relevant job descriptions in your law/legal CV

Writing a good law CV is not about making your duties seem as glamorous as possible but rather showing that you’re good at your job. A legal secretary or legal assistant can produce just as impressive a job description as someone with the letters QC after their name. It’s measurable outcomes that count.

Use a chronological format for your law CV. This means starting from your current or most recent job descriptions and working your way back from there. This is what employers are most used to seeing (and generally prefer to see) and it’s what’s more easily parsed by an ATS.

First, create a subheading for each job description using this template:

[Job Title]

[Company Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

Now fill each job description with up to six bullet points. Don’t just list your responsibilities, instead focus on your achievements. An achievement boils down to a description of an action you took at work and the benefits that your action brought to your employer.

Use accomplishment statements to help structure your bullet points. Try to quantify each and every benefit that flowed from your actions. If you can’t do this for a particular achievement, then at least quantify the scale of your achievements, e.g. ‘drafted over 50 reports’ reads a lot better than ‘drafted reports’.

If you’re writing a legal CV with no experience, then follow the above method, but focus on any internships, placement work, and volunteer work you’ve done. If you have no experience at all and preparing your first CV, then consider a student CV instead.

Law CV example: job description

3. Make sure your legal CV has a clear & concise education section

Many legal professions out there, if not all can be entered into without a law degree (or indeed any university degree)—and this includes the roles of solicitor and barrister. That’s not to say that qualifications don’t matter, of course. So set your law CV education section out clearly and concisely.

Stay with a reverse-chronological order, so that your highest achieved qualifications will naturally come first. Include your GDL, BPTC (bar course) and/or LPC here, since they are all indispensable to your practising law. Use the following legal CV template for both university degrees and these other qualifications:

[Degree Type] [Degree Name](Degree Class), [Years Attended]

[Institution Name], [Institution Location]

If you’re still studying, then include an expected graduation date. If you don’t have a university degree, then use the following templates to detail your high school education:

A-levels: [Subject Name 1], [Subject Name 2], [Subject Name 3]

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

[n] GCSEs (including Mathematics and English)

[School Name], [School Location], [Years Attended]

where n is the number of GCSEs you completed.

If you’re writing a legal CV in pursuit of a training or pupillage contract and don’t have much experience yet, then position this section above your work experience section. You may also want to add bullet points here to highlight your achievements, extracurricular activities or areas of excellence while studying.

Legal CV template: education section example

4. Showcase your legal skills in your law CV

Your achievements will certainly point to a great number of your legal skills, but it’s a good idea to list some of your key skills explicitly. Anyone in the legal profession can come up with a plausible and impressive set of legal skills, though. That’s why you’re going to do something a little different.

Start by opening a new document and listing all the law-related skills you can think of (hard and communication skills). Once you’ve done that, go back and add a sentence to each skill that shows how you’ve demonstrated that skill in a professional context. Any skills for which you can’t do this get removed from your list.

What you’ve just created is a master list of legal skills that you can draw upon in future applications. Go back to your CV and copy 5–10 of your law skills across to your legal CV, being sure to at least cover the ones mentioned in the job advert. Finally, master your keywords to match those in the advert.

Law CV template: skills example

5. Exploit the use of additional sections in your legal CV

Given that corporate culture varies so significantly between law firms as well as the companies that hire legal professionals, it’s important to do everything possible to find a good fit from the outset. Make use of extra sections in your CV to paint a fuller portrait of yourself as a legal professional.

You can add sections that list your additional (non-work but still relevant) achievements, awards you’ve won, languages you speak, even your hobbies and interests. Additional sections can enhance the quality of your CV.

Just keep it professional and relevant to the job at hand and you can’t go wrong.

Legal CV template: extra sections

6. Include a cover letter with your legal CV

You wouldn’t arbitrarily skip certain elements when preparing an evidence bundle, it’s no different when it comes to accompanying your law CV with a legal cover letter. Cover letters may be going out of vogue in general, but they remain relevant in the legal professions like almost nowhere else.

Follow the standard UK business letter format, being sure to properly set out each of its elements:

• Header
• Salutation
• Body
• Sign-off.

It’s best to write the body of your law cover letter in three parts:

• A strong, attention-grabbing opening (60–80 words)
• An impressive showcase your legal achievements (120–200 words)
• A neat wrap-up and confident CTA (40–60 words).

This will leave you with a legal cover letter that’s no more than a single A4 page long. You should always include a cover letter unless you’ve explicitly been asked not to. The good news is that you’ll be halfway there once you have your law CV job descriptions prepared.

7. Final considerations before sending your legal CV over

Here’s what CV formatting rules should remember about when writing you law CV:

Proofreading

One wrong or misspelt word and the effects of an entire contract or opinion could change. The consequences of a misstep won’t be so dire when it comes to your law CV, but missing out on your dream job because of a typo is nothing to sneeze at either. Proofread your CV and cover letter with the utmost of care, even when writing a CV with AI CV builder's help.

Layout, formatting and file format

Your tolerance for dense blocks of unending text may be higher than the average person’s—make your law CV as reader-friendly as possible by following these CV layout guidelines:

• Leave your contact details near the top of your CV. No need to add your home address to a CV.
• Use subheadings and a lot of white space to clearly break your CV down into sections.
• Choose an appropriate CV font and keep the size at 10–12 points (preferably 11–12 points).
• Keep to a one-page maximum if you have fewer than 20 years’ experience and two pages maximum if you have 20 or more years of experience.
• View free CV templates & best CV templates to pick the one that suits you best. For a legal CV, choose a straightforward layout with modern style elements.
• Attach your CV as a PDF file unless explicitly requested otherwise. This ensures that your CV maintains its formatting and appearance, preserving its professional look.

Last but not least, consider adding your CV to LinkedIn for better exposure to employers.

Following up

One final piece of advice: follow up if you haven’t heard back after a week. A quick phone call or email is a simple gesture that sends all the right messages. Of course, don’t do this if the advert has made it clear that no news is not good news.

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

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I hope this article has left your legal CV questions answered. If there’s anything you’d like more information on, then please comment down below. We’d love to read your questions, comments, feedback and any experiences you have to share.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.