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Tips and Guide to Law Resumes:

About this book

Looking for a law job? The first step in getting an interview and making the next big move in your legal career is writing a killer law resume. This guide brings you expert tips for writing that resume, provides a couple of law resume makeovers so you can see common mistakes, and provides more than 30 top sample resumes, organized by categories including law firm associate, in-house counsel, government, law student, alternative law career, and paralegal.

Read an excerpt from the Vault Guide to Law Resumes

Expert Resume Tips from Legal Recruiter Jessica Shevitz of Alan Roberts & Associates

Keep your resume to one page only! If you have publications and/or articles that you would like to highlight, then include them on a separate page entitled "Publications" and send it along with your resume and cover letter.

It's often a good idea to write a transaction or deal sheet list. This conveys specifics to those who need to know. It is important to recruiters and potential employers to see that you are aware of the world around you and not just "filing, drafting, preparing documents." The fact that you were drafting a memo for Client Company ABC means a lot more.
If you are an attorney looking for a law job, there is no need to list all of your jobs through your undergraduate program, even if they were somehow related to the law. "Researched statutes and cases having to do with start-up businesses to make sure my cousin's business was not breaking any rules"? Nope. Doesn't work.

If you're a new lawyer with little law firm experience, it's best to list your education first rather than your employment experience. Think about it this way - you spent three years toiling away in law school. Once you've got three years of work experience as a lawyer under your belt, you can put your experience first.

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