how to make a resume for law school

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Law School resume examples & templates

What good does a law school resume do?

Your job resume won’t cut it., what are law schools looking for, making long stories short, resume header, community involvement example in a law school resume.

What does a law school resume have in common with a job application resume? Other than their persuasive purpose, only a partial resemblance exists. The differences are important to understand, which is how this writing guide for prospective law students can help. It’s supported by an example of what admissions officers typically look for in a law school resume. 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What law students do, and how a successful law school resume demonstrates their fitness for this competitive field of study and practice
• How to write a law school resume — the fundamentals, framework and format
• Optimizing each resume section: header, education, experience, skills and more
• Getting every visual detail right

In addition to more than 350 occupation-specific resume examples with writing guides, Resume.io offers tips and tools for virtually everyone on the career continuum, from students to retirees.

What do law students do?

From court case research and brief preparation to contract analysis and mock trials, law students dive deeply immersed in the core legal knowledge and abilities they’ll need as practicing lawyers. 

It’s a career choice that’s already tested their competitive mettle in the law school application phase. Crossing that admissions hurdle foretells the kind of high-stakes job wins that could lie ahead. 

Of course, it takes more than an outstanding resume to get into law school. It’s not meant to be the sole law school application document, nor to replace any other. Some law schools don’t ask applicants for a resume, or it may be optional. 

But experts agree that the only valid reason not to submit a resume is if you are told not to. Otherwise, it’s a self-marketing opportunity no one should miss.

As encouraged by LSAT Engine , an online tutoring resource for law school hopefuls, a resume ideally portrays you as a well-rounded and involved member of your community. This can be beneficial when the admissions team is looking for reasons to accept, waitlist, or deny someone.

Gabriel Kuris, founder of Top Law Coach, provides this usnews.com perspective : “A good resume for law school should clarify the skills and experience you bring from work, school and other activities. It won't paint a full picture of who you are, but it should provide a frame for the admissions committees to understand the rest of the application.”

According to LawSchoolNumbers.com, an open-source database for law school applicants, resumes can have make-or-break importance . “The ideal situation is that an admissions officer comes away from your resume thinking that they would like to meet you, or read your personal statement.”

There’s no way to predict how much time or attention your law school resume will receive. But think about the edge-winning advantage you could gain over other applicants with underwhelming resumes, or none at all —  even GPA and LSAT rock stars. This incentive should not be taken lightly, so your law school resume should not be given short shrift.

Before getting started, here are some things to keep in mind. Relevance is relevant in each instance.

Remember — you’re not applying for a job; you’re seeking career entry. The resume you need is decidedly different, if not entirely rebuilt. 

Resumes from previous job or internship applications are a good starting point, however. They help jog your memory and flag information you could fine-tune for a law school. 

Job 1 is for you to find out and pay attention. Scrutinize the target law school’s application requirements, specifically resume guidelines.

What exactly do admissions officers want and expect? They might even ask you to exclude some resume content, or organize and label it a certain way. And be mindful of any resume length indications.

That brings us to the jury still being out on whether the standard one-page limit applies to law school resumes. Resume.io isn’t alone in advocating this restriction for all job resumes, with rare exceptions. For law school resumes, we also think a single page is best, and likely achievable for the vast majority of applicants. 

Having said that, we realize some law schools have no objection to resumes being two pages or even longer. Again — check the application guidelines.

Selective and specific As long as you’re satisfying the law school’s explicit requirements, here’s why a one-pager could be advantageous to demonstrate your worthiness as a lawyer-to-be:

• Being able to write concisely and precisely is essential for lawyers.
• It also reflects their ability to make relevance-based judgment calls by being selective and specific.

Consider the other elements in your law school application package — notably the separate requirement for a personal statement. 

Wait, what? Isn’t that supposed to be part of your resume — the top section, known as a summary , profile or personal statement? Yes, absolutely when you’re applying for a job. It’s a synopsis of who you are and why you’re the best hire. 

Law schools are also keen to know the person behind your resume — so much so that they request a companion document for that purpose. In essay format, this personal statement gives admissions officers a deeper, introspective insight into why you and law school are a good fit at this time in your life. Your resume should be compatible, consistent and complementary alongside the personal statement, but not redundant.

One less resume task With the provision a long-form personal statement — usually two pages — comes a free pass to exclude the summary altogether in your law school resume.

That’s right … more space for other crucial content!

How to write a law school resume

Let’s get down to basics, with an outline of essential law school resume sections:

Consider this the barebones framework of components. What the second and third sections include depends on individual circumstances. At least one activity-related section may follow, plus additional content deemed relevant. We’ll take a closer look later.

For more ideas, check out these resume examples and writing guides for other legal occupations: lawyer resume sample, attorney resume example, legal assistant resume sample, paralegal resume example, claims adjuster resume sample, immigration lawyer resume sample and legal resume sample.

Choosing the best resume format for law school

Within each section of your law school resume, bullet point listings should appear in reverse chronological order — from most recent to earliest dates. This is consistent with the most commonly used resume format for job seekers.

Otherwise, there’s one significant difference in the way law school resumes are organized: education comes ahead of experience, instead of vice versa in a job application resume.

For the same reasons we emphasize the importance of a distinctive header on job application resumes, law school applicants should not overlook this design detail. It makes your contact information prominent and accessible: name, phone, email and perhaps your LinkedIn profile URL.

Law school resume education example

This first-and-foremost section of a law school resume is usually more detailed than its education counterpart in a job resume. Starting with your most recent degree or certification , list them all in order from highest to lowest level.

Impressive GPAs belong here, along with cum laude distinctions and academic awards. Major and minor subjects might be worth mentioning too, and even coursework or thesis titles if they reflect pertinent expertise and interests.

High school information should be omitted. Below is the education section from a law school resume example.

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY September  2017 - May 2021 

• Magna cum laude.
• President of the Philosophy Club.

Experience sample for law school resume

Often entitled “professional experience,” this part of your law school resume resembles the employment history section that would come first on a job application resume. Besides any work experience you’ve acquired —  whether in an established career or part-time jobs paying your way through school — be sure to include internships. 

Again, in reverse chronological order of dates for each employer, compose three to five bullet points describing your experiences. 

Use action verbs that speak to what you did, learned and accomplished ; avoid rattling off “responsible for” duty lists. And be selective — don’t bore admissions officers with a kitchen sink collection of all your previous jobs. Unless it’s relevant, skip it.

Facts and figures count

Just as we always advise job seekers in every resume writing guide, law school applicants should pinpoint aspects of their experience in measurable terms if possible. 

Peg Cheng, Prelaw Guru founder, shares this resume writing tip from the PowerScore Law School Admissions Guide : “You should list the number of hours worked per week for all jobs and activities. It helps the admissions committee gain a better understanding of the scope of work and activities you’ve been involved in.”

Depending on the nature and scope of your professional experience — especially if scanty — you might also want to highlight volunteer or community service work here instead of in a subsequent activities section.

These law school resume samples for employment history and internships can be modified.

Student Research Assistant at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY  September 2019 - May 2020 

• Served as an effective student research assistant on the project: Social Analysis of Technological Human Interactions.
• Coordinated the collection of data and ensured its reliability.
• Administered strategies essential to the successful management of the research project.

Teaching Assistant at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie  September 2020 - April 2021 

• Worked closely with Professor Timothy Jones to develop learning materials for courses.
• Instructed a weekly class on Introductory Logic.
• Hosted office hours two afternoons per week to provide students with additional support and guidance.

Volunteer and community service service roles are sure to put law school applicants in a favorable light. As noted above, these bullet points could be incorporated into your resume’s experience or activities section, depending on how extensive and relevant.  In our law school resume example below, community involvement is highlighted on its own.

Cultural Center Volunteer, Poughkeepsie October  2019 - May 2021 

• Worked to enhance the center's multi-cultural program offerings, workshops, and events.
• Assisted with the planning for performances and exhibits.
• Wrote and submitted several articles to local news outlets regarding the latest events and programs open to the public.

CV skills example

Even if various skills applicable to your future law career are reflected elsewhere in your CV — which they should be if those sections are written effectively — creating a separate skills list adds prominence. 

The National Association of Colleges and Employers has identified the seven most relevant transferable skills for law students as the ability to: 

• Communicate with people inside and outside an organization
• Work in a team structure
• Make decisions and solve problems
• Plan, organize, and prioritize work
• Obtain and process information
• Create and/or edit written reports
• influence others

Check out a law school CV sample for the skills section below.

• Oral Communications and Listening
• Abilities Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Knowledge of Legal Terminology
• Adaptability
• Highly Organized

Other possible law school resume sections

Other potentially relevant information for a law school resume appears below. How it’s organized depends on the best fit — either in separate dedicated sections or under education, experience or activities subtitles.

• Extracurricular activities
• Affiliations
• Awards and honors*
• Leadership positions
• Publications
• Interests and hobbies

 * Below is an “achievements” example for a law school resume — an alternative to placing in the education section.

National Honor Society  2018 - 2021

Resume layout and design

Looking the part of a legal professional is imperative for a law school resume document. Readability is conveyed in an arms-length appearance of being immaculate, uncluttered and orderly.

Closer inspection reveals carefully thought-out layout and design details. One section flows logically into the next, offset by proportional amounts of white space in the margins and between lines. Fonts are carefully chosen to optimize body text legibility and bold impact in headings. Graphic touches are minimal. 

Aspiring lawyers could never go wrong using a resume template from Resume.io’s extensive collection — perhaps in our professional design category. Click to download your choice, then incorporate your own replacement text using the builder tool.

Key takeaways

• Law school applicants should always submit a resume unless they are told not to.
• A hallmark of law school resumes is the academic emphasis, with a more detailed education section preceding work experience.
• Relevance should determine what your resume includes and how it’s organized. Also be mindful of the law school’s application requirements and instructions.
• Apply the highest standards for professional appearance in your resume layout and design choices.

Beautiful ready-to-use resume templates

Application Toolkit: Resume

On this webpage, you will find our advice and guidance for approaching the resume component of the application., instructions.

We require a resume as part of the application. Please limit your resume to 1 – 2 pages in length.

The following links are sample resumes from successful applicants in prior years. You do not have to follow the formatting used in these resumes, but all three are examples of well-organized, easy-to-read drafts.

Application Insights: Resume

• View All Application Insight Videos

Blog Advice

• Visit the Admissions Blog
• View All Resume Blog Posts

Overrated/Underrated Part 3

Continuing our Overrated/Underrated series, this week, we shift our focus to highlight some of the overrated approaches that we recommend applicants avoid as they craft their applications. 

November 17, 2021

Overrated/Underrated Part 2

This week, we continue our Underrated Approaches to the Application series with some additional advice.

October 21, 2021

Overrated/Underrated Part 1

The J.D. Admissions team recently came together to offer their thoughts on some underrated and overrated approaches that applicants might take towards their HLS application. We hope you’ll find some of these nuggets useful.

September 9, 2021

Real Talk: The Resume

This week’s entry in the Real Talk series covers the resume. 

August 25, 2020

Podcast Advice

Navigating law school admissions with miriam & kristi.

Miriam Ingber (Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale Law School) and Kristi Jobson (Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School) provide candid, accurate, and straightforward advice about law school admissions — direct from the source. They will be joined by guest stars from other law schools to discuss application timing, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and more.

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Our Resume Workshop provides applicants with straightforward advice on how to craft their resumes with a reflective activity and guiding questions to consider.

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Law School Application Resume Examples and Templates for 2024

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How To Write a Law School Application Resume

• Entry-Level
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Law School Application Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples

Mark Watney (384) 492-4029 [email protected] 812 Ridge Avenue, Mars, PA 14052

Recent college graduate with high academic honors and strong legal internship experience.

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Sociology, Pre-Law Concentration, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA | 2022

• 3.8 GPA | magna cum laude
• Honors Thesis: “Environmental Considerations of Transnational Corporate Law”

Co-Curricular Activities

Pre-Law Club | 2018 to 2022

• Vice President (2021 to 2022)
• Member (2018 to 2022)

Writer / Assistant Editor, The Legal Brief | 2020 to 2022

[Monthly newsletter produced by the CMU Pre-Law Department for students, faculty, and staff.] 

Volunteer, Pre-Law Department Job Fair | 2019 to 2022

Work Experience

Legal Intern, Roth, Mayhern & Associates, Pittsburgh, PA | January 2022 to May 2022

[Small firm focused on international law.]

• Reviewed discovery documents for principal lawyers
• Attended and observed court sessions with firm’s head litigator
• Researched and wrote a well-received court memorandum on environmental violation case
• Helped research and write 3 finding summaries

Office Assistant, Bertolli & Mathers, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA | January 2019 to December 2021

[Large corporate law office.]

• Filed documents and correspondence for past and current cases in the firm’s law library
• Assisted front desk staff with clerical duties such as copying, answering email queries, and directing phone calls
• Legal Research & Analysis
• Task Prioritization
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Time Management
• Writing, Editing & Proofreading

Mary Russell (203) 384-0394 [email protected] 221 Baker Street, San Francisco, CA 10394

Paralegal with 8+ years of experience. Well-versed in legal terminology, with broad knowledge of procedures of law and court practices.

Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA | 2017 | 3.7 GPA

• Coursework included American Foreign Policy; American Political Processes; International Relations; Legal Frameworks for Change

Associate Degree in Paralegal Studies, Bryant & Stratton College, San Francisco, CA | 2014 | 3.6 GPA

• Coursework included Civil Litigation; Contract Law; Criminal Law & Procedures; Law Office Management & Technology; Legal Research & Writing

Paralegal CORE Competency Exam (PCCE) Certification, National Federation of Paralegal Associations | 2019

Professional Experience

Paralegal, Cohen & Sons LLC, San Francisco, CA | September 2016 to Present

• Draft various legal materials including client letters, pleadings, and memoranda
• Read, analyze, and interpret legal documents, case law, and statutory law
• Conduct legal research, gather data, and prepare reports for use in presentations and court
• Attend court hearings, and assist the firm’s principals as needed during trials

Paralegal, Miltock & Benson, Inc., San Francisco, CA | June 2014 to September 2016

• Researched, analyzed, and summarized past cases related to corporate and business law
• Maintained calendar and other confidential materials for senior partner
• Collaborated with business office manager to process and maintain billing and accounts receivable
• Helped draft and file legal documents and correspondence in support of upcoming cases
• Reported directly to firm’s senior partner
• Legal Documentation
• Public Speaking & Presentations
• Writing & Proofreading

Alona Twelvetrees (584) 394-3029 [email protected] Helena, MT 10928

Administrator with 13+ years of experience in Montana state government. Passionate about upholding the sovereignty and legal rights of Native Americans. Naturally curious and committed to learning new legal topics and concepts.

Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs, Montana State Capitol, Helena, MT | October 2009 to Present

Assistant to the Director (September 2015 to Present)

• Promoted to serve as liaison between state and tribal governments, attending and speaking at meetings for both
• Research and write white papers, reports, memoranda, and more on issues of Native American sovereignty and legal rights to be presented to the governor and other state officials
• Work with director and other state officials to resolve individual complaints and legal issues faced by tribes
• Seek consensus among tribes, and work toward including their shared goals in state initiatives

Office Manager (October 2009 to September 2015)

• Public-facing role focused on addressing all in-person visitors’ questions and concerns
• Handled phone queries and mail correspondence including letters from constituents
• Helped director troubleshoot and resolve issues consistently and fairly
• Proposed system improvements that raised filing efficiency by 50%

Associate Degree in Criminal Justice, Legal Studies, Blackfeet Community College, Browning, MT | 2009

• 3.6 GPA | cum laude
• Coursework included Federal Indian Policy & Government; Legal Research & Writing; Tribal Criminal Law & Procedure
• Completed office management internship at Blackfeet Tribal Government Headquarters (Browning, MT)

Writing a law school application resume is similar to writing a resume for a job. Start by determining key characteristics the law school might be looking for in students. Look at your own experience and accomplishments, and present those facts in a way that aligns with the law school’s focus or mission.

This guide provides actionable advice about creating professional experience and education sections. It also discusses the type of format and template you might want to use and what skills and action verbs might be relevant.

1. Write a dynamic profile summarizing your law school application qualifications

Your profile section may be your first introduction to an admissions officer or panel. This short blurb — keep it to four or fewer sentences — can serve a few purposes. It should highlight some of your best qualities or most impressive achievements, teasing them to persuade someone to read more of your resume or application.

Your profile can also express enthusiasm for a specific law school and hint at your reasons for wanting to attend. However, it should still be professional.

Profile Example #1

Profile example #2, 2. outline your law school application experience in a compelling list.

Focus on results and value in this section rather than simple lists of job duties or extracurricular activities. Use bullet points, action verbs, and actual measurements to create a story about why you’re an ideal candidate for a law school.

For example, you might write that you “contributed to research for dozens of legal briefs as an intern” or that you “suggested an updated filing process that reduced file room man-hours by 10%.”

Mine your volunteer, academic, and professional work for information for this section.

Professional Experience Example #1

Legal Intern,  Roth, Mayhern & Associates,  Pittsburgh, PA | January 2022 to May 2022

Professional Experience Example #2

Paralegal,  Cohen & Sons LLC,  San Francisco, CA | September 2016 to Present

3. List any education and certifications relevant to law school applications

Education credentials enhance your value as an applicant and demonstrate you have the qualifications and experience to succeed in law school. Because law schools require previous degrees, ensure your education is clearly spelled out on your resume. Find easy templates for including your degree below.

Certifications are less common for law school applicants. However, if you’re making a career change and entering law school after working in another field, your certifications might help demonstrate your work ethic, leadership capability, or other traits. For example, a project management certificate positions you as an applicant who can multitask, problem-solve, and plan for large efforts.

• [Degree Name]
• [School Name], [City, State Abbreviation] | [Graduation Year]
• Bachelor of Science in Sociology
• Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA | 2022

Certifications

• [Certification Name], [Awarding Organization], [Completion Year]
• NALS Certified Professional Paralegal, The Associated for Legal Professionals, 2020

4. Include a list of skills and proficiencies related to law school applications

Adding relevant skills to your resume helps flesh it out and create a more impressive overall document. Pick some of your most impressive skills to list in their own section, especially if you can back them up with more information in your cover letter.

Also, work key skills into your profile summary and professional experience section. Think about how you can combine skills with accomplishments, such as “developed leadership experience as law club president” or “conducted research projects on various legal topics, including personal injury, criminal law, and labor laws.”

How To Pick the Best Law School Application Resume Template

It might be tempting to up the ante on your resume’s wow factor with unique design elements or an eye-catching font. However, these additions tend to make resumes harder to read. Instead, look for a template that presents a clean, professional design. Simple fonts and well-aligned resume components will please most admissions panels more than distracting visual flourishes.

Find a template that offers room for academic achievements and provides creative freedom in completing various sections. This makes it easier to add volunteer work and extracurriculars to your resume, if relevant.

Frequently Asked Questions: Law School Application Resume Examples and Advice

What are common action verbs for law school application resumes -.

Law schools know you’re attending to learn, but when you can position yourself as an active candidate who provides value to others, you may impress admissions panels. Including action verbs on your resume helps you create a more dynamic narrative about your accomplishments and experience, which can set you apart from other applicants.

The right action verbs also make your resume easier to read and scan, ensuring admissions professionals can get right to the important elements of your application.

Some action verbs to consider using on your resume include:

How do you align your resume with a potential law school? -

When sending resumes with law school applications, do a little homework to ensure your document makes the grade. Read through the law school’s brochure or website to understand what type of student tends to succeed there. Look for terms that are repeated or seem important to the faculty or school, and consider how you might work those terms into your resume naturally.

The job market for attorneys is expected to grow by 8% through 2032, a pace that’s faster than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Aligning your resume with a potential law school’s needs or mission is a small step toward joining the ranks of lawyers in the future.

What is the best law school application resume format? -

For potential law school students, the combination resume format is a good choice. This format provides plenty of room for work experience as well as skills lists. It creates a well-rounded document that captures your knowledge and the effort you put in to build it.

A combination format also leaves room for creatively capturing accomplishments. For example, you may want to include specific coursework or academic achievements, volunteer work, or experience unique to a student, such as work-study efforts.

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A cover letter allows you to show enthusiasm and passion for the next step in your career. You can use our lawyer resume cover letter examples as a guide for how to write and format this letter. Be personable but also concise and professional. In a few paragraphs, tell the admissions office or other relevant personnel why you’re a great option for their school.

Jacob Meade

Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW, ACRW)

Jacob Meade is a resume writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience. His writing method centers on understanding and then expressing each person’s unique work history and strengths toward their career goal. Jacob has enjoyed working with jobseekers of all ages and career levels, finding that a clear and focused resume can help people from any walk of life. He is an Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) with the Resume Writing Academy, and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches.

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Law school resume tips + examples: ace your application.

Reviewed by:

David Merson

Former Head of Pre-Law Office, Northeastern University, & Admissions Officer, Brown University

Reviewed: 10/25/23

Whether you already have a resume or are starting from scratch, read on to learn law school resume tips to stand out in the admissions process. 

A law school resume summarizes your achievements, qualifications, and experiences. Your resume and cover letter can tell admissions officers much about you and your law school preparedness. We’ll outline tips for your law school resume so it’s refined and ready for submission. 

Law School Resume Format 

On your law school application , it’s best to keep the format of your law school resume simple (even if you have a penchant for graphic design). You should avoid using: 

• Distracting colors 
• Graphics, such as “skill graphs” or progress bars 
• Any other multimedia elements 

Your resume should be one to two pages long using a standard, legible font size. Stick to Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, or another similar font, and don’t use a size smaller than 11 points. 

If you need support with your essay, law school admissions consulting can make the process easier.

What Should Go on Your Law School Resume

Putting together a law application resume can be daunting. Applying to law school is already a big task as there are many elements to consider, like personal statements and recommendation letters. 

To help you get a leg up, it’s a good idea to look at some examples of what other law school application resumes include, as well as to pay attention to what admissions counselors have to say. 

UPenn states , “Law school admissions committees are very interested in how you spend your time and energy outside of class, so it is essential that you create a strong, accurate, and flattering portrayal of yourself on your resume.” It’s crucial to summarize your experiences and candidacy succinctly. 

That being said, you have some freedom regarding what goes on your law school resume to complement its core elements. Standard sections you should include in every law school application resume include:

Source : US News

These are the main sections that every law school application resume should have. If you haven’t done much volunteer work or participated in many activities since high school, the University of Wisconsin–Madison suggests weaving any activities into your resume’s education section. 

While these are the standard pieces that every law school resume should include, you can choose to add other sections if they’ll add something new and fresh to your application: 

• Honors/Awards : If you have a laundry list of honors/awards, consider putting them into their own section. Otherwise, it’s okay to put them in your education section. 
• Research : If you have one or more research-related experiences, it may be worth adding a section to your resume. This can include a capstone project or thesis that would otherwise go in your education section, significant work in a study, or publications. 
• Skills/Interests : This section is a great way to showcase information about you that didn’t fit into your resume anywhere else. Whether you’re bilingual, an expert coder, or decorate cakes in your spare time, you can add another layer to your individuality. 

You can add whatever sections you want that best reflect your candidacy, qualities, and experiences so far. You can also rename/alter these sections as you see fit. 

Alyson Suter Alber , Associate Dean for Enrollment Planning and Strategic Initiatives at Case Western Reserve School of Law, said, “In the admissions process we are looking for experiences and activities that showcase skills an applicant will need in law school such as research, writing and analytical thinking.” 

So, highlight activities that emphasize these skills on your resume! That way, you can show admissions committees that you’re a worthy law school candidate. Take a look at some examples of law resumes down below to see how they’ve done it. 

9 Law School Resume Tips

If you’re wondering how to improve your resume for law school, look no further than these nine expert tips. 

1. Remember the Resume’s Purpose 

The first law school resume tip is crucial to follow: remember its purpose. When you formulate a resume to find work, you may write an objective at the top expressing your goals. You don’t need to include this element in a law school application resume. 

In the words of Quinnipiac University Law , “Objectives are not necessary, and sometimes highlight your desire to do something other than attend law school.” You don’t want to take the focus off your resume’s ultimate goal: helping you get accepted to your dream law school. 

To that end, you won’t include any references either. Your recommendation letters serve as the “reference” portion of your application. 

2. Be Honest 

While this sounds obvious, applicants tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves when they write law school application resumes. For example, don’t stretch the time frames of your commitments to make it look like you spent more time on your activities than you did. If you’re taking a gap year before law school , don’t try and fudge the numbers. 

Remember, integrity is a quality found in great lawyers; you don’t want to potentially get caught in an inconsistency during the application process or law school interview because you wanted to make something sound more impressive. You can always add an addendum to your application to explain something unsightly on your resume. 

Also, it’s okay if you don’t have much experience with legal work. Admissions committees don’t expect you to have a mountain of experience as a law school applicant. 

3. Keep Your Writing Simple 

Your law school resume should be two pages at maximum. You need to write concisely if you have a lot of ground to cover to effectively summarize your experiences. Don’t use long, elaborate sentences or pull words from a thesaurus. 

Writing plainly includes limiting industry jargon. While admissions committee members may understand what you’re writing about, you want to write in a way that someone from any field would understand your resume. For example: 

“Aggregated with clients in order to contrive understanding and transferable knowledge and solutions for exponential economic growth.” 

This sentence is unclear and unnecessarily wordy. A better sentence would read: “Met with clients to share information to increase profits.” This sentence is much clearer, and your reader doesn’t have to do mental backflips to understand you. 

4. Use Bullet Points 

Bullet points underneath major experiences/subheadings communicate a lot of information in less space. You can make your points uniform and more impactful by: 

• Writing each one as a full sentence, with or without closing punctuation 
• Start your points with a verb in the past tense for past activities and present tense for current ones 
• Keep your points focused on a responsibility or task that emphasizes your role/qualities 
• Be detailed and share tangible results, how many times you performed a task, or the overall time commitment 
• Focus on tasks/skills that are transferable or related to law school 
• Limit bullet points under each item to three, if possible 

Ensure you watch your tenses while you write; it’s easy to slip up and use the wrong one. 

5. Don’t Omit Experiences Not Related to Law

Although you should focus on transferable skills and tasks related to law school, don’t omit any experiences that aren’t necessarily law-related. You don’t want to leave chronological gaps in your resume: that’s a red flag for admissions committees. 

UChicago Law states that your resume should absolutely not contain only legal experiences. The school states that it wants “to see all of your work experience and activities to gain a more holistic picture of you.” Avoid these gaps and be honest about your work experience. 

6. Emphasize Leadership Experiences 

Leadership experience and capability are what every law school seeks in applicants. If you have relevant leadership experiences in employment or activities, ensure they’re in your resume. 

7. Highlight Entries That Align With Your Mission 

You’ve likely discussed your professional and career goals in your application. Your resume can complement your other application materials and narratives. For example, if you want to teach law, don’t bury your experience as a teaching assistant or tutor. 

Think about your personal mission and which experiences have contributed to helping you get one step closer to reaching your goals. 

8. See If There Are Particular Instructions for Each School 

Some schools may or may not have law school resume instructions. You should always double-check the application requirements of the schools you want to apply to. For example, UChicago Law asks, “Please include the number of hours per week spent on each employment experience or activity.” 

While you may have thought to do this on your resume anyway, it’s important not to miss any elements schools ask for. 

9. Edit, Revise, Refine

You probably already have a resume you can work off of, but it’ll take a lot of editing and reconstructing to tailor it to your law school application. Even if you’re starting from scratch, ensure you edit your resume. 

Does everything you wrote make sense? Is your language clear and concise? Are there spelling or grammar mistakes? It’s okay if it takes a few drafts to get to the finished product. You want your law school resume to make a stellar impression, so give yourself enough time to revise and refine. 

5 Law School Resume Templates 

Sometimes, it’s helpful to look at examples of what other people have done to get inspired. Below, you’ll find some resume templates for your law school applications to help you get started. 

Law School Resume Example 1

It’s important to use strategic wording to get your point across. In the following example, the applicant reframed their extracurricular/volunteer work section to reference leadership and service. Your goal is to use the right language to accurately summarize your story in a way that reflects you best. 

Take a look at this sample law school resume provided by the University at Buffalo School of Law: 

Source : University at Buffalo School of Law

Law School Resume Example 2

Although this applicant has no work experience, they’ve still put together a solid resume emphasizing their scholastic achievements and involvement in academic leadership. The experiences they’ve chosen to include demonstrate many skills relevant to studying law! 

Source: UPenn

Law School Resume Example 3

Take a look at this resume from Yale Law School. This applicant was careful to focus on their work related to academics and scholastic experience. 

This is a great example of how you can pick and choose various work and volunteer activities to highlight the skills that law school admissions committees are looking for. 

Source: Yale Law School

Law School Resume Example 4

Here’s an example resume from a student who was accepted into Harvard Law. This resume emphasizes relevant skills like technical writing and marketing. The inclusion of the “Presentations” and “Affiliations” sections demonstrates the applicant’s interests in a unique and relevant way. 

Source: U.S. News  

Law School Resume Example

In this law application example, the applicant has focused on her accomplishments, both academic and work-related, and gives strong examples of where she demonstrated leadership skills. She also includes interesting personal information that could serve as a great conversation starter during an interview. 

Source: University at Buffalo School of Law  

Download free law school resume templates below.

Law School Resume FAQs 

Do you still have questions about building or improving your law school resume? Read on to learn more! 

1.  Do Law Schools Care About Your Resume? 

Law schools like to see your real-world work experience and academic qualifications. Although your resume may not be the focal point of your application, law schools will still read it. 

2. What Skills Should I Put on My Resume for Law School? 

You can put whatever skills or interests you think the admissions committee should know about that you haven’t already discussed. Think about the things that make you unique and jot them down before you decide which points should go on your resume. 

3. Should I Put My LSAT Score or GPA on My Resume? 

It depends on what the law school asks for, but you typically don’t have to. Law schools will see your LSAT scores and GPA through your CAS report. 

4. How Long Should My Law School Resume Be? 

Your resume should be one to two pages long and shouldn’t exceed this length. 

5. What Has to Go in My Law School Resume? 

All law school resumes should include your contact/personal information, education, work experience, and activities. If you haven’t participated in many activities, you can include them in your education section instead. 

Build the Perfect Law School Resume 

Building the perfect law school resume helps admissions committees easily digest your experiences and qualifications. Using these expert law school resume tips, you can craft a stellar, attention-grabbing resume. 

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7 Law School Resume Examples Winning The Job In 2024

Best for senior and mid-level candidates

There’s plenty of room in our elegant resume template to add your professional experience while impressing recruiters with a sleek design.

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Law School Resume

• Law School Application Resumes
• Law School Resume for Current Students
• Post-Law School Resumes

A career in law is both rewarding and intellectually challenging. Practicing law also offers a certain level of prestige and high earning potential.

Due to the diversity of legal practice areas, deciding what to include and omit when writing your law school resume may prove challenging. And if you’re recently out of law school, you’ll also have to write an  attorney cover letter .

We’ve reviewed numerous law school resumes to find what works and distilled what we learned into these seven law school examples.

Whether you’re applying for a full-time staff attorney role out of school, looking for your first internship, or anything in between,  these proven law school resume examples will help you get your next legal position in 2024 .

or download as PDF

Why this resume works

• Metrics don’t have to be complicated, nor do they have to be 100 percent perfect. Include rough estimates regarding how much you improved efficiency, how many cases you worked on, or how many issues you resolved. The numbers are there—all you need to do is find them.
• An objective is an optional section that describes your skills and enthusiasm for your future role. Always customize this section for each job you apply for by including the employer’s name and the role you’re seeking.

Law School Application Resume

• You’re far from being done. A winning strategy here is including one or two of your school projects that underscore your research and analytical skills and an understanding of the legal landscape.

Harvard Law School Resume

• Your interactions with clients that led to them deciding to use the services of the law firm would go a long way to pave your way to success.

Law School Student Resume

• Reverse-chronological order is simply putting your most recent experience first. Usually, this means employers will see your most relevant experience first.
• If the job you’ve most recently held isn’t related to the position you’re seeking, that’s okay! Simply highlight transferable skills (preferably any keywords listed in the  attorney job description ).
• Before hitting submit, always  check your resume  for errors and inaccuracies. Make sure you have one full page of content; don’t leave too much white space!

Law Student Resume

• Using a fun  resume template  can make your resume pretty and help you structure your content, keep it to a single page, and even make it easier to read. Plus, you can adjust the template as needed to suit your needs.
• In this section, focus on what you specifically contributed to the project. Were you the founder of a club? Did you lead any community initiatives? Whatever you contributed, show off your leadership abilities and unique skills.

Law Student Recruiting Manager Resume

• Numbers naturally break up the text and are easy to spot, keeping eyes on your resume longer.
• Section headers are an industry standard, but you can improve readability by putting them in bold and adding some color.
• Keep your bullet points short and sweet. Limit them to no more than three lines, and start each one with strong action verbs.

Post-law School Resume

• Only include six to eight skills you would be comfortable talking about in an interview. If you’re not experienced with a particular skill, leave it out.
• Better yet, include metrics like reduced client wait time, increased client numbers, or the number of cases you tackled to show you’ve got the right qualifications.

Related resume guides

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How to Write a Successful Law School Resume (+Examples)

How do you write a law school resume? 

That’s what you’ll learn today. After all, a law school resume is one of the most underestimated and underused aspects of law school applications. 

Want to learn more? Read on!

What is a law school resume? 

Your law school resume lists sections that cover your education, legal and other professional experience, and possibly categories including personal interests or community involvement. 

The length depends on your experience. But at the same time, the length of your law school resume hardly matters. 

What matters is how you  position  your resume. And that’s what you’ll learn today.

But first, let’s find out – is a law school resume the same thing as any other resume? 

How is a law school resume different from other resumes? 

Here’s the thing: 

Law school resumes differ from other resumes. Your audience isn’t an employer, but instead, you’re looking to persuade the admissions committee that  you  are the applicant they want. 

And law schools want to see a broader and more diverse array of experiences than a job would. 

So there’s a big difference between a law school resume and any other resume. 

But how important are law school resumes, really? Here’s what you need to know. 

Does a law school resume matter? 

When I send back a client’s resume with a million-one edits (only slightly exaggerating), I am often asked  “Does my resume matter for law school?”  

After all, you might already have talked about your activities and work experience in your essays. So then, what’s the point of the law school resume? Why do law schools still ask for one?

Your law school resume is your opportunity to share with law schools:

• How you have spent your time
• What your qualifications are
• What kind of interests you have developed

In my opinion, the law school resume is an underused asset.

As I said, it is an  opportunity . How you structure your resume, what you decide to include, and how you describe your activities and experiences, are all strategic decisions in crafting your own personal narrative.

A well-written resume will highlight the traits, experiences, and qualifications law schools are looking for—like: 

• Analytical and writing abilities 
• Community engagement
• Self-financing your education
• Athletic talents
• Cultural or volunteer activities
• Language proficiencies
• Juggling multiple responsibilities
• Creativity & innovation 

And by having a resume that highlights these aspects of you already, your personal statement can avoid the  biggest mistake of being just a glorified cover letter .

So yes, your resume does matter for law schools. 

Now that you know what a law school resume is and why you should focus on writing one that really stands out, let’s move on to  how  to write a winning resume. 

How do you make your law school resume stand out? 

Now you might be wondering: 

What should be on a law school resume? 

The simplest explanation is this: 

Your resume is often an undervalued strategic part of your application. How you frame your experiences and organize your resume  should go to the broader theme  that you’ve curated for your entire application. 

Your resume needs to be  unique to be an asset  – in fact, I spend a lot of time with my clients figuring out how to strategically frame their resumes. 

For instance, if a client wants to go into legal academia, we organize and describe their experiences to highlight the traits and skills they need for that job. 

Overall, your resume will generally contain some combination of these main headers, depending on your background:

• Professional Experience and/or Employment
• Community Engagement
• Publications
• Accomplishments
• Skills/Interests

Let’s look at each of these below. 

Before we dive into the individual law school resume elements, how long should your resume be? 

Your resume can be  one or two pages.  Law schools don’t really care about the length, as long as you’re not using a tiny font to keep it to a single page, or adding in unnecessary details to make it two pages. 

A two-page resume is not necessarily better than a one-page resume, and vice versa. 

Also, even if you are recently out of undergrad, if you have a lot of things to include, a two-page resume is fine. 

Similarly, on the flip side, if you’ve been at the same job for the past decade, just because you’ve been out of school for a while, doesn’t mean you have to have a two-page resume.

Next, let’s take a look at what to include under each header. Scroll down to see examples of resumes, but use these sections to fill out your own template. 

Unlike other fields or jobs, law schools (and law in general) care a lot about your education, so  put this section first. 

You should include all your  degree institutions  and  certificates , but you do not need to include things like every summer school you attended. 

If you transferred during undergrad, you would want to include both schools. You could include a study abroad institution either separately, or under your undergraduate institution.

You will include schools in  reverse chronological order , up until high school. Remember, law schools do not care about high school so don’t include it at all!

You can see how to format this via the samples law school resumes at the end of this post, but you’ll want this section to include the following information for each educational institution:

• Name of institution, city, state
• Official name of degree (B.A., B.S., M.S., etc.), date conferred or anticipated
• Major & minor
• GPA (only if near or above the law school’s median,  if you have a low GPA , don’t include)
• Honors (such as magna cum laude, thesis title, Dean’s list semesters, honor societies, scholarships/awards received)
• Activities (this is only if you have so many activities that you don’t have room in the body of your resume. You can include minor activities here that you devoted less time to).

Professional experience and/or employment 

What you include in this section will depend on your background.

If you apply straight from undergrad or within a few years of graduating: 

You can include any jobs or internships you’ve held during (and after) college. (Just not work experience from high school.)

Even if it was just waitressing or working at the local Target, law schools want to see how you spent your time. And they will applaud the fact that you worked while also managing your college courses. 

For work experience while in college, I always suggest including the number of hours you worked per week. You can see one of the samples at the end of this blog post on how to format it. But law schools really value this kind of work ethic and real-world experience.

If you apply after working for a while: 

You can leave some jobs out that don’t necessarily fit within your field. Though generally, you’ll still want to include most jobs in order to account for your time.

Consider creating two separate categories if your work experience seems to be all over the place. For instance, you could have all your internships under “Professional Experience” and your summer jobs working at Old Navy, or your during-college waitressing gig under “Other Employment” or something along those lines.

Similarly, if you’ve had more than one main career, divide up your headers by career topic, rather than strictly going in chronological order. So if you had a career as an educator and then shifted, you might write your headers as “Teaching Experience” and “Biotechnology Experience.”

How to describe your work experience

Even “unglamorous” jobs will boost your application. 

Law schools don’t only care about applicants with “professional” work experience or those with prestigious internships. Applicants who had to support themselves by working at the local coffee shop or scooping ice cream in the summer are seen as applicants who have grit and determination.

Admissions officers also focus mostly on  what  you did in your role. So don’t talk about the company selling billions of dollars in x widgets, but instead, how you managed an account of x clients by doing xyz. Get as specific as you can about the tasks you performed there.

Instead of saying something like “acquired the skills of managing and leading,” you want to show how you acquired those skills through action descriptors. So you would want to instead write, “Supervised two field canvassers across 20 districts.”

What to include 

Include the following information for this section:

• Employer name, job title, city, state, dates of employment.
• One to four bullets describing accomplishments and responsibilities. Start each bullet with an action word (e.g., led, supervised, coordinated, planned).
• If the purpose of the organization/company isn’t obvious to the admissions officer, explain it.
• If employment while also in school, include the number of hours worked per week.

Include your college and post-college extracurricular activities, and a description of your involvement and responsibilities for each. Do not include anything from high school (have I said this enough?!).

The point of this section is to demonstrate your interests and passions, and most importantly, to show that you had focus and commitment. If your level of involvement wasn’t enough to have much to say, then include it under your Education section as a single bullet. (See the sample law school resumes below). 

If you were only involved in an activity for a short period of time, you can help it not look like just a resume filler by describing how you participated extensively. You might say something about how you “attended weekly events” or “assisted in planning weekly events for fellow students.”

Community engagement 

You could also title this “Community Service,” or “Volunteer Work” whichever you think most applicable. This can include volunteer activities, involvement in religious organizations, fieldwork for elections, and so on. 

Your community engagement doesn’t have to be something official to be worth including on your resume. If you, on your own, volunteer at the local library every weekend, even if it’s not part of some organization, definitely include that!

If you’ve only volunteered for a single day, like Relay for Life, or if you’ve only done one or two community service events organized by your sports teams or your fraternity/sorority, don’t include that volunteer work as a separate section.

You can put that you did this under your Greek life description (if Greek life even merits its own entry in the body; often I tell clients to just put it under your Activities section as a single bullet). 

If you don’t have any volunteer work, don’t try to exaggerate something. It will only bring attention to the fact that you don’t have much volunteer experience. Let admissions officers instead focus on what you do have, not what you’re missing or what your weaknesses are.

Publications 

If you did research or wrote a paper that got published, where you were the author or a co-author, include the citation and if the title doesn’t make it obvious what it is about, include a single bullet briefly describing the project.

I’ve also had clients use this section to note podcasts they’ve won awards for, or significant speeches they’ve given.

If you have a series of publications, list them separately like you would on a CV, even if that means your resume has a third page.

Skills/interests 

Skills and interests typically go in a single section and include just one or two lines. 

For skills, you can include things like language fluency (and listing out your level of competency), musical abilities, computer languages, etc. Do not include things most other applicants will know how to do (e.g., word Office, social media, Adobe, etc.). 

For interests, make these very specific. Don’t just say general (cough, boring) interests like “reading, traveling, cooking.” What specific kind of books do you like to read? What things do you cook? 

Your interests should be ones that you consider significant, and it is ok to demonstrate that you have a specific religious or political affiliation. Think about things that make you unique, memorable, and likable, and include those.

What mistakes should you avoid when creating your law school resume? 

What are the top mistakes you should avoid on your resume? Let’s find out. 

First and foremost, your law school resume isn’t the same thing as a job resume, so skip: 

• An Objective
• Summary of Qualifications
• Relative Coursework 

Your resume also has to be readable. Don’t use a font size that’s smaller than 11 pt or make margins tiny. 

You can narrow margins  slightly , but only if you have to. Instead, try to be more concise in your descriptions.

Also, you don’t have to stick with a chronological order of your experiences or activities. You can be creative with how you group your different experiences. 

For instance, I had a client who had two very involved passion areas: education and gender violence. 

So instead of going in chronological order of when she did all the activities, we instead made two separate headers (“Education” and “Gender Violence”). Within each header, we then put her activities in chronological order. This showed her focus and well-built passion, instead of just making it look like she had scattered interests.

Language 

Don’t use jargon or acronyms (unless they’re obvious) when describing your roles and responsibilities. You want to make sure that no matter the background of the admissions officer, he/she knows what you’re talking about.

Also, don’t embellish your experiences. Any embellishment will set off an admission officer’s alarm bells and undermine your entire application. 

If you did something above and beyond, by all means, include it. But don’t try and make your filing work as a front desk associate sound like you were the one drafting the files.

A common mistake is to include high school activities and experiences. But law schools do not care about what you did in high school. You are applying for a professional degree now. They want to see you are mature and can thrive without the support of your parents or high school teachers. 

So unless you did something extremely out of the ordinary for your age in high school—like were in the Olympics at age 16 or part of a professional adult symphony, —leave off your high school experiences.

On that same note, don’t include skills every law school applicant will have. Every law school applicant can use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Every law school applicant can type. You don’t need to tell law schools you have these (or other similarly obvious) skills.

Now you know what to include and what not to include in your resume.

But what are some real-world examples of law school resumes? Here you go!

Law school resume examples

These law school resume examples are real examples of some of my clients’ resumes. 

Use what we talked about above to understand why they’re written and formatted the way they are.

   The college senior with a lot of experience

  The applicant with over a decade of professional experience

  The college senior with more minimal experience

Helpful resources

Finally, here are a few helpful resources – top law school resume pages: 

• University of Pennsylvania
• Harvard Law School
• Stanford University
• Yale Law School
• University of Chicago 

Over to you!

There you have it! Now you know how to create a law school resume. 

What it comes down to is using your resume as an opportunity to build on your application and stand out from the masses.

Want to get a curated strategy for getting into law school, even if you don’t have the perfect GPA, LSAT score, or resume? 

Read more about working with me here.  

Learn more: 

How to Write a Law School Personal Statement

How to Write a Diversity Statement for Law School

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How to Stand Out & Get Admitted to the Law School of Your Dreams

Resume Advice & Samples

Resume advice and samples.

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• Review your resume with a CDO counselor prior to applying to jobs. 
• Your resume is a sales tool, not an autobiography. When making decisions about what to include, consider recency and relevancy to the job for which you are applying.  
• Be prepared to discuss everything on your resume in an interview. 
• Be scrupulously honest. Exaggerations or misrepresentation will damage your reputation and professional relationships. 
• Make your resume visually clean and clear. What will an employer see in 30 seconds? 5 seconds? 
• Keep your resume to one page.
• Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Garamond.
• Select a font size of 11 point or 12 point.
• Create margins no smaller than .5 inches on all sides.
• Use bold, underlining, and italics consistently to enhance readability.
• Make deliberate style choices, then stick to them throughout.
• Ensure your resume is error free.
• Follow our advice, “ Resume Formatting: How to Use Tabs & Styles ” to give your resume a professional look.

Resume Construction

• Include your name, mailing address, cell number, and Yale email address.
• If you do not have a mailing address in New Haven, that is fine, as mailing addresses are becoming optional.
• Add your permanent mailing address to emphasize ties to that area when applying to positions nearby.
• List your gender pronouns if you wish.

Education Section

• List degrees in reverse chronological order.
• Include all courses of study: past, present, and future.
• List each educational institution, location, degree, and degree date (expected date if currently enrolled).
• Do not include high school or LSAT score.
• Think strategically about how much space you devote to each degree. What message are you sending to employers?
• Include at your option with a strategic mindset.
• YLS awards few Honors.
• Moot court/mock trial awards and paper prizes are Honors.
• List Yale Law Journal as an Honor, due to the competitive admission process. List other journals as Activities or create a separate Journal sub-section under Yale Law School.
• List those that are not based solely on financial need and are awarded through a competitive process.
• If space permits, provide a very brief description of the selection criteria.
• Examples: Tilman Scholarship; the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans; and the NAACP LDF Earl Warren Civil Rights Scholarship.
• List scholarship or fellowship awards that are associated with summer or post-graduate employment with the position in the Experience section.
• Do not list need-based scholarships and fellowships, including SPIF funding, summer Mary McCarthy funding, and Kirby Simon travel grants.
• List the following positions as Activities or in the Experience section: Coker Fellow, Research Assistant, Orientation Leader, Community Leader, Student Representative, Tsai Leadership Program Fellow, and CDO Student Advisor.
• Use this section to emphasize relevant skills and interests including research and writing skills, oral advocacy, teamwork, and leadership.
• Narrow the list, if necessary, by selecting only one of several activities that are of the same genre.
• If applying for public service positions, include as many of your service-related activities as space permits to demonstrate your commitment to service.
• Move particularly relevant, intensive, or skills-enhancing activities to the Experience section. Example: clinics.
• Be clear about the timing of future commitments, however, describing the exact timing of past activities is not strictly necessary.

Optional Sections

• Create a Select Courses sub-section to highlight courses that reflect your interest in a practice area.
• Tailor this section depending on your target employer(s).
• List courses you have already taken and courses you intend to take in the future (with a parenthetical indicating that the course is expected).  
• Create a Study Abroad sub-section in your undergraduate education listing.  
• Create a Thesis sub-section in your undergraduate education listing.
• Include especially if the topic relates to the law.

Experience Section

• List experiences in reverse chronological order.
• Include experiences to which you have committed, but not yet begun; describe using future-tense verbs.
• Dates can be general (e.g., Summer 20XX).
• Omit job titles if unimpressive or do not clarify your responsibilities, however, be consistent about including/excluding titles throughout.
• List experiences that demonstrate knowledge and skills in areas relevant to legal employers, especially research, writing, and analysis.
• Emphasize professional skills including organizational ability, leadership, initiative, creativity, communication skills, common sense, and intellectual ability.
• List both paid and unpaid experiences.
• Include work associated with a scholastic experience, including legal clinic experience, research for a professor, and extensive work for a student organization.
• Rewrite past descriptions written for different industries and audiences. Eliminate jargon and terminology unfamiliar to a general audience.
• Summarize smaller or less relevant positions to fill gaps. E.g., “Held various positions as salesclerk, server, and receptionist while in college.”
• Be prepared to discuss significant gaps at interviews.
• Think strategically about the amount of physical space devoted to each experience. More space = greater emphasis.
• Use action verbs and rich detail in descriptions. E.g., “researched and wrote memoranda on issues of jurisdiction and venue,” rather than “involved in assisting attorneys in the researching and writing of…”
• Languages: List if relevant and/or skill level is high. May be useful to delineate written vs. spoken proficiency. Be scrupulously honest regarding skill level.
• Think strategically about employers’ impressions. Publications show writing skills, but a long list of publications may signal interest in an academic career which may not be well received by non-academic employers.
• Consider selective list or summary if publication list is long.
• Use Bluebook citation format.
• Be clear about co-authored pieces.
• Interests: Include a few special interests that may be compelling and serve as icebreaker topics during an interview.
• Other skills: list only relevant skills, eliminating those which are universal (e.g., MS Word) or unrelated to legal employers’ needs (e.g., C++ programming).

Do Not Include

• Objective or introductory statements.
• Personal information (e.g., marital status, parental status).
• Salary requirements.
• “References available on request.”

Think Ahead to Your Next Resume

Develop your skills and knowledge through career-related experiences

• Summer employment
• Student organizations
• Research Assistant positions
• Leadership positions

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The journey to becoming an attorney at law is a long, tedious, and strenuous one. It involves years of secondary education, being near the top of your class, and extreme attention to detail. However, if a candidate wishes to practice law in the United States, they’ll have to create a law school  resume  which will help them gain entry to this specialty university.

Like any other resume, the quality of your law student resume can make the difference between being denied or gaining entry. While there are several similarities between a resume for law school and any other higher-level university, sometimes it’s a good idea to review legal resume examples before you get started.

If you are wondering how to write a resume for law school, this article is for you.

In the information below, we’ll show you a law student resume that was written by using a law school resume template. We will show you which sections you should include in this resume, how to format any resume for law school and some best practices for creating the content that will help you shine over the competition.

Example Law School Resume

Today’s top-tier law schools will only admit the cream of the crop. Candidates need to showcase exceptional educational credentials, a dedication to learning the US legal code, and the ability to multitask. These skills and attributes should be articulated on your entrance resume. You can review a great sample law school resume directly below to see how our candidate Candace accomplishes these objectives.

Download this resume example - Law school

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Candace’s law school application resume is clean, neat, well-structured, and easy to read. You can see that each section is formatted using the same font, is listed in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest format) and is grammatically accurate. She used a law school resume builder to format every section in a clean and easy-to-review manner. 

She has written an opening statement in the sample law student resume specifically to the school she is applying for, versus writing one, generic objective. The law graduate resume tells a story from start to finish, showing the admissions team why she is an exceptional candidate for their prestigious law school.

Let’s break down each section included in this resume for law school application in the information below.

Law School Resume Tips: How to Make a Resume for Law School in 2024

Most law school resume examples are written quite well. However, they lack practical tips that are specific to the type of resume - or give you structure on how to write that law school graduate resume. Like any other endeavor, writing a law school admissions resume is easier when you start with a plan of attack.

The organization is the key, which is possible when you start by creating a master resume. Essentially, a master resume is a working word document, that permits you to write details about each relevant section, edit the content, organize the layout and structure, and fine-tune the content.

So – let’s start writing your law school resume.

The first item for law school resumes writing checklists is to create one. While most law schools will communicate with you about their admission requirements, there are some important sections you’ll want to include in your resume.

• Contact Information
• College Education
• Professional Experience / Internships
• Community Involvement
• Personal Hobbies & Activities

1. List Your Contact Information

Consistency in writing a legal school resume starts by listing accurate and updated contact information. This will include your full legal name (that matches your application exactly), mailing address, email address, and a good contact phone number. We recommend listing your mobile phone, as several college admissions members will send text alerts to students to inform them of their application status.

When you utilize a law school resume template, inserting your contact information will be seamless and organized professionally.

You’ll notice that we don’t recommend inserting a resume objective. There is a reason for this. When you’re applying to a specialty, higher-level educational facility, candidates invited for an interview will be selected on their qualifications. Your opportunity to sell yourself to the school will be in person. So, don’t worry about writing a resume objective or personal statement for a law school admissions resume.

2. College Education for Law School Resume

For a law school application resume, the college education section is extremely important. In most job application resumes, listing the basics about your education is good enough – simply write the location, degree earned, GPA, and date of graduation. It's also advised to include your LSAT results when submitting a resume and application to the admissions committee.

When you’re applying to admissions officers from your law school, remember this key point - they're looking for relevant information. They've likely supplied you with the requirements, so make sure you follow their lead in the education section.

The legal school admissions staff needs to verify that you’ve taken the required courses that will prepare you for the specialty education of law school. As such, your law school resume format for this section should follow our sample resume to the “T”. There is no need to include your high school – just insert the relevant information required by your law school.

How to Format this Section

When it comes to your law school application resume format, here are some specifics.

• Start with your highest degree earned. (Bonus Tip* - If you’ve graduated with great distinction or at least the top 10 to 15 percent – and have earned Magna Cum Laude or Summa Cum Laude designation – a list that next to your degree, as we did in the sample resume above).
• List the location and date of graduation.
• List the awards earned.
• Showcase your affiliations. This would include honors society, Greek houses, or others.

3. Professional Experience for Law School Resume

Contrary to popular belief, the professional experience section within a law school resume template does not need to be filled with multiple law firm positions. Most law school admissions experts suggest that showcasing previous experience that focused on the candidate’s ability to articulate – both oral and written communication are just as crucial.

If you are creating a law student resume with no legal experience, focus on those jobs where you’ve showcased positive legal skills – such as written and oral communication. Work experience is important - but a law school wants to see relevant professional experience. While listing applicable legal experience is crucial – it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have that professional experience.

When you review Candace’s law student resume to Harvard Law School, you’ll notice that she focuses on two jobs – one was her law clerk position, the other is as a professional writer of online content. Within each job listing, she provides the name of the employer, dates of employment, and then bullet points of her key tasks.

The bullet points in law school application resumes will extrapolate on critical skills that are vital for an attorney at law. Some of these skills include persuasive communication, attention to detail, organizational skills, research abilities, and analytical thinking.  Formatting for this section is crucial, as you want them to review your ability to organize content.

4. Community Involvement & Extracurricular Learning

If there is one section in Candace’s law school resume example that truly stands out – it’s her community involvement and extracurricular learning. The best law schools pay a lot of attention to the extracurricular activities – or community involvement of their candidates.

Social responsibility is a crucial component of serving as an attorney in the United States – and should be a natural objective of anyone who wishes to practice law. However, those candidates who spend their time improving their understanding of the legal process, becoming advocates for others, or supporting non-profit organizations will stand above those who do not.

Your community or social involvement section should be formatted similarly to your professional experience. List the name of the organization, dates of involvement, and bullet points of your responsibilities – or tasks completed.

As you’re applying to a law school, it’s a solid idea to include several key power words or buzz terms that will showcase your soft skills (or interpersonal skills).

5. Personal Hobbies & Activities

Consider this section as an optional one – or the cherry on top of the resume for law school application sundae. Today’s attorney is personable and needs to showcase charisma, and the ability to engage in social situations. Nothing better showcases these attributes than adding some personal flair to your law school resume.

In this section, feel free to share some of the personal hobbies or activities you are passionate about participating. Keep it simple with the format, such as listing the activity, the dates, and some key bullet points of accomplishments.

6. References

The reference section is essentially an opportunity for you to share personal or professional peers that can vouch for your work ethic and personal integrity. You should select references that may have legal or professional experience. If not, make sure to gather references from undergraduate or graduate college professors, previous employers, or one listed in your professional experience section.

Like any section of your resume, consistency is crucial in the reference section of a law school resume. Always verify their contact information and ensure it’s up to date. More importantly, make sure you have their permission to be contacted if needed.

How to Format This Section

The reference section should only list the name and place of employment of your reference. You don’t want to list their private contact information on a resume – as that would be a violation of their privacy. Simply write “available upon request” and provide that information if the hiring manager requests. You can indicate on your cover letter that you have references available on request as well.

Final Points on Writing a Law School Application Resume

One of the most difficult professional schools to receive admission to is a law school. Whether you’re applying to Harvard Law, Yale, or a local law school, writing a powerful and organized law school resume is a vital component to becoming accepted.

We’ve provided a roadmap – not only with Candace’s law school resume example but also each section in the content above. The key is to use perfect grammar, the correct language, and take advantage of a law school application resume template. When you edit all your content in a master resume document, paste it in a text file, then paste in the template, you’ll save time, and ensure the resume appears clean, neat, and organized.

Beyond documenting the relevant experience and customizing your resume for the specific job you’re applying for, make sure to follow these crucial tips.

• Make sure your law school resume is reader-friendly and flows from beginning to end.
• Always write your resume on a plain white background with black font.
• Edit the document SEVERAL TIMES – through Grammarly.com and visual inspection.
• Ensure its well-spaced, organized, and professional.
• List all education, professional experience, and community involvement in chronological order.
• Verify your reference's contact information and use ones that support your resume.
• Finally, read it out loud a few times before you’re ready to paste the content into a law school resume template.

Starting the job search for an attorney at law position begins once you graduate from law school and pass your bar exam. However, you need to gain entry to the law school. Mainly - your academic achievements are going to do most of the work for you. But academic performance is not the only entrance criteria.

When you take time to review every word your write, choose the right tone, select action verbs that make sense, and ensure the document flows from start to finish, you’ll provide the admissions team with a clean and organized resume that will support your application to law school.

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Prepping Your Resume for Law School

Published December 10, 2018 This content is archived.

Guest blogger Ashley Wilson-Rew is Content Strategist & SEM at protocol 80, Inc.

With everything you need to submit for law school -- you shouldn’t let your resume fall through the cracks. How can you be sure your law school resume highlights your best attributes?

It may seem like there are an endless amount of materials you need to submit to get into law school --  LSAT scores, letters of recommendations, and a personal statement are just a few among them. A resume could easily get lost in the midst.

However, a resume is a crucial element to your law school application process. It’s not something that is always required, but if it is, you’ll want to take some time creating it. You won’t want to throw it together the night before it’s due.

How is a law school resume different from a career resume?

A law school resume emphasizes your academic achievements.

An important thing to keep in mind is that your audience is the admissions committee, and not a future employer. You’ll have to be careful about your specific word choice, the skills you present, and the accomplishments noted. These all need to match the qualifications that law schools are looking for.

It’s important to note your passions while illustrating how you spent your time in college. Any leadership positions, professional responsibilities, and volunteer experiences could be beneficial to highlight.

Another thing to keep in mind when writing your resume is to make sure it matches your personal statement. You want to be transparent and cohesive about who you are. Your resume and personal statement should compliment one another.

These are just a few tips to help you craft your law school resume. Below is a list of law school resume templates you can follow to help you get into your dream school!

5 Law School Resume Templates & Examples

1. this example from redrocketresume has all the necessary information to impress the admissions committee..

It includes:

• Academic experience (education AND any research, writing, or teaching experience)
• Relevant employment (including non-law employment that demonstrates desirable qualities in a lawyer)

2. This template from International Student highlights leadership experience & special skills.

Learn more about the law school admissions process and School of Law community through an individual meeting with one of our staff members.

[Learn More]

3. Here’s a fantastic example template from U.S. News & World Report.

4. The Girl’s Guide to Law School provides a before & after law school resume example.

5. This resume template from Calling All Questions goes into depth with plenty of outside experiences.

You might want to follow this if you’re already in law school or soon-to-be graduating:

Office of Admissions University at Buffalo School of Law 408 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 716-645-2907 [email protected]

Submit this form to receive an application fee waiver.

Law School Resume Examples and Writing Guide

Law school resume examples are hard to come by, even though they can be a useful resource when trying to create your own. One of the main reasons for this is that applicants often don't realize that there's a difference between a regular work resume, a CV for graduate school , and a resume for specific programs such as an MBA resume or law school resume. In this post, we will go over those differences, show you some top-tier law school resume examples, and give you some tips for creating your own.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free initial consultation here <<

Article Contents 10 min read

What is a law school resume.

A law school resume is a required document in applications to most law schools in Canada and the United States. Applicants often focus on perfecting law school personal statements , figuring out how to study for the LSAT , and reviewing potential law school interview questions , and while these are essential components of the law school application, a strong resume can be just as important. Law schools like to get a sense of who you are as a person and what you've done outside of the classroom, so a good resume can significantly impact your ability to gain admission.

Furthermore, most admission committees use your resume as an initial screening tool. They will start by reviewing your resume before reading your essays or any other application components to find out about your general background, achievements, and overall profile. This helps them decide if your application is worth considering. If you are called for an interview, the admissions board will usually ask questions related to your resume, so it's a good idea to learn how to prepare for your law school interview with your resume in mind.

When done correctly, your law school resume should showcase your accomplishments, experience, and skills in a way that will stand out to the admissions board.

Most law school applicants already have a resume that they use to apply for work or volunteer positions. It is important to understand that there are key differences between this resume and the one you need to submit with your law school application. Much like the other components of your application, your resume needs to be specifically designed for the reader. In this case, you are addressing the admissions boards of the school you are applying to. You need to keep in mind that the information they're seeking is different from what a potential employer would be interested in.

Both documents should result in a compelling, accurate, and flattering portrayal of your background. However, while your job-seeking resume needs to show your aptitude for a specific line of work, your law school resume should show your readiness for law school and your fit for your chosen institution. A hiring manager typically has a specific list of technical skills or qualifications that they are scanning for on a resume. For example, if they are hiring a graphic designer, they'll be looking at the resume to see how familiar the candidate is with the industry, if they have any experience in graphic design, or if they are trained to use a particular software. In contrast, law school admissions committees will probably spend more time thoroughly reviewing your resume and trying to determine if your background has prepared you for their law school. They will be looking for evidence of the qualities that the school values and focusing on things like your academic achievements and communication skills.

To put that into context, take a look at the two resumes below. Both of these resumes belong to the same person, so they obviously showcase a similar background. That said, you can clearly see that they have chosen to highlight different parts of their experience on the different documents. The first resume is designed for a potential employer. It includes a resume objective or summary at the very top and has a list of specific skills that the employer is likely to be interested in. The second resume is better suited for a law school application as it has more information about the applicant’s academic background, and instead of listing skills, they have highlighted some awards/honors that showcase transferable skills which can be useful in law school.

Would you first like to see a summary of some key tips we discuss later in this article? Check this out:

Law resume example #1

Now that you have a better idea of what a law school resume is and what it needs to communicate, let’s talk about how you can craft a strong one for yourself:

Law school resume format & layout

Your law school resume needs to be clean, professional, concise, and well-organized. The aim is to make it as easy to read as possible. It's important to check the requirements of the law school you are applying to, as they may have specific instructions for your resume. If that is the case, you should make sure to follow those instructions as it shows the admissions board that you take your application seriously and that you can take directions.  

Unless otherwise specified, these are our recommendations for the format of your law school resume:

Your law school resume needs to communicate a substantive amount of information in a very precise manner. To make it easy to read and to provide only the most pertinent information, we recommend sticking to bullet point lists that convey the key achievements for each experience and project you worked on. Each bullet point should have a maximum of three lines to avoid cluttering up the page.  ","label":"Writing style","title":"Writing style"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Law school resume sections & content

There is no golden resume template to get you into law school. The key to success is making sure that your resume is structured in a way that is easy to follow and read. That means keeping everything neat and separated into clearly labeled sections. Your resume should include the following sections:  

• Contact Information 
• Education 
• Work Experience (professional experience and volunteer experience) 
• Additional Achievements/Information (Such as awards and honors, special projects, certifications, Skills, Interests/Activities)  

Now, let’s go over what needs to be included in each section. It may seem obvious, but the truth is that applicants often make mistakes when it comes to the content of their law school resume. You have to carefully decide what to include and, just as importantly, what you leave out.

This is, without a doubt, the easiest section on your resume. As suggested by the section's name, you should keep it simple and provide that they need to contact you. We've provided a basic list of information to include below, but of course, you can tweak this list for your specific profile. 

You should include the following: 

TIP : While including a LinkedIn profile is optional, it does give admissions officers another opportunity to learn more about you, so including it may be to your benefit. 

2. Education

Remember that you are applying for an academic program, so your academic background is very important. You should write your education section in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recent education should be listed first. If you are still completing a degree, you should still list it with your anticipated date of completion. 

For every degree, you should have a new entry. Each one should include the name of the degree, the university you attended, your graduation year, your major and minor (when applicable), your GPA (if it is competitive), any honors or significant achievements, key projects, research work, and meaningful coursework.  

That said, if you have been working for a significant number of years and have more work experience, then you can opt to keep these entries brief and make your work experience the focus of your resume. In that case, your education entries should only mention the name of your degree, the institution, the year of graduation, your major and minor, and key achievements that highlight the qualities that your chosen law school values.  

3. Work experience

Often, this is where applicants err by trying to cram in too much information. Depending on your level of experience, this section can take up to 3/4 of your resume, but you need to make sure that it only includes relevant information. You should stick to the following:

Write your summaries in bullet points, with each point having one to three lines, and use action verbs such as "improved", "managed" or "modified". Be specific and quantify your achievements whenever possible but remember that you can provide more information about the skills you gained and what you learned in your personal statement. You can look at law school personal statement examples to get a better idea of how to do that. 

As with the education section, you should write it in reverse chronological order and divide it into different subsections. For example, you can include a subcategory for research experience or volunteer experience, depending on your background.   

4. Additional achievements and information

This is the section where you get to highlight some of the things that do not fit into the other categories that we've discussed. This includes significant extracurricular achievements, relevant skills and certifications, awards and honors, associations/clubs with leadership roles, and interests. If you only have something to add in one of these subcategories, then you can make that your main category and list the relevant information.

You should only include high-stake accomplishments and information that is relevant to your application, which showcases abilities or qualities that would make you a stronger candidate for law school. For example, if you are a chess club member, you don't need to add it to your resume because it doesn't add much to it. On the other hand, if you created a chess club and led members to an important tournament, you should mention that because it shows your leadership potential. To make your resume more enticing, you can separate the information into different subcategories, as done in the example below: 

ADDITIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND INFORMATION:

Honors and awards

Doe Senior Society - March 20xx

• One of thirty members of the Class of 20xx to be inducted into University of X's oldest Honor Society

Research project Smith Scholarship Finalist – March 20xx

Founding member of New City Chess Tournament (NCCT) - Oct 20xx to present

• Recruited chess players in xx community
• Organized and supervised an annual tournament for over 36 players 

Be consistent with the rest of your application:

Your resume is just one component of your law school application. It is supposed to give the admissions board an overview of your academic and professional background, which your essays and other application documents will then explain in detail. The easiest way to achieve this is to be honest, avoid exaggerations and thoroughly proofread all of your documents.  

For example, suppose you’ve chosen to write a law school diversity statement in which you mention that you’ve spent a significant amount of time volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters to help children who come from the same socioeconomic background as you, but then your resume shows that you were only a volunteer for one month. In that case, your word choice may cause the admissions board to be confused or, even worse, suspicious. It is important to pay attention to the details and stick to telling the facts in a flattering way rather than trying to embellish your experience.  

Focus on actions and results

Instead of listing tasks and functional responsibilities as you would for a job-seeking resume, you should try to focus on actions and quantifiable results. You want your resume to highlight your skills and the best way to do that is to use action verbs such as ‘created’, ‘led’, or ‘performed’. Whenever possible, you should also mention measurable results and long-term achievements as they are more memorable and help put things into context for the reader. The aim is to show the admissions board the impact that your achievements had and qualities that will serve you well in law school. 

For example, instead of saying 'Was responsible for converting paper filing system into a digital system,' you should say 'Overhauled office paper filing system and digitized it, thus increasing efficiency.' The second sentence tells more of a story than the first one, highlighting your ability to take a project, see it through and effect change.  

Skip the technical jargon

When you are applying for a job, you want your potential employer to know that you are knowledgeable about your industry. You also know the likelihood of them understanding your line of work's acronyms and technical jargon is relatively high. In that case, you should feel free to use certain technical words. However, on your law school resume, you should avoid all jargon that is not legal.  

Keep in mind that the admissions board will be looking at the content of your resume and your communication skills. Suppose they have to look up every other word or acronym on your resume because it's particular to the industry you were working in at the time. That experience will not only be unpleasant for them, but it will also tell them that you do not know how to communicate effectively.   

Prioritize adult education and work experience

We're not saying that your high school accomplishments are unimportant or that you shouldn't mention them at all but this isn’t a high school resume , so try to keep these to a minimum. Your law school resume should only mention significant experiences and prestigious accomplishments from high school. Like if you achieved a distinctive honor like being valedictorian, for example.  

On the other hand, things like your high school GPA or involvement in the chess club do not need to be mentioned. Law schools are more interested in what you've done and who you are as an adult. For example, a 3.7 GPA from one of the best undergraduate business schools will be more impressive than a 4.0 GPA in high school.  

Proofread thoroughly

After you've finished the final draft of your law school resume, you should step away from it and come back to check it with fresh eyes. Make sure that there are no grammatical errors or typos, that your format is consistent throughout, and that it follows the school guidelines (if any). You can also invest in a law school admissions consulting  service to maximize your chances of having a solid resume and getting into law school.  

Law resume example #3

Law resume example #4.

A law school resume is a short document that provides a snapshot of the applicant's academic and professional background. It is an integral part of most law school applications.

We do not recommend that you do this. Your work resume is supposed to grab an employer's attention, and they're looking for specific technical skills that show them that you can perform in a particular line of work. On the other hand, your law school resume is part of an application to an academic program, which means that the admissions board will be looking for a different set of transferable skills to see if you are ready for law school.

In short, yes! Law school resumes can be used as a screening document for some admissions committees. Furthermore, they give you a chance to showcase your background in a way you may not be able to in the other documents that comprise your application.

Ideally, one page long, but this will depend on your experience level. You should try not to have more than two pages.

Your resume should give the admissions board of your chosen school an overview of your academic and professional background. Therefore, it should consist of your contact information, education, work experience, and any relevant additional information (Such as awards and honors, special projects, certifications, Skills, Interests/Activities) 

It's completely optional. That said, you should keep in mind that the aim is for the admissions board to get to know you, so if your LinkedIn has additional information that can strengthen your candidacy, then you should include it.

You should list any volunteering, internships, and campus leadership roles. Furthermore, you can expand your education section by including relevant coursework or projects.

You can include some information about your high school experience but keep this short because law schools are far more interested in the adult version of you. You should only include your high school's name, your graduation year, and significant achievements.

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Legal Resumes

This guide contains some basic suggestions about preparing resumes, and includes samples for you to consult. If you would like to have a Career Development Office attorney-counselor review your draft resume, send it to the career email box, [email protected] . The resume process, from start to finish, can take much longer than you anticipate. Start early, and give yourself plenty of time .

A. What is a Resume?

B. effective resumes, c. writing your resume, d. resume suggestions, e. finalizing your resume.

• Sample Resumes – Students (These are included as a pdf to preserve formatting, an essential element of effective resume-drafting.)
• Suggested Action Words for describing experiences
• “1L Resume Workshop” Presentation (10/2023)

A resume is a marketing device whereby you present the most attractive, true picture of yourself with the goal of convincing an employer to meet with you. During an interview, you may be asked questions about any entries on the document. For lawyers, the resume also is a writing sample that shows your ability to communicate clearly and concisely and your attention to detail.

Your resume is often your first contact with a potential employer and will probably determine whether your qualifications and background warrant an interview or serious consideration for a job. While employers do not usually hire on the basis of a resume alone, they may decide not to interview an applicant on the basis of a poorly prepared or presented resume. Therefore, excellent content and presentation are vital. Employers assume that your resume represents your best work and is indicative of your general work product in terms of clarity, organization, accuracy and appearance.

Most decisions about what to include and how best to present information in your resume are based on your personal assessment of your strengths, the kind(s) of position you are seeking, your own taste and style, and your knowledge of how resumes in the legal profession traditionally look and read. Consider having more than one resume to emphasize different things for different types of prospective employers.

Resumes for public interest organizations. For these employers, a demonstrated commitment to public interest work will be a key factor. Evidence of your commitment can take the form of extracurricular activities, journals, internships, clinics and volunteer work, all of which should be included on your resume. Consider including substantive clinical work or student organization activities (e.g., CARC) in your “Experience” section, where you can elaborate on your tasks and responsibilities. If your experience justifies it, you may consider creating an additional section entitled “Community Service” or “Volunteer Activities” to list your volunteer or community activities that will emphasize the extent of your dedication to public interest issues. In addition, languages can be very important to public interest/public sector employers, depending on the communities they serve or the work you can do for them. Unlike resumes aimed at private sector employers, public interest resumes can go over one page if your experience requires it; however, it is still critical to use concise language and efficient formatting.

Resume Rules. There are a few absolute rules for writing resumes. Your resume must be:

• scrupulously honest;
• conservative (graphically and linguistically, not necessarily politically);
• selective (because your resume is not your whole life history, perhaps not even your entire employment history);
• visually appealing so it will be easy to read rapidly;
• absolutely free of typos, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies.

Difficult Issues. Some items you might include in your resume may reveal political leanings, religious beliefs, ethnicity, disability, and/or sexual orientation, which, depending on the prospective employer, could work against you or in your favor. (This is true regardless of the legality of taking such factors into account.) The decision whether to include such information is a personal one. First, consider how important the inclusion of such information is to you, and whether you would want to work for an employer who would use it in making a decision whether to hire you. If you choose not to include this information, you still have the option of bringing it up in an interview, or later in the hiring process. If you are unsure about whether to include items of this kind in your resume, contact a CDO attorney-counselor.

Accuracy of Resume Information and Verification of Resumes. It is imperative that all information presented on your resume be scrupulously honest and free of embellishment. The potential for misrepresentation of academic or work performance is of great concern to employers; they typically verify this information. Berkeley Law has established practices to ensure the fair and accurate presentation of students in the placement process, including procedures for the verification of statements concerning grades, journal membership, or other law school achievements that a student has made in a resume or other document. By making such statements to an employer in writing, a student consents to the Law School verifying the substance of these statements at the employer’s request. (Berkeley Law’s Registrar will inform the employer whether written grade information is accurate, but will not provide the correct grade information to the employer without the student’s prior consent.)

Any falsification or misrepresentation of law school grades or other records, recommendations, or other qualifications is a violation of the Academic Honor Code.

First, brainstorm. Inventory your background and accomplishments and list everything which helps to distinguish you individually, professionally, and as a student. You might ask for input from family or friends because you may overlook some basic but important areas. Remember to focus on what you bring to the table based on your experience. What will make the employer interested in you?

Name and Contact Information

This information should go in large (font size 14-16) bold face type at the top of your resume. If you choose to include both your school address and your permanent address you should indicate which is which. (Students often include an out-of-area address in order to show that they have a connection to an area outside of Northern California.) Always include your phone number and email address, but only one of each. (Your email address, as well as your voicemail greeting, should be professional.)

List your education in reverse chronological order (law school first). Include basic information on schools attended, degrees received and dates (or anticipated dates) of graduation, and major field(s) of study.

Under your undergraduate school heading, include major and minor areas of study and thesis topics, if applicable. Be consistent. If you use the term “J.D,” then use “B.A.” Alternatively, if you write out “Juris Doctor” then write out “Bachelor of Arts.” Other than law schools, you need not include schools from which you transferred and did not graduate. No need to include your high school. If you acquired a degree which employers might not recognize by its abbreviation, spell out the degree name.

For your law degree, you can either list it as “J.D. Candidate” with your expected graduation date, or you can list “J.D.” and the date as “Expected May 20XX.”

A Special Note for Transfer Students : If you transferred here from another law school, put Berkeley Law first, followed by the other law school, for at least your first year at Berkeley Law. If you received honors at the other school, put them under that law school’s section. If you were invited to join law review at your former school and didn’t because you transferred here, indicate that you were invited to join and explain why, e.g., “Invited to join University of San Diego Law Review on the basis of high academic achievement.”

Joint Degree Students : If you are pursuing a joint degree program, be sure to list both schools under your education section.

Honors and Activities. Honors attached to your degree should appear in lowercase after the degree awarded, e.g., B.A., summa cum laude , June 2006. (If the honors are in Latin, they should be italicized.) Other academic honors are listed separately below your degree, along with school activities.

If you have extensive undergraduate honors and activities, you might consider listing only a representative number of them. Make sure it is clear which activities are at which institutions. If you were involved during school with an activity not related to the school, it should go under a different section of your resume.

For law school, list all honors and activities of importance such as law review, participation on other journals, moot court, trial advocacy, clinics, fellowships, scholarships, committees, student organization membership, and academic awards.

If an activity in college or law school was or is especially involved or relevant, consider putting it under the Experience section. For example, if you are a public interest student, your participation in CARC could go under Experience, with a description of the work you did on your asylum case.

Grades, Rank and LSAT Scores. Because Berkeley Law does not use a traditional grading system, students do not have GPA’s. Berkeley Law does not rank its students (except for the sole purpose of clerkship applications), and Berkeley Law faculty policy provides that students must not include any representation or estimate of class rank on a resume or in a cover letter. LSAT scores should not be listed on your resume, as they are designed to predict law school performance only, and are not an indicator of professional performance.

Use reverse chronology. You can list a brief summary of your most important duties, or list the skills you have developed at the job so that the employer can see what you can bring to the table. Your experience is worth including not for what you did, but for what it says about you and what you can do in the future. 

List the name and location of the employer, your title, the dates of employment, and a brief summary of your most important duties. Emphasize law-related work in any area, but do not struggle to make your experience appear more law-related than it really is; many students come to law school with no legal experience whatsoever, and employers know this. Three or four phrases are usually all you need, but elaborate further if you have the space and believe that your duties were especially interesting, responsible, and/or relevant to your legal career.

• If the name of the employer is inadequate to convey the nature of the business, try to incorporate a description of the employer in your job duties, e.g., “prepared marketing materials and sales analysis for start-up company selling online pet products.”
• Avoid insider jargon.
• Use present tense verbs to describe your current job and past tense verbs with all former positions.
• Provide specific information about actions and responsibilities (e.g., budget, percentage of increase in revenues or sales, number of staff supervised, direct work with clients, etc.) Many skills obtained in non-law jobs are transferable to law practice (e.g., attention to detail, meeting deadlines, writing, research and analytical skills, working under pressure, working with individuals from diverse backgrounds, etc.). Try to highlight such skills.
• If you were at one job for a long time, show promotions and increased responsibility, if applicable.
• If you had many part-time or temporary jobs while in school, consider summarizing them, e.g., “Worked part-time during undergrad to finance education.” (Employers will value the fact that you have worked while going to school, particularly if you were still able to do well academically.) For certain jobs, such as in retail or restaurants, or as a ski instructor, it can be appropriate to omit the description altogether, as most people know roughly what this work entails.
• Include summer jobs to avoid time gaps on your resume.
• If a prior job is your only link to a prospective employer’s city, include it.
• Any experience can be relevant, regardless of whether or not it was paid, so if your volunteer or community service is substantial, include it in the main body of your resume, especially if you are applying for public interest positions. Volunteer work can also be presented in a separate Community Service section, or at the end or your resume under a heading such as “Other Information.” Jobs are usually assumed to be full-time and paid unless you indicate otherwise; be sure not to appear to overstate your experience.

Other Categories.

If space allows, you may choose to elaborate on one or more of the following categories, under a heading such as “Other Information” or “Interests and Activities”:

• Languages : If you include languages on your resume, state your level of fluency (e.g., “fluent,” “proficient,” “reading knowledge only” (where your fluency is very limited, it is probably not worth listing the language)). Do not overstate your level of proficiency.
• Publications : You may include a short list of publications on law-related topics, particularly if the area of research is relevant to an employer’s practice. A more extensive list of publications should be compiled as a separate document. Be prepared to discuss in interviews any publications you list.
• Professional Licensing and Affiliations : Include any relevant licenses or certifications (such as a CPA license). Include past and present memberships with your title, if any, and dates. Give the full name of the organization.
• Bar Admission : Bar membership, only applicable to graduates, should appear at the top of your resume, above the Education section. If you have a substantial amount of experience as an attorney, the Experience section of your resume should precede the Education section. If you are registered to take the bar exam or awaiting the results of a bar exam you have written, you can include that information in a cover letter.
• Keep your resume to one page, unless you have substantial working experience prior to coming to law school, or for public interest resumes.
• Do not use abbreviations, with these exceptions: the two-letter state abbreviations and academic degrees.
• List each item only once. If you list Debate Team Captain as a college activity, don’t repeat it under Other Activities at the bottom.
• Make your resume easy to read. The reader should be able to locate your graduation date, duties of employment, etc., by scanning (not reading) your resume.
• Use short descriptive sentence fragments separated by semicolons with strong action verbs to relate your job responsibilities, not sentences. (A list of “ action words ” can be found at the end of this guide.).
• Be specific about what you did at your jobs; avoid vague expressions such as “gained exposure to,” “participated in” or “assisted with.”
• List your job responsibilities in descending order of responsibility and challenge (start with the most impressive and work down to a “catch-all” item, if appropriate).
• Put your references on a separate document, and don’t include “references available on request” on your resume. Employers know to ask for them.
• Avoid extraneous information and try not to convey too many ideas at once.
• Do not include computer abilities, except as part of a job description where you used highly specialized skills.
• Do not include such personal information as age, marital status, etc.
• Do not include anything in your resume you would not want to discuss in an interview.

Resume Style. Resume styles vary, as presented by the samples found at the end of this guide.

In addition to using physical layout, take strategic advantage of the various ways to highlight important information, such as bold face, capitalization, italicizing, and underlining. Be completely consistent with the choices you make (e.g., all educational institutions in boldface, all job titles in italics), all the way down to the way you use commas, periods and spaces. For legal resumes, it is most typical to use Times New Roman font (or another similar serif font) in size 11 or 12. Look for a pleasant balance of text and white space on the page. While margins can be smaller than the standard for a term paper, you should allow at least .7″ all around.

Proofreading. Once you have your resume set up as you want it with content and layout, proofread it carefully. Look for inconsistencies in style as well as actual typos. Do not trust yourself as the only proofreader; enlist the aid of at least one other person. If you discover a typo, you must redo your resume, even if it has been already been printed; no typo is insignificant.

A few technical notes.

• If you send your resume electronically, it is preferable to convert it to a PDF file first; this way your formatting and any document history are invisible, and you can control exactly the way your resume appears and prints.
• Email addresses in your contact information should be text, like your phone number, not a hyperlink.

Sample Resumes (These are included as a pdf to preserve formatting, an essential element of effective resume-drafting.)

  Return to Contents   

How to Write a Law School Resume

Length, Formatting, and Sections to Include

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Your law school resume is an important element of your application. While not all schools require resumes, many top schools do, and those that don’t often allow applicants to submit a resume as supplemental information.

A resume for law school should be different from a job resume. In particular, the law school resume should contain significantly more detail than a standard employment resume. The most important elements to emphasize in a resume for law school are your academic achievements, so make sure those are featured prominently on your resume.

Length and Formatting

Resumes for law school should be a maximum of one to two pages in length. According to Stanford Law's admissions site, "Stanford requires a one-to-two page resume describing your academic, extracurricular and professional activities." The University of Chicago Law's admissions team offers a bit more leeway, stating, "You can go into more detail than you would in a typical resume for employment (use your judgment though; very rarely does one need more than 2-3 pages)."

The resume format and style must be professional and should include headings for each section, bulleted details, and dates and locations for each activity. Choose an easy-to-read font and include standard margins at the top, bottom, and sides of each page of your resume.

What to Include

Since your educational experience is the most important element of your resume to potential law schools, the first section immediately below your name and contact information should be education. The sections that follow education can be adjusted to suit your personal experience. Most students list awards and honors; employment, internships, or research experience; leadership or volunteer experience; publications; and skills and interests.

Consider the law schools to which you’re applying, and make sure that you highlight qualifications you possess that are important to those schools. Don’t include objectives or lists of professional qualifications, as these items are not relevant to the law school resume. It's also best to avoid accomplishments from your high school resume and instead focus on qualifications and experiences gained during and after college. The following sections are often included in law school resumes. Be sure to include only those sections that are applicable to you, and modify or remove any sections that do not apply.

List the college institution, location (city and state), degree or certificate earned including majors and minors, and the year earned. If you didn’t earn a degree or certificate, list the dates of attendance. You can also include study abroad experiences within the education section.

List your overall undergraduate GPA and GPA in your major for each institution attended (especially if higher than your overall GPA).

Honors/Awards/Scholarships

List any honors, awards, and scholarships you achieved during college as well as the year(s) you earned them. These can include dean's list, Latin honors, and major scholarships or recognition.

Employment/Research/Internship Experience

List your position, the name of the employer, location (city and state), and the dates you were employed. Include your specific duties under each employer, making sure to note any recognition or special achievements (e.g., "increased sales by 30% in the first year as a section manager"). By quantifying your work for each organization, you'll make it easier for the admissions team to see what you contributed. Always start your job descriptions with strong action words (directed, led, mentored, organized) to convey purpose and direction.

Other items to include in an experience section are research work and internships. Similar to employment, include the position held, the name of your direct supervisor, dates you worked on each project, your specific duties, and notable accolades.

Leadership/Volunteer Work

If you held positions of leadership on campus or in outside organizations, be sure to detail these in your resume. Similar to work experience, include the leadership position held, the name of the organization, dates you held the position, your specific roles, and important accomplishments.

Volunteer work is particularly impressive on a law school resume. Just like paid work experience, consistent volunteering shows a strong work ethic as well as community engagement. Make sure to include each volunteer experience and include the name of the organization, duties performed, and dates of service.

Publications

This section should list any publication credits you have earned during college. It may include your thesis, if published, newspaper bylines, and other personal writing that has been published in on-campus or off-campus publications.

Skills/Interests

In this section, you can list foreign languages, membership in organizations, and extracurricular activities that are important to you. Some applicants also use this section to list their technical proficiencies including advanced computer skills. If there is something that you have participated in for a long time, or in which you possess particularly high level skills, be sure to indicate so in this section.

• Dos and Don'ts of a Law School Resume
• How to Write a Letter of Continued Interest for Law School
• The Law School Applicant’s Guide to the Diversity Statement
• LSAT Writing: What You Need to Know
• How and When to Write a Law School Addendum
• Timeline for Applying to Law School
• 10 Places to Find LSAT Sample Questions Online
• The Debate Over How Far a Top Tier Law School Gets You
• Ivy League Law Schools
• GRE vs. LSAT: Which Test to Take for Law School Admissions
• Best Intellectual Property Law Schools
• Best Law Schools in Texas
• Best Majors for Law School Applicants
• Best Law Schools in the U.S.
• 7 Law School Personal Statement Topic Ideas
• The 10 Easiest Law Schools to Get Into

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How to Improve Your Law School Resume

If you’re required or encouraged to submit a resume with your law school application, celebrate! It gives you a chance to really market yourself to the school.

But what do you do when the school doesn’t provide any written guidelines about resume submission? Some people poke around online and take advice from supposed experts (i.e., other recently accepted law applicants). Some ask their career service office team or their pre-law advisors. Others even ask attorneys. Are you applying to Stetson University College of Law? Don’t rely on what you read elsewhere. We have the facts.

How is a law school resume different from a career resume?

If you’re applying to law school with some professional experience, you may wonder just how different your law school application should be from a traditional job application.

• Your law school resume should emphasize your academic achievements.
• Your law school resume should align with your personal statement .

The specific sections on your law school resume may also be more detailed and in a different order from your career resume. As you’ll read below, we recommend listing your education section more prominently on your law school resume, which you may usually list lower on the page of a professional resume.

Your law school resume should also be specific to law school, and not just list general experience. As Peg Cheng , author and founder of Prelaw Guru, says, “You need a resume for applying to law school. That said, turning in a generic work resume with your law school application will do nothing to improve your chances for admission. But show admissions officers a well-written, concise and engaging resume, and they will not only be impressed, they will remember you. And that’s the name of the application game: being remembered.”

What to include in your law school resume

Before you review our suggested list of what you should include in your law school resume, be sure to check the application instructions . At Stetson Law, submitting a resume with your application is optional. However, we strongly recommend submitting your resume along with your personal statement and application.

The following is a list of the sections you should include with your resume. Some may be optional, depending on what your experience involves, so use it as a guideline, not a strict template.

Contact Information

Like any resume, you should first list your contact information. This includes:

• Your full name
• Phone number
• Email Address
• LinkedIn profile (optional)
• Home Address (optional)

We highly recommend including your LinkedIn profile URL, because it allows admissions officers to learn more about you. However, make sure you clean up your social profiles, including LinkedIn, before you apply.

This is one of the most important sections of your resume for your law school application. As opposed to a regular career resume, you’ll want to provide some detail in this section, including:

• Name and location of university attended
• Graduation Date
• Type of degree received
• Achievements, awards and honors
• Thesis title if applicable

List your education in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent degree, certification, or otherwise. If you have a master’s degree or any postgraduate work, you would start with that first. And, unless your high school education is particularly relevant or impressive, don’t include that.

Providing details on coursework allows you to explain some of your areas of expertise and highlight any skills gained. Reviewing the American Bar Association’s core skills, values, knowledge and experience, and seeing how your educational experience aligns with any of those areas can be a good place to start, as far as looking for coursework to highlight on your law school resume.

In addition, list achievements, awards, and any other honors. Were you on the Dean’s List? Did you win an essay contest? Anything that distinguishes your academic or extracurricular record should be highlighted on your resume.

Professional Experience

This section should include your job or career experience, and also any internship, volunteer, or community work you have done that you’d like to highlight. If it is relevant to what you bring to the table for law school, then you should include it here. Don’t, however, make it a laundry list of everything you’ve done in your life. Instead, include the following:

• Your most relevant experience listed in chronological order
• The job title, company name and dates you worked there
• 4-6 bullet points for each position describing your relevant skills, experiences and achievements

When writing the bullet points on your resume, try to include action verbs that focus on what you actually accomplished and learned. Quantify your accomplishments and skills with percentages and numbers. Being specific in your bullet points will help you convey your

While you should have listed your skills along with your experience in the professional section of your resume, any soft or hard skills you want to showcase, definitely belong here. Again, consider what would be useful or relevant to law school before including a laundry list of skills on your resume.

Whether you have extensive professional experience or not, you’ll want to emphasize your soft skills so you can show that you have what it takes to succeed in law school. Some law school-relevant soft skills include negotiation, collaboration, problem solving, conflict resolution, written and oral communication, mediation, critical thinking, and adaptability.

If you do not have a lot of skills to highlight in this area, or if you have lengthier education and professional sections, you can potentially incorporate your skills into those sections.

Community and Volunteer Work

Have you volunteered with a specific organization? Many people go to law school to advocate on behalf of others, so showing that you care enough about your cause to volunteer can help you stand out to the admissions team.

If you have done enough community and volunteer work to necessitate a separate section (beyond your professional experience section), then you can list one. This section of your resume is the perfect spot to demonstrate what you’ve done toward the cause(s) you’ve written about in the personal statement part of your application. Include a brief description of the work you did with that organization as well as the dates and locations of your experience.

Other Potential Sections

Depending on your experience, there are a few other sections you may want to consider including on your resume:

Awards and honors You can list your awards and honors in your education section if they are all academically related. If they are not, however, you can have a dedicated section to awards and honors in your resume.

Affiliations and/or extracurricular activities Include your affiliations, professional and academic, either in your education section or as a separate section if you have many. Also, consider — is it important for us to know that you were a member?

You may also want to include your membership in certain student organizations, such as pre-law society or student government. Extracurricular activities can be a separate section from affiliations, but if most of your affiliations are school-related, it might make more sense to represent this as a combined section.

Publications Have you published any books, papers, or articles? List them in a separate section if so.

How to Format Your Law School Resume

It’s important to consistently format the content on your resume. If you have periods at the end of your bullet points, be sure to use them without. Or, if you use one font for your headings and another for your body text, make sure to apply that throughout your document.

Indeed recommends that you use headings for each section, and limit your font choices to something easy to read, like Calibri or Helvetica in 10- or 12-point font. Also, make sure you have standard one-inch margins at the top, bottom and sides of the page. Include details for each section with bullet points, and list the dates and locations for each activity. Your contact information should be at the very top in bold and/or larger font.

Finally, you’ll want your resume to be 1-2 pages long. If you want to submit something longer, then you should consider whether or not everything is absolutely necessary for the admissions team to know, and reread the application requirements. At Stetson Law, we request that students provide a comprehensive work history on their resume to align with the employment question on the Florida Bar application, the most common state in which Stetson graduates practice. So, your resume may be longer than two pages if you have a lot of work experience.

6 Key Tips For Your Law School Resume

Keep these tips in mind to create a strong, compelling resume – and to avoid common pitfalls.

1. Focus on relevancy, but tell your story

When creating your resume, focus on your relevant professional, academic and personal experiences, and see how you can make your experience part of your story. While working as a barista to support yourself through college may not seem directly related to your prospects as a law student, it shows hard work and initiative and can be made relevant to your application.

2. Keep it simple

Provide simple, easy-to-read explanations of your job and educational experiences on your resume. Use plain English and either avoid jargon and any other special acronyms or terminology, or define if necessary.

This simplicity extends to your format — your content should be what stands out, not colorful or unique formatting.

3. Don’t forget to proofread

Not proofreading your resume before you submit it is a big mistake. Copy edit your resume to ensure your spelling and grammar is correct, and ask someone else (or multiple people) to review it before applying.

4. Be Specific

Being specific in your professional accomplishments can help you stand out and showcase yourself effectively, according to LSAT prep course Magoosh . There is a big difference between “helped raise funds for charity initiatives” and “helped raise $25,000 for the Habitat For Humanity fundraiser via online fundraising event promotion.” Every bullet point on your resume should be crafted to focus on concrete tasks and highlight your personal role in the position at hand.

5. Stay Honest

Don’t make unsubstantiated claims or exaggerations — these are red flags for admissions officers. Listing skills without any evidence to support those skills is a big mistake. In addition, the law school you’re applying to will receive your transcripts, so they’ll know if you lie about your academic performance — it’s not worth it to round up on your GPA.

6. Don't be too modest

Underselling yourself is also a mistake when it comes to your resume. Even though it’s hard to write about yourself, make sure you describe your best qualities and accomplishments in detail.

The Law School Resume — Just One Part of Your Application

Your law school application includes multiple components, from the application itself to the personal statement. We’re here to provide you with helpful tidbits of information to ensure you feel confident in the application process. Explore our admissions blog and find more useful tips for future and current law school students.

Topics: Applying to Law School

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Starting a Career in Environmental Law: What You Need to Know

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Ultimate Guide to Applying for Law School: Insider Tips that Boost Your Chances

Are you dreaming of a career in law but feeling overwhelmed by the law school application process? You’re not alone. This comprehensive guide will reveal insider tips and strategies to boost your chances of getting into law school. Whether you’re worried about your LSAT score, unsure about your undergraduate major or looking to stand out as a non-traditional applicant, we’ve got you covered. Learn how to:

• Craft a compelling personal statement that captivates admissions committees
• Choose the right recommenders for powerful letters of recommendation
• Demonstrate genuine interest in your target law schools
• Navigate the LSAT and improve your score strategically
• Leverage your unique experiences to stand out from other applicants

Let’s demystify the law school admissions process and put you on the path to your legal career.

Beyond LSAT Scores: What Law Schools Look For

Applying to law school can feel challenging. Sure, you’ve heard the basics: maintain a high GPA, ace the LSAT and craft a compelling personal statement. But what about the hidden factors that can make or break your application? Let’s peek behind the curtain and explore what law schools look for beyond the numbers.

First, understand that great law schools aren’t just seeking academic achievers; they’re building diverse, dynamic classes. Your unique experiences and perspective matter more than you might think. Consider these questions:

• Did you start a business in college?
• Have you spent time teaching English abroad?
• Do you have military service or significant volunteer experience?

What experiences set you apart—even if they’re not directly related to law?

Dexter Turner , director of recruiting for admissions at Creighton University School of Law, emphasizes the importance of authenticity in applications: “For us, it’s about being open and honest. Our goal is to learn more about you. If you have a story or experience you’d like to share with us that we might not see at first glance, we want to ensure we’re getting a chance to learn more about you.”

Crafting a Compelling Law School Application

When it comes to your application, BarbaraKaye Wright , JD , assistant dean for admissions at Creighton Law, advises thinking of it as “a cohesive narrative rather than a collection of documents. Your personal statement, resume and letters of recommendation should work together to paint a vivid picture of who you are and why you're an excellent candidate for law school.”

Personal Statement Tips for Law School Applicants

Your personal statement isn’t the place for a dry recitation of your accomplishments. Instead, use it to tell a story that illuminates your character, passion for law and potential as an attorney.

Remember, admissions committees read thousands of these introductions. Make yours memorable by focusing on unique experiences or perspectives that have shaped your decision to pursue law.

Choosing the Right Recommenders

Select your recommenders wisely. Dean Wright offers this advice: “Ask a potential recommender, ‘Can you give me a strong recommendation?’ If they hesitate at all, move on.” A lukewarm letter from a famous professor won't serve you as well as a glowing recommendation from someone who knows you well and can speak to your abilities in detail.

Choosing the Right Undergraduate Major for Law School

Professor Craig Dallon, JD , Creighton School of Law, illuminates a common misconception about undergraduate majors: “Some people have this perception that if I have a pre-law or a criminal justice undergraduate degree, that will give me an advantage. No, no advantage.” He adds, “This is my own prejudice, but English majors tend to read a lot. They tend to write and communicate, which are both super important skills for law school.”

The key takeaway? Choose a major that develops your critical thinking, reading and writing skills, regardless of its direct relation to law.

Demonstrating Interest in Law School Admissions

Here’s a tip many applicants overlook: Demonstrated interest can affect admissions decisions. It doesn’t mean bombarding the admissions office with emails and phone calls. Instead:

• Attend law school fairs
• Visit the campus
• Tailor your applications to show why this law school is an excellent fit for you

Dean Wright notes, “You can stand out by showing your persistence, which may demonstrate your stamina for taking on law school.” Professor Dallon reinforces this point, noting, “If we’re on the fence about who we’re going to admit and that student has visited this school, that probably gives them an advantage over one that hasn’t, only because it shows that they’re interested in us.”

LSAT Strategies for Law School Applicants

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the LSAT. Yes, it’s necessary, but it’s not everything. If your score isn’t where you want it to be, consider retaking the test. Many schools consider only your highest score. However, balance this with the rest of your application timeline. A marginal increase in your LSAT score might not be worth delaying your application, especially if the rest of your materials are strong.

Weigh the additional time and expense against the potential benefit.

Additional Tips for Law School Applicants

To maximize your chances of success in the law school application process, consider these additional strategies:

• Apply early : Many law schools have rolling admissions, so they start reviewing applications and making decisions before the deadline. Applying early can give you a slight edge.
• Non-traditional applicants : Law schools often value the diversity of experience you bring. Whether you’re a career changer or a few years out of undergrad, focus on how your unique path has prepared you for the rigors of law school and a legal career.
• Look beyond rankings : As you research schools, consider factors like location, clinical opportunities, specific program strengths and career placement in the areas of law that interest you.
• Network : Attend law school forums and fairs, contact current students or recent alumni and connect with lawyers in fields that interest you. These connections can provide invaluable insights into different schools and legal career paths.

Conclusion: Your Path to Law School Success

Applying to law school is undoubtedly challenging but also an opportunity for self-reflection and growth. Use this process to clarify your goals and envision the lawyer you want to become. Stay true to yourself, put your best foot forward and remember there’s no single “right” path to law school success.

As you embark on this journey, remember that the law school right for you is out there. With thorough preparation, thoughtful introspection and a little insider knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the application process and land in a program that sets you up for success in your legal career.

Ready to take the next step? Explore Creighton University School of Law’s admission requirements and program offerings to see if we might be the right fit for your legal education journey. 

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18 Résumé Writing Tips to Help You Stand Out

By  Allison Pohle

Updated May 11, 2021 2:15 pm ET

• A résumé isn’t just a list of every job you’ve ever had. It should demonstrate your accomplishments.
• Mirror language used in the job posting so your résumé isn’t discarded by an applicant tracking system.
• Use a clean and simple format. 

Companies increasingly  rely on software  to sort through applicants, which is why it is essential to tailor your résumé to ensure it makes the cut. Applicant tracking systems sort, scan and rank applicants by looking for keywords in applications. Although these programs can save time and money for employers, about 60% said such tools cause them to miss some qualified candidates, according to a 2016 survey of 1,200 job seekers and managers by CareerArc, a human-resources technology company, and Future Workplace, a research firm. Here’s how to make your résumé stand out to robots and humans alike. 

1. Highlight your achievements in your résumé. 

A common mistake job seekers make is believing a résumé is a recap of your career, when in reality, it should convey what you have accomplished, says Christy Noel, a career expert and author of “Your Personal Career Coach.” 

“I always say, spend less of your real estate describing your job, and more time describing your results,” says Ms. Noel.  

2. Customize your résumé.

Read over the job posting, and think about the work experience you have had that is most directly relevant to the position you are pursuing. You can leave out some past jobs and internships if the experience you had wasn’t related. Whatever you do: Don’t submit a generic résumé to dozens of postings. “Even if you have the best experience, if your résumé isn’t speaking directly to the position in which you are applying, there is a strong chance you’ll never even get an interview,” says Demisha Jennings, a certified professional résumé writer and founder and owner of She Assists LLC.  

The same applies to your cover letter. It is your chance to provide more detail on how your experience will help you succeed in the job.  Read our cover letter guide  for how to write one that makes you stand out.

3. Decide how to format your résumé.

Most of the time, a chronological résumé will work well for communicating your past experience. But, in some cases, a functional or hybrid résumé might be more appropriate.  Read more about résumé formats here.

4. Make your contact information easy to find.

Include your name, phone number, email address, city and state. It may also be appropriate to include the URL to your LinkedIn profile. You want it to be easy for hiring managers to reach out.

In addition to making it easy to connect with you, it is important to your job search that you grow your network.  Read our networking guide  for tips on how to do so.

5. Consider adding a summary. 

Many résumé templates leave space for an objective statement, outlining career goals, but that approach is outdated, says Ms. Jennings. Instead, consider a carefully worded summary. The summary is often the first place a hiring manager will look, and gives you an opportunity to introduce your skills high up on the page. You can also work in relevant keywords from the job description. “Recruiters are looking for what you can bring to the table and what you’ve done, rather than you saying, ‘I’m seeking a position,’” Ms. Jennings says. 

6. Great résumés should stand out to skim readers.

Most recruiters spend just a few seconds skimming through a résumé—with an average in one study of  7.4 seconds.  

To have the best chance of making an impression, ensure your job titles, company names and dates of employment are easy to read. The sections of your résumé should be adequately spaced, too, says Dana Leavy-Detrick, founder and director of Brooklyn Resume Studio. 

For additional ways to make a good impression on recruiters and headhunters, read  our guide on how to work with headhunters .

7. Make your résumé robot-friendly. 

Structure your résumé to meet the requirements of an applicant tracking system to give yourself the best chance of having it reach an actual human. Ms. Leavy-Detrick suggests the following:

• Optimize keywords.  Use the same words and language that are in the job description. For example, three different companies might describe the same role as “programmer,” “developer” or “software engineer.” 
• Use a straightforward format.  Avoid tables and text-based graphics, which might not get picked up by a scan of the résumé. Sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica are also best to ensure readability.
• Think about order.  When formatting each line item of work experience, list the company name first, followed by the job location (city, state), your job title, and your start and end dates. Some résumés can get lost if the dates are listed before the job title. 

8. Prioritize relevant keywords. 

Tailoring your skills to include language from the job posting is an important way to let both the applicant tracking system and, eventually, a hiring manager, see how your prior qualifications tie into the job requirements. But just because you have a résumé full of keywords doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get an interview. “The ATS isn’t there to help the job seeker, it is there to help the employer review your skills against their most important qualifications,” says Ashley Watkins, a career coach and résumé writer with Write Step Résumés LLC. 

9. Craft compelling and concise bullet points.

The goal of a résumé is to list your accomplishments, rather than every duty you performed in the role. Résumé-writing experts recommend including no more than five bullet points per prior job listed. 

• Don’t focus on tasks.  Many job seekers describe what they did every day, such as answering phones or creating marketing materials, Ms. Watkins says. “Simply copying and pasting the job description doesn’t account for the things you did great, that you did above and beyond your peers,” she says.
• Instead, explain what those tasks achieved.  Emphasize your results. Ms. Watkins suggests asking yourself “Did I save [the employer] money? Did I save time? Did I improve a process? Did I build a relationship?” These will help you format your bullet points.
• Use metrics.  Say what you achieved, then contextualize it—with figures if possible. You might not be able to put a monetary value on every accomplishment, but you can frame it by sharing details like the time it took or how many people were involved. “If you raised sales 50% in two months, that means a whole lot more than ‘I’m in charge of sales,’” Ms. Watkins says. 
• Don’t omit accomplishments that aren’t quantifiable.  Not every achievement will have metrics to show success. If there are figures, you might not always have access to them. But that shouldn’t stop you from including them, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. Perhaps you had a positive impact on the culture of an organization, or improved a struggling relationship with a client. These efforts could help to demonstrate your  soft skills.

10. Focus on transferable skills if you lack experience.

If you are applying for a job in a new field or you are an entry-level applicant and don’t have much direct experience, don’t worry. Highlight transferable skills you have developed in the past that will serve you well in the position, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. For example, you could play up leadership skills you developed participating in an extracurricular activity or time-management skills you learned in a prior job.

11. Go beyond your work history, and include all relevant experience.

If you are new to the workforce, or are job-hunting after being laid off, you could also include related experience that was outside of a traditional full-time job, says Ms. Watkins. For example, you can highlight volunteer work, consulting projects or educational training, all as part of making the case for your unique value, she says.

12. Don’t worry too much about gaps in your résumé.

The Covid-19 pandemic economy resulted in many people being laid off or furloughed. Ms. Watkins says the 2020 job market reminds her of 2008, when she worked as a recruiter. The expectation at that time, she says, was that candidates would have  gaps  on their résumés or list more short-term positions. While it isn’t necessary to directly address the gaps in your résumé, you should be  prepared to talk about them in an interview . “The focus should not be centered on the fact that you were furloughed or laid off, it should be focused on you and your skills and what you do that impacts the company’s bottom line in a positive way,” Ms. Watkins says.

While it is common to list the months and years you started and ended positions in the job history section, you could just use years. This will draw less attention to a six- or eight-month gap, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. 

13. Highlight relevant skills.

It is common to  add a skills section to your résumé , outlining expertise relevant to the position. You can include languages you speak, technical skills or courses you have done. If you lack experience, you can also complete some trainings, which you can find on LinkedIn and elsewhere, related to the job you are applying for and add the courses in this section, says Ms. Jennings.

14. Prioritize work experience over education.

The professional experience you have had is often more relevant to the position than your education history, which is why the work experience should be listed first. In the “Education” section, you should list where you attended college, if applicable, or the highest level of education you have attained. If you graduated with honors, you can flag that, but it isn’t necessary to list your GPA.

15. If you are early on in your career, a key résumé tip is to limit it to one page. 

If you are early on in your career, you should limit your résumé to one page. It is OK to start spilling onto a second page after you have eight to 10 years of experience, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. 

16. Add some color for a stylish résumé that sets you apart. 

Your résumé should look clean and professional and you should keep applicant tracking systems in mind when formatting the document. But, if it is appropriate, you can add subtle accents of color in the section headings or in bars that separate sections as a way to differentiate your résumé. Ms. Leavy-Detrick doesn’t overstress the need for good design with her clients. “But it can definitely help,” she says. “When I say design, I don’t mean crazy graphic design. I mean having a polished application,” she says. “Think of it the same way you would coming dressed to an interview, it is part of your presentation, and so many people overlook this on the résumé.”

It may be appropriate to incorporate a more creative and graphic-based layout depending on the field in which you work and where you are applying. If you are applying for a position in a creative field, and you are emailing your résumé directly to a hiring manager, then it can be appropriate to use more designs, says Ms. Jennings. But if you are applying to a large company that uses an applicant tracking system or job portal, she says it is best to avoid using graphics unless you are working with a résumé writer who can help you get your resume through the system.

17. Proofread and double-check the formatting.

You may be eager to send your résumé or submit your application, but you should take the time to first check for typos and grammatical errors. You could also have a friend or family member look over it. When you are checking for errors, be sure to double-check the formatting. Sometimes the spacing can get thrown off when you save the file, so check how it looks as a saved document and, if you can, save it as a PDF before sending. 

18. Make sure the saved file name includes your name. 

Make less work for the hiring manager by including your full name in the file name of the résumé document.

What to read next

• How to Prepare for a Job Interview
• What Questions to Ask During a Job Interview
• Common Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
• How to Dress for a Job Interview
• How to Write a Thank-You Email After a Job Interview  
• How to Negotiate and Counter a Job Offer
• How to Negotiate Salary for a New Job: The Do’s and Don’ts
• Severance Pay: What It Is and Why You Should Negotiate a Package Before Accepting a Job

Corrections & Amplifications Ashley Watkins is a résumé writer with Write Step Résumés LLC. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Write Steps LLC. (Corrected on Nov. 20)

Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the November 23, 2020, print edition as '11 Résumé Tips to Help You Get Noticed

Middle East latest: Israel issues new evacuation orders in Gaza

Israel has issued new evacuation orders in Gaza as its military campaign continues more than 10 months since the war against Hamas began. Meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah are said to be wary of escalating their own conflict. Below, watch military analyst Sean Bell assess the situation.

Monday 26 August 2024 13:04, UK

• Israel-Hamas war

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• Israel issues new evacuation orders in Gaza
• Oil tanker still on fire days after Houthi attack in Red Sea
• Militant group Hezbollah launches drone and rocket attack on Israel 
• Israel struck pre-emptively in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based
• Israel and Hezbollah 'trade messages' urging against escalation
• Watch: How attacks from both sides unfolded
• Watch: How strong is Hezbollah?
• Analysis : What does Hezbollah mean by 'phase one'?
• Alex Rossi: Great peril remains of wider Middle East conflict
• Live reporting by Samuel Osborne

We're pausing our coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

Here are the main developments today:

• Israel and Hezbollah have reportedly exchanged messages aimed at preventing further escalation after both sides traded heavy fire on Sunday;
• The exchanges came after weeks of tensions following the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon last month;
• Our international correspondent Alex Rossi said while another dangerous moment appears to be passing, the Middle East remains at great peril of a devastating wider conflict;
• You can watch military analyst Sean Bell assess the situation between Hezbollah and Israel below.
• In the Red Sea, a Greek-flagged vessel attacked by Houthi rebels last week is still burning today;
• The group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza;
• Israel has today issued new evacuation orders in Gaza as its 10-month military campaign there continues;
• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 40,435 Palestinians have now been killed since 7 October , with 93,534 injured.

That's all for now.

Some 40,435 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry has announced.

It added that 93,534 have been injured during that time.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

Seven Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military strikes today, medics have told the Reuters news agency.

Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people are sheltering and where Israel has issued an evacuation order.

Two more were killed at a school near the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its count.

Israel has issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, forcing more families to flee the area.

Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza in recent days - the most since the beginning of the 10-month war - saying its forces intended to act against Hamas and other groups in the areas.

The Deir Al-Balah municipality said Israel's evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people.

The orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken shelter.

Family displaced 11 times

One woman said she and her children had been displaced 11 times.

Sawasn Abu Afesh told Reuters she has "no money for transportation" and would have to make the journey on foot, while three of her children had been left behind.

"No idea where," she said.

Israel was unable to anticipate the time and place of Hezbollah's "limited and managed attack," showing it has "lost its deterrent power", Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has claimed.

Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early on Sunday, while Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to ward off a greater attack.

Iran praised and congratulated Hezbollah's "unique response against several vital and strategic targets" in Israel, Mr Kanaani said.

"Hezbollah's decisive response proved that the enemy's crimes do not go unanswered."

Mr Kanaani said Israel was unable to predict "the time and place" of attacks against it despite "the comprehensive support of its supporters, including the US".

Yesterday the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched an attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of one of its commanders in Beirut - with Israel pre-empting the move with its own airstrikes.

The attacks from both sides followed the death of top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in a strike in Beirut's southern suburbs in July.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously described Shukr as "one of the most wanted terrorists in the world".

Its army said Hezbollah had been planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles towards Israel - as the Iranian-backed group, which is designated a terrorist organisation by several countries including the UK, had promised to retaliate.

Flights to and from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport were temporarily suspended on Sunday after the attacks broke out, but have since resumed.

So what is Hezbollah and will it play a role in the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East?

An oil tanker has been on fire since Friday after it was attacked by Yemen's Houthis, the EU Red Sea naval mission Aspides has said.

Fire and smoke could be seen coming from the Greek-flagged Sounion's main deck in photos published by the EU mission.

The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, attacked the oil tanker in the Red Sea last week.

The group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Fires were observed on at least five locations on the main deck of the vessel and part of the superstructure is on fire too, Aspides said.

"So far there are no obvious signs of an oil spill," it added.

Satellite image captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Satellite 2 showed smoke rising from the vessel at sea.

Aspides has warned the oil tanker, which is carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, may pose an environmental hazard.

By Alex Rossi , international correspondent

Another dangerous moment appears to be passing in this disastrous conflict, but great peril remains for Israel, Lebanon and the wider region.

Israel's pre-emptive strike and Hezbollah's retaliatory attack for the assassination of their top commander in late July risked plunging both sides into all-out war.

That nightmare scenario appears to be fading for now, but all the dynamics for a much bigger conflict remain.

Effectively the stand-off - with each side sending messages with bombs and rockets - continues.

Watch: How Israeli and Hezbollah strikes unfolded

A dangerous spiral

The Israelis and Hezbollah are signalling that they do not seek a wider war but the risk of accident and miscalculation remains.

Both sides are also under pressure to do more, which could also lead to a dangerous spiral.

There are people behind Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah who are urging a more forceful response to Israel's continued assault on Gaza.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has very loud voices in his ear telling him to launch a major operation against the Lebanese militant group to force it back from the border and allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return home.

Great danger so long as Gaza war continues

The problem is that violence often ends up having its own logic and can take actors in directions they may not foresee.

It may not be in Israel or Hezbollah's interest to fight a major war, but it may happen anyway.

And the consequences would be disastrous, with significant damage and casualties on both sides.

The key to dialling down the tensions would be a ceasefire in Gaza, but for the moment that seems to be out of reach, meaning great danger lies ahead.

Polio vaccines for more than a million people have been delivered to Gaza, Israel's military has said.

Five lorries with special refrigeration equipment for vaccine storage were brought into Gaza on Friday and the jabs arrived on Sunday, a statement by the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs said.

It said vaccinations will be conducted by international and local medical teams at "various locations", in coordination with Israel's military as part of "routine humanitarian pauses" to allow people to reach health centres.

It comes after the first confirmed case of the disease in the territory in a quarter of a century, with other cases suspected after the virus was detected in wastewater in six different locations in July.

Aid groups have plans to vaccinate more than 600,000 children under 10 and have called for an urgent pause in fighting. The UN has aimed to bring 1.6 million doses of polio vaccine into Gaza.

What is polio?

Polio is a highly contagious infection that is transmitted mainly through contact with contaminated waste, water, or food. 

It can cause difficulty breathing and irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. It strikes young children in particular and can sometimes be fatal.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in crowded tent camps, where they lack clean water or proper disposal for sewage and rubbish - with families sometimes using wastewater to drink or clean dishes.

Israel and Hezbollah traded their most intense fire for months in the early hours of Sunday before pulling back hours later, with both sides saying they wanted to avoid further escalation.

Hezbollah claimed to hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv in a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones. 

Israel claimed its attacks in southern Lebanon had been pre-emptive to avert a larger assault by Hezbollah. 

Our military analyst Sean Bell explains more:

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New updates issued on student loan forgiveness credit during save plan forbearance.

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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 30: U.S. President Joe Biden is joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona ... [+] (L) speaks on his student loan forgiveness plan at the White House on June 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Education Department unveiled some important updates to published guidance for borrowers pursuing student loan forgiveness who are being impacted by the ongoing SAVE plan forbearance .

SAVE, which stands for Saving on a Valuable Education, is a new income-driven repayment program launched by the Biden administration last fall. The plan has several significant benefits including reduced payments, a subsidy that prevents loan balances from ballooning due to interest, and eventual student loan forgiveness. But this spring, after millions of borrowers had already enrolled in SAVE or were converted from REPAYE, its predecessor plan, two groups of Republican-led states filed legal challenges seeking to block the program.

Earlier this month, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a sweeping injunction that halts implementation of the SAVE plan. As a result of the court order, the Education Department has put millions of borrowers into a forbearance, and temporarily has stopped processing IDR applications, leaving many Americans in limbo as the litigation continues.

Here are the latest updates, and what borrowers need to know about IDR, PSLF, and student loan forgiveness as the SAVE plan forbearance continues.

How The SAVE Plan Forbearance Works For Those Pursuing Student Loan Forgiveness

During the SAVE plan forbearance, covered borrowers will not have to make payments on their student loans. In addition, no interest will accrue, so their balances will not grow.

But the time spent in the forbearance will not count toward student loan forgiveness under IDR plans, or for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. PSLF is a separate program that permits student loan forgiveness in as little as 10 years for borrowers who are employed full-time for qualifying nonprofit or government organizations, although most borrowers need to be in an IDR plan in order to make qualifying payments. PSLF is not being challenged as part of the SAVE plan litigation, but borrowers pursuing PSLF may be impacted, as the forbearance effectively pauses student loan forgiveness progress .

New Password Hacking Warning For Gmail, Facebook And Amazon Users

Trump vs. harris 2024 polls: harris’ lead grows—winning by 5 points in one survey, today’s nyt mini crossword clues and answers for thursday, august 29th, new guidance narrows idr options for those looking to switch plans to resume loan forgiveness progress.

Previously, the Education Department had indicated that borrowers in the SAVE plan forbearance could switch to a different IDR plan to maintain progress toward loan forgiveness under IDR and PSLF. The department had said that any of the other IDR plans would be available, if borrowers qualify.

However, the updated guidance issued on Monday provides a more complicated picture of alternative IDR options. “Borrowers may apply for the following income-driven repayment (IDR) plans: SAVE (previously known as REPAYE) and Income-Based Repayment (IBR),” says the guidance.

Previously, the department had indicated that borrowers could also apply for Income-Contingent Repayment or Pay-As-You-Earn, but the new guidance restricts access to those plans.

“Borrowers should note that under the court’s injunction, no new enrollments are being accepted for the PAYE or ICR Plans, with two exceptions: borrowers who applied for the PAYE or ICR Plan before July 1, 2024, and borrowers who applied for the PAYE or ICR plan between July 18 and August 9, if approved for that plan, and borrowers with a consolidation loan that repaid a parent PLUS loan can continue to enroll in the ICR Plan (but not the PAYE Plan),” says the department.

By way of background, PAYE and ICR were supposed to be phased out for new borrowers starting on July 1 under the SAVE plan regulations. But the 8th Circuit’s actions scrambled those rules. The court issued a temporary stay on July 18, then broadened that stay into a more sweeping injunction on August 9. The Education Department appears to be allowing new enrollments in PAYE and ICR for those who applied during the administrative stay period, but not after the court enacted the injunction.

Complications Remain For Switching IDR Plans, Says Updated Student Loan Forgiveness Guidance

As a practical matter, borrowers applying for IDR plans or looking to switch should be aware of several important considerations:

First, the online IDR application remains down. Borrowers can apply via a paper application, but “Borrowers should also note that, as result of the injunction, servicers have temporarily paused processing of IDR applications until we can ensure applications are processed correctly,” says the updated guidance. “Borrowers should expect a lengthy delay in processing of applications, especially for borrowers applying for SAVE/REPAYE. We do not currently have an estimate of how long this will take.”

In addition, as long as SAVE remains blocked, borrowers can apply for SAVE, but they won’t be permitted to actually enroll unless the injunction is lifted. “Borrowers are still permitted to apply for IDR plans, including SAVE (previously known as REPAYE), even though the court has enjoined some of the SAVE and other IDR plan provisions,” says the department. But, “once applications are processed, borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE Plan may be placed in a general forbearance if litigation remains ongoing or servicers cannot calculate payments at the amounts required by court orders. In this general forbearance, interest will not accrue, and time spent in this general forbearance will not count toward PSLF or IDR forgiveness.”

Taken together, the new guidance effectively means that for many borrowers, the only real option to switch from SAVE to another IDR plan is Income-Based Repayment, also known as IBR. IBR can be a much more expensive plan than SAVE, and also has a partial financial hardship requirement that may prevent some borrowers with higher incomes from enrolling.

“We encourage borrowers to review the specifics of each IDR plan as borrowers make the best choices for their circumstances,” says the department’s new guidance. “For example, if a borrower enrolls in IBR and then moves to a different repayment plan, accrued and unpaid interest will capitalize.”

Processing Forbearance Could Be A Workaround For Borrowers Close To Student Loan Forgiveness

In its new guidance, the Education Department makes a distinction between a “general forbearance” and a “processing forbearance:”

• A general forbearance can be for a variety of circumstances, and is the type of forbearance being imposed on borrowers enrolled in, or applying to, the SAVE plan. Time spent in the general forbearance does not count toward student loan forgiveness under IDR or PSLF.
• A processing forbearance is a type of forbearance that is briefly imposed on borrowers while certain applications, such as for IDR plans, are processed. Under new regulations enacted last year, a processing forbearance can count toward loan forgiveness under IDR or PSLF, albeit for a limited time.

“If servicers need time to process a borrower’s IDR application, servicers will move the borrower into a processing forbearance for up to 60 days,” says the updated Education Department guidance. “Interest accrues during this short-term processing forbearance, and it is eligible for PSLF and IDR for up to 60 days.”

This means that borrowers applying for an IDR plan, or seeking to switch from SAVE to IBR, could be placed into a processing forbearance for a month or two. While interest will accrue during that time period, it will count toward loan forgiveness under IDR and PSLF. This may not matter for many borrowers, but for those who are very close to their loan forgiveness threshold under either IDR or PSLF, that extra month or two could be enough to get them over the edge.

But there’s a significant caveat. “If the borrower’s application is not processed within in 60 days, the borrower will be moved into a general forbearance that does not count toward PSLF or IDR until their application is processed,” says the department.

The Education Department reiterated in its updated guidance that the new PSLF buyback program remains a possible workaround for those on track for student loan forgiveness under PSLF.

What Comes Next For Student Loan Forgiveness Rollercoaster

The Biden administration has appealed the 8th Circuit’s ruling to the Supreme Court . The nation’s highest court is also potentially considering a separate appeal from the 10th Circuit, which reached the opposite conclusion and allowed the SAVE plan to move forward while litigation over the program continues. The starkly different legal conclusions likely increases the chances that the Supreme Court will take up the matter — either issuing a relatively narrow decision only on the scope and effect of the injunction while the legal battles continue in the lower courts, or a broader ruling on the SAVE plan itself.

In the meantime, borrowers still face enormous uncertainty as the SAVE plan forbearance continues.

“The court order is preventing the Department from offering the SAVE Plan while litigation continues,” says the guidance. “Borrowers will be in this forbearance until the legal situation changes or servicers are able to send bills to borrowers at the appropriate monthly payment amount.”

“The terms of the SAVE Plan and other IDR plans are subject to the outcome of ongoing litigation,” warns the department — apparently referencing the fact that the 8th Circuit’s ruling called into question student loan forgiveness under other IDR plans, as well .

The recent court rulings threaten millions of borrowers “who have dutifully repaid their loans for up to 25 years by denying forgiveness that has been available under law for three decades,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement earlier this month. “We remain committed to supporting borrowers and fighting for the most affordable repayment options possible for millions of people across the country.”

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