Crafting a Standout Resume for Law School

If you’re applying to law school, you’re probably spending a lot of time and energy on the application process—and maybe hoping to save yourself some effort where you can! We get it.

But trust us: your law school resume is not the place to cut corners. Don’t just attach whatever resume you’ve been using up until now to your law school application!

Each piece of your entire application should stand out, showing the admissions committee why you are not only going to make a great law student, but also why you’re a perfect fit for their school and its culture.

It may seem like a reach, but it’s really important to shape your entire application, including your law school resume, for your readers—in this case, the admissions officers from your target law schools.

In this post, we’ll cover FAQs about resumes for law school, including:

• The dos and don’ts of what should be on a law school application resume
• How to write a law school resume
• The difference between writing a personal statement vs. resume
• Best practices for tailoring resumes for top law schools and what top schools are looking for in law school resumes
• Differences (if any) between law school resumes for different kinds of applicants
• Our best advice for how to format a resume for law school applications
• Sample resumes and resume templates

And a lot more. Let’s get started!

The dos and don’ts of what should be on a law school application resume

A law school resume should primarily include your contact information, educational background, highlighting your academic achievements, awards and honors, significant leadership roles, community service, or work experience. All of your details should be easy to read and understand, and presented in a professional, concise format.

And remember: never exaggerate on your resume, especially when you’re applying to law school. Tell the truth.

Here is a basic list of what to put on a law school resume:

An education section

This should include:

• Your GPA from your undergrad years (and from grad school, if you went) but not high school
• The name and location of your University, what degree you earned, and your major and minor
• Your graduation date
• Relevant coursework, such as pre-law or political science courses
• Academic achievements, honors, and awards such as making the Dean’s List

A work experience section

This should include:

• All relevant roles, including internships
• Job titles and company names
• Key responsibilities, promotions, and accomplishments, especially those that demonstrate legal skills like analysis, communication, critical thinking, research, writing, or problem-solving
• Highlight leadership roles you’ve held

A section with leadership and extracurricular activities

This should include:

• Work you have done, and especially leadership positions you have taken, in student organizations, community service groups, or professional associations
• Relevant volunteer work, outreach initiatives, and advocacy experience
• Any significant contributions or achievements within these roles

A separate section with skills and abilities

This should include:

• Any evidence of strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• Any evidence of excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Any evidence of research and legal writing abilities
• Proficiency with relevant software (like Westlaw or Lexis/Nexis)
• Language fluency other than English (if applicable)
• Any relevant certifications such as business law or compliance certificates

Can I include part-time work on my law school application resume?

Yes, you should absolutely include part-time work experience on your law school resume. Law schools want to see a complete picture of your work experience, including part-time jobs and internships. These kinds of experiences demonstrate your ability to juggle many responsibilities and commitment to doing so while pursuing your education.

Of course, always be transparent about part-time status. If you want or need to clarify this, indicate that the role was part-time next to the job title.

How can I highlight my extracurricular activities on a law school resume?

Here are a few tips for putting your extracurricular activities in the best light for a law school admissions committee:

• Prioritize activities that showcase your interest in law, like volunteer work with legal aid organizations, participating in mock trial competitions, or joining law-related student organizations.
• Emphasize leadership positions within clubs or community service organizations, as this demonstrates your ability to manage projects and motivate others.
• Don’t just list activities; describe specific actions you took and the positive outcomes achieved.
• Highlight skills like advocacy, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and research that you developed through your extracurriculars.

Should I put my LSAT score or GPA on my law school resume? Does it matter how high my score is—and what is a good LSAT score in this context?

Unless the law school application specifically requests it, you don’t need to include your LSAT score in your law school resume. Each school you apply to will already get your LSAT score from the LSAC credential assembly service (CAS).

The don’t list: what not to put on a resume for law school

There are a few categories of things to keep out of your law school resume:

• Irrelevant or unnecessary information
• Duplicative information
• Red flags

Obviously, red flags are the biggest things to avoid! But you want to avoid all of these kinds of information. Here’s what we mean.

Lots of details that you might have included on a standard professional resume are irrelevant to law school. For example, none of these should be on your law school resume:

• Details about high school. These are just not relevant in most cases.
• An objective section. They know what your objective is: getting into law school! Leave this out.
• Technical skills from your professional life that don’t translate into legal work or law school.
• Personal details like your marital status, religion, or nationality.

Other information is duplicative, meaning that the admissions committee will get those details elsewhere:

• References shouldn’t be in your resume, because when you’re applying to law school, letters of recommendation take their place.
• Similarly, your LSAT score will come from CAS, so don’t bother including it here, too.

Finally, red flags. Obviously, you don’t want any of these in your resume for law school!

• Unsubstantiated claims or exaggerations will be viewed as a bad sign by admissions officers. Sometimes people get tempted, especially when they’re addressing gaps on a law school resume. But if you have gaps, just address them honestly. For example, just tell them you were laid off, or caring for family, or traveling—whatever really happened. You can provide more details in your personal statement if you need to.
• Bad formatting, typos, and other errors mark you as careless, or worse, an applicant that isn’t skilled enough to make the cut. No client wants someone making these kinds of errors in work that will affect their livelihood or future.

How to write a law school resume

Now you have the basics of what should and shouldn’t be in this thing. So how do you actually go about writing it?

Here are some best practices for law school resumes that have been proven over time.

• Keep the formatting simple. No flashy graphics, no weird fonts. Stick to words and Times New Roman. Remember, the legal profession is conservative overall.
• Be clear. Avoid confusing gaps and list the elements in each section in reverse chronological order (the most recent thing at the top).
• Use bullet points correctly. Bullets can really save space and make your resume easier to read, but only if you do them right:
  • Keep them short—three lines or less for each one.
  • More than three or four bullets are likely to get some skipped, so limit them to the best few for each section.
  • No jargon, including legalese and Latin. Start each point with an action verb like “Led a team…”
  • When you can, quantify your achievements, and give specific details.
• Make it readable. Even when you’re not using bullets, use short, simple sentences and action verbs rather than the passive voice. And always proofread your work!

Keep these tips for a standout law school resume in mind, and if you want more guidance, check out this article on how to write a law school resume.

What are the differences between the personal statement and the law school resume?

The main differences between a law school resume and a personal statement are the purpose, length, and focus.

The purpose of a law school resume is to provide an overview of your academic and professional history. The goal of a personal statement is to show who you are as a person and why you’re a great fit for the law school.

A resume for law school is usually one or two pages long, although some schools specify that they want one-pagers. Read those directions! A law school personal statement typically comes with a maximum word count attached to it, or a maximum number of pages. Most end up being around two to four pages long.

A law school resume focuses on your academic achievements, while a personal statement focuses on your experiences, your outlook, and what they say about you and your aptitude for legal study.

What are top law schools looking for in resumes from applicants?

Several top schools offer resources for writing a law school resume:

• This Harvard Law School law school resume toolkit offers a video, blog posts, and details about the HLS requirements.
• Yale also offers some great resources, including resume advice and samples and a Yale podcast from law school admissions officers about law school resumes (Part One and Part Two)
• UPenn Law School offers these tips on how to convert a job resume to a law school resume.
• Boston University School of Law provides this legal resume handbook including sample resumes.

And if you’d like a little more information from a different source, check out this article on tailoring resumes for top law schools.

Law school application resumes for different kinds of applicants

Is there any difference between a law school resume for undergrads and resumes for other kinds of candidates? For example, if you’re a transfer student, should you do anything different? What if you’re a gap year applicant?

A law school resume for gap year applicants should address the year off honestly, and as constructively as possible. Try and fill your gap year with meaningful pursuits, and when you do, list them on your resume. But don’t exaggerate! If you do have large gaps of time, you can explain them in an addendum—the resume is not the place to do more than explain, with dates, what you were doing when.

A law school resume for transfer students will need to include an extra school in the education section. Don’t forget to list honors, academic achievements, and other relevant details. There is no need to indicate why you are attempting to transfer unless it is a particularly compelling reason. (Hint: a higher rank is not considered to be a good reason; the presence of a program or clinic at the target school that doesn’t exist where you are right now is.)

What is the best format for a law school resume?

At the very top, make sure you include all of your contact information. Do not include personal details or a photo unless the law school asks for those things.

Stick to the four separate sections we discussed above: education, work experience, leadership and extracurriculars, and skills and abilities. Each section should list things in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent school, job, extracurricular, or acquired skill is at the top.

How long should my law school resume be? Each school is different and may have its own rules—be sure to check the directions for each of your applications. But generally, one to two pages is right. Don’t mess with your formatting to fit into this length. Keep the margins about one inch, and use a standard 12-point font like Times New Roman.

Use bullet points where you can to pack more information into less space. Keep them easy to read and short. Start each point with an action verb if you can.

And remember, the most important step in making sure the formatting is right is proofreading. Don’t skip this, and if you know it’s not your strength, make sure someone else reads your resume. Many applicants get someone else to edit and proofread their personal statement, but then fail to give their law school resume the same treatment. This is a mistake!

Sample resumes and resume templates for law school

Here is a resource with law school resume templates and examples from SUNY Buffalo complete with commentary that can be useful.

And we’ve included a sample law school resume of our own here:

EDUCATION

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles, CA

HONORS AND AWARDS

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CAMPUS ACTIVITIES AND LEADERSHIP

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