How to Write a Resume for Law School Applications

The resume you include with your law school application is crucial to your candidacy. It is worth investing time and effort into making sure it shows you at your best.

Should applicants create a resume from scratch for law school applications? If you already have a resume for the purpose of applying to jobs and programs, feel free to draw on it for your law school resume. But be aware of some critical differences.

For one, a job search resume and a resume for law school applications will be read by different audiences, and should be tailored to reflect those differences. A hiring officer would quickly scan your resume to see your work history and assess whether you align with the requirements for the position. Hiring officers will often discard most resumes received after a cursory glance and then compare remaining candidates to determine which ones to interview.

In contrast, law school admissions officers do not assess your skills and qualifications and compare you against specific requirements. They are holistically evaluating how you present yourself and how you spent your time during and after college.

Your resume is a crucial part of the holistic admissions process because it provides law school admissions officers with a window into the "data" of your life: how you have spent your time and what roles and projects have been most significant to your personal development. The resume is also an overview of your career to provide extra context by interpreting your essays, letters of recommendation, transcript, and other materials.

To tailor a resume for law school applications, take the following steps:

• Format professionally

• Simplify sections

• Write plainly

• Perfect each bullet

• Be honest and complete

Format Professionally

Navigating the information on your resume should be easy and intuitive. Flashy resumes with unique designs may help you stand out when looking for a job in a creative field, but law school admissions officers are looking for a simple, professional resume designs. Focus on concision and professionalism.

Limit yourself to one or two pages, depending on the length and breadth of your career.

Simplify Sections

Keep the sections on your resume short and simple. The standard headings are Education, Experience, and Activities. Some applicants also include Honors and/or Skills and Interests. Don't include a summary or objectives section because your goals here are self-evident.

Take out any job skills irrelevant to law school, except perhaps for advanced technical skills. Mastery of a computer programming language is impressive, but familiarity with desktop software is widespread.

Use section headings and ample spacing so that readers don't have to hunt for crucial points in a sea of text. Recent graduates may put the education section ahead of experience but list entries within each section in reverse chronological order.

Entries in the education section should include the degree and major or majors, an institution's name and location, and the graduation date. You might also list your GPA, both overall and within your major, although both numbers will appear in your transcript.

Remove anything from high school, except perhaps brief references to prizes or athletic achievements. As impressive as your young life may have been, that was your bridge to college. Now that you aspire to attend professional school, your resume should focus on adulthood.

[Next Read: How to Format Your Law School Personal Statement]

Write Plainly

Use plain without jargon or wordiness. Imagine a reader who is smart and educated but unfamiliar with your field. Take care to express your responsibilities and achievements so that anyone can understand.

For example, most people will tune out when reading a tongue-twister like: "Interfaced through client-facing interactions to implement knowledge transfer solutions for product functionality" Instead, try something like: "Met with clients to teach them how to use products effectively."

Older applicants who have been in the workforce for many years should be cautious about taking out the jargon and translating responsibilities and achievements into plain English. Terms like "deliverables," "synergy," "deal flow," "downstream," "operationalize," and "matrix" may sound vague and meaningless to admissions officers unaccustomed to corporate buzzwords.

Perfect Each Bullet

Carefully craft each bullet point on your resume. Each position or experience should rarely require more than three bullet points.

Each bullet point should be one complete sentence, although the final period is optional. Begin the sentence with an active verb in the past tense for former positions or present tense for current jobs. Highlight your role, task, or responsibilities. Be specific and concrete.

Ideally, each bullet point should provide evidence of high performance. Mention how often or how many times you did something, the results of your work, or how you compared to others in your position.

For example, "performed administrative tasks" is uselessly vague. Instead, replace that with "won praise from supervisors for courteous demeanor and efficient handling of hundreds of calls per month." 

Be Honest and Complete

Be truthful. No law school is expecting applicants to be movers and shakers. Embellishments that are at odds with other application materials like recommendation letters may undermine your credibility and turn off reviewers.

Include every significant position and avoid chronological gaps longer than a few months. At the same time, on’t stretch minor events like brief acts of community service into whole entries.

Finally, be sure comply with any specific application instructions. Then, proofread carefully! Typos or formatting glitches can look unprofessional and distract reviewers from key points.

A good resume for law school should clarify the skills and experience you bring from work, school, and other activities. Ultimately, it should frame the rest of your application into a complete picture of who you are.

[Next Read: What to Send Law Schools After You Apply, From Updates to Letters of Continued Interest]