Build an Associate Attorney Resume Firms Move Forward
Associate attorney resume examples with practice group keywords, plus a guide to law school credentials, billables and matter descriptions.
Example Associate Attorney summary
Associate attorney with three years in a commercial litigation group, billing close to two thousand hours a year while leading discovery on six active matters. Drafts dispositive briefing that partners file largely unchanged, has taken 14 fact depositions, and manages e-discovery vendors through production. Former judicial law clerk and journal editor seeking a midlevel associate seat in a litigation practice.
Skills to list on a Associate Attorney resume
- Legal research
- Brief and memorandum drafting
- Motion practice
- Discovery and document review
- E-discovery platforms
- Privilege review
- Fact depositions
- Contract review
- Due diligence
- Client correspondence
- Cite checking
- Westlaw and Lexis
- Billable time management
- Trial support
What actually gets this resume read
- Name the practice group by its real label, such as commercial litigation or fund formation, not just the word law.
- Give billable hours if they are healthy, because a firm reading an associate resume is estimating your ramp time.
- Show ownership: what you drafted first, what you argued, which depositions you took rather than merely attended.
- Keep law school details until your fifth year: journal, moot court, class rank if strong, and any clerkship.
- List the document review platform and case management tools you have actually run, not everything you have opened.
- Describe matters by industry and posture so a hiring partner can match you against their current client roster.