Write a Law Student Resume for Firms and Clerkships
Law student resume example with journal, clinic and research keywords, plus a guide to the one-page format firms and judges expect from students.
Example Law Student summary
Second-year law student with a semester in the immigration clinic representing asylum applicants, a journal note in publication review, and a corporate summer internship where seven research memoranda were written in ten weeks. Teaching assistant for first-year legal writing and a moot court quarterfinalist. Seeking a litigation summer position with courtroom exposure.
Skills to list on a Law Student resume
- Legal research
- Westlaw and Lexis
- Legal writing and memoranda
- Bluebook citation
- Case briefing and analysis
- Client interviewing
- Clinic advocacy
- Moot court and oral argument
- Journal cite checking
- Document review
- Statutory interpretation
- Research presentations
What actually gets this resume read
- Keep it to one page and lead with education, including your school, expected graduation and any journal or honors.
- List the clinic by name and say what you did under supervision, because clinic work is the closest thing you have to practice.
- Give your journal role a line of substance: your note topic, your editing duties, and the volume you worked on.
- Put class rank or honors only if they help, and use the exact terms your school uses rather than inventing a label.
- Include pre-law work experience when it shows responsibility, language skill or an industry a firm serves.
- Add an interests line with two or three genuine, specific items, because interviewers open with it more often than students expect.