With your format and sections set, make your experience do the heavy lifting. Partners and recruiters scan for practice area, timeline, scope, and outcomes—fast.
How to write your lawyer resume experience
Your experience section proves you can handle real matters with accountability. Show what you did, for whom, where, at what scale, and with what outcome.
Must-have fields (top of each role)
- Job title & employer: Be precise (e.g., Litigation Associate, Energy Real Estate Lawyer, In-House Counsel).
- Dates of employment: Consistent month/year format for conflict checks and seniority.
- Location: Optional (city, state/country).
Three to six bullets should show
- Matter scope & scale: Case type or deal type, dollar values, volumes, timelines, and jurisdictions.
- Your role: Led drafting/negotiation, second-seated trial, and managed vendor/junior counsel.
- Tools & procedures: Westlaw/LexisNexis, Relativity/e-discovery, Litera, VDRs (Intralinks/Datasite).
- Stakeholders: Partners/GC, cross-functional teams (Compliance, Finance, Product).
- Outcomes: wins, settlements, closings, risk/cost/time reductions.
(You’ll add deeper tailoring and quantification in the next two sections.)
Here’s what a tight, outcome-forward entry looks like.