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To land the legal job you want in this fast-moving recruitment market, it’s critical to know how to write a great legal CV. But understanding how to structure and create a legal CV is only half the battle. As you move through your career in law, you'll find yourself regularly updating your legal CV as you apply for new roles in practice or in-house promotions.
If you follow our top tips for how to write a CV you should end up with a clear, concise document that presents your best side without straying into superfluous information.
But what approach should you take to a legal CV specifically, and when updating a legal CV, is it better to start from scratch, or work with what you've already got? Here we’ll take a look at some legal CV examples and show you the best way forwards.
Our guide to creating a CV is a good place to start if you're looking for a generic CV template. While this is a general structure, there are a few changes needed to make your CV legal-specific.
One difference with an entry-level legal CV or law CV is that when you are applying for a training contract, you won’t have much career experience to allude to. Therefore, the employer might want the personal statement to highlight a bit more about your interests and ambitions. However, your educational background will still be of most value, so keep the personal statement section of your legal CV template brief and concise.
When it comes to legal CVs, the more general rules apply: early in your career, your education history will be more relevant, but as you move through a career in law, your experience comes to the foreground.When updating a law CV, try to imagine how you would structure it if you were starting from scratch. It's not always easy to know when your experience has overtaken your education, but it's worth giving it some thought each time you overhaul your CV.
You might find it useful to look at some legal and law CV examples and compare them to other professions, to see how the structure and content differ. Read more of our advice on how to write a CV for your sector to see what information other industries expect you to include.
Looking to kick start your career in legal and look for a new role? View all the legal jobs currently live on the Michael Page website here.
When creating your legal CV example, it’s worth remembering that UK countries can differ slightly. England and Wales typically share a very similar legal system, but Scotland's is quite different, so make sure you make your CV relevant to the jurisdiction in which you are applying to work.
In general, a good law CV structure should include the following:
As mentioned above, this legal CV template is fluid - the personal statement can be omitted entirely if appropriate, and you might want to put your career above your education once you have more experience under your belt.
With this brief and versatile legal CV example, UK applicants should have a solid foundation to write a law CV for jobs in any part of the country. You can see a more detailed example of a good CV here.
The above tips should help you write a legal CV from scratch. But what about updating an existing legal CV in particular?
When updating a CV legal, think about your career progression. Putting your legal experience at the top of your CV sends a clear message that you are no longer a new graduate or trainee, and are ready to move on to more senior roles.
Make sure you tailor the CV to the role you are applying for. If that means making significant rewrites to change the examples of your experience that you use, then take the time to do that. Also, be sure to explain any apparent career gaps. This is particularly important for a career in law, where the employer will want to know both that your knowledge of the legal system is up to date, and also that you are a reputable legal professional.
It's crucial that you don't try to hide significant information - be positive about the reasons behind any career gaps or why you left your previous role, but don't try to gain employment by misleading the interviewer about any major events.
Regular CV updates are a good way to keep an overview of your legal career progression, even if you're not looking to change job right now - updating your legal CV will allow you to summarise your progress and identify any skills gaps.
If you think a personal statement will help strengthen your legal CV significantly, then include one. This document is all about you, so play to your strengths. Remember if you omit the personal statement, you can cover a lot of that same ground in your cover letter instead.
If you’re an in-house legal professional, be sure to check out our in-house specific legal CV template. Want more tailored career advice? Speak to one of our expert consultants today.
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