How to Write a BigLaw Resume

BigLaw screeners review hundreds of resumes during OCI. Most get 30 seconds. Yours needs to communicate the right things immediately and clearly. Here's how to build one that works.

Format: One Page, No Exceptions

Your resume must be one page. Single page. No matter what. A two-page resume from a law student signals poor judgment, you haven't done enough to justify two pages, and the reader doesn't have time for two pages anyway.

Use a clean, traditional format. Times New Roman or a similar serif font. Consistent margins. Clear section headers. No graphics, no color, no creative layouts. BigLaw is conservative; your resume should be too.

The Sections

Education

List your law school first, then undergrad. Include:

• School name, degree, expected graduation date
• GPA and class rank (if favorable, see our post on what firms look for on transcripts)
• Journal membership and position
• Moot court, clinics, and relevant coursework
• Scholarships or honors

Experience

List your legal experience first, then pre-law experience if it's relevant. For each position:

• Organization name, your title, dates
• 2-3 bullet points describing what you did, not what the organization does
• Use action verbs: "Researched," "Drafted," "Analyzed," "Assisted with"
• Be specific: "Researched enforceability of non-compete agreements under Texas law" beats "Conducted legal research"

For pre-law work experience, include it if it's substantive or explains your narrative. See our dedicated post on pre-law work experience.

Activities and Interests

Keep this section short but don't skip it. List law school activities (with leadership roles highlighted), community involvement, and, yes, a few personal interests. Partners use the interests line as a conversation starter. Make it genuine. More on this in our post on listing activities.

What to Emphasize

Academic credentials. Like it or not, GPA and school name are the first screen. If your numbers are strong, make them easy to find.

Writing experience. Journal, writing competitions, legal writing courses, writing-intensive jobs. BigLaw is a writing profession. Every signal of writing ability helps.

Relevant legal experience. Internships, externships, clinics, research assistant positions. These show you understand what legal work looks like.

Leadership. President of a student org, editor-in-chief of a journal, team lead at a previous job. Firms want people who take initiative.

Common Mistakes

Too much description, not enough impact. Don't describe what your employer does. Describe what you did.

Burying the lead. Your GPA, school, and journal should be findable in under five seconds.

Inconsistent formatting. Misaligned dates, inconsistent punctuation, different font sizes. These signal carelessness, the opposite of what you want in a profession built on precision.

Including everything. Your high school, your sorority from undergrad, your part-time retail job from freshman year, if it doesn't strengthen your candidacy, cut it.

Before You Submit

Print your resume. Read it out loud. Have a career services counselor review it. Then compare the firms you're targeting on the firm directory to tailor your cover letter to match. The resume is the foundation; the cover letter is where you customize.

For cover letter advice, see our guide on how to write a BigLaw cover letter.