What is a Legal Internship Resume?
A legal internship resume is a specialized form of a resume and is different from standard resumes in two primary ways. First, it’s geared towards legal work and second, it’s more focused on practical legal skills. Instead of highlighting your previous experience in restaurant service or retail, a legal internship resume is focused on the legal issues and experiences that are relevant to being a summer intern.
It’s important to note that while a legal internship resume is specialized in the sense that it’s geared towards law and legal issues, that doesn’t mean it should be focused on law school coursework. While it’s helpful if you’ve taken courses relevant to the position you are applying for, such as criminal justice for a criminal law internship, your resume should not be solely focused on what was taught in class. Instead, you should focus your resume on the skills you have developed that relate to the internship you’re applying for.
Your audience is key when it comes to understanding legal internship resumes. More specifically, think about who typically reviews summer internships and what they’re looking for. In most instances, the audience for summer interns tends to be comprised of attorneys who are busy with practicing law (which is why they need assistance) and are not necessarily trained or experienced in reviewing resumes. What this means for you is that legal internship resumes should be written in plain language, avoiding as much "legalese" as possible. You should also avoid using legal jargon, abbreviations, acronyms or any other kind of insider information that could alienate a potential employer.
When it comes to writing legal internship resumes, think of them like a legal document. This is not the time to be flashy with colorful or elaborate designs . Show off your creativity when writing your cover letter or during an in-person interview, but not on your resume. Avoid using colors, ornamental typefaces or excessive graphics. Save the décor for the party and keep your resume simple and concise.
Another element of a legal internship resume you should pay close attention to is the length. Ideally, a summer legal internship resume should be one page, with some exceptions. If you can fit everything you need to say on a single page, without sacrificing the quality, then you should definitely do that. Otherwise, a two-page resume is acceptable. In the legal profession, resumes longer than two pages are typically frowned upon, unless there are special requirements that call for longer resumes, such as a government or academic position.
Since your goal is to keep your resume to a single page or possibly two pages, it’s recommended that you omit information that is extraneous to the position you’re applying for. Focus instead on your relevant experience, education, legal skills and the like. This is not the time to list every job you’ve ever held or all the volunteer work you’ve ever done. Understand that legal employers are likely to only review your resume for a few minutes, so you need to make your experience relevant to the employer’s needs.
You should also be especially careful when writing legal internship resumes, because regardless of the position or firm, almost all legal employers will be looking for the same thing from a summer intern – attention to detail. If you’re not paying attention to detail when writing technical documents like a resume, then potential employers may question your skills to be an intern and what else you may be careless with.
Legal Internship Resume Components
When it comes to law students, there are no guarantees that you will get a lucrative summer associate gig with a top law firm. But while you are in law school you can control what you do with your time and your efforts during the semester and summer. If your law school has a career services office it is probably a good idea to at least know their thoughts on what employers want to see in your resume, and what you should be doing (and not doing) as you serve your summer clerkships. First off, here is the skinny on what your resume needs to be regarding length and format: Employers do not want to read lengthy resumes of 2-3 pages. They want your vital information in brief form, clearly listed so they can quickly scan it and get to the meat of who you are. The tough part is that you want them to get to the point in the resume that may really sell you for a position. It is a matter of giving pertinent information and keeping it all on one page, without going too far overboard. Contact Information – put all your personal information at the top. This includes your legal name, permanent address, current address, email address, telephone number, professional social media links, and bar admission (if you have one at this time). If your school requires a specific header, you will have to use it. Career Objective Statement – again, if your school has a header you need to use, it may have a space for this and you need to use it. If not, you may choose to write a career objective statement and place it below your contact information. Be careful with this – just be direct about your abilities and what you are looking for in an internship position. You don’t need to put anything in the objective that can be inferred by your education and work experience. You want to avoid anything that could be considered negative or contradictory. Education – this follows your objective statement. You must write the name of your law school, the month and year you expect to graduate, any undergraduate degree(s) you received and what your major was, and any honors you received during your undergraduate or law school years. You also want to list any post-graduate education, but if not, just finish with the word "none." Unless you have really glowing references for your post-graduate education and a thesis you want to highlight, don’t go hog-wild here. Relevant Coursework – this goes directly under your education information or it might be called Academic Work. Just list the classes that you believe are relevant to the internship that you are applying for. For instance, if you have taken Health Law classes, mention them for a health insurance or medical malpractice position. It should be tailored to each job that you are applying for. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to list contract law or strict liability for a patent infringement position. Experience – this will contain any internships, clerkships, or legal assistant jobs. If you have worked as a paralegal you would also list that experience. It is okay to start with your current work and move backwards and you can write a good paragraph or two for each position, but don’t go overboard. You only want to highlight what is needed, and should match it to the position for which you are applying. Honors, Activities, and Associations – again, match this to the job for which you are applying. It is pretty "standard" procedure for law students to belong to the Honor Society, moot court board, and other legal interests. Do not get too specific here – they will ask you about these things in the interview only if they are really interested. Keep this part relatively short and to the point. Volunteer Work – this can be anything that shows your interest in a community effort. It can be volunteering for a hospital or food bank, or a charity event – pick anything that shows how well you work with others, especially if it is something that has to do with the law (like animal rights or environmental issues). References – at the very bottom, if you have space, list your references (except for your law school, which should be in your contact information or at the top of the reference page). If you have room, give your references’ telephone numbers. You can also include their email address or their business mailing addresses.
Listing Relevant Legal Experience
Not every experience you’ve had is legal, but many experiences involve skills and tasks that are relevant to legal work. Highlight these where you can. Be vigilant in searching for the connections between the experiences you have had and relevant legal skills or tasks. The former hiring manager at a D.C. career center had an attorney job candidate who had also been a waitress. "He thought of it as something apart from his legal skills," the manager recalled, "but it’s not. You have to deal with people, you have to be able to talk with them, you have to handle difficult situations when people are angry. It’s really all about communication. We were able to work with him to see how the HR experience he had as a waiter could inform his legal experience, but it took work."
How do you do it? Some experience you will have that is directly relevant to law firm hiring managers, and some won’t be. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be relevant. If you worked at a summer camp, you likely had many responsibilities that required leadership, patience and perseverance. If you were a waitress, for example, you likely had to manage people and busy demands of the public. If you volunteered at a shelter or clinic, you likely worked one-on-one with people in need of help. While these aren’t direct experiences from the legal field, they’re experiences in which you demonstrated essential legal skills: people skills, attention to detail and clear, concise communication.
Likewise, take the time to parse out your work into separate categories. Perhaps your job involved many different tasks. Maybe you were an executive assistant, but you also did some basic research. Those tasks that required skills that can be transferred to law office functions should be highlighted as such.
Consider these tips for additional framing for your resume: If appropriate, frame your skills as relevant to law firms or legal employers. For more on this, see Item 8 in this series.
Highlighting Educational Qualifications
Your educational background is one of the most important components of your legal internship resume. In fact, in the context of an internship, in which you may have minimal or little work experience beyond your academic career, your education is one of the few truly concrete and distinct things that set you apart from other candidates.
Because of this, you should clearly present your degree, any relevant coursework, your academic achievements, and provide any special projects that you feel demonstrate your commitment and initiative. In some cases, it may even be helpful to rename your degree in such a way that will be easily recognized by the employer. For example, while your degree may be called Political Science, an employer may not see the relation or the relevance this has to a legal internship position you are vying for. Depending on the level of the internship you are applying for, renaming your degree may help demonstrate how it pertains to the job you are applying for. In place of your degree’s name, using terms like "Bachelor of Laws" or "Bachelor of Jurisprudence" may help your potential employer understand your competency within the context of the law. Be sure, however, that whatever term you use is applicable at the current level of your program. For example, if you are a Juris Doctor candidate, the term "Bachelor of Laws" doesn’t apply.
Skills to Include on a Legal Internship Resume
The skills that employers value the most in a legal intern include hard skills, such as research and writing abilities, as well as soft skills focused on your interpersonal and problem-solving skills. Law firms, government agencies, and corporations are looking for interns who demonstrate an aptitude for legal research and legal writing, as well as other relevant abilities, such as: Employers find that students who can provide real-world examples from their past experiences to back up any claims about their skills stand out among their peers. For example , if you cite excellent legal writing skills on your resume, a prospective employer will want you to provide an explanation. You might give an example of a particularly successful legal writing assignment from a past legal summer job or a relevant graduate level course. If you cite your legal research skills as a strength, you might offer an example of how you successfully searched high and low for case law on a specific issue.
How to Customize Your Resume for Each Role
Customizing your resume for each application is by far the most important step of the resume writing process, and a step that some applicants often overlook. Every legal employer you are applying to may have different priorities and do things in a manner that is unique to the organization, and candidates should demonstrate an understanding of these disparities.
So how do you know what the legal internship office is looking for? The easiest way is to read the job description carefully. What do they emphasize in the job description? What do they stress as a requirement? What do they encourage you to highlight in your cover letter? The job description is the employer’s shopping list. Read it and give them exactly what they want. (Of course, don’t embellish what you can’t deliver, that will do more damage than failing to follow directions.)
Next, take a look at the employer’s website. Most legal organizations have one that provides a little background on the group. Are they working on legislative goals? Are they dealing with a lot of litigation? Do they have any special projects? As a general rule of thumb, prioritize your application the same way the organization prioritizes its work. If the organization is spending a lot of time on litigation, highlight your experience (even if it was as a witness rather than a litigator), and if the organization is doing research or lobbying, emphasize that.
Finally, if you are applying to several organizations doing similar work, take the time to differentiate your application materials. Each organization would not have written a job description and posted it online if finding the perfect candidate was easy. So consider whether there is something you could do that would show the prospective employer that you really want to work for them, and write a paragraph in the cover letter tailored to each organization. This could be something as simple as mentioning memorandum you may have read recently that relates to their work or a comment on why you find their work interesting.
Legal Internship Resume Mistakes to Omit
Though there are many dos and don’ts when it comes to legal resumes, there are a few particularly large mistakes that have been shown through research to result in elimination. By avoiding the following situations you can ensure your resume won’t by chance be "lost in the shuffle." Writing "Well-posed Application" in the Objective: Seriously. Do not do this. Writing anything that is generic is basically the same as not writing anything at all. Your objective should set an expectation of what you hope to obtain from the position and how your background makes you an excellent candidate for the specific firm and position in question. Errors of Grammar, Spelling or Punctuation: And we shouldn’t have to tell you this, but we’re listing this for a reason. There are always exceptions and rare oversights when it comes to a typographical error, especially a real life last minute print out. That said, if you’ve quadruple checked that your address is correct, but forgot to spell check, you’re going to be scratching yourself out a job. Please go back and check your resume once more. Then check it again. Then check it again. Have a friend read it. (And then check it again). It can be tempting to think that because most legal professionals are overachievers and intelligent that they will overlook any typos, but that’s exactly the opposite of why they’re selected. A typo demonstrates a lack of attention to detail, a lack of professionalism and that you’re not meticulous. Three red flags right there! Irrelevant Information: Just because you like to garden doesn’t mean that your prospective employer will give you a free pass because you now have something in common. Avoid listing anything that has no relation to your experience as a legal professional. This also means feeling pressure from your school or peers to enter in information you feel is unnecessary or irrelevant. Remember your resume should reflect who you are as a person, as well as a professional in the field of law. Big Blocks of Text: Though there are times when it may be necessary, long passages are generally frowned upon. Writing long, rambling paragraphs that make your reader lose interest isn’t a good way to start off on the right foot. Using two columns can help facilitate easy reading by breaking apart information and organizing it in a manner that allows employers to skim it with ease.
Final Tips to Create a Professional Legal Internship Resume
The next step to crafting a great resume is making sure it is free from errors, readable, and has the information presented clearly and consistently. You should be looking at your resume to make adjustments if necessary, and also ask someone else to give it a critical eye. Make sure you check for spelling, typos, and grammar to ensure that it is clear and easy to read. Your formatting must be consistent throughout. If you bold the internship header, then each subsequent job header should have the same size and font. Be sure there are spaces used between sections so that it is not too cluttered, and you do not want to use any special characters as bou cuses or flowers next to headings. It should be clear that it is all legal work experience and that it is easy to differential between them. Don’t forget to double-check your contact information. Normally , the top heading of the resume contains an email address, phone number, and social media link if applicable. Be sure that all of your contact information is still current, and that you do not have several different formats (such as cell phone number written out one way, and then other phone line written out differently), as this can be confusing to the reader. It’s never a bad idea to get a second objective opinion, so have a peer look over your resume to give you some feedback. With a critical eye, it will be easy for them to point out any mistakes you might have made, and they will be able to recommend changes or suggestions on how to improve it further. Sometimes you are too close to your work to find the problems, so it helps to have that extra set of eyes.