good resume for law school

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Law school resume tips + examples: ace your application.

Reviewed by:

David Merson

Former Head of Pre-Law Office, Northeastern University, & Admissions Officer, Brown University

Reviewed: 10/25/23

Whether you already have a resume or are starting from scratch, read on to learn law school resume tips to stand out in the admissions process. 

A law school resume summarizes your achievements, qualifications, and experiences. Your resume and cover letter can tell admissions officers much about you and your law school preparedness. We’ll outline tips for your law school resume so it’s refined and ready for submission. 

Law School Resume Format 

On your law school application , it’s best to keep the format of your law school resume simple (even if you have a penchant for graphic design). You should avoid using: 

• Distracting colors 
• Graphics, such as “skill graphs” or progress bars 
• Any other multimedia elements 

Your resume should be one to two pages long using a standard, legible font size. Stick to Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, or another similar font, and don’t use a size smaller than 11 points. 

What Should Go on Your Law School Resume

Putting together a law application resume can be daunting. Applying to law school is already a big task as there are many elements to consider, like personal statements and recommendation letters. 

To help you get a leg up, it’s a good idea to look at some examples of what other law school application resumes include, as well as to pay attention to what admissions counselors have to say. 

UPenn states , “Law school admissions committees are very interested in how you spend your time and energy outside of class, so it is essential that you create a strong, accurate, and flattering portrayal of yourself on your resume.” It’s crucial to summarize your experiences and candidacy succinctly. 

That being said, you have some freedom regarding what goes on your law school resume to complement its core elements. Standard sections you should include in every law school application resume include:

Source : US News

These are the main sections that every law school application resume should have. If you haven’t done much volunteer work or participated in many activities since high school, the University of Wisconsin–Madison suggests weaving any activities into your resume’s education section. 

While these are the standard pieces that every law school resume should include, you can choose to add other sections if they’ll add something new and fresh to your application: 

• Honors/Awards : If you have a laundry list of honors/awards, consider putting them into their own section. Otherwise, it’s okay to put them in your education section. 
• Research : If you have one or more research-related experiences, it may be worth adding a section to your resume. This can include a capstone project or thesis that would otherwise go in your education section, significant work in a study, or publications. 
• Skills/Interests : This section is a great way to showcase information about you that didn’t fit into your resume anywhere else. Whether you’re bilingual, an expert coder, or decorate cakes in your spare time, you can add another layer to your individuality. 

You can add whatever sections you want that best reflect your candidacy, qualities, and experiences so far. You can also rename/alter these sections as you see fit. 

Alyson Suter Alber , Associate Dean for Enrollment Planning and Strategic Initiatives at Case Western Reserve School of Law, said, “In the admissions process we are looking for experiences and activities that showcase skills an applicant will need in law school such as research, writing and analytical thinking.” 

So, highlight activities that emphasize these skills on your resume! That way, you can show admissions committees that you’re a worthy law school candidate. Take a look at some examples of law resumes down below to see how they’ve done it. 

9 Law School Resume Tips

If you’re wondering how to improve your resume for law school, look no further than these nine expert tips. 

1. Remember the Resume’s Purpose 

The first law school resume tip is crucial to follow: remember its purpose. When you formulate a resume to find work, you may write an objective at the top expressing your goals. You don’t need to include this element in a law school application resume. 

In the words of Quinnipiac University Law , “Objectives are not necessary, and sometimes highlight your desire to do something other than attend law school.” You don’t want to take the focus off your resume’s ultimate goal: helping you get accepted to your dream law school. 

To that end, you won’t include any references either. Your recommendation letters serve as the “reference” portion of your application. 

2. Be Honest 

While this sounds obvious, applicants tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves when they write law school application resumes. For example, don’t stretch the time frames of your commitments to make it look like you spent more time on your activities than you did. If you’re taking a gap year before law school , don’t try and fudge the numbers. 

Remember, integrity is a quality found in great lawyers; you don’t want to potentially get caught in an inconsistency during the application process or law school interview because you wanted to make something sound more impressive. You can always add an addendum to your application to explain something unsightly on your resume. 

Also, it’s okay if you don’t have much experience with legal work. Admissions committees don’t expect you to have a mountain of experience as a law school applicant. 

3. Keep Your Writing Simple 

Your law school resume should be two pages at maximum. You need to write concisely if you have a lot of ground to cover to effectively summarize your experiences. Don’t use long, elaborate sentences or pull words from a thesaurus. 

Writing plainly includes limiting industry jargon. While admissions committee members may understand what you’re writing about, you want to write in a way that someone from any field would understand your resume. For example: 

“Aggregated with clients in order to contrive understanding and transferable knowledge and solutions for exponential economic growth.” 

This sentence is unclear and unnecessarily wordy. A better sentence would read: “Met with clients to share information to increase profits.” This sentence is much clearer, and your reader doesn’t have to do mental backflips to understand you. 

4. Use Bullet Points 

Bullet points underneath major experiences/subheadings communicate a lot of information in less space. You can make your points uniform and more impactful by: 

• Writing each one as a full sentence, with or without closing punctuation 
• Start your points with a verb in the past tense for past activities and present tense for current ones 
• Keep your points focused on a responsibility or task that emphasizes your role/qualities 
• Be detailed and share tangible results, how many times you performed a task, or the overall time commitment 
• Focus on tasks/skills that are transferable or related to law school 
• Limit bullet points under each item to three, if possible 

Ensure you watch your tenses while you write; it’s easy to slip up and use the wrong one. 

5. Don’t Omit Experiences Not Related to Law

Although you should focus on transferable skills and tasks related to law school, don’t omit any experiences that aren’t necessarily law-related. You don’t want to leave chronological gaps in your resume: that’s a red flag for admissions committees. 

UChicago Law states that your resume should absolutely not contain only legal experiences. The school states that it wants “to see all of your work experience and activities to gain a more holistic picture of you.” Avoid these gaps and be honest about your work experience. 

6. Emphasize Leadership Experiences 

Leadership experience and capability are what every law school seeks in applicants. If you have relevant leadership experiences in employment or activities, ensure they’re in your resume. 

7. Highlight Entries That Align With Your Mission 

You’ve likely discussed your professional and career goals in your application. Your resume can complement your other application materials and narratives. For example, if you want to teach law, don’t bury your experience as a teaching assistant or tutor. 

Think about your personal mission and which experiences have contributed to helping you get one step closer to reaching your goals. 

8. See If There Are Particular Instructions for Each School 

Some schools may or may not have law school resume instructions. You should always double-check the application requirements of the schools you want to apply to. For example, UChicago Law asks, “Please include the number of hours per week spent on each employment experience or activity.” 

While you may have thought to do this on your resume anyway, it’s important not to miss any elements schools ask for. 

9. Edit, Revise, Refine

You probably already have a resume you can work off of, but it’ll take a lot of editing and reconstructing to tailor it to your law school application. Even if you’re starting from scratch, ensure you edit your resume. 

Does everything you wrote make sense? Is your language clear and concise? Are there spelling or grammar mistakes? It’s okay if it takes a few drafts to get to the finished product. You want your law school resume to make a stellar impression, so give yourself enough time to revise and refine. 

5 Law School Resume Templates 

Sometimes, it’s helpful to look at examples of what other people have done to get inspired. Below, you’ll find some resume templates for your law school applications to help you get started. 

Law School Resume Example 1

It’s important to use strategic wording to get your point across. In the following example, the applicant reframed their extracurricular/volunteer work section to reference leadership and service. Your goal is to use the right language to accurately summarize your story in a way that reflects you best. 

Take a look at this sample law school resume provided by the University at Buffalo School of Law: 

Source : University at Buffalo School of Law

Law School Resume Example 2

Although this applicant has no work experience, they’ve still put together a solid resume emphasizing their scholastic achievements and involvement in academic leadership. The experiences they’ve chosen to include demonstrate many skills relevant to studying law! 

Source: UPenn

Law School Resume Example 3

Take a look at this resume from Yale Law School. This applicant was careful to focus on their work related to academics and scholastic experience. 

This is a great example of how you can pick and choose various work and volunteer activities to highlight the skills that law school admissions committees are looking for. 

Source: Yale Law School

Law School Resume Example 4

Here’s an example resume from a student who was accepted into Harvard Law. This resume emphasizes relevant skills like technical writing and marketing. The inclusion of the “Presentations” and “Affiliations” sections demonstrates the applicant’s interests in a unique and relevant way. 

Source: U.S. News  

Law School Resume Example

In this law application example, the applicant has focused on her accomplishments, both academic and work-related, and gives strong examples of where she demonstrated leadership skills. She also includes interesting personal information that could serve as a great conversation starter during an interview. 

Source: University at Buffalo School of Law  

Download free law school resume templates below.

Law School Resume FAQs 

Do you still have questions about building or improving your law school resume? Read on to learn more! 

1.  Do Law Schools Care About Your Resume? 

Law schools like to see your real-world work experience and academic qualifications. Although your resume may not be the focal point of your application, law schools will still read it. 

2. What Skills Should I Put on My Resume for Law School? 

You can put whatever skills or interests you think the admissions committee should know about that you haven’t already discussed. Think about the things that make you unique and jot them down before you decide which points should go on your resume. 

3. Should I Put My LSAT Score or GPA on My Resume? 

It depends on what the law school asks for, but you typically don’t have to. Law schools will see your LSAT scores and GPA through your CAS report. 

4. How Long Should My Law School Resume Be? 

Your resume should be one to two pages long and shouldn’t exceed this length. 

5. What Has to Go in My Law School Resume? 

All law school resumes should include your contact/personal information, education, work experience, and activities. If you haven’t participated in many activities, you can include them in your education section instead. 

Build the Perfect Law School Resume 

Building the perfect law school resume helps admissions committees easily digest your experiences and qualifications. Using these expert law school resume tips, you can craft a stellar, attention-grabbing resume. 

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We require a resume as part of the application. Please limit your resume to 1 – 2 pages in length.

The following links are sample resumes from successful applicants in prior years. You do not have to follow the formatting used in these resumes, but all three are examples of well-organized, easy-to-read drafts.

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Overrated/Underrated Part 3

Continuing our Overrated/Underrated series, this week, we shift our focus to highlight some of the overrated approaches that we recommend applicants avoid as they craft their applications. 

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This week’s entry in the Real Talk series covers the resume. 

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Podcast Advice

Navigating law school admissions with miriam & kristi.

Miriam Ingber (Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale Law School) and Kristi Jobson (Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School) provide candid, accurate, and straightforward advice about law school admissions — direct from the source. They will be joined by guest stars from other law schools to discuss application timing, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and more.

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Resume Workshop

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11 Resume Rules Every Law Student Should Follow

April 27, 2021

[Learn more about how Bloomberg Law can help law students excel in class and  jump-start their careers .]

In today’s virtual world, it is even more important for law students to get their resume right.

“A bad resume is far more detrimental to your job search than a good resume is beneficial – many potential employers view bad resumes as disqualifying,” said Mike Wippler, member of the national law firm Dykema. “Your resume should look professional, be easy to read, tell an accurate and truthful story, and highlight your readiness and skills for the position.”

Learn the top resume rules from the experts to stand out from the crowd and land the legal job you want.

1. Keep It Short.

A good legal resume doesn’t need to be long. In fact, it should be one or two pages at most.

“As a hiring manager, I want candidates to be able to eloquently and succinctly articulate their experience and career goals – this is especially critical for someone who wants to be a trial lawyer,” said Noel Edlin , managing partner of San Francisco-based law firm Bassi Edlin Huie & Blum.

Similarly, “use bullet points effectively – state what you did and how you did it in a way that demonstrates your experience, skills, and the results you achieved,” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office.

“For students or junior lawyers with minimal experience, try to keep it to a single page and succinctly summarize your experience, linking it to qualities that you want to highlight – for example, analytical abilities, taking initiative, [and] attention to detail,” said Katten chief talent officer Melanie Priddy.

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2. Keep It Traditional.

Traditional legal resumes for law students are structured in three to four sections in the following order: Heading, Education, Experience, and an additional optional section, such as Interests, Languages, or Skills, according to the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office.

“Do not go crazy with color or design – black type on a white background is preferable, and do not include your photo or other graphics. Pick one font and stick with it,” Edlin said.

Ensure a consistent layout, too. “Use a resume format that is simple, professional, and easy to read,” Priddy said. In this vein, “Formatting should carry through the entire page – bold/italics, font, spacing, indentations, etc., should be consistent throughout.”

3. Proofread Everything.

“A resume is the first example of your ‘work product,’ and it can be hard to overcome a negative first impression if there are errors,” Priddy said. “Proofread your resume and make sure it is free of grammatical errors and typos, including the law firm [name].”

Finally, in proofreading, review abbreviations. “Use abbreviations only if they are universally understood,” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office.

4. Update Contact Information.

“This seems like a no-brainer but be sure you’re providing updated contact information – full legal name, address, email, phone, and LinkedIn profile link,” Edlin said. “It helps save administrative time if we decide to extend an offer of employment.”

Similarly, “add a professional voicemail message that confirms who a caller has reached and clear your voicemail inbox regularly so employers can leave you messages,” Priddy said.

5. Boost Your LinkedIn Presence.

In parallel, “complete your LinkedIn profile and add it to the contact section of your resume,” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office.

“Make sure [it includes] a banner image, a good headshot, an about section, and links to any articles you have published,” Edlin said. Similarly, “Be active on the platform by posting/liking content and recognizing the accomplishments of contacts. Try to acquire at least 500 contacts,” Edlin said. “It helps to paint a picture of who you are and stay on the radar of employers.”

[Learn more about how to network effectively and use LinkedIn to get ahead in our Essential Career Toolkit .]

6. Be Truthful.

“Do not include anything that you do not want to discuss in an interview,” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office. Similarly, “do not overexaggerate your language skills – you may be asked a question in whatever language you claim fluency.”

The same holds true for hobbies. “Make sure that any hobbies or interests on your resume are truthful – interviewers will likely ask for details,” Priddy said. “Even if you get hired, it may cost you the job later,” Wippler added.

7. Do Not Assume Reader Knowledge.

“Don’t assume that everybody assumes you have technical skills – if you have them, make sure you point them out,” said Chris M. Smith, partner and co-head of DLA Piper’s New York real estate practice.

“If you’ve done anything that is a little bit different, make sure it shows on your resume,” Smith added. “And if you have a connection at the firm, have them try to put in a good word for you.”

8. Customize the Content.

“Customize your resume for different employers by highlighting experiences relevant to the particular job an employer is seeking to fill,” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office. The same holds true for the cover letter.

“Add something to your cover letter that relates your application to the organization or the law firm in a way that stands out from the generic cover letter,” said Efrén Olivares, deputy legal director of the Immigrant Justice Project at Southern Poverty Law Center. “That’s going to make a difference, and it’ll send your resume to the top of the pile.”

For further customization, “include a two- to three-sentence summary at the top [of the resume] that directly aligns with the job posting,” Edlin said. “Customize this section using keywords in the job description in a way that makes it clear you are a strong candidate for the opportunity.”

9. Reach for “Power” Words.

“Replace generic words with power words and action verbs – ‘advised,’ ‘advocated,’ ‘resolved,’ ‘advanced,’ ‘enhanced,’ ‘maximized,’ ‘achieved,’” said the University of Miami School of Law Career Development Office.

“Oftentimes, your resume is being scanned by machine learning/natural language processing programs that have been programmed to search for keywords, so include keywords you’d find in the job you want,” Edlin said. “Even if your CV is being reviewed by a decision-maker, it may get a one- to two-minute scan, so leverage that time by including keywords that will stand out.”

10. Focus on Relevant Experience.

“When describing prior work experience, include details that highlight your ability to lead and work with a team, collaborate with others, and provide client service,” said Lauren Marsh, director of attorney recruiting at Akin Gump.

“Some students may assume they have no relevant skills if they did not work before attending law school – however, they should be sure to highlight the comparable experience they gained through internships or college activities,” Marsh said. “These are skills we highly value in our candidates, and an indicator they have developed skills that will enable them to be successful at the firm.”

Also, “Where you went to school is not as important to me as what you did there, how you engaged with the community, organizations, and leadership development,” said Jason Starr, litigation director of Human Rights Campaign. “A strong academic record [is important], but what else about you demonstrates a real passion and a real willingness to dig in?”

11. Be Clear About Your Licensing Status.

“Depending upon where you are in the process, you can indicate it in several different ways, and update your resume as you move from one category to the next,” said Shauna C. Bryce, who practiced law and served on a law firm hiring committee before starting  Bryce Legal Career Counsel .

“If you’ve been admitted to practice, are active and in good standing, then your bullet point is simple – something like this: ‘Bar Admission: California.’ If you have not yet applied to take the bar exam but are eligible to take it: ‘Eligible for July 2021 California bar exam.’”

“If you’ve submitted your application to sit for the exam but have not yet sat for the exam: ‘Candidate for July 2021 California bar exam.’ If you have sat for the exam but have not yet received the results: ‘Candidate for July 2021 California bar exam (results pending).’ If you have passed the exam, but not yet been sworn in: ‘California (admission pending).’

[Log in to Bloomberg Law to read the full article: Ask the Hiring Attorney: How do I show my bar status on my resume? ]

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Resume Advice & Samples

Resume advice and samples.

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• Draft your resume with the reader in mind.
• Understand that a resume is a sales tool, not an autobiography.
• Make it visually clean and clear. What will an employer see in 30 seconds? 5 seconds?
• Consider a “resume wardrobe” – different resumes for different employers.
• Be scrupulously honest. Exaggerations or misrepresentation will damage your reputation and professional relationships.
• Be prepared to talk about every word of the resume at an interview.
• Keep your resume to one page.
• Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Garamond.
• Select a font size of 11 point or 12 point.
• Create margins no smaller than .5 inches on all sides.
• Use bold, underlining, and italics consistently to enhance readability.
• Make deliberate style choices, then stick to them throughout.
• Ensure your resume is error free.
• Follow our advice, “ Resume Formatting: How to Use Tabs & Styles ” to give your resume a professional look.

Resume Construction

• Include your name, mailing address, cell number, and Yale email address.
• If you do not have a mailing address in New Haven, that is fine, as mailing addresses are becoming optional.
• Add your permanent mailing address to emphasize ties to that area when applying to positions nearby.
• List your gender pronouns if you wish.

Education Section

• List degrees in reverse chronological order.
• Include all courses of study: past, present, and future.
• List each educational institution, location, degree, and degree date (expected date if currently enrolled).
• Do not include high school or LSAT score.
• Think strategically about how much space you devote to each degree. What message are you sending to employers?
• Include at your option with a strategic mindset.
• YLS awards few Honors.
• Moot court/mock trial awards and paper prizes are Honors.
• List Yale Law Journal as an Honor, due to the competitive admission process. List other journals as Activities or create a separate Journal sub-section under Yale Law School.
• List those that are not based solely on financial need and are awarded through a competitive process.
• If space permits, provide a very brief description of the selection criteria.
• Examples: Tilman Scholarship; the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans; and the NAACP LDF Earl Warren Civil Rights Scholarship.
• List scholarship or fellowship awards that are associated with summer or post-graduate employment with the position in the Experience section.
• Do not list need-based scholarships and fellowships, including SPIF funding, summer Mary McCarthy funding, and Kirby Simon travel grants.
• List the following positions as Activities or in the Experience section: Coker Fellow, Research Assistant, Deans’ Advisor, Student Representative, Peer Advocate, Tsai Leadership Program Fellow, and CDO Student Advisor.
• Use this section to emphasize relevant skills and interests including research and writing skills, oral advocacy, teamwork, and leadership.
• Narrow the list, if necessary, by selecting only one of several activities that are of the same genre.
• If applying for public service positions, include as many of your service-related activities as space permits to demonstrate your commitment to service.
• Move particularly relevant, intensive, or skills-enhancing activities to the Experience section. Example: clinics.
• Be clear about the timing of future commitments, however, describing the exact timing of past activities is not strictly necessary.
• Create a Study Abroad sub-section in your undergraduate education listing.
• Create a Thesis sub-section in your undergraduate education listing. Include especially if the topic relates to the law.

Experience Section

• List experiences in reverse chronological order.
• Include experiences to which you have committed, but not yet begun; describe using future-tense verbs.
• Dates can be general (e.g., Summer 20XX).
• Omit job titles if unimpressive or do not clarify your responsibilities, however, be consistent about including/excluding titles throughout.
• List experiences that demonstrate knowledge and skills in areas relevant to legal employers, especially research, writing, and analysis.
• Emphasize professional skills including organizational ability, leadership, initiative, creativity, communication skills, common sense, and intellectual ability.
• List both paid and unpaid experiences.
• Include work associated with a scholastic experience, including legal clinic experience, research for a professor, and extensive work for a student organization.
• Rewrite past descriptions written for different industries and audiences. Eliminate jargon and terminology unfamiliar to a general audience.
• Summarize smaller or less relevant positions to fill gaps. E.g., “Held various positions as salesclerk, server, and receptionist while in college.”
• Be prepared to discuss significant gaps at interviews.
• Think strategically about the amount of physical space devoted to each experience. More space = greater emphasis.
• Use action verbs and rich detail in descriptions. E.g., “researched and wrote memoranda on issues of jurisdiction and venue,” rather than “involved in assisting attorneys in the researching and writing of…”

Optional Sections

• Languages: List if relevant and/or skill level is high. May be useful to delineate written vs. spoken proficiency. Be scrupulously honest regarding skill level.
• Think strategically about employers’ impressions. Publications show writing skills, but a long list of publications may signal interest in an academic career which may not be well received by non-academic employers.
• Consider selective list or summary if publication list is long.
• Use Bluebook citation format.
• Be clear about co-authored pieces.
• Interests: Include a few special interests that may be compelling and serve as icebreaker topics during an interview.
• Other skills: list only relevant skills, eliminating those which are universal (e.g., MS Word) or unrelated to legal employers’ needs (e.g., C++ programming).

Do Not Include

• Objective or introductory statements.
• Personal information (e.g., marital status, parental status).
• Salary requirements.
• “References available on request.”

Think Ahead to Your Next Resume

Develop your skills and knowledge through career-related experiences

• Summer employment
• Student organizations
• Research Assistant positions
• Leadership positions

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7 Law School Resume Examples [Download Free Word & Docs]

Best for senior and mid-level candidates

There’s plenty of room in our elegant resume template to add your professional experience while impressing recruiters with a sleek design.

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Law School Resume

• Law School Application Resumes
• Law School Resume for Current Students
• Post-Law School Resumes

A career in law is both rewarding and intellectually challenging. Practicing law also offers a certain level of prestige and high earning potential.

Due to the diversity of legal practice areas, deciding what to include and omit when writing your law school resume may prove challenging. And if you’re recently out of law school, you’ll also have to write an  attorney cover letter .

We’ve reviewed numerous law school resumes to find what works and distilled what we learned into these seven law school examples.

Whether you’re applying for a full-time staff attorney role out of school, looking for your first internship, or anything in between,  these proven law school resume examples will help you get your next legal position in 2024 .

Microsoft Word

Google Docs

Why this resume works

• Metrics don’t have to be complicated, nor do they have to be 100 percent perfect. Include rough estimates regarding how much you improved efficiency, how many cases you worked on, or how many issues you resolved. The numbers are there—all you need to do is find them.
• An objective is an optional section that describes your skills and enthusiasm for your future role. Always customize this section for each job you apply for by including the employer’s name and the role you’re seeking.

Law School Application Resume

• You’re far from being done. A winning strategy here is including one or two of your school projects that underscore your research and analytical skills and an understanding of the legal landscape.

Harvard Law School Resume

• Your interactions with clients that led to them deciding to use the services of the law firm would go a long way to pave your way to success.

Law School Student Resume

• Reverse-chronological order is simply putting your most recent experience first. Usually, this means employers will see your most relevant experience first.
• If the job you’ve most recently held isn’t related to the position you’re seeking, that’s okay! Simply highlight transferable skills (preferably any keywords listed in the  attorney job description ).
• Before hitting submit, always  check your resume  for errors and inaccuracies. Make sure you have one full page of content; don’t leave too much white space!

Law Student Resume

• Using a fun  resume template  can make your resume pretty and help you structure your content, keep it to a single page, and even make it easier to read. Plus, you can adjust the template as needed to suit your needs.
• In this section, focus on what you specifically contributed to the project. Were you the founder of a club? Did you lead any community initiatives? Whatever you contributed, show off your leadership abilities and unique skills.

Law Student Recruiting Manager Resume

• Numbers naturally break up the text and are easy to spot, keeping eyes on your resume longer.
• Section headers are an industry standard, but you can improve readability by putting them in bold and adding some color.
• Keep your bullet points short and sweet. Limit them to no more than three lines, and start each one with strong action verbs.

Post-law School Resume

• Only include six to eight skills you would be comfortable talking about in an interview. If you’re not experienced with a particular skill, leave it out.
• Better yet, include metrics like reduced client wait time, increased client numbers, or the number of cases you tackled to show you’ve got the right qualifications.

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Resume for Law School

Your resume is one the several components that ultimately comprise your applications to law school. Law school admissions committees are very interested in how you spend your time and energy outside of class, so it is essential that you create a strong, accurate, and flattering portrayal of yourself on your resume.

How to Convert a Job Resume to a Law School Resume

Consult this blog post for tips on converting your job resume to a law school resume that highlights your qualifications.

Law School Resume Samples

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12 Law School Resume Tips + Example

Law student resume example + writing tips.

The top law schools have time and resources to  handpick the best applicants for admission . The committee will pay attention to your  LSAT score, GPA, letters of recommendations, and a resume . The latter often becomes a stumbling point even for the top students. The thing is,  writing a resume for law school is different  from writing one for employment. You have to emphasize whole  different characteristics  and use a  different writing style .

Whether you are looking to get accepted in Yale, Harvard, University of Chicago or other prestigious law school, you need to refine your resume so that it meets the high standards of such schools. Today, the experts of our online resume services will reveal the tips and tricks for writing a  persuasive resume  for your school application.

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When applying for the top legal jobs, you'll be competed with candidates who are just as ambitious and accomplished as you are. Thus, a persuasive, result-driven resume can inspire the recruiter to choose you over other candidates. At ResumePerk, we create custom resumes for law students and professionals. We cater to all your needs and tailor the resume for your target position to help you get noticed faster.  Order today  with a 15% welcome discount!

Law student resume example

Here is a good example of a law student resume so you could get the idea of how to organize yours and what sections to include:

Image:  https://resumelab.com/resume-examples/law-student

Why is this a good resume?

• This resume is one page long, which is the ideal length for a student resume. It is neatly formatted, and all sections are clearly divided. Resumes with clear professional formatting have a higher chance of getting noticed.
• In the objective statement at the top, this student lists the degree in progress and academic awards. They also list professional achievements (recruiting clients worth $150,000) and career goals.
• This candidate briefly lists experience, quantifying their responsibilities whenever possible, which is valued by hiring managers. The education section includes school names, degrees, a GPA of 3.9, and relevant coursework.
• This law student resume also features relevant skills, such as legal research, deductive reasoning, and business document preparation. They also mention language proficiency.

You can use a similar law student resume template, but remember to list your unique educational background, work history, and achievements that will distinguish you from the competition. Here are some pointers to help you out.

10 Tips to write a law student resume that will get you noticed

1. use the traditional resume sections.

In a law school resume, main sections are the same as in a typical job search resume (however, it doesn't mean that the content should be the same – we'll talk about it later). These must-have sections include summary of qualifications, education, experience, and awards/accomplishments. Any other sections are optional – for instance, you may wish to include a Skills section if you have valuable or rare skills that can set you apart for the committee.

2. Capitalize on your law student skills

If there's plenty of space left in your law student resume, add relevant skills. You can find the needed skills in the job description or other industry resources. The skills section can help you pass the ATS screening, as skills often work as keywords.

The exact list of skills to include depends on your specialization and the target position. Here are some skills that are nice to have:

• critical thinking
• customer service
• legal research
• criminal law
• interpersonal skills
• legal documents
• negotiation
• corporate law
• time management

3. Highlight your academic accomplishments

What all schools pay attention to is your education section. Degrees, academic achievements, honors, scholarships, GPA, and thesis – all this adds points to your candidacy. List the degrees starting from the most advanced ones, and leave the high school information out. Include achievements such as Dean's list, honor societies, student awards and contests, and more. You might want to include some coursework (such as Federal Income Tax, International Law or Business Associations) if relevant. List accomplishments under each degree, or create a separate “Honors/Awards” section if there's plenty of them.

4. Emphasize other academic engagements

Do you have journal articles published, have you receive a grant or maybe, you were doing research work in the university and beyond? If these academic activities are relevant for your target law specialization, include them on a resume. Some schools pay attention to your academic and research background, so adding these details can influence your chance of getting admitted. If you want to achieve stellar career success, read our post where  women in business share their success tips .

5. Focus on legal experience

If you already have relevant experience (for example, as an intern or an administrative assistant), leave your irrelevant summer jobs out. Expand on your legal jobs, listing both your daily duties and achievements with figures. Have zero legal experience? Consider adding academic projects, such as doing a research for your professor, participating in student organizations, or volunteering in a law office or a non-profit organization.

If you haven't had even a law internship yet, you may add one or two irrelevant jobs. Be sure to highlight transferable skills that are important for a law firm.

6. Keep the length reasonable

For students, a one-page resume will suffice. This length allows you to present professional and educational history comprehensively. Yet, if you have extensive work experience or were involved in lots of relevant student activities, go for a second page. Keep the content highly relevant, and if the second page is absolutely necessary, use it.

7. Add a law student resume objective

The objective statement is nice to have in any student's resume. It lets you introduce the highlights of your education and skills, plus it explains to employer what position you're after and how you can contribute if hired.

Remember to keep your objective to 3-4 sentences. You can add the law degree, academic achievements, and professional highlights. Don't make it all about you - instead, think about the contribution you'd like to make in the law firm.

8. Put achievements and awards above the fold

Your law student resume is supposed not only to list your degree in progress and a couple of internship. You also need to boast a few accomplishments that showcase your ability to meet the highest standards and achieve ambitious goals.

Be sure to list academic achievements, such as the Dean's List, high GPA, or a student award. If you've had internships or relevant jobs, be sure to include numbers and percentages to illustrate your contribution. If you have plenty of achievements, consider creating a separate section for them.

9. Add professional accomplishments

The descriptions of your past jobs shouldn't consist of job duties only. You also need to mention at least a few specific achievements. Instead of writing “Generated new business”, say “Increased business with existing clients by 25%”. Such specific details show your ambition and orientation on results, which is important both in the workplace and in academia. Moreover, such achievements set you apart from other applicants whose experience and education is similar to yours.

10. Attach a law student cover letter

Submitting a cover letter with your law student resume is basic etiquette. Moreover, it is a chance to express your enthusiasm and your fit for the role. Send a short-and-sweet letter expanding on your achievements in law school and the hands-on skills you've acquired on internships and entry-level position. Keep it to 3-4 sentences and absolutely relevant to the organization you are applying to.

If you're writing a resume for the first time , it will be helpful to get an external opinion about it. Send your resume to our experts, and we will critically evaluate your resume and tell what could be improved about it to maximize your chances for interview. This service is free of charge.

Tips to organize your resume

Now that you know what information to add to your law student resume, it's time to organize it effectively. Here are the formatting tips to follow:

• Put your name and contact details at the top. Avoid fancy resume builders that place these details at the bottom or don't include them at all. The hiring manager won't spend time looking for ways to contact you.
• Don't add personal info, such as marital status, age, ethnicity, or religious beliefs. In the US, it is considered unprofessional and will result in rejecting your application.
• Write in bullet points. Today, presenting your projects and achievements as a bullet point list is considered a standard. Plus, bullets make your resume easier to read.
• Use a reverse chronological order. List your degrees and jobs starting with the most recent one.
• Include hard and soft skills. Mention job-related skills like in a sample law student resume above. Make sure to adjust the skills and all resume content for the target job ad.

How to compose a law school application resume?

Writing a law school resume is different from composing a resume for a job. You should't use the resume you use for job application to apply to a law school because they have different purpose.

When applying to law school, you don't need to impress recruiters in seconds. Law school admissions evaluate candidates thoroughly and pay attention to your overall background and values, not just the skills you have. Here are some pointers to guide you.

• Emphasize any details that distinguish you, such as community engagement, research interests, and volunteer work in addition to you education and work history.
• Keep it to one page. A one-page resume is a standard length for law school application. If your school has guidelines for formatting and content to include, follow them precisely.
• Adapt to the values of your law school. All top schools have values and expectations from the prospective students. For example, some prefer admitting experienced professionals, whereas others may pay more attention to community engagements, voluntary work or athletic accomplishments. Figure out what matters most for your school – and revolve the resume content around these details.
• Leave out irrelevant experiences. While an employer might appreciate your experience in McDonalds, admission officers wouldn't be much interested.

A resume isn't the only decisive factor for a law school committee. Yet, a thoughtfully written and well organized resume will certainly attract their attention. If you need a concise and effective resume, we can help. Our writers know the specifics of writing resumes for law schools and will help capitalize on your strengths.

Bonus: How to succeed in law school?

Your study in a law school can be an extremely rewarding experience if you approach the studying process right. To become an effective student, follow the recommendations below:

1. Read all the assigned materials

More importantly, do the reading on time. Law schools have extensive curriculum, so if you delay the reading for a week or two, you'll find it very tough to catch up with your classmates. Take notes as you read – it helps you prioritize the information and remember more.

2. Revise before class

Revise the notes you've taken as you read textbooks or during the previous lectures. This will help your brain focus even before the lecture begins. As a result, you'll feel more concentrated and involved in the discussion during the lecture.

3. Pay attention and take notes

At times, lectures can be boring. Yet, procrastinating and surfing the web isn't the most effective way to spend the lecture time. Pay attention to what the professor is saying and ask questions at once if something isn't clear. Take notes of the key concepts, books and learning strategies the tutor recommends.

4. Treat networking seriously

Studying in a law school isn't all about classes. It's also a tremendous opportunity to build your professional network early on and establish your reputation. Take your time to get to know your peers, tutors and senior students better. Once you graduate, you'll find it easier to land a job or an internship if you know many professionals in your field.

5. Stay organized

The number of classes and written assignments can overwhelm. To stay on top of everything, get a planner or use an app. Keep track of your assignments, projects, exams, and other important activities. In this case, you won't forget anything and will organize the learning process effectively.

Stand out with a professional law resume

The competition for legal jobs is tough, and having an effective resume can make all the difference. If you are not happy with the way your resume looks, entrust it to professionals. Our dedicated writers will highlight the exact qualifications that employers look for, boosting your chances to be shortlisted.

Our experienced writers can create a powerful resume suitable for each position. However, you may also request a specific resume depending on the job you are applying for, thus it will be tailored individually for your profession:

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Law School Resume Examples and Writing Guide

Law school resume examples are hard to come by, even though they can be a useful resource when trying to create your own. One of the main reasons for this is that applicants often don't realize that there's a difference between a regular work resume, a CV for graduate school , and a resume for specific programs such as an MBA resume or law school resume. In this post, we will go over those differences, show you some top-tier law school resume examples, and give you some tips for creating your own.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 10 min read

What is a law school resume.

A law school resume is a required document in applications to most law schools in Canada and the United States. Applicants often focus on perfecting law school personal statements , figuring out how to study for the LSAT , and reviewing potential law school interview questions , and while these are essential components of the law school application, a strong resume can be just as important. Law schools like to get a sense of who you are as a person and what you've done outside of the classroom, so a good resume can significantly impact your ability to gain admission.

Furthermore, most admission committees use your resume as an initial screening tool. They will start by reviewing your resume before reading your essays or any other application components to find out about your general background, achievements, and overall profile. This helps them decide if your application is worth considering. If you are called for an interview, the admissions board will usually ask questions related to your resume, so it's a good idea to learn how to prepare for your law school interview with your resume in mind.

When done correctly, your law school resume should showcase your accomplishments, experience, and skills in a way that will stand out to the admissions board.

Most law school applicants already have a resume that they use to apply for work or volunteer positions. It is important to understand that there are key differences between this resume and the one you need to submit with your law school application. Much like the other components of your application, your resume needs to be specifically designed for the reader. In this case, you are addressing the admissions boards of the school you are applying to. You need to keep in mind that the information they're seeking is different from what a potential employer would be interested in.

Both documents should result in a compelling, accurate, and flattering portrayal of your background. However, while your job-seeking resume needs to show your aptitude for a specific line of work, your law school resume should show your readiness for law school and your fit for your chosen institution. A hiring manager typically has a specific list of technical skills or qualifications that they are scanning for on a resume. For example, if they are hiring a graphic designer, they'll be looking at the resume to see how familiar the candidate is with the industry, if they have any experience in graphic design, or if they are trained to use a particular software. In contrast, law school admissions committees will probably spend more time thoroughly reviewing your resume and trying to determine if your background has prepared you for their law school. They will be looking for evidence of the qualities that the school values and focusing on things like your academic achievements and communication skills.

To put that into context, take a look at the two resumes below. Both of these resumes belong to the same person, so they obviously showcase a similar background. That said, you can clearly see that they have chosen to highlight different parts of their experience on the different documents. The first resume is designed for a potential employer. It includes a resume objective or summary at the very top and has a list of specific skills that the employer is likely to be interested in. The second resume is better suited for a law school application as it has more information about the applicant’s academic background, and instead of listing skills, they have highlighted some awards/honors that showcase transferable skills which can be useful in law school.

Would you first like to see a summary of some key tips we discuss later in this article? Check this out:

Law resume example #1

Now that you have a better idea of what a law school resume is and what it needs to communicate, let’s talk about how you can craft a strong one for yourself:

Law school resume format & layout

Your law school resume needs to be clean, professional, concise, and well-organized. The aim is to make it as easy to read as possible. It's important to check the requirements of the law school you are applying to, as they may have specific instructions for your resume. If that is the case, you should make sure to follow those instructions as it shows the admissions board that you take your application seriously and that you can take directions.  

Unless otherwise specified, these are our recommendations for the format of your law school resume:

Your law school resume needs to communicate a substantive amount of information in a very precise manner. To make it easy to read and to provide only the most pertinent information, we recommend sticking to bullet point lists that convey the key achievements for each experience and project you worked on. Each bullet point should have a maximum of three lines to avoid cluttering up the page.  ","label":"Writing style","title":"Writing style"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Law school resume sections & content

There is no golden resume template to get you into law school. The key to success is making sure that your resume is structured in a way that is easy to follow and read. That means keeping everything neat and separated into clearly labeled sections. Your resume should include the following sections:  

• Contact Information 
• Education 
• Work Experience (professional experience and volunteer experience) 
• Additional Achievements/Information (Such as awards and honors, special projects, certifications, Skills, Interests/Activities)  

Now, let’s go over what needs to be included in each section. It may seem obvious, but the truth is that applicants often make mistakes when it comes to the content of their law school resume. You have to carefully decide what to include and, just as importantly, what you leave out.

This is, without a doubt, the easiest section on your resume. As suggested by the section's name, you should keep it simple and provide that they need to contact you. We've provided a basic list of information to include below, but of course, you can tweak this list for your specific profile. 

You should include the following: 

TIP : While including a LinkedIn profile is optional, it does give admissions officers another opportunity to learn more about you, so including it may be to your benefit. 

2. Education

Remember that you are applying for an academic program, so your academic background is very important. You should write your education section in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recent education should be listed first. If you are still completing a degree, you should still list it with your anticipated date of completion. 

For every degree, you should have a new entry. Each one should include the name of the degree, the university you attended, your graduation year, your major and minor (when applicable), your GPA (if it is competitive), any honors or significant achievements, key projects, research work, and meaningful coursework.  

That said, if you have been working for a significant number of years and have more work experience, then you can opt to keep these entries brief and make your work experience the focus of your resume. In that case, your education entries should only mention the name of your degree, the institution, the year of graduation, your major and minor, and key achievements that highlight the qualities that your chosen law school values.  

3. Work experience

Often, this is where applicants err by trying to cram in too much information. Depending on your level of experience, this section can take up to 3/4 of your resume, but you need to make sure that it only includes relevant information. You should stick to the following:

Write your summaries in bullet points, with each point having one to three lines, and use action verbs such as "improved", "managed" or "modified". Be specific and quantify your achievements whenever possible but remember that you can provide more information about the skills you gained and what you learned in your personal statement. You can look at law school personal statement examples to get a better idea of how to do that. 

As with the education section, you should write it in reverse chronological order and divide it into different subsections. For example, you can include a subcategory for research experience or volunteer experience, depending on your background.   

4. Additional achievements and information

This is the section where you get to highlight some of the things that do not fit into the other categories that we've discussed. This includes significant extracurricular achievements, relevant skills and certifications, awards and honors, associations/clubs with leadership roles, and interests. If you only have something to add in one of these subcategories, then you can make that your main category and list the relevant information.

You should only include high-stake accomplishments and information that is relevant to your application, which showcases abilities or qualities that would make you a stronger candidate for law school. For example, if you are a chess club member, you don't need to add it to your resume because it doesn't add much to it. On the other hand, if you created a chess club and led members to an important tournament, you should mention that because it shows your leadership potential. To make your resume more enticing, you can separate the information into different subcategories, as done in the example below: 

ADDITIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND INFORMATION:

Honors and awards

Doe Senior Society - March 20xx

• One of thirty members of the Class of 20xx to be inducted into University of X's oldest Honor Society

Research project Smith Scholarship Finalist – March 20xx

Founding member of New City Chess Tournament (NCCT) - Oct 20xx to present

• Recruited chess players in xx community
• Organized and supervised an annual tournament for over 36 players 

Do you need to prepare a law school personal statement as well as your resume? This video provides helpful examples:

Be consistent with the rest of your application:

Your resume is just one component of your law school application. It is supposed to give the admissions board an overview of your academic and professional background, which your essays and other application documents will then explain in detail. The easiest way to achieve this is to be honest, avoid exaggerations and thoroughly proofread all of your documents.  

For example, suppose you’ve chosen to write a law school diversity statement in which you mention that you’ve spent a significant amount of time volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters to help children who come from the same socioeconomic background as you, but then your resume shows that you were only a volunteer for one month. In that case, your word choice may cause the admissions board to be confused or, even worse, suspicious. It is important to pay attention to the details and stick to telling the facts in a flattering way rather than trying to embellish your experience.  

Focus on actions and results

Instead of listing tasks and functional responsibilities as you would for a job-seeking resume, you should try to focus on actions and quantifiable results. You want your resume to highlight your skills and the best way to do that is to use action verbs such as ‘created’, ‘led’, or ‘performed’. Whenever possible, you should also mention measurable results and long-term achievements as they are more memorable and help put things into context for the reader. The aim is to show the admissions board the impact that your achievements had and qualities that will serve you well in law school. 

For example, instead of saying 'Was responsible for converting paper filing system into a digital system,' you should say 'Overhauled office paper filing system and digitized it, thus increasing efficiency.' The second sentence tells more of a story than the first one, highlighting your ability to take a project, see it through and effect change.  

Skip the technical jargon

When you are applying for a job, you want your potential employer to know that you are knowledgeable about your industry. You also know the likelihood of them understanding your line of work's acronyms and technical jargon is relatively high. In that case, you should feel free to use certain technical words. However, on your law school resume, you should avoid all jargon that is not legal.  

Keep in mind that the admissions board will be looking at the content of your resume and your communication skills. Suppose they have to look up every other word or acronym on your resume because it's particular to the industry you were working in at the time. That experience will not only be unpleasant for them, but it will also tell them that you do not know how to communicate effectively.   

Prioritize adult education and work experience

We're not saying that your high school accomplishments are unimportant or that you shouldn't mention them at all but this isn’t a high school resume , so try to keep these to a minimum. Your law school resume should only mention significant experiences and prestigious accomplishments from high school. Like if you achieved a distinctive honor like being valedictorian, for example.  

On the other hand, things like your high school GPA or involvement in the chess club do not need to be mentioned. Law schools are more interested in what you've done and who you are as an adult. For example, a 3.7 GPA from one of the best undergraduate business schools will be more impressive than a 4.0 GPA in high school.  

Proofread thoroughly

After you've finished the final draft of your law school resume, you should step away from it and come back to check it with fresh eyes. Make sure that there are no grammatical errors or typos, that your format is consistent throughout, and that it follows the school guidelines (if any). You can also invest in a law school admissions consulting  service to maximize your chances of having a solid resume and getting into law school.  

Law resume example #3

Law resume example #4.

A law school resume is a short document that provides a snapshot of the applicant's academic and professional background. It is an integral part of most law school applications.

We do not recommend that you do this. Your work resume is supposed to grab an employer's attention, and they're looking for specific technical skills that show them that you can perform in a particular line of work. On the other hand, your law school resume is part of an application to an academic program, which means that the admissions board will be looking for a different set of transferable skills to see if you are ready for law school.

In short, yes! Law school resumes can be used as a screening document for some admissions committees. Furthermore, they give you a chance to showcase your background in a way you may not be able to in the other documents that comprise your application.

Ideally, one page long, but this will depend on your experience level. You should try not to have more than two pages.

Your resume should give the admissions board of your chosen school an overview of your academic and professional background. Therefore, it should consist of your contact information, education, work experience, and any relevant additional information (Such as awards and honors, special projects, certifications, Skills, Interests/Activities) 

It's completely optional. That said, you should keep in mind that the aim is for the admissions board to get to know you, so if your LinkedIn has additional information that can strengthen your candidacy, then you should include it.

You should list any volunteering, internships, and campus leadership roles. Furthermore, you can expand your education section by including relevant coursework or projects.

You can include some information about your high school experience but keep this short because law schools are far more interested in the adult version of you. You should only include your high school's name, your graduation year, and significant achievements.

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How to Improve Your Law School Resume

If you’re required or encouraged to submit a resume with your law school application, celebrate! It gives you a chance to really market yourself to the school.

But what do you do when the school doesn’t provide any written guidelines about resume submission? Some people poke around online and take advice from supposed experts (i.e., other recently accepted law applicants). Some ask their career service office team or their pre-law advisors. Others even ask attorneys. Are you applying to Stetson University College of Law? Don’t rely on what you read elsewhere. We have the facts.

How is a law school resume different from a career resume?

If you’re applying to law school with some professional experience, you may wonder just how different your law school application should be from a traditional job application.

• Your law school resume should emphasize your academic achievements.
• Your law school resume should align with your personal statement .

The specific sections on your law school resume may also be more detailed and in a different order from your career resume. As you’ll read below, we recommend listing your education section more prominently on your law school resume, which you may usually list lower on the page of a professional resume.

Your law school resume should also be specific to law school, and not just list general experience. As Peg Cheng , author and founder of Prelaw Guru, says, “You need a resume for applying to law school. That said, turning in a generic work resume with your law school application will do nothing to improve your chances for admission. But show admissions officers a well-written, concise and engaging resume, and they will not only be impressed, they will remember you. And that’s the name of the application game: being remembered.”

What to include in your law school resume

Before you review our suggested list of what you should include in your law school resume, be sure to check the application instructions . At Stetson Law, submitting a resume with your application is optional. However, we strongly recommend submitting your resume along with your personal statement and application.

The following is a list of the sections you should include with your resume. Some may be optional, depending on what your experience involves, so use it as a guideline, not a strict template.

Contact Information

Like any resume, you should first list your contact information. This includes:

• Your full name
• Phone number
• Email Address
• LinkedIn profile (optional)
• Home Address (optional)

We highly recommend including your LinkedIn profile URL, because it allows admissions officers to learn more about you. However, make sure you clean up your social profiles, including LinkedIn, before you apply.

This is one of the most important sections of your resume for your law school application. As opposed to a regular career resume, you’ll want to provide some detail in this section, including:

• Name and location of university attended
• Graduation Date
• Type of degree received
• Achievements, awards and honors
• Thesis title if applicable

List your education in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent degree, certification, or otherwise. If you have a master’s degree or any postgraduate work, you would start with that first. And, unless your high school education is particularly relevant or impressive, don’t include that.

Providing details on coursework allows you to explain some of your areas of expertise and highlight any skills gained. Reviewing the American Bar Association’s core skills, values, knowledge and experience, and seeing how your educational experience aligns with any of those areas can be a good place to start, as far as looking for coursework to highlight on your law school resume.

In addition, list achievements, awards, and any other honors. Were you on the Dean’s List? Did you win an essay contest? Anything that distinguishes your academic or extracurricular record should be highlighted on your resume.

Professional Experience

This section should include your job or career experience, and also any internship, volunteer, or community work you have done that you’d like to highlight. If it is relevant to what you bring to the table for law school, then you should include it here. Don’t, however, make it a laundry list of everything you’ve done in your life. Instead, include the following:

• Your most relevant experience listed in chronological order
• The job title, company name and dates you worked there
• 4-6 bullet points for each position describing your relevant skills, experiences and achievements

When writing the bullet points on your resume, try to include action verbs that focus on what you actually accomplished and learned. Quantify your accomplishments and skills with percentages and numbers. Being specific in your bullet points will help you convey your

While you should have listed your skills along with your experience in the professional section of your resume, any soft or hard skills you want to showcase, definitely belong here. Again, consider what would be useful or relevant to law school before including a laundry list of skills on your resume.

Whether you have extensive professional experience or not, you’ll want to emphasize your soft skills so you can show that you have what it takes to succeed in law school. Some law school-relevant soft skills include negotiation, collaboration, problem solving, conflict resolution, written and oral communication, mediation, critical thinking, and adaptability.

If you do not have a lot of skills to highlight in this area, or if you have lengthier education and professional sections, you can potentially incorporate your skills into those sections.

Community and Volunteer Work

Have you volunteered with a specific organization? Many people go to law school to advocate on behalf of others, so showing that you care enough about your cause to volunteer can help you stand out to the admissions team.

If you have done enough community and volunteer work to necessitate a separate section (beyond your professional experience section), then you can list one. This section of your resume is the perfect spot to demonstrate what you’ve done toward the cause(s) you’ve written about in the personal statement part of your application. Include a brief description of the work you did with that organization as well as the dates and locations of your experience.

Other Potential Sections

Depending on your experience, there are a few other sections you may want to consider including on your resume:

Awards and honors You can list your awards and honors in your education section if they are all academically related. If they are not, however, you can have a dedicated section to awards and honors in your resume.

Affiliations and/or extracurricular activities Include your affiliations, professional and academic, either in your education section or as a separate section if you have many. Also, consider — is it important for us to know that you were a member?

You may also want to include your membership in certain student organizations, such as pre-law society or student government. Extracurricular activities can be a separate section from affiliations, but if most of your affiliations are school-related, it might make more sense to represent this as a combined section.

Publications Have you published any books, papers, or articles? List them in a separate section if so.

How to Format Your Law School Resume

It’s important to consistently format the content on your resume. If you have periods at the end of your bullet points, be sure to use them without. Or, if you use one font for your headings and another for your body text, make sure to apply that throughout your document.

Indeed recommends that you use headings for each section, and limit your font choices to something easy to read, like Calibri or Helvetica in 10- or 12-point font. Also, make sure you have standard one-inch margins at the top, bottom and sides of the page. Include details for each section with bullet points, and list the dates and locations for each activity. Your contact information should be at the very top in bold and/or larger font.

Finally, you’ll want your resume to be 1-2 pages long. If you want to submit something longer, then you should consider whether or not everything is absolutely necessary for the admissions team to know, and reread the application requirements. At Stetson Law, we request that students provide a comprehensive work history on their resume to align with the employment question on the Florida Bar application, the most common state in which Stetson graduates practice. So, your resume may be longer than two pages if you have a lot of work experience.

6 Key Tips For Your Law School Resume

Keep these tips in mind to create a strong, compelling resume – and to avoid common pitfalls.

1. Focus on relevancy, but tell your story

When creating your resume, focus on your relevant professional, academic and personal experiences, and see how you can make your experience part of your story. While working as a barista to support yourself through college may not seem directly related to your prospects as a law student, it shows hard work and initiative and can be made relevant to your application.

2. Keep it simple

Provide simple, easy-to-read explanations of your job and educational experiences on your resume. Use plain English and either avoid jargon and any other special acronyms or terminology, or define if necessary.

This simplicity extends to your format — your content should be what stands out, not colorful or unique formatting.

3. Don’t forget to proofread

Not proofreading your resume before you submit it is a big mistake. Copy edit your resume to ensure your spelling and grammar is correct, and ask someone else (or multiple people) to review it before applying.

4. Be Specific

Being specific in your professional accomplishments can help you stand out and showcase yourself effectively, according to LSAT prep course Magoosh . There is a big difference between “helped raise funds for charity initiatives” and “helped raise $25,000 for the Habitat For Humanity fundraiser via online fundraising event promotion.” Every bullet point on your resume should be crafted to focus on concrete tasks and highlight your personal role in the position at hand.

5. Stay Honest

Don’t make unsubstantiated claims or exaggerations — these are red flags for admissions officers. Listing skills without any evidence to support those skills is a big mistake. In addition, the law school you’re applying to will receive your transcripts, so they’ll know if you lie about your academic performance — it’s not worth it to round up on your GPA.

6. Don't be too modest

Underselling yourself is also a mistake when it comes to your resume. Even though it’s hard to write about yourself, make sure you describe your best qualities and accomplishments in detail.

The Law School Resume — Just One Part of Your Application

Your law school application includes multiple components, from the application itself to the personal statement. We’re here to provide you with helpful tidbits of information to ensure you feel confident in the application process. Explore our admissions blog and find more useful tips for future and current law school students.

Topics: Applying to Law School

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Preparing for law school, let us help.

Legal Resumes

This guide contains some basic suggestions about preparing resumes, and includes samples for you to consult. If you would like to have a Career Development Office attorney-counselor review your draft resume, send it to the career email box, [email protected] . The resume process, from start to finish, can take much longer than you anticipate. Start early, and give yourself plenty of time .

A. What is a Resume?

B. effective resumes, c. writing your resume, d. resume suggestions, e. finalizing your resume.

• Sample Resumes – Students (These are included as a pdf to preserve formatting, an essential element of effective resume-drafting.)
• Suggested Action Words for describing experiences
• “1L Resume Workshop” Presentation (10/2023)

A resume is a marketing device whereby you present the most attractive, true picture of yourself with the goal of convincing an employer to meet with you. During an interview, you may be asked questions about any entries on the document. For lawyers, the resume also is a writing sample that shows your ability to communicate clearly and concisely and your attention to detail.

Your resume is often your first contact with a potential employer and will probably determine whether your qualifications and background warrant an interview or serious consideration for a job. While employers do not usually hire on the basis of a resume alone, they may decide not to interview an applicant on the basis of a poorly prepared or presented resume. Therefore, excellent content and presentation are vital. Employers assume that your resume represents your best work and is indicative of your general work product in terms of clarity, organization, accuracy and appearance.

Most decisions about what to include and how best to present information in your resume are based on your personal assessment of your strengths, the kind(s) of position you are seeking, your own taste and style, and your knowledge of how resumes in the legal profession traditionally look and read. Consider having more than one resume to emphasize different things for different types of prospective employers.

Resumes for public interest organizations. For these employers, a demonstrated commitment to public interest work will be a key factor. Evidence of your commitment can take the form of extracurricular activities, journals, internships, clinics and volunteer work, all of which should be included on your resume. Consider including substantive clinical work or student organization activities (e.g., CARC) in your “Experience” section, where you can elaborate on your tasks and responsibilities. If your experience justifies it, you may consider creating an additional section entitled “Community Service” or “Volunteer Activities” to list your volunteer or community activities that will emphasize the extent of your dedication to public interest issues. In addition, languages can be very important to public interest/public sector employers, depending on the communities they serve or the work you can do for them. Unlike resumes aimed at private sector employers, public interest resumes can go over one page if your experience requires it; however, it is still critical to use concise language and efficient formatting.

Resume Rules. There are a few absolute rules for writing resumes. Your resume must be:

• scrupulously honest;
• conservative (graphically and linguistically, not necessarily politically);
• selective (because your resume is not your whole life history, perhaps not even your entire employment history);
• visually appealing so it will be easy to read rapidly;
• absolutely free of typos, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies.

Difficult Issues. Some items you might include in your resume may reveal political leanings, religious beliefs, ethnicity, disability, and/or sexual orientation, which, depending on the prospective employer, could work against you or in your favor. (This is true regardless of the legality of taking such factors into account.) The decision whether to include such information is a personal one. First, consider how important the inclusion of such information is to you, and whether you would want to work for an employer who would use it in making a decision whether to hire you. If you choose not to include this information, you still have the option of bringing it up in an interview, or later in the hiring process. If you are unsure about whether to include items of this kind in your resume, contact a CDO attorney-counselor.

Accuracy of Resume Information and Verification of Resumes. It is imperative that all information presented on your resume be scrupulously honest and free of embellishment. The potential for misrepresentation of academic or work performance is of great concern to employers; they typically verify this information. Berkeley Law has established practices to ensure the fair and accurate presentation of students in the placement process, including procedures for the verification of statements concerning grades, journal membership, or other law school achievements that a student has made in a resume or other document. By making such statements to an employer in writing, a student consents to the Law School verifying the substance of these statements at the employer’s request. (Berkeley Law’s Registrar will inform the employer whether written grade information is accurate, but will not provide the correct grade information to the employer without the student’s prior consent.)

Any falsification or misrepresentation of law school grades or other records, recommendations, or other qualifications is a violation of the Academic Honor Code.

First, brainstorm. Inventory your background and accomplishments and list everything which helps to distinguish you individually, professionally, and as a student. You might ask for input from family or friends because you may overlook some basic but important areas. Remember to focus on what you bring to the table based on your experience. What will make the employer interested in you?

Name and Contact Information

This information should go in large (font size 14-16) bold face type at the top of your resume. If you choose to include both your school address and your permanent address you should indicate which is which. (Students often include an out-of-area address in order to show that they have a connection to an area outside of Northern California.) Always include your phone number and email address, but only one of each. (Your email address, as well as your voicemail greeting, should be professional.)

List your education in reverse chronological order (law school first). Include basic information on schools attended, degrees received and dates (or anticipated dates) of graduation, and major field(s) of study.

Under your undergraduate school heading, include major and minor areas of study and thesis topics, if applicable. Be consistent. If you use the term “J.D,” then use “B.A.” Alternatively, if you write out “Juris Doctor” then write out “Bachelor of Arts.” Other than law schools, you need not include schools from which you transferred and did not graduate. No need to include your high school. If you acquired a degree which employers might not recognize by its abbreviation, spell out the degree name.

For your law degree, you can either list it as “J.D. Candidate” with your expected graduation date, or you can list “J.D.” and the date as “Expected May 20XX.”

A Special Note for Transfer Students : If you transferred here from another law school, put Berkeley Law first, followed by the other law school, for at least your first year at Berkeley Law. If you received honors at the other school, put them under that law school’s section. If you were invited to join law review at your former school and didn’t because you transferred here, indicate that you were invited to join and explain why, e.g., “Invited to join University of San Diego Law Review on the basis of high academic achievement.”

Joint Degree Students : If you are pursuing a joint degree program, be sure to list both schools under your education section.

Honors and Activities. Honors attached to your degree should appear in lowercase after the degree awarded, e.g., B.A., summa cum laude , June 2006. (If the honors are in Latin, they should be italicized.) Other academic honors are listed separately below your degree, along with school activities.

If you have extensive undergraduate honors and activities, you might consider listing only a representative number of them. Make sure it is clear which activities are at which institutions. If you were involved during school with an activity not related to the school, it should go under a different section of your resume.

For law school, list all honors and activities of importance such as law review, participation on other journals, moot court, trial advocacy, clinics, fellowships, scholarships, committees, student organization membership, and academic awards.

If an activity in college or law school was or is especially involved or relevant, consider putting it under the Experience section. For example, if you are a public interest student, your participation in CARC could go under Experience, with a description of the work you did on your asylum case.

Grades, Rank and LSAT Scores. Because Berkeley Law does not use a traditional grading system, students do not have GPA’s. Berkeley Law does not rank its students (except for the sole purpose of clerkship applications), and Berkeley Law faculty policy provides that students must not include any representation or estimate of class rank on a resume or in a cover letter. LSAT scores should not be listed on your resume, as they are designed to predict law school performance only, and are not an indicator of professional performance.

Use reverse chronology. You can list a brief summary of your most important duties, or list the skills you have developed at the job so that the employer can see what you can bring to the table. Your experience is worth including not for what you did, but for what it says about you and what you can do in the future. 

List the name and location of the employer, your title, the dates of employment, and a brief summary of your most important duties. Emphasize law-related work in any area, but do not struggle to make your experience appear more law-related than it really is; many students come to law school with no legal experience whatsoever, and employers know this. Three or four phrases are usually all you need, but elaborate further if you have the space and believe that your duties were especially interesting, responsible, and/or relevant to your legal career.

• If the name of the employer is inadequate to convey the nature of the business, try to incorporate a description of the employer in your job duties, e.g., “prepared marketing materials and sales analysis for start-up company selling online pet products.”
• Avoid insider jargon.
• Use present tense verbs to describe your current job and past tense verbs with all former positions.
• Provide specific information about actions and responsibilities (e.g., budget, percentage of increase in revenues or sales, number of staff supervised, direct work with clients, etc.) Many skills obtained in non-law jobs are transferable to law practice (e.g., attention to detail, meeting deadlines, writing, research and analytical skills, working under pressure, working with individuals from diverse backgrounds, etc.). Try to highlight such skills.
• If you were at one job for a long time, show promotions and increased responsibility, if applicable.
• If you had many part-time or temporary jobs while in school, consider summarizing them, e.g., “Worked part-time during undergrad to finance education.” (Employers will value the fact that you have worked while going to school, particularly if you were still able to do well academically.) For certain jobs, such as in retail or restaurants, or as a ski instructor, it can be appropriate to omit the description altogether, as most people know roughly what this work entails.
• Include summer jobs to avoid time gaps on your resume.
• If a prior job is your only link to a prospective employer’s city, include it.
• Any experience can be relevant, regardless of whether or not it was paid, so if your volunteer or community service is substantial, include it in the main body of your resume, especially if you are applying for public interest positions. Volunteer work can also be presented in a separate Community Service section, or at the end or your resume under a heading such as “Other Information.” Jobs are usually assumed to be full-time and paid unless you indicate otherwise; be sure not to appear to overstate your experience.

Other Categories.

If space allows, you may choose to elaborate on one or more of the following categories, under a heading such as “Other Information” or “Interests and Activities”:

• Languages : If you include languages on your resume, state your level of fluency (e.g., “fluent,” “proficient,” “reading knowledge only” (where your fluency is very limited, it is probably not worth listing the language)). Do not overstate your level of proficiency.
• Publications : You may include a short list of publications on law-related topics, particularly if the area of research is relevant to an employer’s practice. A more extensive list of publications should be compiled as a separate document. Be prepared to discuss in interviews any publications you list.
• Professional Licensing and Affiliations : Include any relevant licenses or certifications (such as a CPA license). Include past and present memberships with your title, if any, and dates. Give the full name of the organization.
• Bar Admission : Bar membership, only applicable to graduates, should appear at the top of your resume, above the Education section. If you have a substantial amount of experience as an attorney, the Experience section of your resume should precede the Education section. If you are registered to take the bar exam or awaiting the results of a bar exam you have written, you can include that information in a cover letter.
• Keep your resume to one page, unless you have substantial working experience prior to coming to law school, or for public interest resumes.
• Do not use abbreviations, with these exceptions: the two-letter state abbreviations and academic degrees.
• List each item only once. If you list Debate Team Captain as a college activity, don’t repeat it under Other Activities at the bottom.
• Make your resume easy to read. The reader should be able to locate your graduation date, duties of employment, etc., by scanning (not reading) your resume.
• Use short descriptive sentence fragments separated by semicolons with strong action verbs to relate your job responsibilities, not sentences. (A list of “ action words ” can be found at the end of this guide.).
• Be specific about what you did at your jobs; avoid vague expressions such as “gained exposure to,” “participated in” or “assisted with.”
• List your job responsibilities in descending order of responsibility and challenge (start with the most impressive and work down to a “catch-all” item, if appropriate).
• Put your references on a separate document, and don’t include “references available on request” on your resume. Employers know to ask for them.
• Avoid extraneous information and try not to convey too many ideas at once.
• Do not include computer abilities, except as part of a job description where you used highly specialized skills.
• Do not include such personal information as age, marital status, etc.
• Do not include anything in your resume you would not want to discuss in an interview.

Resume Style. Resume styles vary, as presented by the samples found at the end of this guide.

In addition to using physical layout, take strategic advantage of the various ways to highlight important information, such as bold face, capitalization, italicizing, and underlining. Be completely consistent with the choices you make (e.g., all educational institutions in boldface, all job titles in italics), all the way down to the way you use commas, periods and spaces. For legal resumes, it is most typical to use Times New Roman font (or another similar serif font) in size 11 or 12. Look for a pleasant balance of text and white space on the page. While margins can be smaller than the standard for a term paper, you should allow at least .7″ all around.

Proofreading. Once you have your resume set up as you want it with content and layout, proofread it carefully. Look for inconsistencies in style as well as actual typos. Do not trust yourself as the only proofreader; enlist the aid of at least one other person. If you discover a typo, you must redo your resume, even if it has been already been printed; no typo is insignificant.

A few technical notes.

• If you send your resume electronically, it is preferable to convert it to a PDF file first; this way your formatting and any document history are invisible, and you can control exactly the way your resume appears and prints.
• Email addresses in your contact information should be text, like your phone number, not a hyperlink.

Sample Resumes (These are included as a pdf to preserve formatting, an essential element of effective resume-drafting.)

  Return to Contents   

15 Fortune 500 CEOs Who Earned a Law Degree

These chief executive officers bring legal credentials to the C-suite.

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A legal background in the business world.

It's common for leaders of large corporations to have a master's in business administration degree. An MBA can be a major asset for those with CEO or C-suite ambitions. But a small contingent of top business executives have a law degree on their resume. Here are 15 Fortune 500 CEOs who are law school graduates.

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Priscilla Almodovar, CEO of Fannie Mae

Law school: Columbia University Law School in New York

U.S. News law school rank: 8

Median LSAT score: 173

Acceptance rate: 12.2%

Almodovar was named CEO of mortgage financing company Fannie Mae in 2022. She was previously president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners. Before earning her law degree at Columbia, she got her bachelor's from Hofstra University in New York.

Michael Swensen | Getty Images

Robert M. Blue, chair, president and CEO of Dominion Energy

Law school: Yale University Law School in Connecticut

U.S. News law school rank: 1 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 175

Acceptance rate: 5.6%

Blue was named president and CEO of Virginia-based Dominion Energy in October 2020 and chair of the board of directors in April 2021. Before joining the company, he served as counselor to the governor and director of policy for Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, and worked as an attorney. He earned his law degree in 1994.

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Calvin Butler, president and CEO of Exelon Corporation

Law school: Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

U.S. News law school rank: 16 (tie)

Acceptance rate: 17.2%

According to the company's website, Exelon "is the nation’s largest utility company by customer count, serving 10.5 million electric and gas customers." Butler held senior leadership roles in the print, digital and supply chain solutions industry before joining Exelon, where he was named CEO in 2022.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle

Law school: Carey Law School at the University of Pennsylvania

U.S. News law school rank: 4 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 172

Acceptance rate: 9.9%

Catz joined software giant Oracle in 1999 and was named CEO in 2014. Catz, who is also a director of The Walt Disney Company, immigrated to the U.S. from Israel at six years old. She earned a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and a law degree in 1986.

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Robert M. Davis, president and CEO of Merck

Law school: Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern University in Illinois

U.S. News law school rank: 9 (tie)

Acceptance rate: 15.5%

Davis was named president of pharmaceutical company Merck in April 2021, then was named CEO three months later. In addition to his law degree, Davis has an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's from Miami University—Oxford in Ohio.

(Getty Images) |

Kenneth David DeGiorgio, CEO of First American Financial

Law school: University of California—Los Angeles School of Law

U.S. News law school rank: 13

Median LSAT score: 170

Acceptance rate: 16.8%

DeGiorgio was named CEO of First American Financial in February 2022 after serving as president from 2021 to 2022. In addition to his law degree, he has a graduate degree from Harvard University in Massachusetts and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management .

(Wavebreakmedia | Getty Images)

Nicholas Fink, CEO of Fortune Brands Innovations

Law school: Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern University

Fink joined Fortune Brands Innovations, which manufactures brands like Master Lock and SentrySafe, in 2015. He was named CEO in January 2020 after serving as president and COO. Before earning his law degree, Fink earned his bachelor's at the Institut d’Etudes des Relations Internationales in France .

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Glenn D. Fogel, president and CEO of Booking Holdings Inc.

Law school: Harvard University Law School

Median LSAT score: 174

Acceptance rate: 9.6%

Fogel was named president and CEO of Connecticut-based Booking Holdings Inc. in January 2017 and CEO of its subsidiary, Booking.com, in June 2019. Before earning his law degree, he earned a bachelor's from the Wharton School.

Raymond Boyd | Getty Images

Chris Leahy, chair and CEO of CDW

Law school: Boston College Law School in Massachusetts

U.S. News law school rank: 28 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 167

Acceptance rate: 13.4%

CDW provides information technology solutions for businesses, governments, educational institutions and health care systems in the U.S. and abroad. Leahy was named CEO in 2019 after serving as chief revenue officer. Before earning her law degree, she graduated with a bachelor's from Brown University in Rhode Island.

Brandon Sloter | Getty Images

Jeffrey W. Martin, CEO of Sempra

Law school: The University of Miami School of Law in Florida

U.S. News law school rank: 82 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 162

Acceptance rate: 32.9%

Martin was appointed CEO of California-based energy infrastructure company Sempra in May 2018. In addition to his law degree, he has a bachelor's degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York and a master's in public administration from the University of Texas at El Paso .

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Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America Corporation

Law school: University of Notre Dame Law School in Indiana

U.S. News law school rank: 20 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 169

Acceptance rate: 24.4%

Moynihan joined Bank of America Corporation in 2004 after the company merged with FleetBoston Financial. He was appointed CEO in January 2010 after leading each company's operating units. Before his law degree, he earned a bachelor's from Brown.

Teresa J. Rasmussen, president and CEO of Thrivent

Law school: University of North Dakota School of Law

U.S. News law school rank: 168 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 150

Acceptance rate: 62%

Financial services company Thrivent tapped Rasmussen as its CEO in 2018. Her previous roles include serving as president of the company's core life, health and annuities business as well as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. Rasmussen also earned a bachelor’s in accounting from Minnesota State University—Moorhead .

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Alan D. Schnitzer, chairman and CEO of Travelers

Law school: Columbia University Law School

Schnitzer was named CEO of personal, business and specialty insurance company Travelers in December 2015 after joining the company in 2007 as vice chairman and chief legal officer. He graduated with a bachelor's in finance and accounting from the Wharton School.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Michael Tipsord, chairman and CEO of State Farm Insurance

Law school where he earned his degree: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law

U.S. News law school rank: 36 (tie)

Median LSAT score: 165

Acceptance rate: 43.7%

Tipsord began his career with State Farm in 1988 and was named chief financial officer in 2004. He became COO in 2011 and CEO in 2015. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Illinois Wesleyan University .

David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery

Law school: Boston University School of Law in Massachusetts

U.S. News law school rank: 24

Acceptance rate: 17.8%

WarnerMedia and Discovery merged in 2022 to become Warner Bros. Discovery, one of the country's largest media and entertainment companies. Zaslav had served as CEO of Discovery since 2006. Previously a practicing attorney, he graduated from law school with honors.

Get guidance on choosing a law school.

Learn more about applying to law school and get our complete rankings of the Best Law Schools . For more advice and information on choosing a law school, follow U.S. News Education on X/Twitter and Facebook .

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Fortune 500 CEOs Who Earned a Law Degree

• Priscilla Almodovar, Fannie Mae
• Robert M. Blue, Dominion Energy
• Calvin Butler, Exelon Corporation
• Safra Catz, Oracle
• Robert M. Davis, Merck
• Kenneth David DeGiorgio, First American Financial
• Nicholas Fink, Fortune Brands Innovations
• Glenn D. Fogel, Booking Holdings Inc.
• Chris Leahy, CDW
• Jeffrey W. Martin, Sempra
• Brian Moynihan, Bank of America Corporation
• Teresa Rasmussen, Thrivent
• Alan D. Schnitzer, Travelers
• Michael Tipsord, State Farm Insurance
• David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery

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University of Chicago faculty call on administration to resume negotiations with pro-Palestinian protesters

The university of chicago faculty for justice in palestine on monday reaffirmed support for the “peaceful, welcoming and educational space” students had created and called on school leadership to return to “good-faith” negotiations..

Flanked by other professors, University of Chicago professor Faith Hillis speaks during a news conference on campus Monday about the pro-Palestinian encampment in the university’s quad.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

A coalition of over 120 faculty and academic staff from the University of Chicago on Monday called on the school’s administration to resume negotiations with the pro-Palestinian encampment organizers.

University of Chicago Faculty for Justice in Palestine said administrators suspended negotiations Sunday and issued a midnight deadline to dismantle the encampment on the university’s main quadrangle. Dozens of faculty say they went to the encampment at midnight to protect students, but no action was taken.

UChicago United organizers established the encampment seven days ago — joining hundreds of other students across the country — to express support for the Palestinian people and call on the university to disclose its financial investments and to divest from “death in Gaza, the South Side and beyond.”

Speaking at a news conference Monday in front of the encampment, members of the faculty coalition reaffirmed their support for the “peaceful, welcoming, and educational space” students had created on the quadrangle and called on school leadership to return to “good-faith” negotiations.

• Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel’s stance still uncertain

University of Chicago assistant professor Eman Abdelhadi speaks during a news conference Monday about the pro-Palestine encampment in the university’s quad.

Faculty made clear Monday they will step in if law enforcement moves on the encampment and the students residing there, regardless of possible disciplinary action from the university.

“If the university brings police against our students, we will be there ,” said Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development. “When genocide is happening … we are no more afraid for our jobs than people in Gaza are afraid to lose their tent, which replaced their home, which replaced their other home. Our fear pales in comparison.”

Abdelhadi, the only Palestinian faculty member, has joined student organizers in negotiations with the administration . Organizers say they were able to get the university to agree to establish a Gaza Scholars at Risk program that would bring eight Palestinian scholars to work and study at the school before conversations ceased Sunday.

A University of Chicago spokesperson said Sunday that no concessions have been made, noting there is already a Scholars at Risk program that people in Gaza can apply to.

The university also claimed it “sent no such communication” about a midnight deadline.

However, faculty members said Monday that the administration verbalized the midnight deadline in the negotiation room and would not provide information on what would happen if it were not followed.

Abdelhadi said they prepared for the worst because “the university has a history of arresting students and faculty.” About six months ago, the University of Chicago Police Department arrested UChicago United protesters, including two faculty members, who were engaged in a sit-in inside Rosenwald Hall.

Pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday at the encampment in the quad at the University of Chicago.

Over the weekend nearly 70 protesters were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment set up outside the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Any action to remove the University of Chicago encampment or its inhabitants would be “indefensible,” said Elham Mireshghi, an assistant instructional professor in the Divinity School.

“This was and is an educational and political endeavor, protected by the First Amendment. It should be especially safeguarded at UChicago, an institution dedicated to the free and open exchange of ideas,” Mireshghi said. “As faculty members, we will protect the safety of our students if the administration attempts to violently remove them, even if that means arrest and detention.”

University President Paul Alivisatos has claimed the encampment creates a “systematic disruption” on campus, but faculty vehemently disagreed.

Faith Hillis, a professor of Russian studies and faculty board member at the Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies, said the encampment is “above all, a place of learning,” hosting multiple teach-ins each day and engaging with fellow students, faculty and community members.

“Since the first day of the encampment, the university has threatened it with violent dispersal and the charge that it violates university statutes that bar disruption,” Hillis said. “But it is, in fact, the genius of this encampment is that it is not truly disruptive to the university’s operations in any meaningful way — it is outdoors, and orderly and peaceful, and, as I said, an integral part of our learning environments.”

“I implore our president and our university leaders to come back to the bargaining table in good faith and listen to our smart and courageous students and learn what they have to say,” she said.

University officials have not released any additional information on negotiations. In a statement Sunday, the administration wrote, “Unfortunately, the requests of the protesters were inconsistent with the University’s principles.”

About 20 miles north, pro-Palestinian protesters at Northwestern University were able to reach an agreement with administrators. The deal requires the university to disclose information about any investments to people associated with the university within 30 days of an inquiry, to re-establish a committee with student representatives to advise on investments and to fully fund tuition for five Palestinian undergraduate students, among other agreements — in exchange for the encampment being reduced to one aid tent.

At DePaul University, an encampment remains in the main quad of the school’s Lincoln Park campus. University officials say they have requested a meeting Monday with the DePaul Divest Coalition.

Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump

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Porn performer Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday in the hush money case against former President Trump, who looked on as she detailed their alleged sexual encounter and the payment she got to keep it quiet.

Prosecutors allege Trump paid Daniels to keep quiet about the allegations as he ran for president in 2016. Her testimony aired them very publicly as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seeks to win the White House again.

Trump denies having sex with Daniels , and his lawyers unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial midway through her testimony.

It was a major spectacle in the first criminal trial of a former American president, now in its third week of testimony in Manhattan.

Here are some takeaways from Daniels’ testimony:

Who is Stormy Daniels?

The case centers on a $130,000 payment to Daniels from Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say it was part of a scheme to illegally influence the campaign by burying negative stories about him.

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His lawyers have sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told jurors that she started exotic dancing in high school and appearing in adult films at age 23, eventually moving to direct more than 150 films and winning a roster of porn industry awards.

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Meeting Trump

Daniels testified she first met and chatted with Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor.

He referred to her as “the smart one” and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner, she said. Daniels testified that she accepted Trump’s invitation because she wanted to avoid dinner with her co-workers and thought it might help her career. Trump had his bodyguard get her number, she said.

When they met up later in his penthouse, she appreciated that he seemed interested in the business aspects of the industry rather than the “sexy stuff.” He also suggested putting her on his TV show, “The Apprentice,” a possibility she hoped could help establish her as a writer and director.

She left to use the bathroom and was startled to find Trump in his underwear when she returned, she said. She didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened but realized that he was “bigger and blocking the way,” she testified.

“The next thing I know was: I was on the bed,” and they were having sex, Daniels recalled. The encounter was brief but left her “shaking,” she said. “I just wanted to leave,” she testified.

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Payments for silence

Daniels was asked if Trump ever told her to keep things between them confidential, and said, “Absolutely not.” She said she learned in 2011 that a magazine had learned the story of their encounter, and she agreed to do an interview for $15,000 to make money and “control the narrative.” The story never ran.

In 2016, when Trump was running for president, Daniels said she authorized her manager to shop the story around but did not initially receive interest from news outlets. She said that changed in October with the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission . She said she learned that Cohen wanted to buy her silence.

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Mistrial push

Midway through her testimony, Trump’s lawyers moved for a mistrial.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued that Daniels’ testimony about the alleged encounter and other meetings with him had “nothing to do with this case,” and would unfairly prejudice the jury.

The judge rejected it, and he faulted defense attorneys for not raising more of their objections while she was testifying.

Before Daniels took the stand, Trump’s lawyers had tried to stop her from testifying about the encounter’s details, saying it was irrelevant in “a case about books and records.”

Prosecutors countered that Daniels’ testimony gets at what Trump was trying to hide and they were “very mindful” not to draw too much graphic detail. Before Daniels took the stand, they told the judge the testimony would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia.”

While the judge didn’t side with Trump’s lawyers, he acknowledged that some details were excessive. The objections could potentially be used by Trump’s lawyers if he is convicted and they file an appeal.

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Cross-examination

Trump’s lawyers tried to attack Daniels’ credibility, suggesting she was motivated by money and that her account has shifted over the years.

“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels at one point. Daniels acknowledged she did.

“And you want him to go to jail?” the lawyer asked.

“I want him to be held accountable,” Daniels said. Pressed again whether that meant going to jail, she said: “If he’s convicted.”

The defense pressed Daniels on the fact that she owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees stemming from an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit, and on a 2022 tweet in which she said she “will go to jail before I pay a penny.” Daniels dug in at times in the face of pointed questions, forcefully denying the idea that she had tried to extort money from Trump.

Trump whispered frequently to his attorney during Daniels’ testimony, and his expression seemed to be pained at one point as she recounted details about the dinner she says they shared. He shook his head and appeared to say something under his breath as Daniels testified that Trump told her he didn’t sleep in the same room as his wife.

On the way out of the courthouse, Trump called it “a very revealing day.” He didn’t address Daniels’ testimony explicitly but claimed the prosecutors’ case was “totally falling apart.”

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Jarring split screen

Trump’s appearance in court Tuesday, like all other days he’s stuck in the courtroom, means he can’t be out on the campaign trail as he runs for president a third time. It’s a frequent source of his complaints, but Daniels’ testimony in particular might underscore how much of a distraction the trial is from the business of running for president.

While Trump was stuck in a Manhattan courthouse away from voters and unable to speak for much of the day, President Biden was attending a Holocaust remembrance ceremony and condemning antisemitism .

It’s an issue Trump has sought to use against Biden in the campaign by seizing on the protests at college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war .

Associated Press writer Price reported from New York, Whitehurst from Washington. AP writers Michael Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this story.

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SWLA bikers urged to practice good driving

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Driving motorcycles for many is a fun hobby and a passion, but it can turn deadly fast.

Officials say it takes caution from both motorcycle riders and other drivers to keep everyone safe.

Over the past fifteen years, more than 6,000 motorcyclists died on the nation’s roadways. Eighty-two motorcyclists died in Louisiana in 2022, according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission (LHSC). With National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month upon us, state and local officials urge riders and drivers to practice better driving habits to keep the roads safe for everyone.

LHSC Representative Gregory Fischer wants this month to be one of awareness for the motorcycle community, but also regular drivers.

“Most people in Louisiana are behaving well,” he says. “They’re doing well. They’re not drinking and driving. They’re wearing their seatbelts they’re not speeding or looking at their phones while driving but it’s the small percentage of people who are doing those things that are ruining it for others.”

Fischer also says that with Memorial Day and summer coming up, motorcyclists and drivers need to take more precaution around each other.

“We need to remind people that Memorial Day is coming up vacation people getting out of schools more young drivers on the roads, we don’t want those deaths to be in vain we want to do better and lower those numbers it really is a team effort it’s a two-way street.”

Local Elizabeth Moon, whose father rides a motorcycle, says she wants this month to be about saving lives.

“I just think it’s really important to be aware of your surroundings especially when there’s motorcyclists out in the streets,” she said. “I go riding with my dad and it’s important to be safe, it can be scary to think of my dad on his motorcycle there’s a lot of reckless driving and you never know till it happens.

Motorcyclists are reminded to always wear approved helmets, stay up to date on driving training, follow the speed limit and put away cell phones. Drivers are also urged to give each other enough space.

Copyright 2024 KPLC. All rights reserved.

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