Legal CV templates and a paralegal example

What a law firm reads first

Whoever screens your CV at a firm, whether a graduate recruitment team, an HR adviser or a partner with a stack of paralegal applications, is looking for three things fast. Your academic record. Your stage of qualification. And proof that you have done real legal work, or work close to it, without mistakes. Everything else on the page supports those three.

That is why law CVs look conservative. A two-column design, a coloured sidebar or icons for your phone and email do nothing for a reader who wants your degree classification and the type of files you have run. Plain headings, one column and a standard font also mean the firm's recruitment system can read the text correctly, which matters when a form asks you to upload a CV and then pre-fills fields from it.

Training contract forms, and where a CV still counts

Many firms recruit trainees and vacation scheme students through their own online application form, not a CV. The form asks for your grades module by module, then sets questions such as why this firm, or a time you dealt with a difficult deadline. Do not paste your CV into those boxes. Answer the question that was asked.

Your CV still does a lot of work. Paralegal, legal assistant and qualifying work experience roles are usually filled by CV, often through legal recruitment agencies. Smaller high street and regional firms often ask for a CV and covering letter for training posts too. And a well-kept CV is the source you copy dates, grades and examples from when you fill in the long forms, so the details match every time.

Put grades where they can be found

For trainee and junior roles, education goes straight after your profile. Give your degree, classification (or expected classification) and university, then your A level subjects and grades. Add GCSEs as a single line, for example "9 GCSEs at grades 9 to 6, including English and Maths", only if you are early in your career or the firm asks for them. If your degree is not law, name your conversion course or SQE preparation course underneath it.

Once you have a few years of legal experience, move education below your work history. A qualified solicitor with four years' post-qualification experience is judged on their caseload, not their A levels. If you had a difficult year with grades to match, use the mitigating circumstances box on the firm's form. The CV is not the place to explain it.

How to show the SQE and qualifying work experience

Since 2021 the Solicitors Qualifying Examination has been the main route to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. You need a degree or equivalent, a pass in both SQE1 and SQE2, two years of full-time qualifying work experience (QWE), and to meet the SRA's character and suitability requirements. QWE can be paid or voluntary and gained in up to four organisations, and paralegal work can count if it involves providing legal services.

A firm wants to know exactly where you are, so be precise. "SQE1: passed. SQE2: booked" is better than "currently undertaking the SQE". Under each legal role, you can add a line such as "Eligible to be confirmed as QWE", but only if you have checked. QWE has to be confirmed by a solicitor of England and Wales or a firm's compliance officer for legal practice who has reviewed your work. If your supervisor has already agreed to confirm it, say so in your covering letter.

Legal work against everything else

Describe legal roles by the matters, not by the job title. Say which team, what kind of files, how many you handled and which parts you did yourself: drafting, research, completions, disclosure, client calls. A reader can tell the difference between "assisted solicitors with conveyancing" and "prepared completion statements and SDLT returns for residential sales". Keep clients anonymous and never name a matter.

Non-legal work belongs on the page too, especially if you are moving into law from another job. A claims handler has read policies against facts and written decisions. A bank cashier has followed anti-money laundering checks. Customer service shows you can manage a difficult client on the phone. Keep these entries shorter than your legal ones, and pick the points a solicitor would recognise from their own day.

Detail is shown, never claimed

Plenty of law CVs claim "excellent attention to detail". A shortlister believes the CV that proves it. Before you send yours, check it the way you would check a contract:

• Dates in one format throughout, with no overlaps or gaps you cannot explain.
• The firm's name spelled exactly as it spells it, including any ampersand.
• Consistent capitals for practice areas, and legal terms used correctly.
• No "resposible" or "principle" for "principal". Spellcheck will not catch the second.
• Your covering letter addressed to the right firm. Recruiters remember the ones that were not.

Qualified solicitors and lateral moves

Once qualified, lead with your admission date and practice area, for example "Solicitor, admitted 2022, private client". Then list your roles with a short description of your caseload: the value bands or types of matter, the clients you act for in general terms, and any supervision of trainees. Business development, know-how and training others go in their own bullet points. Partners hiring laterally want to picture you taking over a list of files on your first Monday.