Law School Application: Resume Tips

Creating a professional resume is an important element of crafting a successful application. Similar to a personal statement, a resume provides the Admissions Committee with more insight into you and your background, something beyond just your GPA and LSAT score. A resume should highlight your accomplishments, employment history, extra-curricular activities, and volunteer experience. All of these help to demonstrate the unique perspective you bring as a potential student.

When preparing a resume, consider the following:

You are applying to a professional school and your resume should look professional.
Your resume should be easy to read and be structured, balanced, and well organized.
Be consistent with formatting, spaces, commas, underlining, bolding, italicizing, and capitalizing.
Make sure to use standard font with easy readability such as 12 point, Times New Roman.
Make sure, as with any document you submit with your application, that you proofread your resume thoroughly. Your resume is another writing sample that demonstrates your ability to write well and your attention to detail.
Make sure you are concise and clear. This is a hallmark of legal writing and important as it relates to your resume as well as your personal statement.
Use a professional email address, preferably a work or school email address, or an address with just your name.
Keep your resume to one page unless you have a significant work history (greater than 10 years in the workforce). Resumes, in general, should be a maximum of two pages.
The resume should include dates of employment/activities in a month/year format and, if less than full time, the hours per week devoted to the position/activity.
Use action verbs, in the present or past tense as appropriate.
Objectives are not necessary, and sometimes highlight your desire to do something other than attend law school.
Highlight any honors received.
Note any leaderships roles you have held.
The employment and education sections should be presented in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
List the jobs you have held including the time at the position and title. This should be for both paid and internship/unpaid experiences.
List volunteer experiences or activities. Be sure to highlight any groups or activities where you held a leadership role.
We have no particular preferences as to your activities. It is not required that you be a part of your school’s pre-law group – participate in whatever activities you are passionate about. If the name of the organization does not fully explain the activity, please provide some detail. If the organization name is an acronym, please spell out the name of the group – the Admissions Committee may not be familiar with the acronym.
Similarly, you do not have to work at a law firm. While working at a law firm might provide some good insight into whether or not you want to go to law school, it is not a required element of your resume.
Do not include activities from high school unless there are extremely significant such as becoming an Eagle Scout, winning a national competition or performing at a very high athletic level.
Avoid personal pronouns such as “I” and “My.”
DO NOT exaggerate or overstate your credentials.

Consider utilizing your career services office at your undergraduate institution. Colleges and universities often have resume workshops and counseling. Further, these services are generally open to both current students and alumni.

Contact Us

Please note our mailing address differs from our physical address. Please address all mail to 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, LW-ADM, Hamden, CT 06518.

203-582-3400

law@qu.edu

370 Bassett Road
North Haven, CT 06473

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