Legal CV example and writing guide for 2026

Use reverse-chronological order, putting your most recent experience first. A legal CV should generally be around two pages, while an entry-level candidate may be better served by one tightly edited page. Treat those lengths as editing targets, not invitations to shrink the type or crowd the margins.

Keep the layout plain and consistent. Use readable headings, restrained formatting and enough white space to separate sections. Leave out a photograph, date of birth and reference details. Proofread every line: spelling and grammar carry particular weight in a document intended to demonstrate precision.

Tailor each version to the job specification. Reorder evidence so the closest match appears early, and reuse the employer's terminology only when it accurately describes your experience. The personal statement should be a short argument for fit rather than a list of adjectives. Experience bullets should identify the action, scope and result. The skills section should contain evidence-based terms, not self-ratings or progress bars. Education can carry more detail early in a career; experienced candidates can shorten it to create room for recent work. Extras earn their place only when they reveal relevant knowledge, responsibility or sustained involvement.

If direct legal experience is limited, draw on placements, university work and part-time employment. Use legal experience to show informed interest in the field, then use other work to demonstrate transferable evidence such as commercial awareness. Do not claim knowledge, responsibility or figures that you could not explain at interview.

A duty tells the reader what the post involved. An achievement shows what you did, the scale of the work and the result. Build each bullet around a simple pattern: action + matter or audience + measurable outcome. Useful measures include caseload size, document volume, turnaround time, deadlines met, error reduction or hours saved. Use only figures you can verify and explain.

The improved versions work because each one fixes the reader's attention on evidence. They specify the action, establish scope and finish with a result. The result need not be financial. Faster review, fewer corrections, reliable deadline performance and clearer client communication can all be useful when they are true and relevant.

Choose verbs that describe your actual contribution: researched, drafted, reviewed, analysed, organised, reconciled, explained, negotiated, advised, coordinated or supervised. Avoid inflated verbs if you only supported the work. "Led" should mean that you directed people or owned delivery; "advised" should reflect advice you were authorised to provide.

For research work, name the question, range of sources and use made of the output without exposing confidential information. For drafting, show document type, volume, accuracy or review outcome. Digital work may cover document preparation, legal research, data analysis or collaboration, while spreadsheet-based analysis can support calculations and valuations. Client-facing bullets should show how you made legal processes or standard terms understandable in plain English.

Keep each bullet to one or two lines where possible. Remove repeated openings such as "responsible for" and do not turn every task into a percentage. A few solid, varied measures read more credibly than a page crowded with suspiciously neat gains.

List education in reverse-chronological order with the qualification, institution and completion year. Recent candidates can add a small number of relevant modules, a dissertation topic, a clinic project or an academic result when it supports the vacancy. Once professional experience carries the application, reduce this section to the facts the employer needs and give the space to recent outcomes.

Do not imply that one academic route applies to every legal job. The grounded route here concerns entry to the Legal Practice Course: eligibility requires either a Qualifying Law Degree, usually at 2:2 or above, or a Graduate Diploma in Law or another accepted route. State this only when that route is relevant to your application. Write the exact qualification name you hold, the provider and the completion date; do not convert an unfinished course into an awarded qualification.

Keep certificates separate from education when that makes the chronology easier to scan. Include only credentials that the vacancy values and that you genuinely hold. Add an issuer and date where useful, and distinguish training attendance from an assessed qualification. If a role asks for a role-specific qualification, mirror that generic phrase in the CV only after checking the vacancy wording.