Corporate Lawyer Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Corporate Lawyer resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Corporate lawyers work for big companies or law firms, helping them navigate complex legal issues like intellectual property protection, contract negotiations, and labor law. They’re also tasked with creating and maintaining a company’s legal infrastructure, including drafting and reviewing contracts, creating intellectual property policies, and setting up employee handbooks.
Corporate lawyers can specialize in a variety of areas, including intellectual property law, labor and employment law, mergers and acquisitions, tax law, securities law, and more. And while some corporate lawyers work directly with clients and help them draft contracts or design new products, others spend most of their time researching precedents or writing legal briefs.
Regardless of your role, you’ll need a stellar resume to help you land your dream job as a corporate lawyer. Here are some tips and an example to help you write yours.
How to Write a Corporate Lawyer Resume
Here’s how to write a corporate lawyer resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters will see. And they’re the best way to showcase your experience and qualifications.
So it’s crucial that you use them to their full potential. And that means using them to describe your accomplishments and results. So rather than saying you “assisted in drafting and reviewing contracts,” you could say you “assisted in drafting and reviewing $10 million contract for national fast food chain, resulting in timely and cost-effective resolution of dispute.”
The second bullet point is much stronger because it provides more detail about what exactly you did and the outcome of your work.
Related: What Is a Corporate Lawyer? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a corporate lawyer role, your resume is likely to go through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This program will scan your resume for certain keywords related to the job opening. If your resume doesn’t have enough of the right terms, the ATS might automatically reject your application.
The best way to make sure your resume makes it past the ATS is to include relevant keywords throughout all sections of your document. You can find a list of common corporate lawyer keywords below:
- Corporate Law
- Legal Advice
- Commercial Litigation
- Corporate Governance
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Legal Research
- Corporate Finance
- Legal Writing
- Dispute Resolution
- Civil Litigation
- Labor and Employment Law
- Arbitration
- Competition Law
- Due Diligence
- Intellectual Property
- Contract Law
- Litigation
- Drafting Agreements
- Negotiation
- Restructuring
- Licensing
- Trade Law
- International Law
- Joint Ventures
- Trade Marks
- Cross-border Transactions
- Investment Banking
- European Law
- Mergers & Acquisition Transactions (M&A)
- Due Diligence
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Corporate lawyers use a variety of software programs and systems to complete their work, so it’s important to list any relevant technical skills you have. Programs like Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Google Suite (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar), and social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are all commonly used by corporate lawyers. Additionally, corporate lawyers may be called on to use specific software programs relevant to their industry, so it’s important to be familiar with as many programs as possible.
Related: How Much Does a Corporate Lawyer Make?
Remember The Basics
As you write your resume, it’s important to keep a few basic rules in mind.
Make Your Resume Easy to Scan
There are a few things you can do to make your resume easier to read, such as left aligning your text, using a standard font type and size, and using bullets instead of paragraphs to list your experiences. You should also use all-caps and bold sparingly, and keep your bullets under two lines. Additionally, you can include some white space on the page to make the document easier to scan.
Be Concise
There is no set standard for how long a resume should be, but a good rule of thumb is to keep it to one or two pages. This allows you to highlight your most relevant experience and skills without overwhelming your potential employer. When trimming down your resume, make sure to remove any irrelevant information, filler words, and unnecessary details.
Proofread
Proofreading your resume is an important step in ensuring that it looks its best. There are a few key things to look for when proofreading: spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and grammatical mistakes. It is also important to be aware of easily confused words. Spell-checking your resume is a good way to catch mistakes, but it is important to have someone else read it over as well.
Consider a Summary
Are you having a hard time figuring out how to market yourself to potential employers? Are you not sure how to explain your past experience in a way that makes you stand out? If so, you should consider using a resume summary statement. A summary statement is a great way to succinctly introduce yourself to potential employers, explain how your skills and experience can be applied to a new role, and showcase your intentions for the future. When written well, a summary statement can be a powerful tool in your job search arsenal.
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