example resume for lawyers

• • Handled an average of 30 cases simultaneously, maintaining a 95% success rate.
• • Developed and implemented legal support plans for all clients, improving client satisfaction by 40%.
• • Used general counsel experience to mentor 15 associates, increasing their productivity by 25%.
• • Successfully advocated for clients in over 150 trials, mediation, and arbitration.
• • Advised clients on their next actions and case updates, reducing case duration by 20%.
• • Prepared and attended court hearings, arguing motions on behalf of clients.
• • Prepared over 500 legal documents, including motions, pleadings, notices, and discovery requests and responses.
• • Kept up-to-date with changes to over 100 local, state, and federal statutes and laws.

11 Lawyer Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Your lawyer resume must showcase your educational background and legal expertise. Detailing your juris doctor degree and bar admission is essential. Demonstrate a history of successful case outcomes and specialized legal skills. Highlighting any published work or notable legal presentations can set you apart.

All resume examples in this guide

Corporate Lawyer

Criminal Lawyer

Employment Lawyer

Immigration Lawyer

Litigation Lawyer

M&A Lawyer

Patent Lawyer

Personal Injury Lawyer

Real Estate Lawyer

Trial Lawyer

Resume guide, looking for related resumes, how to write a lawyer resume that gets read from cover to cover, header section for legal resumes, summary: your lawyer resume’s opening statement, professional experience: details and evidence that build a winning application, a briefing of your skills, how lawyers should describe soft skills on their resume, certificates, professional associations and memberships, publications, key takeaways.

Fancy suits, 6-figure incomes, and a deadly combination of wit and cunning that win arguments.

Those are just a few things that come to mind when people think of lawyers.

Unfortunately, free self-help legal sites, virtual law offices, and legal outsourcing are cutting into the industry and forcing law firms to get creative.

Nowadays, you don’t get to the big bucks and fancy suits just because you have a Juris Doctor (JD). You have to prove your worth.

A lawyer’s job, after all, is all about what you can prove.

The competition is also fierce, both for those already in the field and those just starting out.

So to win a job, your resume and application materials have to be solid.

This guide will show you how to:

• Write about your legal achievements without disclosing sensitive client data
• Prove that not all lawyers are bad with technology and show off the legal tools you can use
• Show off what you’ve learned from law school even if you didn’t come from an Ivy school
• Legal Assistant Resume
• Paralegal Resume
• Attorney Resume

Lawyers are known for being articulate, organized, and precise.

Clients and big law firms expect you to digest a lot of information in a short amount of time, keep discovery and client files organized, and be precise in your contracts and arguments.

Your resume may not be used to win a big case but it has to be articulate, organized, and precise too.

The lawyers who will read your resume are busy, and they prefer to read well-organized documents that highlight important information right off the bat. Make sure you format your resume correctly as well. Use easy to read fonts , pick a design that makes the sections easily visible, you can use different colours to make that happen. Also, use margins and headings for your resume . Last but not least, you need the right resume layout . If you are an experienced candidate the reverse-chronological layout might be best for you, because it will highlight your experience. However, if you are not, concider the functional-skill based resume layout that enphasize on skills, or the hybrid layout , which is a special blend of both.

Below are the most important resume sections .

Top 5 sections for a lawyer resume

• Professional Experience
• Licenses and Certification

An effective lawyer’s resume is well-articulated in that it clearly explains the kind of legal work you do and your ‘style’ as a lawyer.

Law encompasses a huge area of life and there are so many ways to be an effective lawyer.

Even within one practice such as personal injury, there are many sub-branches to specialize in like car or motor accidents, slip, and fall accidents , or premise liability.

Some lawyers like to win by finding precedents like the NFL precedent case that resulted in a $765 million settlement and can now be used as a precedent in relevant athlete-related injury. Other attorneys, however, win by going after the opposing party’s argument or credibility.

Your lawyer resume should also be precise enough that there are enough details to paint a clear picture of your qualifications and achievements.

5 things recruiters and law firm partners want to see in a resume

• A header that states your legal practice and credentials
• Experience section that details your qualifications and trackable achievements in and out of the courtroom
• List of technical, job-specific, and soft skills that show how you can be an asset to their firm or business
• Licenses, certifications, and credentials related to your legal practice
• Education: Information about your pre-law and law degree, especially the school you attended.

Now that you have a big picture plan of what your resume should contain, let’s start off with the resume header .

Don’t just write your name followed by “J.D.” and call it a day.

Your resume will be read by lawyers and non-lawyers so spell out abbreviations outside the J.D or J.S.D norm.

There are so many abbreviations like VAWA, DACA, SBA, etc. that it’s hard for even lawyers to keep up with all of them.

In the example above, it’s not clear what kind of corporate law Mr. Smith practiced. Does he handle mergers and acquisitions? Corporate governance and other operational issues? Or something else?

See? Much better.

His email also tells people what he does, and there’s an extra link to one of the lawyer directories where he’s listed, so that’s a plus.

Let’s continue strong with an attention-grabbing summary.

Your resume summary is your opening salvo.

It sets the tone for how the judge and jury will look at your argument. The same goes for your resume.

You won’t get any points for writing a boring summary like this:

Write a snappy paragraph that includes your legal specialty, most notable win, and how many years you’ve been in that field.

Lawyers tend to have a strong personality, so it’s also important to show how you can fit in your target firm’s corporate culture.

Battle-tested is a better word than “experienced” as it shows the applicant handled his fair share of cases.

This summary also details the sub-specialties of personal injury law he specialized in, and his attitude towards work.

Nothing turns off a recruiter more than a resume that reads more like a job description.

That’s doubly true for the legal profession where lawyers are judged by their billable hours, cases won, and money claimed for their clients.

• • Mediated housing and property line disputes among investors and landowners
• • Advised clients on their legal rights and options to resolve disputes
• • Organized real estate documents and other evidence for court proceedings
• • Draft loophole-free agreements for commercial lease of land that will be used for office buildings

The lackluster work experience portrayed above lacks quantifiable results . It’s hard to tell what happened as a result of said contracts and advice given to clients.

There’s also no information on the type of law firm, is it a boutique firm or one with international offices?

Big firms have more resources and to some extent, more complicated legal work. As such, it’s easier to break into other big firms if you’ve already been employed in one.

Here’s a better example of a experience section for a property lawyer:

• • Mediated over 56 housing and property line disputes among investors and landowners with one settlement amounting to $23 million
• • Saved property development client from entering into a contract with ambiguous provisions that could’ve cost them over $150K in fees annually
• • Draft commercial lease agreements for local and international properties worth over $58 million
• • Advised investors of duties to tenants to avoid criminal and civil liabilities, while also earning good ROI in line with property appreciation rates

The duties of the lawyer here are the same as those in the resume above, only with results added.

Even if the candidate disclosed the settlement amount and fees saved, he didn’t disclose the client’s name or the exact nature of their business to protect client confidentiality.

Not all lawyers are involved in business transactions though. If that’s your situation, you can always write about the cases you won, your skills in writing court documents, and your creativity in finding the appropriate charges to win your case.

That’s not to say you have to be a lead lawyer to write a good resume. Associate lawyers and even interns have something to contribute too.

For junior and associate lawyers, it’s helpful to include:

• Details of pro bono cases you practiced on
• Number of contracts drafted and reviewed
• The monetary value of those contracts
• Anything else you did to assist the partner mentoring you.

There’s a rumor going around in certain forums that say attorneys are not keeping up with technology.

Wherever you fall on that generational and technological divide, it’s hard to deny that law firms now expect candidates to be competent in certain areas of technology.

Recruitment firm Robert Half surveyed over 200 lawyers in the United States and found that 6 out of 10 based their hiring decisions on the applicant’s technical skills .

When asked which areas they expect lawyers to be competent, they chose:

• Cybersecurity - 48%
• Data analytics - 43%
• eDiscovery - 33%
• Artificial intelligence - 31%
• Blockchain - 17%
• Don’t know - 6%
• Not applicable - 9%

**Multiple responses were submitted

Demand for lawyers with knowledge of eDiscovery software and litigation systems to track evidence, case documents, and all client communications are high.

Some law firms even bring in candidates just to design complex databases to sort, index, and extract tones of data produced during litigation.

All that said, here’s a list of technical skills you may include on your resume:

Hard / technical skills list

• Practice Management Software Programs: Bill4Time, PCLaw, Amberlo, etc.
• eDiscovery Software: Ross, Concordance, Reveal, etc.
• Analytical reasoning
• Legal research
• Drafting and editing court documents
• Interviewing clients and witnesses
• Data analysis

You can also include a separate section for the sub-specialty areas of law you practice. Below are examples from different practices:

Divorce Law Skills:

• Asset protection
• Child Custody
• Child Support
• Domestic Violence
• Grandparent Rights

Personal Injury Law Skills:

• Car Accidents
• Bicycle Accidents
• Worker’s Compensation
• Premise Liability
• Medical Malpractice
• Construction Accidents

Intellectual Property Law Skills:

• Intellectual Property Strategy
• Enforcement Litigation
• Copyright and Infringements
• Commercial Contracts
• Design rights

Bank Law Skills:

• Consumer Lending
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Money laundering
• International Banking
• Regulatory Compliance

Arguing cases isn’t the sole job of an attorney so you need to show some soft skills on your resume too.

Below is an example that would work for many legal fields:

Just write the soft skill you have and describe how it allowed you to do the job better.

Lawyers are expected to have a range of soft skills, not just the ones listed above. Here are other examples:

Soft skills list

• Client Management
• Negotiation
• Organization
• Documentation

It’s true that some law firms prefer candidates from top Ivy schools.

Other law firms prefer graduates from their own alma mater. If a partner from one of your target firms went to your school too, that’s worth mentioning in your education section .

Fresh graduates ought to list their class ranking, bar exam ranking, and GPAs as well if they’re good. Law is a competitive field, so you have to make the most out of every advantage you have.

University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas Juris Doctor 2012

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana B.A. (Public Communication, minors History, and English) 2009

Lawyers have a variety of certifications to choose from depending on their field of practice.

Below are some of the most common:

Top 4 lawyer certificates for your resume

• CIPP/E Certification
• Board Certification in Criminal Trial Law
• Certified Specialist in E-Discovery
• Credit and Compliance Attorney Certification

This section is where you list your bar membership and other associations.

If you only have one membership, like the state where you practice, there’s no need to list it in a separate area.

You can just list the state where you’re licensed to practice at the top of the education section on your resume:

“Bar admissions: Texas” OR “State Bar Texas: 2018”

Listing the year shows when you got your license.

Don’t have a license yet? Waiting for results or waiting to be sworn in?

ABA for law students has a detailed guide on writing about bar admissions. Check it out .

If you’re a member of multiple associations, just list them in chronological order followed by the inclusive years of your membership.

Example: State Bar of Texas, Liaison, Federal Judiciary Committee, 1992 - 1997 Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Member, 1989 - 1995

Articles you wrote about your legal specialty show your argumentative skills and prose. Getting published on a major legal site is also a badge of honor that adds to your credibility.

List those publications on your resume with the complete article title, publication name, and issue year.

Here’s an example way to list one of your published pieces from Price Ainsworth , Associate Attorney at Lorenz & Lorenz Personal Injury Lawyers:

• Don’t neglect technological skills on your resume
• Show quantifiable results in billable hours, settlements won, money savings, and increased productivity
• Be as detailed as possible, without divulging sensitive client information, on your work history
• State your legal specialty on the header, summary, and skills section of the resume. List your practice sub-specialties on the skills section too

Lawyer resume examples

Explore additional lawyer resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.

Looking to build your own Lawyer resume?

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Best Resume Layout: 9 Examples and Templates That Recruiters Approve

5 fun ideas for what to do on your day off, how to write an effective resume profile (with examples), the best resume formats you need to consider (5+ examples included), expert guide on how to get a job at a nonprofit, vp of marketing interview questions & answers.

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Lawyer / Advocate Resume Examples & Writing Guide for 2024

Embarking on your legal career journey, a robust lawyer resume is your powerful advocate in the job market. In this guide, we'll dispense essential tips, present compelling examples, and provide impactful resume samples to help craft a resume that can sway any jury.

Like a tailored defense, your resume needs to showcase your skills, demonstrate your experience, and highlight your victories. And our guide will help you to do that, and more. 

Keep reading to learn how to: 

• Pick a resume format that emphasizes experience 
• Showcase your experience and specializations in your resume summary
• Highlight your diverse skill sets as a lawyer
• Prioritize your strengths and accomplishments as a lawyer in your work experience section
• Accurately and succinctly list your educational credentials as a lawyer
• Add relevant extra sections to make your lawyer resume shine
• Access top job search resources for lawyers

1. Pick a resume format that emphasizes experience

When choosing a resume format as a lawyer, you want to select the format that will best emphasize your experience in the field. In this case, your two best options are the reverse-chronological resume or the Curriculum Vitae (CV) . 

The reverse-chronological resume puts the primary focus on work experience, listing your most recent position first and working backward from there. This is the most common resume format and allows you to prioritize your key responsibilities, skills, and accomplishments that you gained from past experiences. 

The CV is a long-form resume that consists of multiple pages. This format is most commonly used within academic or scientific fields. However, for lawyers with 10+ years of experience, the CV gives you the best opportunity to list your extensive background and work history to the fullest extent. 

Typically, an employer will indicate in a job posting whether or not they expect to see a multi-page CV. Always pay attention to these details and make sure to include the proper documents and materials within your application. 

Try our AI Resume Writer and have your resume ready in minutes!

2. showcase your experience and specializations in your resume summary.

Your resume summary is an essential component of your resume, as it helps to introduce you as a professional to employers. 

When writing your resume summary, you should keep in mind what impression the summary will leave on the reader. This is your best opportunity to make yourself stand out from your competitors with your skills and areas of expertise. 

To illustrate this, here is an example of a weak resume summary, followed by a corrected example:

Incorrect lawyer resume summary example

Experienced Lawyer seeking an attorney position with an established law firm. Skilled in client relationship management and developing winning case strategies. Exceptional negotiation abilities and experienced in corporate law. 

What's wrong with this example? In this example, the applicant provides very few details that offer specific insights into their professional career. To improve this summary, the applicant needs to offer more quantifiable examples regarding their experience and focus more on their specializations. 

Corrected lawyer resume summary example

Detail-Oriented Lawyer with over 7 years of experience working in corporate law. Specialized in corporate taxes and financial planning, with deep knowledge of evolving government regulations. Highly competent in successful negotiations of substantial corporate contracts. 

Why is this better? This corrected example offers a much higher level of specificity and detail. The applicant establishes their years of experience as well as their specialization in corporate business and affairs. They go on to highlight their negotiation strengths, giving the summary a nice finishing touch that will compel employers to read on.

3. Highlight your diverse skill sets as a lawyer

Working as a lawyer requires you to have many different kinds of skills , from general abilities such as legal research to more complex and specialized areas of expertise. 

Here are 10 examples of technical skills and 10 examples of interpersonal skills that are key to include on a lawyer’s resume:

Best technical skills to put on your lawyer resume 

• Case Analysis and Research
• Legal Due Diligence
• Data Analytics
• Client Advising and Consultation
• Extensive Written and Verbal Communication
• Preparation of Legal Documents
• File Organization and Management
• Law Interpretation
• Court and Trial Proceedings
• Industry Specializations (Environmental Law, Tax Law, etc.) 

Effective interpersonal skills for your resume

• Active Listening
• Empathy and Compassion
• Negotiation
• Time Management
• Organization
• Confidentiality
• Dependability

Find out your resume score!

4. Prioritize your strengths and accomplishments as a lawyer in your work experience section

Your work experience section is highly important as a lawyer. This is the section where you will showcase your greatest strengths , key responsibilities, and major accomplishments within previous positions. As such, your work experience section should prioritize each of these to the fullest. 

Here is an example of a work experience entry from a lawyer resume

Lawyer | M&J Law Associates

New Orleans, LA | June 2015 to January 2020

• Managed more than 25 corporate lawsuits per year , representing clients on cases such as fraud schemes and criminal cases. 
• Assisted in raising firm’s success rate from 89.7% to 93.9% by implementing new case management strategies. 
• Supervised a team of 10 legal assistant interns , delegating necessary word-processing and organization tasks to them.

5. Accurately and succinctly list your educational credentials as a lawyer  

As a lawyer, you are required to have earned a degree through a law school program and pass the bar examination in your state of residence. These credentials are extremely important to include accurately in your resume’s education section . 

Here is an example of a well-crafted education section on a lawyer resume

Juris Doctor | Stanford University Stanford, CA

• Graduated Cum Laude in 2020

B.A. in Business Administration | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD

• Graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2017
• President of the Environmental Law Society 2015-2017

6. Add relevant extra sections to make your lawyer resume shine

In the world of law, where expertise and credibility are essential, incorporating relevant extra sections into your lawyer resume can make a significant difference.

While your education and legal experience hold substantial weight, additional sections provide an opportunity to demonstrate your well-roundedness and dedication to serving the community.

Consider including one or more of the following:

• Volunteer legal services
• Publications
• Speaking engagements
• Professional memberships
• Language proficiency
• Awards and recognitions

One powerful extra section to consider is

Volunteer Legal Services

• Provide pro bono legal representation to individuals with limited financial means.
• Handle a wide range of cases, including family law, landlord-tenant disputes, and immigration matters.
• Advocate for the rights of underprivileged clients, ensuring access to justice and fair legal outcomes.
• Collaborate with a team of legal professionals to conduct research, draft legal documents, and prepare for court proceedings.
• Received recognition for outstanding service and commitment to providing legal assistance to vulnerable populations.

7. Useful job search resources for aspiring lawyers 

If you're embarking on your legal career journey, you need to equip yourself with top-tier resources to streamline your job hunt and connect with the right opportunities. So, suit up and explore these trusted resources to aid in your job hunt:

• Legal job sites:  Platforms such as Lawjobs , ABA Legal Career Central , and Simply Law Jobs provide listings specifically tailored for the legal industry.
• LinkedIn:  Beyond being a general job hunting platform , it provides networking opportunities and insights into law firms and job trends.
• Legal associations and organizations:  Professional entities like the American Bar Association (ABA) or the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) often provide job postings, career services and networking events.
• Law school career centers:  Almost every law school has a career services office that offers job listings, resume help, and career advice to its students and alumni.
• Legal recruiters and headhunters:  Specialized recruitment agencies or independent recruiters in the legal field can provide personalized job search support.

Keep these resources on your digital bookmark bar as you tread your legal career path. Remember, engaging in the job hunt is as dynamic as a trial, and every connection could be your winning evidence.

Lawyer / Advocate Resume FAQ

Your qualifications, legal skills, and experience should be emphasized. Ensure to include any significant cases you've worked on, your specialized legal expertise, and relevant internships or legal clinician experience.

Showcase examples where excellent verbal or written communication was central to the successful outcome of a case. Participation in debate clubs, public speaking events or published law articles can also underscore your communication skills.

Highlight academic achievements, law school-related activities such as Moot Court or Law Review, and any internships or voluntary legal work. Show your passion for law and readiness to learn and grow.

Stick to clear, professional language. While demonstrating your knowledge of legal terms is important, overusing jargon can take away from the clarity of your resume.

Absolutely! Tailoring your resume shows the employer that you've invested the time to understand their specific needs and how you can meet them. Customize your objective statement, skills and experiences to match each job description.

Nikoleta Kuhejda

A journalist by trade, a writer by fate. Nikoleta went from writing for media outlets to exploring the world of content creation with Kickresume and helping people get closer to the job of their dreams. Her insights and career guides have been published by The Female Lead , College Recruiter , and ISIC, among others. When she’s not writing or (enthusiastically) pestering people with questions, you can find her traveling or sipping on a cup of coffee.

All legal resume examples

• Law Clerk / Legal Clerk
• Legal Administrative Assistant
• Legal Secretary

All lawyer / advocate resume examples

Related lawyer / advocate cover letter examples

Resume guides

How to write a professional resume summary [+examples], how to put your education on a resume [+examples], how to describe your work experience on a resume [+examples], let your resume do the work..

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• Lawyer Resume Example

Resume Examples

• Common Tasks & Responsibilities
• Top Hard & Soft Skills
• Action Verbs & Keywords
• Resume FAQs
• Similar Resumes

Common Responsibilities Listed on Lawyer Resumes:

• Drafting and reviewing legal documents, such as contracts, wills, and leases
• Negotiating settlements and representing clients in court
• Researching and analyzing legal issues
• Advising clients on legal matters
• Interpreting laws, rulings, and regulations
• Preparing legal briefs and opinions
• Representing clients in administrative hearings
• Appearing in court to argue motions and defend clients
• Advising clients on business transactions
• Filing legal documents with the court
• Keeping up to date with changes in the law
• Developing strategies to resolve legal disputes

Speed up your resume creation process with the AI-Powered Resume Builder . Generate tailored achievements in seconds for every role you apply to.

Lawyer Resume Example:

• Successfully represented a high-profile client in a complex litigation case, resulting in a favorable settlement and saving the client over $2 million in potential damages.
• Developed and implemented a legal compliance program for a multinational corporation, resulting in a 30% reduction in legal risks and avoiding potential fines and penalties.
• Advised a startup company on legal matters related to their initial public offering (IPO), resulting in a successful IPO and raising $10 million in funding.
• Negotiated a favorable settlement for a client in a high-stakes contract dispute, resulting in a 25% increase in revenue for the client.
• Conducted extensive legal research and analysis on a complex regulatory issue, resulting in a successful appeal and saving the client over $1 million in fines.
• Advised a non-profit organization on legal matters related to their fundraising activities, resulting in a 50% increase in donations and successful compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Drafted and reviewed legal documents for a major real estate development project, resulting in a successful closing and generating over $5 million in revenue for the client.
• Represented a client in an administrative hearing, successfully arguing for a favorable outcome and saving the client over $500,000 in potential penalties.
• Developed and implemented a legal strategy for a startup company, resulting in successful acquisition by a larger corporation and generating $20 million in value for the client.
• Litigation and dispute resolution
• Legal research and analysis
• Contract drafting and negotiation
• Regulatory compliance
• Legal strategy development
• Intellectual property law
• Corporate law and governance
• Real estate law
• Administrative law
• Legal risk management
• Legal advice and counseling
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Securities law and initial public offerings
• Non-profit law and fundraising compliance
• Client relationship management
• Communication and negotiation skills
• Critical thinking and problem-solving
• Time management and organization
• Attention to detail
• Adaptability and staying current with legal trends

Top Skills & Keywords for Lawyer Resumes:

Hard skills.

• Legal Research and Analysis
• Contract Drafting and Negotiation
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution
• Case Management and Trial Preparation
• Legal Writing and Communication
• Client Counseling and Representation
• Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management
• Intellectual Property Law
• Corporate Law and M&A Transactions
• Employment Law and HR Compliance
• Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Tax Law and Estate Planning

Soft Skills

• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Analytical and Research Skills
• Attention to Detail and Accuracy
• Time Management and Prioritization
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Leadership and Team Management
• Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
• Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Building
• Decision Making and Strategic Planning
• Creativity and Innovation
• Empathy and Client-Centric Mindset

Resume Action Verbs for Lawyers:

• Investigated
• Represented

Generate Your Resume Summary

Resume FAQs for Lawyers:

How long should i make my lawyer resume, what is the best way to format a lawyer resume, which keywords are important to highlight in a lawyer resume, how should i write my resume if i have no experience as a lawyer, compare your lawyer resume to a job description:.

• Identify opportunities to further tailor your resume to the Lawyer job
• Improve your keyword usage to align your experience and skills with the position
• Uncover and address potential gaps in your resume that may be important to the hiring manager

Complete the steps below to generate your free resume analysis.

Related Resumes for Lawyers:

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   

Resume Advice & Samples

Resume advice and samples.

Section Menu

• 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

Sample Resumes PDF   Sample Resumes Word

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• All CV Examples
• Legal Resumes/CVs

9 Lawyer CV Examples - Here's What Works In 2024

Looking to snag a job as a lawyer the key is a strong cv. in the fast-paced world of law, your cv has to stand out. it's not enough just to list your education and experience - you need to show your true value. this article will guide you with samples and templates to craft a cv that works for the legal field. let's get your career moving..

In the court of career progression, a Lawyer's CV is the key piece of evidence. Akin to a winning argument, it demonstrates a clear understanding of the law, the ability to research and analyse complex issues, besides presenting cogent reasoning. A recruiter's brief in sorting through multiple CVs is to discover these intrinsic qualities buried in the avalanche of facts. Typically, a Lawyer embarks on a career ladder with years spent learning the legal ropes. The seasoned practitioners among you have seen it all - from demanding clients to complicated cases. By 2024, as automation continues to influence the legal landscape, Lawyers who excel at interpreting the rule of law while navigating a digital world become the sought-after legal eagles. In the legal sector, you might toss around terms such as CV and resume, with some veering towards one or the other. Here's the legal verdict: In the UK, Europe, Australia or with employers from these jurisdictions, CV is the preferred term. However, rest assured, it is merely a linguistic difference, with no divergence in content or presentation. Yes, this dispels myths about CVs being lengthier. Unless you are under the academic or research hat, stick to the resume principle of a sleek 1-2 pages. The remainder of this piece will act as your legal guide, laying the foundation for your 2024 CV. We'll delve into winning templates, list pivotal skills to flaunt, and much more. So, prepare your career brief and get ready for trial by hiring!

Lawyer CV Templates

Jump to a template:

• Corporate Lawyer
• Immigration Lawyer
• Junior Lawyer
• Employment Lawyer
• Real Estate Lawyer

Jump to a resource:

• Keywords for Lawyer CVs
• Action Verbs to Use
• Related Legal CVs
• Similar Careers to a Lawyer
• Lawyer Resume Examples

Template 1 of 9: Lawyer CV Example

As a lawyer, your role extends beyond just representing clients in court. You're expected to understand and interpret laws and regulations, provide legal advice, and carry out intensive research to support your cases. Recently, the legal sector has seen a rise in the need for specialization, with recruiters focusing on applicants who clearly present expertise in specific legal practice areas such as environmental law, intellectual property, or corporate law. Remember, when writing your CV, it's not just about what you’ve done, but also the impact you've made. Tailor your CV to showcase your specialized knowledge and your track record of success in that area.

Tips to help you write your Lawyer CV in 2024

   detail your legal specializations.

In your professional experience section, don't just list your previous jobs. Specify the kind of legal cases you've handled and your specializations. If you have experience in environmental law, for example, detail the successful cases you've handled.

   Include relevant professional licenses and certifications

As a lawyer, your professional licenses and certifications are crucial. Add a section to your CV that specifically lists your bar admissions, certifications, and any other relevant professional qualifications. Include the dates obtained to show your career progression.

Skills you can include on your Lawyer CV

Template 2 of 9: corporate lawyer cv example.

Being a Corporate Lawyer is a distinct part of the legal profession, where you often act as a strategic advisor for companies. Your CV needs to mirror your capacity to handle complex matters that affect businesses within specific industries. Huge emphasis nowadays is being placed on understanding emerging legal issues in areas like technology and data privacy. So, your CV is not just an ordinary list of qualifications or experiences, it's a strategic tool that demonstrates your understanding of the constantly changing corporate legal landscape. While constructing your CV, remember that Corporate Lawyers are expected to have specific expertise and, more often than not, a specialization in a particular area. Showcasing your specialization, be it M&A, Intellectual Property, or Corporate Governance, can give you an edge. Companies are seeking lawyers who are not just well-versed with corporate law but can also communicate complex legal concepts to non-lawyers.

Tips to help you write your Corporate Lawyer CV in 2024

  emphasize on your area of specialization.

More than general corporate law knowledge, hiring managers value a lawyer with a specific area of expertise. In your professional experience section, you should detail key cases or projects that demonstrate your specialization, whether in M&A, cybersecurity, or real estate law.

   Show your tech-savviness

The legal profession, including corporate law, is becoming more tech-driven. You should showcase your proficiency in using legal research and document management software. Also, don't forget to mention your understanding of evolving tech-related legal issues, such as data privacy and intellectual property infringement in the digital space.

Skills you can include on your Corporate Lawyer CV

Template 3 of 9: corporate lawyer cv example.

If you're looking to step into the world of corporate law as a lawyer, your CV needs to clearly articulate your knowledge of complex legal matters and your ability to navigate the corporate landscape. Trends are ever-evolving especially with the rise in international trade disputes, increasing privacy regulations, and the growth of digital industries. In your CV, show that you're on top of these shifts. Remember, your CV isn't just a list of your accomplishments, it's a story about you as a professional, your journey, and where you're headed next.

   Present your legal acumen

Being a corporate lawyer means understanding and interpreting complex laws. Use your CV to demonstrate your legal prowess. Detail past roles where you've had to apply regulatory knowledge, manage risk or navigate corporate governance.

   Showcase your business mindset

Corporate lawyers are not only legal experts but also business strategists. Discuss instances where you've had to use your commercial acumen to make legal decisions. This could be anything from negotiating contracts to providing legal advice during strategic business moves.

Template 4 of 9: Immigration Lawyer CV Example

Being an Immigration Lawyer requires a unique combination of legal prowess, cultural sensitivity, and in-depth knowledge of immigration laws. The industry is evolving, with more people moving globally and an increasing demand for immigration experts. Clients range from individuals trying to reunite families to corporations bringing in foreign talent. Your CV should reflect these needs, showing your experience in handling diverse immigration cases, and your passion for helping people navigate complex legal systems. In addition, given the dynamic nature of immigration laws and policies, your CV should demonstrate that you're up-to-date with the latest changes. Also, consider that the competition for roles may be steep. You need to stand out and show potential employers that not only can you master the law, but you’re personable and can communicate complicated matters simply to clients.

Tips to help you write your Immigration Lawyer CV in 2024

   include noteworthy immigration cases.

As an Immigration Lawyer, you've likely handled a variety of cases. On your CV, include a few significant ones where your expertise made a difference. Don't just list them, explain your role, the challenges you faced, and how you overcame them. This gives potential employers insight into how you work and your areas of strength.

   Showcase Language skills

If you're multi-lingual, make sure to include this. Being able to communicate with clients in their native language can be a tremendous asset in an Immigration Lawyer role. This shows potential employers your ability to connect with diverse clienteles and navigate the nuances that language barriers might present.

Skills you can include on your Immigration Lawyer CV

Template 5 of 9: junior lawyer cv example.

Being a junior lawyer, you are the backbone of the legal team - conducting legal research, drafting documents, and supporting senior lawyers. Recently, law firms have been seeking candidates who are not only legally proficient, but also have a strong grasp of technological tools and can handle the pressures of the job. When crafting your CV, underscore your ability to manage complex cases, embrace legal-tech innovations and prove your resilience. It's not just important to show that you graduated from law school and passed the bar; demonstrating that you can navigate the contemporary legal landscape and thrive in high-stress environments is crucial. Pair your legal knowledge with your soft skills to stand out.

Tips to help you write your Junior Lawyer CV in 2024

   emphasize case management skills.

Lawyers often have to manage multiple cases simultaneously, which requires top-notch organizational skills. Show off your ability to manage multiple projects and meet stringent deadlines in your CV.

   Showcase legal-tech proficiency

The legal sector is increasingly relying on technology for research, case management, and data analysis. If you are familiar with legal research databases, eDiscovery tools, or other legal-tech software, be sure to mention this in your CV.

Skills you can include on your Junior Lawyer CV

Template 6 of 9: employment lawyer cv example.

As an Employment Lawyer, you're often navigating the complex waters of employment rules, regulations, and disputes. This is a job that requires immense knowledge of the law, outstanding attention to detail, and exceptional analytical skills. In today's rapidly changing work environment, companies are increasingly concerned with staying on the right side of the law and avoiding any potential employment disputes. While writing your CV, it's crucial to demonstrate a broad understanding of employment law, proven experience, and the capacity to handle pressure and complexity. The legal sector is traditionally conservative, but it's also slowly adapting to new technologies and modern ways of working. This includes how CVs are reviewed. Today, many law firms use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to shortlist candidates. Your CV should be ATS-friendly, using relevant keywords, and providing concrete examples of your accomplishments.

Tips to help you write your Employment Lawyer CV in 2024

   include specific legal expertise.

As an employment lawyer, you need to show your specific expertise in relevant legal areas. Mention instances where you've advised on complex matters, led successful litigation, or interpreted new legislation.

   Demonstrate ability to handle sensitive information

Trust is crucial in any lawyer role. Your CV should reference examples of when you've handled sensitive information with discretion and integrity, whether from previous employment or internships.

Skills you can include on your Employment Lawyer CV

Template 7 of 9: real estate lawyer cv example.

As a real estate lawyer, your CV is not just a chronology of your experience but a direct reflection of your expertise, competency, and uniqueness. Your CV should paint a clear picture of your ability to navigate the nuances of property law, transaction negotiations, and relations with various stakeholders. Recently, the real estate law field has seen a rise in technology-driven transactions, so showcasing your agility in adapting to digital environments is beneficial. When crafting your CV, remember that hiring managers need to see your specific achievements in real estate law and the skillset you've honed that can make you an asset to their team.

Tips to help you write your Real Estate Lawyer CV in 2024

   demonstrate proficiency in real estate law.

Take the opportunity to outline your expertise in key areas such as zoning laws, property management, and real estate transactions. This is your chance to show how you've handled complex legal issues and ensured compliance in past roles.

   Show adaptability to tech advancements

With an increasing demand for tech-savvy legal professionals, it's beneficial to outline your experience with digital tools and platforms used in real estate law. This could include digital filing systems, virtual transaction software, or case management systems that have aided your efficiency.

Skills you can include on your Real Estate Lawyer CV

Template 8 of 9: paralegal cv example.

As a paralegal, you're the backbone of any legal team. You've got to be incredibly detail-oriented, an exceptional researcher, and a master at managing a multitude of tasks simultaneously. The legal field is constantly evolving, and a good CV reflects that you're up to date with the latest legal statutes and case law. Moreover, with more law firms leaning towards digitalization, proficiency in legal technology has become a must. When preparing your CV, remember, law firms aren't just looking for someone with the right skills. They need someone dependable, someone they can trust to help keep the wheels of justice turning smoothly.

Tips to help you write your Paralegal CV in 2024

   show your experience in legal research.

Make sure to discuss specific legal research platforms you are proficient in, such as Westlaw or LexisNexis. Talk about how you've used these in past roles to contribute to case strategy, and if possible, quantify these contributions.

   Include legal tech expertise

It’s not just about legal research anymore; it’s about how effectively you can use legal technology. Showcase your proficiency with eDiscovery platforms, case management software, or even digital transcription services like Rev. This will show potential employers you can navigate the increasingly digital legal landscape.

Skills you can include on your Paralegal CV

Template 9 of 9: paralegal cv example.

When it comes to being a Paralegal, you're often the unsung hero in a law office, turning the cogs that keep the legal machine running. It's a job that may not get the glory, but is vital to the functioning of any law firm. Recently, the industry has seen an increased emphasis on technology competencies, given the digitalization of legal documentation and research. When writing your CV, it's crucial to portray a balance of your legal knowledge, excellent organization skills, and proficiency with tech, as these aspects are what firms are really seeking these days.

   Showcase relevant legal knowledge

As a paralegal, your grounding in law is vital. Make sure you clearly outline any legal courses or qualifications you have. If you have specialized knowledge in an area such as family law or property law, be sure to mention this. It shows you've got the core knowledge needed for the role.

   Highlight competence in legal software

Modern paralegal roles often require competence in legal databases and case management systems. Any experience with programs like LexisNexis or Westlaw is valuable. Include specifics - don't just say you're tech-savvy, detail the systems you've used and how they've helped you in past roles.

Skills For Lawyer Resumes

When crafting your lawyer CV, you are the star of your own courtroom drama. The hiring manager is the jury, and your CV is your opening statement. So, how do you convince them you’re suited for the role? By laying down powerful, real-world evidence, naturally. For example, instead of stating "Proficient in legal research," you could say "Applied legal research to successfully overturn a wrongful conviction." The ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) is like a stern judge. Only those who stick to the rules make it past this stage. Include keywords from the job ad in your CV. These might be skills like 'Corporate Law,' 'Negotiation,' or 'Litigation.' Incorporate them into your CV, either in your Skills section or weaved into your work experience, to pass the ATS stage. Remember to fully grasp the nuances of the job description. A well-tailored CV echoes what the employer values. In the legal world, your attention to detail can pay off dividends. Aim for a CV that’s as strong and compelling as your closing argument would be in court.

• Intellectual Property
• Legal Research
• Commercial Litigation
• Privacy Law
• Contract Negotiation
• Commercial Contracts
• Legal Writing
• Joint Ventures
• Corporate Governance
• Dispute Resolution
• Contract Law
• Civil Litigation
• Corporate Law
• Data Privacy
• Legal Advice
• Entertainment Law
• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
• Due Diligence
• Document Drafting
• International Law

Skills Word Cloud For Lawyer CVs

This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Lawyer job descriptions and CVs. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.

How to use these skills?

Action verbs for lawyer resumes.

The heart of a lawyer's role is to argue, negotiate and solve problems. Your CV can speak these same skills, if you pick your action verbs well. Action verbs tell a short, strong story about how you work. Let's start with 'argued.' In court, lawyers argue cases. This is what they train for. On your CV, you might write: "Argued 50+ cases in state and federal court." This tells us, you are experienced and ready for court battles. Take 'negotiated' next. In law, it means talk-talk-talk until you find a deal. On your CV, try: "Negotiated 20+ settlement agreements out of court." That says, you can handle tough talks. You can end disputes without a big fight. Remember, the right action verbs can show what a good lawyer you truly are. Lean on them to make your CV tell your story in a brief, bold way.

• Interpreted
• Investigated
• Facilitated

For a full list of effective CV action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs .

Other Legal Resumes

Legal Assistant

• Attorney CV Guide

Lawyer CV Guide

• Legal Assistant CV Guide
• Policy Analyst CV Guide
• Compliance CV Guide
• Underwriter CV Guide
• Regulatory Affairs CV Guide
• Contract Specialist CV Guide
• Public Policy CV Guide
• Lawyer CV Example
• Corporate Lawyer CV Example
• Immigration Lawyer CV Example
• Junior Lawyer CV Example
• Employment Lawyer CV Example
• Real Estate Lawyer CV Example
• Paralegal CV Example
• Skills and Keywords to Add
• Related Legal Resumes
• All Resume Examples
• Explore Alternative and Similar Careers
• Lawyer Cover Letter
• Lawyer Interview Guide

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Trump Trial Adjourns Until Tuesday

The jury heard from three witnesses on Friday: a banker, Donald J. Trump’s longtime executive assistant and the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who explained how he had worked to bury negative stories and help elect Mr. Trump.

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Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley

Five takeaways from the second week of Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial.

The second week of Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial was dominated by four days of testimony by David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who detailed his efforts to safeguard Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Pecker, a longtime associate of the former president, talked at length about a “catch and kill” scheme that he said he had entered into with Mr. Trump and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower. The publisher said he would purchase the rights to unsavory stories he had no intention of running.

His testimony also teed up the story of Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims to have had sex with Mr. Trump in 2006 and received a hush-money payment in the days before the 2016 election, a deal at the center of the case.

Mr. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an effort to conceal the payment. If convicted, he could face four years in prison. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied that he had sex with Ms. Daniels.

The week also brought more accusations that Mr. Trump had violated a gag order prohibiting him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors. Justice Juan M. Merchan has not ruled on the prosecution’s request to hold Mr. Trump in contempt, and said he would hold another hearing next Thursday to address allegations of new violations.

Here’s what happened during the second week, and eighth day, of Mr. Trump’s trial:

Opening statements displayed dueling strategies.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented dueling portraits of Mr. Trump’s actions.

Prosecutors sketched a secret scheme to influence the 2016 election. They said Mr. Trump directed men in his inner circle to suppress negative stories about him and then agreed to cover up the payment to Ms. Daniels after taking the White House.

But Mr. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said his client’s actions were “run-of-the-mill” business. Nondisclosure agreements are common among the wealthy and famous, he said, and influencing an election is no crime. “It’s called democracy,” Mr. Blanche said.

Mr. Blanche also attacked potential prosecution witnesses. He called Mr. Cohen, who spent time in prison on charges stemming from the matter, a criminal who “can’t be trusted.” He said Stormy Daniels was “biased” and had profited from her story.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.

A former tabloid titan opened the case.

Mr. Pecker testified that he was the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign, keeping a lookout for unflattering stories.

He detailed a deal with a former doorman of a Manhattan building managed by the Trump Organization who said that Mr. Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. Despite the story being false, Mr. Pecker said the tabloid paid him $30,000 to prevent embarrassment.

Mr. Pecker also spoke about a deal with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, an allegation that he denies. Ms. McDougal was paid $150,000, but Mr. Pecker said he had no intention of publishing anything about the affair.

After two payouts, Mr. Pecker said he had been unwilling to buy a third story: Ms. Daniels’s account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.

How the tabloid sausage was made.

During their cross-examination of Mr. Pecker, Mr. Trump’s lawyers set out to show that such deals were “standard operating procedure” in the tabloid business, and that only about half of all stories purchased made it to print.

One of the defendant’s lawyers, Emil Bove, pushed Mr. Pecker about the real purpose of the deal with Ms. McDougal, whether her top priority was money and whether the agreement had other benefits for her. Mr. Pecker conceded that dozens of articles were published under her name.

But Mr. Pecker later testified that the agreement’s real purpose had been to bury the story of the affair.

Trump continued to speak out.

Mr. Trump has been subdued compared with his appearances at civil trials in Manhattan, where he was known to mutter loudly and twice stormed out.

But occasionally his frustration was apparent. He once shook his head vigorously as Mr. Pecker testified.

When he left the courtroom, Mr. Trump lashed out at the case against him, veering into territory potentially prohibited by Justice Merchan’s gag order.

Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.

Next week may offer more drama, if fewer days.

Friday ended with few fireworks. Mr. Trump’s former executive assistant, Rhona Graff, testified briefly, identifying entries from the Trump Organization’s computer system that contained contact information for Ms. McDougal and Ms. Daniels.

Prosecutors also called Gary Farro, a banker who helped Mr. Cohen open an account that he used for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Mr. Farro’s testimony is expected to continue next week.

It is not clear who will testify after Mr. Farro, but the weeks ahead could include Mr. Cohen, Ms. Daniels and Hope Hicks, Mr. Trump’s former White House communications director.

Monday is an off day for the court, as is Wednesday. Mr. Trump will use the midweek break to campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan, two battleground states in this year’s election. He is the presumptive Republican nominee.

Nate Schweber

Donald Trump’s motorcade left 100 Centre Street at 4:42 pm. A few dozen gawkers, including a small gaggle of conspicuous Trump supporters waving four large flags, strained in vain for a glimpse of the former president. Through the afternoon, those demonstrators traded chants of “We Love Trump” with another group of protesters, who yelled back, “Lock Him Up.”

Wesley Parnell

Court will not be in session on Monday. We will be back Tuesday morning.

Justice Juan M. Merchan

Presiding Judge

Trump Lawyer

Michael Cohen

Former Trump Lawyer and “Fixer”

Stormy Daniels

Porn Director, Producer and Actress

Rebecca Mangold

Rhona Graff

Trump's former personal assistant

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Jonah Bromwich

And now we're adjourned for the day. Trump looks utterly spent as he rises at the end of the long first week of testimony in his criminal trial. As he passes reporters, he grimaces, then glares, putting on a braver face as he leaves the courtroom.

Kate Christobek

At the conclusion of his testimony today, Gary Farro referenced a document showing that Michael Cohen opened a limited liability company called Essential Consultants L.L.C., and indicated that it was a real estate consulting company. The company was later used to pay Stormy Daniels the hush money.

The defense has already told the jurors that Michael Cohen is a liar who is out to get his revenge on Trump. But the witnesses have painted a slightly different portrait — of a very anxious, harried man, who, while he still worked for Trump, would do whatever he could for his boss. “Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave me a sense of urgency,” Gary Farro just said.

This material is dry but the prosecutor, Rebecca Mangold, is questioning Gary Farro slowly and deliberately. Farro said that Michael Cohen was eager to connect with him and wanted to open a limited liability company immediately. Farro then took steps to open an account for him and specified with his team that Cohen didn’t want addresses on the checks.

Maggie Haberman

Trump is leaning forward, reading an email that is being read into evidence about Gary Farro missing a call from Michael Cohen.

Michael Rothfeld

Here’s what we know about Gary Farro, the third witness.

The third witness in the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump is Gary Farro, a banker who is testifying on Friday about his work with Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer on a $130,000 hush-money deal in 2016.

Mr. Farro spent 15 years at First Republic Bank, where he was a senior managing director, according to his LinkedIn profile. That is the now-defunct institution where the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, established an account for Essential Consultants L.L.C. Mr. Cohen had created Essential Consultants to pay a porn star, Stormy Daniels, as part of a nondisclosure agreement to bury her claim that she and Mr. Trump had sex in 2006.

Mr. Cohen set up the account in October 2016 and funded it from his home equity line of credit at First Republic. He has previously said he did so to ensure his wife would not know about the transaction. About two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, he wired the payment to Keith Davidson, a lawyer for Ms. Daniels.

After the hush-money payment became public, Ms. Daniels’s lawyer at the time, Michael Avenatti, provided NBC News with an email from an assistant to Mr. Farro confirming the transfer. Mr. Cohen had used his Trump Organization email address in the communications, but said at the time that company funds were not used.

According to NBC, the email, from Oct. 26, 2016, had the subject line, “First Republic Bank Transfer” and confirmed that “the funds have been deposited into your checking account.”

Mr. Trump has denied having had sex with Ms. Daniels.

Enter Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer. “Do you know someone named Michael Cohen,” Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, asks. “Yes I do,” Farro answered. His knowledge of Cohen, who was assigned to him as a client, is the reason he’s here, of course.

For those familiar with Cohen, Farro is making a number of telling statements. He says that he was thought of as someone who was good at working with “individuals who may be a little challenging,” though he says he didn’t find Cohen “difficult.” He also comments on Cohen’s apparent excitement to be working for Trump.

After the first two witnesses testified about Trump’s personal behavior, we’re getting a dry recitation of banking transactions now, a reminder of what this trial’s charges relate to.

First Republic Bank, Gary Farro reminds the jurors, no longer exists. It was seized and sold by regulators last year, one of several banks that were the casualties of bank runs after interest rate hikes. Farro, colorfully, referred to this as “last year’s demise.”

Rebecca Mangold will question Gary Farro for the prosecution. She has been on the team for several years, and she typically sits with Christopher Conroy, another prosecutor, behind the main table. This may be the first time I’ve heard her speak in court.

Justice Merchan is back on the bench. Prosecutors call Gary Farro to the stand as the third witness.

Farro was a banker at First Republic when Michael Cohen was seeking to arrange the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen, seeking to get the money together, was contacted by Farro’s assistant at First Republic Bank.

Prosecutors forgot something very important — the jury. They will have to call Farro again once the jurors enter. It’s Friday afternoon, all right.

Rhona Graff is now done testifying. Trump stands as Graff is leaving and approaches her, touching her hand. The judge, Juan Merchan, is standing too, waiting for the lawyers to come to the bench. Given all the focus on witnesses and Trump interacting with them, that was a striking moment. The court is taking a brief recess.

Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, just asked Graff a clever question: Whether she wants to be here or not. Graff says she does not, and indicates that the only reason she’s testifying is because the Trump Organization is paying her legal fees.

Rhona Graff, who was Trump's longtime executive assistant, was the second witness called and is currently being cross-examined by Trump's lawyer. So far, we have heard her describe her role with Trump, as well as the fact that he had contact entries for both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, two of the women who claim to have had affairs with him. The prosecutor appeared to be trying to use that information to establish that Trump could have plausibly had contact with both. She also got Graff to confirm she saw Daniels at Trump Tower, a visit that Trump's lawyer later suggested could have been about appearing on "The Apprentice."

Rhona Graff is testifying adoringly upon cross-examination about the success of “The Apprentice,” calling it THE most popular television show and saying that Trump had acquired “rock-star status.” This was typical in the trial of Trump's company in 2022: Many of his former employees remain quite fond of their old boss, and seem happy to sing his praises.

In the past few minutes, we again heard the name of Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman during the 2016 campaign and in the White House. There was not, to my ear, a key reason to reintroduce Hicks, so it may be that prosecutors are seeking to set her up as a key witness.

Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, wraps up. Susan Necheles is now cross-examining Rhona Graff for the defense.

Trump cracks a small smile as Graff speaks glowingly of her time working for Trump. She says she never had the same day twice and called Trump “fair” as a boss.

Rhona Graff testifies that she saw Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower, in the waiting area of the 26th floor, where Trump’s office is located.

We are now looking at redacted entries from the Trump Organization's computer system that contain contact information for Karen McDougal and “Stormy.”

Matthew Haag

Who is Rhona Graff, Trump’s former assistant who is testifying against him?

For decades, few people had access to Donald J. Trump like Rhona Graff. Now, Ms. Graff, his former personal assistant at the Trump Organization, became the second person to testify against Mr. Trump in his criminal trial in Lower Manhattan.

At Trump Tower, Ms. Graff served as Mr. Trump’s gatekeeper . She had an office right outside his door, placing her within earshot of Mr. Trump’s requests to get someone on the phone. And when someone wanted to reach Mr. Trump, they first had to go through Ms. Graff, often requiring a secret code to be put through.

“Everybody knows in order to get through to him,” she once said, “they have to go through me.”

Prosecutors on Friday spent about 15 minutes questioning Ms. Graff before Mr. Trump’s legal team started cross-examination, which also was short.

Asked about her role at the Trump Organization, Ms. Graff told prosecutors that she compiled records that included emails, contact lists and calendar entries. She said the company’s directory had contact information for Karen McDougal and a “Stormy.”

Ms. McDougal is a former Playboy model who has claimed to have had sex with Mr. Trump. Stormy appears to be a reference to Stormy Daniels, who has also claimed to have had an affair and whose hush-money payment is central to the criminal case against Mr. Trump.

Ms. Graff testified that, even though she left the Trump Organization and was testifying in the trial, the organization was paying her legal fees.

Under questioning by a Trump lawyer, she spoke glowingly about her time working for the former president, calling him “fair” as a boss — eliciting a smile from Mr. Trump in the courtroom. She also spoke fondly about Mr. Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” adding that it helped him achieve “rock-star status.”

Ms. Graff heard about a job opening in 1987 at the Trump Organization and cold-called to get the position. The job appeared to raise her profile. Six years later, Ms. Graff’s wedding announcement was published in The New York Times. She married Lucius Joseph Riccio, the city’s commissioner of transportation, in a wedding officiated by Mayor David N. Dinkins.

The roles in which she served for Mr. Trump extended far beyond being his assistant, as reflected in her title: senior vice president. She acted as Mr. Trump’s media liaison, scheduler, sometimes spokeswoman, fund-raising planner, co-star on “The Apprentice” and as a Miss Teen USA judge.

Ms. Graff continued her service during his 2016 presidential campaign and after Mr. Trump moved into the White House.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Trump’s trial is the latest chapter in the rich history of Lower Manhattan’s courts.

For a decade, Robert Pigott, a lawyer, has led walking tours of the courthouses of Manhattan, guiding visitors around landmarks where the city’s rich legal history has played out. Now the trial of Donald J. Trump has added a chapter to the story he gets to tell.

Mr. Pigott’s tours, which he runs in his spare time, revolve around a cluster of downtown buildings that are the borough’s judicial hub. For now, 100 Centre Street — the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where the former president’s case is being heard — is the focus.

But just down the street on Foley Square sits Manhattan’s most elegant courthouse building, New York’s Supreme Court, with its sweeping flight of 32 stone steps leading up to a series of imposing Corinthian columns. Other court buildings are dotted around nearby.

“The eyes of the nation and the world are trained on criminal court cases in New York County, whether it’s organized crime, Wall Street cases or federal cases,” Mr. Pigott said.

Mr. Trump’s trial is remarkable because it is the first time that a former American president has been criminally prosecuted. The defendant’s status as this year’s presumptive Republican presidential nominee adds a contemporary political dimension.

For Mr. Pigott, 64, who has written a book about the history of the city’s courthouses, the real significance is what it says about the status of a few blocks of Manhattan as a nexus. He pointed out that Mr. Trump’s civil fraud case and defamation case also both played out this year in courthouses within spitting distance of the criminal trial.

“Now, when I arrive at the expanse of Foley Square midway through the walk, I can point to something truly remarkable — three different courthouses where the same former U.S. president has been on trial,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s trial shows how politics, celebrity and the location of the court itself can reinforce one another to make a big story bigger. New York’s status as a media hub increases the spotlight during high-profile cases and the high-profile cases held over the decades have, in turn, made the city’s courts an attractive setting for fictional courtroom dramas.

In these buildings, a jury convicted Anna Sorokin for grand larceny in 2019 for posing as a German heiress to swindle wealthy New Yorkers — a case that almost by definition blurred fact and fiction. Naturally, the tale has since been turned into a series on Netflix.

The cluster is also where a group of Black and Latino teenagers, then known as the Central Park Five, were wrongly convicted in 1990 of raping a jogger — a case also rendered as a Netflix series — and where Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty in 1981 to murdering the musician John Lennon.

The New York Supreme Court building, a trial-level court, often serves as a symbol of the court complex. It featured prominently in the television show “Law and Order" and the 1957 courtroom film classic “12 Angry Men,” to cite just two examples.

Mr. Pigott, however, is drawn to the history of the legal system before the 20th century and how it evolved through its buildings. The first stop on the tours he runs is a sidewalk nearby with glass blocks embedded in it, through which it is possible to see the excavations of a courthouse built by the Dutch in the colonial era.

The authorities in New York built a judicial infrastructure in this part of Lower Manhattan starting mainly in the 19th century, when the area experienced significant gang violence, he said.

“This one-block radius has been the epicenter of criminal justice in New York since the 1830s,” said Mr. Pigott.

For all the drama associated with the Trump trial, the streets outside the criminal courthouse have generally been calm this week. Reporters and members of the public have lined up for entry to the courthouse. And on Thursday morning, Collect Pond Park across the street, which has been designated for protests, was empty. Its only occupants were some police officers and a few pigeons.

On stand, Pecker fires back after Trump lawyer implies he was untruthful.

The lawyer for Donald J. Trump who on Friday led the cross-examination of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer and first witness in the trial, used confrontational questioning to try to catch Mr. Pecker in contradictions.

But that strategy, which led to a tense exchange in the Lower Manhattan courtroom, did not seem to pay off. Mr. Pecker repeatedly rejected characterizations and questions posed by the lawyer, Emil Bove, and resisted the suggestion that he had not been forthright in earlier testimony.

For most of Friday, Mr. Bove had struck a polite tone with Mr. Pecker, spending most of the second day of cross-examination focusing on arcane questions about deals to suppress stories, including one with Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.

But as Mr. Bove wrapped up his cross-examination, he asked Mr. Pecker about his obligations in cooperating with the prosecution in the hush-money trial.

Mr. Pecker did not play along. “To be truthful,” he fired back, adding: “I’ve been truthful to the best of my recollection.”

And with that, Mr. Bove sat down.

Mr. Pecker was the first witness called by prosecutors. Their questions over three days sought to establish that he and his publication suppressed negative stories about Mr. Trump while both promoting him in The Enquirer and attacking his Republican primary rivals.

Matthew Haag and Jesse McKinley

Three witnesses testified on Friday. Here’s the latest.

The hush-money trial against Donald J. Trump adjourned for the week with its third witness on the stand, a former banker whose client was Michael D. Cohen, the former president’s fixer.

The banker, Gary Farro, said that Mr. Cohen was assigned to him at First Republic Bank. Mr. Cohen always had a sense of urgency and a preference for secrecy, Mr. Farro testified, most notably around the time Mr. Cohen arranged an October 2016 hush-money payment to a porn star who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, Stormy Daniels. Mr. Trump’s reimbursement of that payment is at the heart of the criminal case.

The payment to Ms. Daniels was made through a limited-liability company called Essential Consultants, which Mr. Cohen set up through First Republic. Mr. Farro said that Mr. Cohen called him while he was golfing on his day off and said he needed to create an L.L.C. for a real estate consulting company right away.

Mr. Farro spent an hour on the stand being questioned by prosecutors before the trial was adjourned for the day, ending the first week of testimony in the Lower Manhattan courtroom. The trial will resume on Tuesday.

Mr. Farro was called to the witness stand on Friday afternoon after brief testimony by Rhona Graff, Mr. Trump’s former longtime executive assistant, who was questioned for about 35 minutes.

She said on the stand that the Trump Organization, her former employer, was paying her legal fees. Ms. Graff worked for Mr. Trump for 34 years, starting in 1987 and continuing until after he became president. At the Trump Organization, she was called his gatekeeper, the person who controlled his schedule and access to him.

Ms. Graff noted that a company directory had contact entries for both Ms. Daniels and Karen McDougal, another woman who had claimed to have an affair with Mr. Trump.

She also told prosecutors that she saw Ms. Daniels at Trump Tower. A lawyer for Mr. Trump later suggested that her visit could have been connected to an appearance on “The Apprentice,” his reality show.

The testimony followed multiple days of questioning of David Pecker, the former publisher of the The National Enquirer. A key witness for the prosecution, Mr. Pecker described his involvement in suppressing stories that could have damaged the 2016 presidential candidacy of Mr. Trump, who is charged with 34 felonies.

Mr. Pecker said that he and The Enquirer sought to help Mr. Trump’s campaign through catch-and-kill deals to suppress negative news about him and through positive headlines that promoted him.

On Friday, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Emil Bove, sought to find inconsistencies related to what Mr. Pecker had said about his interactions with Mr. Trump and his reasons for publishing negative stories about his opponents.

Mr. Pecker responded defiantly. “I’ve been truthful to the best of my recollection,” he said.

The Enquirer’s parent company paid $150,000 to Ms. McDougal, a Playboy model. Mr. Pecker urged Mr. Cohen to handle paying $130,000 to Ms. Daniels, who was shopping her account of the sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, which she said took place in 2006.

Mr. Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Mr. Cohen. He has denied the sexual encounters and pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces.

Here’s what else to know:

Mr. Trump is the first American president to face a criminal trial. If convicted, he could receive probation, or up to four years in prison.

This may be the only trial Mr. Trump faces before Election Day. His three other criminal cases are delayed, including one in Washington, where he is accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss. On Thursday, the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether Mr. Trump should be immune from prosecution for acts he committed while president. The court’s conservative majority seemed poised to narrow the scope of the case , which could make it hard to conduct the trial before the 2024 election.

Mr. Trump has injected an element of menace into his Manhattan case, attacking both witnesses and the jury, which prosecutors say could put them in danger. The prosecution argued this week that Mr. Trump had violated the gag order placed on him by the court four more times , bringing the number of alleged violations to 15. They have asked the judge presiding over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, to hold Mr. Trump in contempt, but he has not yet ruled on the matter.

Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek

5 takeaways from David Pecker’s testimony so far.

Follow our live coverage of Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan.

The criminal trial of Donald Trump featured vivid testimony on Thursday about a plot to protect his first presidential campaign and the beginnings of a tough cross-examination of the prosecution’s initial witness, David Pecker.

In his third day of testimony, Mr. Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, described his involvement in the suppression of the stories of two women who claimed to have had sex with Mr. Trump: Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, and Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose 2016 hush-money payoff forms the basis of the prosecution’s case.

Mr. Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying 34 business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels, who has said they had a sexual encounter in 2006 and was shopping that story in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. He has denied the charges and having sex with Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal; the former president could face probation or prison if convicted.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s seventh day on trial:

Pecker teed up falsified records charges.

As part of a so-called catch-and-kill scheme, Mr. Pecker testified that his company, AMI, paid Ms. McDougal $150,000 to purchase her story, with no intention of publishing anything about an affair with Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Pecker expected repayment. He said he asked Michael D. Cohen, who was Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, who would handle the reimbursement, and Mr. Cohen responded, “The boss will take care of it.”

Because Mr. Pecker had such a hard time getting Mr. Trump to pay up, he was unwilling to buy a third story: Ms. Daniels’s account of sex with Mr. Trump.

“I am not a bank,” Mr. Pecker recalled saying.

Mr. Pecker suggested that Mr. Cohen buy Ms. Daniels's story instead, leading to the hush-money deal, repayments and records at issue in this trial.

Prosecutors painted a picture of election interference.

The prosecution’s discussion of the deal with Ms. McDougal — brokered in summer 2016 — served another purpose: trying to demonstrate that the payment was part of a scheme to influence that year’s election.

Mr. Pecker said that Ms. McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating campaign finance laws.

“I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump,” Mr. Pecker said.

Mr. Pecker was also asked whether he believed Mr. Trump was concerned that his wife or family would find out about the affairs. But Mr. Pecker suggested that Mr. Trump’s concerns were electoral, not personal.

Trump worried about Ms. McDougal, even after his election.

Mr. Pecker told of least two instances in which Mr. Trump inquired about Ms. McDougal, referring to her at a Trump Tower meeting before he took office as “our girl.” He also asked about her during a meeting with Mr. Pecker at the White House, the publisher said.

At the Trump Tower meeting, which also included notables like James Comey, then the F.B.I. director, and Reince Priebus, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Pecker reassured Mr. Trump that everything was fine.

Mr. Trump then told the group that Mr. Pecker probably “knows more than anyone else in this room.”

“It was a joke,” Mr. Pecker testified, adding, “They didn’t laugh.”

Pecker did a lot for Trump, who could be hard to please.

Mr. Pecker said on Tuesday he had agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign and used AMI to deal with threats to Mr. Trump’s reputation.

After the “Access Hollywood” tape was revealed in October 2016, featuring Mr. Trump’s boasts about groping women, one of Mr. Pecker’s editors scrubbed an AMI publication’s website of a 2008 article describing Mr. Trump as a “playboy man.”

Despite that, Mr. Trump often made his displeasure known, Mr. Pecker testified, either through Mr. Cohen or in phone calls. Mr. Pecker variously described Mr. Trump as becoming “very angry” and “very aggravated.”

Still, Mr. Pecker said he felt no ill will. “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor,” Mr. Pecker said, adding, “I still consider him a friend.”

Cross-examination continues Friday. More names may drop.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers, led by Emil Bove, started their cross-examination trying to show that such deals were “standard operating procedure” in the supermarket tabloid business and that the magazines published only about half of the stories they bought.

That offered the first intimation of the defense strategy: presenting as commonplace actions that the prosecutors have deemed criminal. The cross-examination also showed the ugly side of the tabloid trade, including the admission that Mr. Pecker’s magazines would buy stories as leverage against celebrities.

Many famous names were mentioned, including that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star-turned-Republican politician. Mr. Pecker described a 2002 meeting in which Mr. Schwarzenegger asked Mr. Pecker not to run negative stories about him before his run for governor of California. It worked: the star of “The Terminator” was elected and served from 2003 until 2011.

The name-dropping may well continue when cross-examination continues Friday.

David Pecker recounted a Trump Tower meeting where the president-elect offered his thanks.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, painted a remarkable scene for jurors at Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial Thursday, describing a meeting he attended at the soon-to-be president’s office with people who would hold key roles in his administration.

Mr. Pecker, who had helped Mr. Trump suppress damaging stories during the campaign, said he was outside Trump Tower in January 2017 when Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I’ll get you upstairs.”

When he walked into Mr. Trump’s office, he saw Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Mike Pompeo and James Comey. Mr. Comey was the director of the F.B.I. at the time and would later publicly turn against Mr. Trump. Mr. Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee and soon to be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. Mr. Spicer would become White House press secretary, and Mr. Pompeo would be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Trump introduced me to each of them,” Mr. Pecker testified. “He said, ‘Here is David Pecker. He is the publisher of The National Enquirer.”

Mr. Trump, in the presence of the F.B.I. director and the incoming C.I.A. director, then added slyly that Mr. Pecker probably “knows more than anyone else in this room.”

“It was a joke,” Mr. Pecker testified. “Unfortunately, they didn’t laugh.”

But in the courtroom, Mr. Trump chuckled. His lawyer, Todd Blanche, guffawed.

Mr. Pecker said that at the same meeting, Mr. Trump thanked him for purchasing stories for him during the campaign. The president-elect also inquired about Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model whose story of an affair Mr. Pecker’s company had suppressed in exchange for $150,000.

“How’s our girl?” Mr. Pecker said Mr. Trump had asked, to which he replied: “She’s cool. She’s very quiet. No issues.”

It is unclear whether the other men heard those remarks.

In his testimony, Mr. Pecker also spoke of an earlier postelection meeting at Trump Tower, in December 2016. Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s lawyer and fixer, asked him to persuade Mr. Trump to pay out his holiday bonus, Mr. Pecker said. He also testified that Mr. Cohen had told him he had not yet been repaid for the $130,000 he had spent on a hush-money deal with a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Pecker told the jury that he did raise the issue of a bonus for Mr. Cohen with Mr. Trump. “He’s been working very hard, from my perspective, and I believe that he would throw himself under a bus for you,” Mr. Pecker said he had told Mr. Trump.

The publisher recalled that Mr. Trump replied that Mr. Cohen had plenty of money; he owned 50 taxi medallions, valuable licenses to operate a cab in New York City, as well as apartments in Trump buildings. Still, Mr. Pecker testified, Mr. Trump said he would take care of the bonus.

Pecker says he and others around Trump feared his anger.

A recurring theme in the testimony of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been how people around Donald J. Trump lived in fear of his wrath.

At least three times while testifying in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, Mr. Pecker described Michael D. Cohen, the former president’s fixer and lawyer, as warning him that “the boss” — Mr. Trump — would be angry if Mr. Pecker did not follow through with whatever had been asked of him in that moment.

Notably, Mr. Pecker kept his eyes locked on exhibits and prosecutors while discussing Mr. Trump’s temper, not once glancing over at the former president in the courtroom. Mr. Trump appeared subdued during Mr. Pecker’s testimony, as he has for most of the trial, but at one point, he motioned to the lawyers next to him and crossed his arms over his chest.

Mr. Pecker and Mr. Cohen were in frequent contact during the 2016 presidential campaign, strategizing over how to bury threatening news about Mr. Trump before the November election. In urging Mr. Pecker to kill harmful stories, Mr. Cohen often invoked Mr. Trump’s potential anger as a reason for Mr. Pecker to do what he asked.

Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, received $150,000 from American Media Inc., The Enquirer’s parent company. When Mr. Pecker voiced concerns about the potentially unlawful implications of the deal, Mr. Cohen had a warning.

“The boss is going to be very angry at you,” Mr. Cohen told Mr. Pecker, he testified Thursday.

Mr. Pecker also testified about warning Mr. Cohen that he, too, needed to avoid Mr. Trump’s temper. Mr. Pecker said he did not want to pay $120,000 that Stormy Daniels, a porn star, had asked for to keep quiet about the tryst she said she had with Mr. Trump. But Mr. Pecker urged Mr. Cohen to make a deal.

“If you don’t, and it gets out, I believe the boss is going to be very angry with you,” he said he told Mr. Cohen.

Stormy Daniels’s attempt to sell her story began the road to the trial.

Stormy Daniels tried to benefit from Donald J. Trump’s political momentum in early 2016, setting off the saga that ultimately resulted in his criminal trial.

Her agent reached out to Dylan Howard, editor of The National Enquirer, and editorial chiefs at other publications, seeking about $200,000 to tell her story of having sex with Mr. Trump a decade before when he was at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

Ms. Daniels had no takers. Mr. Howard thought her story had little value because it had already been written about on a gossip site in 2011. At the time, she had publicly denied the encounter.

A month before the presidential election, her story’s value suddenly increased. On Oct. 7, 2016, The Washington Post published a recording of Mr. Trump on the set of “Access Hollywood” talking about groping women.

The ensuing uproar revived Ms. Daniels’s negotiations with The Enquirer. Her agent negotiated a price of $120,000 with Mr. Howard, but Mr. Pecker nixed the deal, unwilling to spend more after having already paid a Playboy model to bury her story of an affair with Mr. Trump in what prosecutors have called a “catch-and-kill” scheme to aid Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

“We can’t pay 120k,” Mr. Pecker texted Mr. Howard. They agreed that Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, would have to handle the problem.

“Spoke to MC. All sorted,” Mr. Howard later texted Mr. Pecker. “No fingerprints.”

Mr. Cohen had been in London visiting his daughter, who was studying abroad, when the “Access Hollywood” recording hit. He had gotten on a three-way call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the campaign’s press secretary, and then spoke to Ms. Hicks alone to discuss damage control.

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said in court last week that after the recording emerged, Mr. Trump was desperate to “lock down the Stormy Daniels story” and prevent more damage.

On Oct. 10, Mr. Cohen began to negotiate a price with Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing Ms. Daniels, settling on $130,000. A nondisclosure agreement identified Ms. Daniels by the pseudonym Peggy Peterson, or “PP,” and Mr. Trump as David Dennison, or “DD.”

But Mr. Cohen delayed paying for weeks, and Ms. Daniels began contacting news outlets again.

With the election rapidly approaching, Mr. Cohen drew the money from his own home equity line of credit and wired it to Ms. Daniels’s lawyer through a shell company on Oct. 27.

Her silence was assured.

Prosecutors say Trump keeps breaking gag order, with four new violations.

Prosecutors on Thursday accused former President Donald J. Trump of violating a gag order four additional times, saying that he continues to defy the judge’s directions not to attack witnesses, prosecutors and jurors in his hush-money trial.

“He’s doing what the order tells him not to do,” said Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney.

As Mr. Conroy laid out what he said were violations, Mr. Trump whispered to his lawyer Todd Blanche and frowned. After they spoke, Mr. Blanche rubbed his face several times.

With the latest allegations, prosecutors now say that Mr. Trump has violated the gag order 15 times in less than two weeks. The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule soon on earlier violations and could hold the former president in contempt or issue a fine.

The new instances include two separate attacks on his former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, once during a recent television interview and another while speaking to reporters in the hallway outside the Lower Manhattan courtroom. Another violation, prosecutors said, stemmed from a recent interview in which Mr. Trump referred to the jury as “95 percent Democrats.”

The fourth example, prosecutors said, took place before the trial began on Thursday, at a campaign stop with construction workers in Manhattan . There, Mr. Trump called David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher who took the witness stand for a third time on Thursday, “a nice guy.”

Prosecutors accused Mr. Trump of sending a message to Mr. Pecker and other witnesses to be “nice,” or get attacked. They said they would submit the additional violations to the court.

Justice Merchan imposed the gag order on Mr. Trump in late March, barring him from making public statements about any witnesses, prosecutors, jurors or court staff, as well as their families. But within a week, Mr. Trump found a loophole in the order and repeatedly attacked the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant.

In a hearing earlier this week on the 10 previous violations, lawyers for Mr. Trump argued that the former president had been exercising his right to respond to attacks. Prosecutors noted that the gag order did not include exceptions for Mr. Trump to respond to those who criticize him.