Law student CV examples, templates & samples

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A well-written CV for law students can open doors to internships, clerkships, or your first role as a legal assistant after graduation. But what makes a law student CV truly effective?

Success comes down to three things:

Using the right structure, made easier with our law student CV examples
Writing targeted content that reflects your education, skills, and potential
Presenting your information in a professional, readable format

To help you succeed, we’ve created a complete CV guide with everything you need, including:

Law student CV examples
Law student CV templates
How to write a law student CV
FAQs about law student CVs

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AIDEN LEONARD 11 Guild Street, London, N19 0NB 07912345678 a.leonard@example-example.co.uk PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY Proactive Legal Intern with excellent legal documentation and research skills. Currently pursuing a master’s degree in copyright law. Excited to gain invaluable hands-on experience while helping clients achieve goals. WORK HISTORY 06/2021 – 09/2022 Law Intern, Keys & Sutherland – London

Gained hands-on experience assisting partner with copyright, patents, and trademark cases.
Built new relationships in the copyright law field by engaging in networking events with up to 50+ attendees.
Assisted partners and the marketing team with preparing legal and marketing material.

10/2019 – 03/2021 Retail Assistant, Spar – London

Performed daily store opening and closing, readying the sales floor for customers and delivering stringent security measures.
Continually replenished stock in line with sales records, keeping well-maintained, presentable item displays.
Resolved customer complaints and processed issues with proactive problem-solving skills.

SKILLS

Legal project work
Research skills
Case management
Debating and mooting
Relationship building
Confident communicator
Persuasive writing
Administrative legal support

EDUCATION

2022 LLB: Law University College London
2019 A-Levels: Law, Economics, Psychology, English Literature Tormead Sixth Form
2017 GCSEs Guildford High School

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Law student CV template

By using a premade CV template, you’ll be able to get a head start on landing a new job! Customisable templates allow you to tailor your CV to your area of expertise, and then build on it to create a graduate CV.

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Choosing the best format for your law student CV

The first step in writing your law student CV is choosing the right CV format. The structure you select will help highlight your strengths, whether you have legal experience or are just starting out.

Reverse-chronological CV (Best for students with experience)

The reverse-chronological format is the most commonly used style for a law student CV (UK). It lists your most recent experience first and works backwards. This layout is ideal if you’ve completed internships, clerkships, or part-time legal work.

It’s also the standard approach used in our law student CV examples, as it makes it easy for recruiters to see your career progress and qualifications at a glance.

Best for:

Students with legal work experience
Applicants who want to highlight roles or internships
Structured, traditional applications

Skills-based CV (Ideal for students with no experience)

If you’re writing a CV for law students with no experience, the skills-based CV is a better option. This format focuses on your skills and strengths instead of your work history.

You can highlight transferable skills such as legal research, written communication, time management, and teamwork. Any experience you do include (like volunteering or part-time jobs) is listed later to support your skills.

Best for:

Law students with little or no experience
Recent graduates
Career changers

Extra formatting tips

No matter which format you choose, follow these tips to keep your CV professional and easy to read:

Keep your law student CV to a maximum of 2 pages
Use a clean font like Arial or Times New Roman
Break up text with subheadings and bullet points

Select your format

How to write a CV for a law student

Whether you’re looking to get a job on the side of your studies, or if you’re just building a CV for when you graduate, it’s important to learn how to write a CV . Here is what’s coming up:

Step 1: Add your contact details
Step 2: Write a strong personal statement
Step 3: Add relevant work experience
Step 4: Add your law skills
Get education right on your law student CV

Step 1: Add your contact details

Recruiters need to reach you easily, so the first step in writing a law student CV is adding your contact information at the top of the document. This should include:

Your full name
Phone number
Email address (make sure it sounds professional)
Your location (city and postcode are enough)

Tip: If you’re still using an old or informal email address, create a new one just for job applications. A simple, professional email (e.g. firstname.lastname@email.com) gives a better impression.

Also, make sure your contact details are current and regularly checked. Recruiters often won’t follow up more than once if they don’t hear back.

Step 2: Write a strong personal statement

Every standout law student CV begins with a clear and concise personal statement. Also known as a professional summary, this short paragraph appears at the top of your CV and gives recruiters a quick overview of who you are and what you bring to the table.

Your personal statement should:

Highlight your key strengths (e.g. “Proactive Legal Intern with strong research and legal drafting skills”)
Be written in the third person for a more professional tone
Mention your current academic status if you’re still studying (e.g. “Currently completing an LLB with a focus on criminal law”)
Show your specialism or interest area within law
Explain what you’re aiming for (e.g. “Keen to gain practical legal experience and support clients in a fast-paced environment”)

Quick tips for writing your personal statement:

Keep it under 100 words
Tailor it to the job description
Be confident but not boastful
Make it employer-focused

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Step 3: Add relevant work experience

Even if you’re still studying, your experience is valuable. A well-structured law student CV doesn’t need years of legal work to stand out — it just needs to show your potential.

What kind of experience should you include?

In a law student CV example, you’ll often see a mix of legal and non-legal roles, such as:

Legal internships or placements
Part-time jobs during university (e.g. retail or hospitality)
Summer jobs or voluntary positions
Legal research projects or roles with student law societies

Even if the job wasn’t in a law firm, it can still demonstrate key skills like communication, teamwork, time management, and customer service.

How to present your experience

Use a clear structure when listing roles, like this:

Job Title
Company Name, Location
Start Date – End Date

Aim to include 3–6 bullet points per job that focus on tasks and achievements relevant to legal skills.

Avoid this common mistake: If you have no legal jobs to list, don’t try to turn academic projects into “jobs”. Instead, consider using a skills-based CV layout, which puts more focus on your capabilities than your experience.

Step 4: Add your law skills

The skills section is a vital part of any law student CV, whether you’re applying for an internship, a legal assistant role, or your first training contract. The good news? You’ve already developed many of the key competencies during your law degree.

What skills do employers look for in a law student CV?

You’re expected to show a mix of technical legal knowledge and transferable soft skills. Even if you haven’t had much professional experience yet, your coursework, research and extracurricular activities will have helped you build many relevant strengths.

Here’s how to approach it depending on your CV format:

Traditional law CV format: Include a bullet-point list of 6–10 skills under a “Skills” heading. This is ideal for applicants with some experience.
Skills-based law student CV: Group your abilities into categories, such as “Legal Research” or “Commercial Awareness”, then support each group with 2–3 bullet points of detail or evidence.

Essential skills for a law student

Research
Specialist area knowledge
Critical thinking
Case management
Familiar with legal proceedings
Understanding of legal terminology

Desirable skills to set you apart

Strong speaker
Good listener
Rapport building
Client-focused
Calm under pressure
Problem solving

Get education right on your law student CV

Education is essential for most jobs in the legal sector. As a law student, you’re well on your way to securing that bachelor’s or master’s degree. But you might not have graduated just yet. Or maybe you’re just unsure how to list your qualifications. Here’s how to navigate the education on a CV for law students.

What to include

You should include any relevant qualifications from college onwards in the education section of your law student CV. List your A levels and subjects (ideally including law) or a BTEC in Applied Law, unless you’re a mature student whose qualifications are from over a decade ago. You can also include the degree you’re working towards. Even if you haven’t graduated, it’s important to give recruiters an idea of your legal knowledge and understanding. Whether or not you include GCSEs is down to personal preference. Given how recent they are for most law students, it can seem odd to leave them out.

How to list your qualifications

As with our law student CV example, UK recruiters expect qualifications to be listed in reverse-chronological order. Start with your most recent degree or the one you’re studying for, then work backwards as far as GCSE, depending on your preference. Here’s the information you’ll need to include with an example:

Date (or expected date) of qualification
Level and subject
Institution

Example of education for a law student’s CV

LLB Law (Hons)
University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
September 2021 – June 2024 (Expected)

Key modules: Contract Law, Criminal Law, Tort Law, Constitutional & Administrative Law, EU Law
Achievements:
- Predicted 2:1
- Member of the University Law Society and Debating Club
- Participated in national mooting competition
- Completed pro bono work with the University Legal Advice Centre
Dissertation: The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on UK Public Law

Dos and don’ts for your law student CV

The format and structure are one challenge on a CV for a law student. But what about the content itself? Not to mention the design. Here are our top tips to take your law student CV from good to great.

Do

As a law student, the jobs you’re applying for are likely to vary quite a bit. Using the same CV for all of them simply won’t cut it. Instead, you should follow the letter of the law when it comes to the job description. Read through, pick out the key requirements that you meet, then make sure you include them in your law student CV skills, work history, and professional summary.
If you specialise in a particular area of law, make sure the jury isn’t out when recruiters are reading your law student CV. Mention your specialism in your personal statement and back it up wherever possible throughout the rest of your CV.

Don't

Cover letters give you a chance to discuss why you’re a great fit for the role and highlight your motivation. They can be hugely important, especially alongside a CV for law students with no experience. Start by introducing the role you’re applying for, including where you found it, and why it appeals to you. Here, it’s good to mention some aspects of the company that you like – not least because it shows you’ve done your research. After this, you can go into more detail about your work experience, education, and anything else that sets you apart as a candidate.
With so many details sneaked into the small print of contracts, lawyers need to have impeccable attention to detail. You won’t be able to show this if your CV has typos, inaccuracies, or missing information. To root out any errors, get out your magnifying glass and give your law student CV the small print treatment.

Your law student CV questions answered

What makes a law student CV stand out?

To stand out:

Tailor it to the job or internship
Use clear, professional formatting
Highlight legal knowledge, academic success, and soft skills
Back everything with evidence (e.g. achievements, tasks, outcomes)

Do I need a cover letter with my law student CV?

Yes, a cover letter is usually expected for careers in law, even at entry level. Whether you’re applying for an internship, training contract, or graduate legal assistant role, a tailored cover letter shows you understand the expectations of the legal profession.

While your law student CV outlines your education and experience, the cover letter is your chance to show personality, motivation, and attention to detail, qualities law recruiters look for. You can view our cover letter examples for inspiration on how your CV and cover letter should work together.

How do I build my CV as a law student?

If you want to build out the various sections on your law student CV, a good trick is to read through the job description for your chosen role. Note down any criteria that matches your own abilities and experience. You can then use that to fill the rest of your CV with relevant information.

How should a law CV look?

Above all else, your law student CV should look professional and tidy. Recruiters may want to skim-read, so use clear sections that are properly spaced apart with subheadings. Stick to a simple font in standard sizes (10-12 for paragraph text) and use colour sparingly. Take a look at a law student CV template to see how it’s done.

How do you write a personal profile for a legal CV?

Also known as a personal statement or professional summary, your personal profile should comprise 2-4 sentences, highlighting your specialist area of law and some key capabilities like “research” and “documentation”. You can also include your level of experience, which means mentioning that you’ve just graduated or you’re working towards an LLB, for most law students.

What are the most important things to add into a CV for a law student?

The easiest way to make a CV for law students is by splitting it into sections:

Contact details –Start with your name, address, email address, and phone number.
Personal statement – Summarise your CV in 3-4 sentences, highlighting your most valuable qualities to potential employers.
Work history – List your previous roles starting with the most recent, along with 3-6 responsibilities for each job. This can be omitted or placed further down on a CV for law students with no experience.
Skills – List 6-10 key competencies for a reverse-chronological CV or expand on them for a skills-based CV.
Education –Include any relevant qualifications including those you’re studying toward.

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Create your law student CV today

Writing a great law student CV doesn’t have to be as difficult as building a legal case. With myPerfectCV, you can find everything you need in one place – including our top-rate CV examples, law student CV templates, and an easy-to-use online builder. Simply enter the job you’re applying for, then choose from pre-written content to showcase your expertise and experience. Get started today!