Resume Do's and Don't's

The first thing a potential interviewer sees before your sparkling personality is your resume. In fact, if your resume isn't up to snuff then you better kiss that interview goodbye and prepare for the one page, single paragraph, generic letter that starts off by saying, "We appreciate your interest . . . HOWEVER . . . " We've all received one or two -- maybe more -- in our lifetime. My goal is to make sure you never receive one again, or at least that it will never happen because of your resume. To that end, here are a few resume tips:

#1: Length: Your resume should NEVER be more than 1 page, unless (and this is a big unless) becoming a lawyer is your second career. For example, you were a doctor for 15 years and now you've decided to become a lawyer.

#2: Color: Your resume paper should be conservative (e.g., white, off-white, tan, light grey, or "mother of pearl"). It should not be on "baby blue," "pink and beautiful," or anything that will make you stick out for the wrong reason.

#3: Paper Quality: Your resume should be on. . . drum roll . . . resume paper. This can be found at Office Depot, Target, or any office supply store. You should never use the plain white paper from the law school or law firm copy room!

#4: Font: Times New Roman is preferred. Do not use calligraphy, script, or anything too fancy.

#5: Your G.P.A.: If under a 3.0, leave it off of your resume. If your law school G.P.A. is under a 3.0 but your college G.P.A. is above a 3.o, then leave BOTH of them off.


#6: Format:

(1) Personal Information (name, address, telephone number, email address)
(2) Education (law school and college)
(3) Legal experience
(4) Other experience
(5) Honors and activities
(5) Publications
(6) Language skills

6.1: Caveats to the Format

(1) Personal Information
(a) Telephone number - No music on your voicemail!
(b) Email address - Preferably, use your law school email address. If you are a practicing attorney, use a simple, professional email address (e.g., vivicaafox@gmail.com). If your current email address is, for example, cutiepie313@gmail.com -- don't use it!
(c) Home address - No P.O. Boxes.

(2) Education
(a) Law school - Make sure to put your month and year of expected graduation. However, do NOT state "Expected" or "Anticipated" graduation date -- you're expected to graduate some day! Place law school honors and activities underneath this section in bullets. Definitely provide whether you are on law review, moot court, or the trial team.
(b) College - Place significant honors and activities underneath this section. However, once you become a 2L, you should no longer have these activities on your resume.
(c) Associates Degree - No need to put this on your resume.
(d) High School - Please do not state anything about your high school on your resume.

(3) Legal Experience
(a) Place your jobs in chronological order with the most recent job first.
(b) The bullets within your job description should go in the following order: (1) "on your feet" work (e.g., take depositions of fact and expect witnesses; argue motions for summary judgment, etc.); (2) writing (e.g., draft motions to dismiss, etc.); (3) research; and (4) observation work (e.g., attend labor arbitration, etc.).

(4) Other Experience - This is where you put your non-legal experience. This is NOT where you state that you are a belly dancer or exotic dancer . . . I've seen this before!


(5) Publications - List college and law school publications. However, understand that the recruiter may ask you specifics about your publications, so please review them before the interview. For example, during college I published an article on the financial conditions of Detroit Public Schools. A recruiter asked me what my thesis was and how would I change it knowing what I know today. It turns out that the recruiter's wife is a teacher and he wanted to share my response with her. Luckily, I reviewed the abstract of my article 1 hour before the interview!


(6) Language Skills - Be careful with this one! If you state that you are fluent in a language, you may end up with an entire interview in that language. I have known this to happen on at least two occasions. If the recruiter says, "Hola," and you say, "Um??". . . you're in trouble!

(7) Periods - No periods for incomplete sentences.

(8) Spelling. Lastly, make sure that everything is spelt correctly and that there are no grammatical errors in anything!