Resume template after being in practice Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all-

What should a resume look like after being in practice 1-3 years? Still have your GPAs on them? Experience at the top followed by education?

[misterjames]

I'd say standard form is experience at the top, then "professional activities" to the extent you have them, and then education. No GPA, but include latin honors if available. Also keep journals/clubs/other honors if you have them.

[Int'lshoe]

Experience -> Education -> Bar Admissions -> Publications -> Professional Orgs.

I have heard that your GPA should be included until/unless you have your own book of business to brag about. Not putting would raise bigger concerns than just having it listed.

[SFSpartan]

I'd err on the side of keeping your GPA. Int'l Shoe has a good order. IIRC, YLS has some publicly available template resumes, for use by both students and junior attorneys.

[Anonymous User]

My law school (CCN) required that we not list our GPA during OCI, so I've never had it on my resume. Should I add it now?

Also, how bad would an absence of professional orgs be? And what kind of stuff would that be? Like, San Fran Young Lawyers Assoc., California Bar IP Section, Affinity Groups, stuff like that?

[tier4_partner]

Not having professional orgs really doesn’t matter.

If you have a good gpa - keep it on there. If you don’t, take it off.

The order stated above makes sense.

FWIW - when I interview a 2 to 6 year associate, I seldom focus on gpa, I care more about professional experience at that point.

[TEIAM]

I'd add an interests section if you can squeeze it. If you have something remotely interesting, it's a talking point in interviews. Mine come up in literally every interview I have.

[Anonymous User]

I’ve dropped a lot of federal government applications recently. I keep my education at the top of my resume because I still feel like attorneys are all about fancy “prestigious” schools (and I went to a highly ranked school). Are y’all saying I shouldn’t do this anymore? My resume is one page, so it’s not like the two lines for schools hide my experience.

FWIW, I think the school prestige thing is annoying and not useful, but I figured why not try to use it to my advantage for people that still think that way.

[Anonymous User]

I’ve dropped a lot of federal government applications recently. I keep my education at the top of my resume because I still feel like attorneys are all about fancy “prestigious” schools (and I went to a highly ranked school). Are y’all saying I shouldn’t do this anymore? My resume is one page, so it’s not like the two lines for schools hide my experience.

FWIW, I think the school prestige thing is annoying and not useful, but I figured why not try to use it to my advantage for people that still think that way.

At CCN, they advise you to keep education at the top for the first 1-3 years, because it will be the most relevant. (They say around 3-5, your experience will become more relevant, especially if you've had substantive responsibility, and then you can switch it.) I think that's right maybe even outside of the T14, but I'd definitely keep education at the top for a prestigious school for a couple years at least.

I'd sub out GPA for Latin honors or other class-rank-based award if available, but if there's nothing to replace it with, I'd leave a GPA over 3.0 on to avoid raising concerns (at least for the first few years out of law school).

I've heard "interests" sections can be really valuable for big law type jobs, but I'm not sure they're as important for government and public interest. Government and public interest employers tend to be primarily interested in seeing demonstrated commitment to public service / the practice area through work and volunteer experience.