Why do law resumes not have bullet points? Forum

[zeglo]

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[lymenheimer]

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 3&t=170603

[Chi-Town-911]

My legal resume has bullet points. Also, the standard resume given out by our career services office features bullets. Use whatever you want.

[iliketurtles123]

Career services makes you do this. I noticed a lot of career service handbooks states you should use paragraph format with no explanation

I changed it back to bullet point upon graduation. Reads so much better and easier.

Probably an asinine reason such as "tradition" or "it's always been like this". Welcome to the industry.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I've seen both. Heck, if you look at the samples Harvard Law provides, some of them use both bullets and paragraphs. I don't use bullets because I don't like the way it looks with how I've laid out my resume and don't think it works as well with describing what you do in legal jobs as it does in some other fields, but I don't think it's a law thing not to use them.

[Nonconsecutive]

FWIW, I use bullet points just because I'm lazy and my resume style was like that prior to law school, so I kept it that way. In all my interviews I've never had them mentioned other than one state AG office which said they preferred the bullet points over the paragraph style. I doubt it matters a whole lot, generally speaking.

[PeanutsNJam]

Pretty sure it's more about how you use bullet points rather than whether you use them. I used them and had my resume reviewed by CSO/firm recruiters and they said they appreciated it not being a wall of text.

Don't do this:

Summer Job!

- Worked with and shadowed lawyers
- Reviewed court documents and checked citations
- Conducted research for attorneys

Do:

Summer Job!

- Wrote research memos for attorneys on issues such as X, Y, and Z.
- Conducted a 50 state survey on issue Y.
- Drafted and edited motions for summary judgment on cases involving X.
- Conducted client intake interviews to determine whether Company's services are best suited to the potential client's needs.

[A. Nony Mouse]

That's not about bullet points, that's about the language you use to describe your accomplishments in a given job.