Solicitor CV Examples & UK Templates

Your job hunt is the most important case you will manage. You are your own client and your goal is to entice the interest of the hiring manager and land that invitation to a job interview. But it can be tricky to communicate the wealth of skills you’ve built as a solicitor.

That’s why your solicitor CV may be the most important document you’ll file during your job hunt.

When done right, your CV is the best way to tell the story of your skills, experience, and work history to persuade the hiring manager to give your profile a chance. Your CV is the first impression they’ll have of you. So don’t waste the opportunity to impress them!

CV guide for a solicitor CV

With a top CV at the forefront of your job hunt, you can solicit our advice at Resume.io. Our guides and CV examples cover over 150 professions, and our CV builder makes creating your CV speedy and simple.

This CV guide and corresponding solicitor CV example will cover the following:

• How to write a solicitor CV
• Choosing the right CV format for a solicitor
• How to add your contact information
• Using summaries
• Adding your solicitor experience
• Listing education and relevant experience
• Picking the right CV design/layout
• What the solicitor market looks like, and what salary you can expect

How to write a solicitor CV

The first step in writing your solicitor CV is understanding what sections to include. Your CV should contain the following elements:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

Every client case starts somewhere. A job application is no different. While it can eventually lead in many different directions, your first priority is getting the facts down on paper. Who are you? How do your profile, skill set, and experience relate to what the prospective employer is looking for? Let’s call this your research phase. 

Look to find out everything you can about the employer, the way they work, what they stand for, and how the job you’re applying for relates to that. Now start compiling a list of evidence that shows why your profile matches their needs.

Once you’ve collected this information, it’s time to compile it into a compelling story. These are the building blocks of creating a winning case for your prospective employer:

• Highlight accomplishments over an endless list of irrelevant roles and responsibilities. Instead, spark the hiring manager’s imagination and highlight the results that you could drive in this role.
• Tweak your CV from job to job depending on what the hiring manager is looking for. You can determine this through your research of the company and careful reading of the job description.
• Target the ATS algorithm by using the most relevant keywords from the job description throughout your CV. This way you can be more certain your CV will make it in front of human eyes.

Choosing the right CV format for a solicitor

A solicitor needs to build a strong sense of trust in their clients. That means you need to prepare a CV that shows you mean business.

The best CV format to build that trust in the case of a solicitor is usually the reverse chronological format. This format highlights your experience above all else. This is what most hiring managers will be expecting, and it therefore makes it easy for them to skim and get the information they need quickly.

If you are writing a newly qualified solicitor CV, or are a trainee solicitor writing a CV, there may be a case for using a functional CV format. However, in most cases, it’s better to go with the most commonly expected format and wow the reader with the content. 

Whether you are well-seasoned or an NQ solicitor, we recommend prioritising a professional layout for your CV template. However, use those critical thinking skills to figure out the CV template and format that best suits your situation and the particular job application you are aiming for. If you want some inspiration, keep reading to see our sample CV for solicitors.

Include your contact information

When you meet a potential client, you may want to impress them. But one thing is on your mind for sure: making sure they can reach out to you when the time comes. That’s why your CV’s header is so important.

Not only does your CV header visually promote your professional and trustworthy nature. It also includes your contact information. This will be incredibly important when the hiring manager wants to invite you for an interview. 

Remember to make sure that your CV header includes the following:

• Full name & title. List your first and last name. Match your job title to the name of the role you’re applying for.
• Professional email address. Use a professional email address like firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Don’t use that silly email address you created in college with your mates. It might have been funny then, but the hiring manager won’t be impressed.
• Phone number. List a number where you can be easily contacted. Remember to ensure your voicemail message is appropriate for the hiring manager, too.
• Location. Keep this to top-level information like your town and/or county. Don’t list your street address or postcode. This is now considered outdated and unsafe. Note 'Willing to Relocate' if applicable.
• LinkedIn. If your LinkedIn profile is active, relevant, and shows your professional network, it could be a good idea to include it.

Don’t include:

• Date of birth: Don’t open yourself to potential age discrimination. Listing this is no longer considered necessary.
• Personal details: Your marital status, your national insurance number, your passport number, or other personal data should not be on a document like your CV which you hope will be circulated among professionals you don’t know.

Make use of a summary

Just like when it comes to preparing legal reports, it’s important to recap the wealth of information throughout the document in a brief summary. Your solicitor CV summary is no different.

Consider the variety of messaging and information that is scattered throughout the various sections of your CV. If you had to condense and prioritise the most important few points for the hiring manager to know, what would you include? Pick the most important points and write them into your CV summary with strong action verbs to make your point.

This is the section that the hiring manager will skim first when determining whether or not to continue reading your CV - and ultimately, whether or not to continue reading your entire job application. 

We recommend that you tweak your CV summary between job applications. That’s because the most important things to draw the hiring manager’s attention will naturally vary between job roles.

Want some tips on making your summary stand out whether you’re writing an associate solicitor CV or are a seasoned pro? You can find our adaptable solicitor CV examples below. :

Outline your solicitor work experience: making your case

Start with your most recent job role as a solicitor and work backwards to list your other job titles throughout your career. This is how the hiring manager will expect to read through the information in the work experience section of your solicitor CV.

It’s a good idea not to leave any employment gaps, but you can go into detail on only the most relevant of experience for the job you are applying to. You can do this by making sure that every job title is listed with a subheading that includes the following information:

• Job title
• Name of employer
• Dates of employment
• Location of job

However, you can go into further detail by including bullet points underneath each job title. These bullet points should include the information that makes you a worthy candidate for this job role in particular. To achieve this, we recommend you focus on your achievements and accomplishments in the role rather than a list of responsibilities and tasks.

For instance, stay away from the following:

• “Drafted confidential letters, contracts and legal documents.“
• “Researched legal records for clients.”
• “Attended meetings and negotiations.”
• “Kept up to date with changes in the law.”

Instead, aim for something that shows the results your contributions helped to generate. For instance:

• “Ensured legal compliance and protected client interests in drafting of legal contracts.”
• “Strengthened case strategies through legal research for clients, resulting in 90% of cases won throughout my dates of employment.”
• “Effectively facilitated negotiations which led to a 50% increase in client satisfaction.”

Take a look at the solicitor employment history CV sample below:

Include the relevant key skills that make you a great solicitor

Your skills list should combine both hard and soft skills. After all, you need both to be a great solicitor. While you need to know about court procedures and government regulations, you also need to understand how to communicate with your clients and to problem-solve as part of a team.

However, the most important skills to include are the ones that the hiring manager - and that ATS - will be looking out for. That means that you should read the job description carefully for keywords you have not yet included in the content of your solicitor CV. Now, write out the ones that ring true to you. Just remember - there’s no place for lies on your CV!

Our CV builder offers pre-written key skill suggestions. That way, once you’ve prioritised the most important skills you won’t run out of ideas to stand out from the crowd in the skills section.

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our solicitor CV template. 

Remember that key skills can be added to almost any section of your CV. In fact, by including some of your key skills in other spots, such as the bullet points of your employment history, you can build credibility and authority by showing examples of those skills in action. 

Detail your education & relevant solicitor certifications

Your education section is quite straightforward to prepare when you write your solicitor CV. List your formal education and qualifications in a similar way to your previous experience. Start with your most recent qualification. For each, include a subheading detailing the qualification name, institution where it was received, dates of attendance, and location. 

Beyond your formal qualifications, you may have other certifications or training that are worth mentioning. Consider some of the following examples: 

• Training and certifications. Courses, workshops, or even webinars that enhance your skills as a solicitor could be worth including if they are relevant to the role. You can mention details of when you passed your SQE too.
• Apprenticeships. Work experience and apprenticeships may be best placed in your previous employment section, but if there is a training element that you can point to, you can also include it in the education section. For instance, on-the-job training like CILEX CPQ qualifications.
• Professional development. The education section is a great point to mention if you are a member of an institution or body that provides opportunities for you to continue your development as a solicitor. For example, the Law Society.

Remember, if you have a wealth of formal education and training, it may be worth splitting them into two separate sections so that the hiring manager can clearly see both. However, this is most relevant for solicitors working in a field where extensive training is preferred.

Pick the right CV layout and design for a solicitor CV

When representing your clients, you always put your best foot forward. That care extends to the way you dress and present yourself visually. So why would it be any different for the visual appearance of your CV?

After you take so much care with the written content, you want to make sure that your solicitor's CV looks the part. Create a document you’re proud to represent your professional profile with a professional layout that is clean and polished.

We recommend staying away from a flashy CV template if you’re a solicitor. You’re applying for a role that demands a high level of trust. So we suggest choosing one or two pops of modest colour at most. Aim to not surpass two fonts maximum. 

Keep your text to 12pt size at the very smallest with clear divisions between headers, subheaders, and body text. If it sounds like a lot to keep on top of, you can consider delegating your CV design by choosing from our field-tested range of CV templates. 

Solicitor text-only CV example

Solicitor job market and outlook

The number of both registered and practising solicitors across England and Wales has grown steadily year after year. After all, as long as people find themselves in conflict, they will need solicitors!

What type of salary you can expect as a solicitor

According to the National Careers Service, a solicitor can expect a salary between £25,000 and £100,000 per year depending on experience. Working hours can range widely with overtime being common.

Key takeaways for building a solicitor CV

A role as a solicitor can be challenging but is often in demand. While your salary and employment stability increases as you gain experience, the impact you can make in your clients’ lives is immeasurable. By condensing the impact you’ve already offered in previous roles into a short, hard-hitting solicitor CV, you’re likely to persuade the hiring manager that you’re the best person for the role. Case closed.

By using our online CV builder, you could be one step closer to closing that solicitor role you’re hoping for!