CV and cover letter for a law firm: the practical guide that actually sets a candidacy apart

A firm that publishes a junior lawyer opening receives dozens of applications in the first days. The first filter is not a partner reading calmly: it is a quick read looking for reasons to discard. The good news is that almost all of those reasons are avoidable. This guide collects what distinguishes a candidacy that passes the round.

The CV: one page, clean structure, verifiable data

One page up to ten years of experience; two at most after that. Excess pages read as a lack of selection criteria, precisely the opposite of what a firm buys.

Recommended order: contact details and bar membership, professional experience from most to least recent, education (access master's with grade if high, specialisation), languages with real level, and only at the end the accessory: publications, lectures, pro bono.

Experience with substance. Each position should say what you did, not where you were: "drafting claims and defences in civil proceedings, attending hearings" informs; "collaboration in the civil area" does not. Figures help when they are true: volume of matters, types of proceedings, clients by sector.

No errors. A spelling mistake in a lawyer's CV is a contradiction in terms. Cold review, reading aloud and a second person before sending.

The letter: the most underused document

Many candidates omit it or send a template with the name changed. It is a mistake: the letter is the only space to demonstrate two things the CV cannot, that you know the firm and that you can write. Three paragraphs are enough:

1. Why that firm and that specific practice, with a real fact (a known deal, a firm line, its positioning).
2. What you bring to it, connecting one experience of yours with one need of theirs.
3. A sober closing with availability for a conversation.

If you cannot write the first paragraph with a real fact, you have not researched enough. And if the letter works for twenty firms, it works for none.

Adapting to each offer

The offers we publish daily in our legal job offers selection ask for different profiles: a corporate junior does not highlight the same as a senior litigator. Read the offer like a tender document: every requirement mentioned must have its visible answer in the CV or the letter.

The case of the first job

Without experience to tell, the CV is built with what there is: the access master's and its internships, time in legal clinics or orientation services, participation in moots and litigation competitions, accredited languages and any work that demonstrates craft, even if not legal. The letter gains even more weight: it explains why that specific firm fits your project and what you have already done to approach the practice it requests. Firms hiring first jobs look for work capacity and developing judgement; both can be demonstrated without a single year contributed.

Errors that disqualify at first read

• Informal photo or missing bar membership when the role requires it.
• Dates that do not match between CV and LinkedIn.
• Inflated languages: they are checked in the interview, in English.
• Emails from unprofessional addresses.
• A PDF named "cv_final_definitivo2.pdf": the file also communicates.

The next step

Past the filter comes the interview, which has its own rules: we develop them in The job interview at a law firm. And if you are in the search phase, our guide on where to find legal jobs organises all the sources, and the Legal jobs section publishes verified offers daily.