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Christopher Reed
Corporate Attorney
✉ ana.portillo@email.com📱 +1 555 0932📍 Washington, DC
Profile
Attorney with 8 years in corporate and employment law. Provide legal counsel to a portfolio of 15 companies, covering contracts, compliance and administrative representation.
Skills
Corporate law
Employment law
Contract drafting
Regulatory compliance
Administrative litigation
Due diligence
Education
J.D. equivalent — Law Degree City University · 2016
LL.M. in Business Law Northland University · 2021
Languages
SpanishNative
EnglishFluent
Professional Experience
Corporate Attorney
Business Legal Firm · 2020 – Present
Provides ongoing legal counsel to a portfolio of 15 companies across corporate, employment and contract matters.
Drafts and reviews commercial, employment and services agreements, negotiating terms with counterparties through execution.
Represents clients in proceedings before the labour authority and other administrative bodies.
Prepares legal due diligence reports for share purchase transactions.
Associate Attorney
Central Legal Practice · 2017 – 2020
Supported company formation and registration of corporate acts with the commercial registry.
Drafted complaints, responses and pleadings in civil and commercial proceedings.
Advised clients on employment and lease matters.
Certifications
Licensed Attorney and Notary — Supreme Court, 2017
💡 Why this resume works
Sized portfolio: 15 companies under ongoing counsel.
Specific practice areas: corporate, employment, contracts — not "general law".
Licence first: bar admission is the gating credential.
Full cycle: drafting through negotiation and execution.
Postgraduate with year: verifiable, not decorative.
How to write an attorney resume that shows practice, not credentials
Legal resumes carry a particular trap: it is the profession where training gets confused with experience most often. Listing CLEs, certificates and degrees without saying which matters you handled produces an immaculate, empty document. The partner or general counsel hiring wants to know your practice areas, the volume of matters you managed, and whether you have sat across from opposing counsel.
What the partner or general counsel evaluates
Actual practice areas. Corporate, employment, commercial, tax, IP, litigation, real estate. Nobody is strong in all; state where you genuinely practice.
Matter type and volume. Client portfolio, contracts drafted, matters handled, depositions or hearings. Give scale: "ongoing counsel to 15 companies" orients the reader.
Litigation or transactional. Different profiles entirely. A courtroom lawyer and a contracts lawyer have different skill sets; specify which you are.
Drafting and negotiation. Contracts negotiated to signature, complex provisions, due diligence, closings. This is where judgment shows, not just knowledge.
Bar admission. State bar admissions with dates and status, any additional jurisdictions. It is a threshold requirement.
Mistakes that get an attorney resume rejected
A CLE list with no practice. The field's most common error. Ten seminars do not equal one negotiated contract. Select the three that matter.
"Legal counsel" with no practice area. It gives no way to place you. Corporate and family law have nothing in common.
Not sizing the portfolio. Without client, matter or contract counts, experience cannot be evaluated.
Writing errors. You make a living writing. A typo on a legal resume is immediately disqualifying.
Confidentiality handled poorly. Never name clients or case details without authorization. Describe by type: "equity purchase transaction in the retail sector".
Keywords legal ATS filters look for
Use them only where they are true for you: the filter searches for them, but the recruiter verifies them in the interview.
Want to know whether your current resume uses these keywords and whether ATS filters can read it? Analyze it free — three checks a day, no sign-up.
If you are a newly admitted attorney
Your summer associate work, clerkships and clinics are experience: detail the practice area, what you drafted and which matters you supported. Legal clinic work counts and shows real client contact. Include your bar admission status and date clearly. List law review or moot court only if relevant. Specialize early: the market pays for depth, and an attorney claiming to do everything reads as mastering nothing. And guard your writing obsessively — it is the only work sample the partner sees before the interview.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write an attorney resume with no experience?
Detail summer associate work, clerkships and clinics by practice area and documents drafted. Include clinic work as real client contact. Select only training relevant to the target practice.
How many CLEs or certificates should I list?
Three or four relevant to the role, with provider and year. A long seminar list without practice subtracts credibility rather than adding it.
Can I name clients or cases?
Never by name without authorization. Describe by type and sector: "advised a retail-sector company on employment matters".
Should litigation and corporate go on the same resume?
If you have done both, separate them clearly. But when applying, lead with the posting's area — blending dilutes your profile.
How long should it be?
One page under five years; two after. Practice area and bar admission in the first section.
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