Lawyer CV Keywords: Skills & ATS Terms to Include

Legal CVs are read by partners and legal recruiters who want practice area, qualification status and matter experience at a glance. Specific deals and cases (anonymised where needed) carry far more weight than general descriptions.

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Lawyer hard skills

Core competencies recruiters and ATS filters search for.

Legal researchContract draftingContract negotiationDue diligenceLitigationDispute resolutionRegulatory complianceCorporate transactionsEmployment lawCommercial lawLegal adviceCase management

Lawyer tools & software

Use the exact product names from the job ad.

LexisNexisWestlawPractical LawiManageHighQClioRelativityMicrosoft Word (advanced)

Lawyer certifications & qualifications

Write the full name and the acronym, with the year.

Solicitor (SRA admitted)SQE1 and SQE2LPCCalled to the BarState bar admission (US)

Lawyer soft skills

Show these through achievements rather than listing them alone.

Attention to detailClient managementNegotiationWritten advocacyCommercial awarenessTime recording discipline

Lawyer action verbs

Start each bullet with one of these instead of "Responsible for".

AdvisedDraftedNegotiatedRepresentedLedReviewedSecuredManagedResolvedStructured

Weak vs strong lawyer CV bullets

Worked on M&A deals.

Ran due diligence and drafted the SPA for a £45M acquisition of a UK software business, completing in 10 weeks.

Handled employment cases.

Managed 30 employment tribunal claims, settling 70% pre-hearing on terms within client authority.

Examples are illustrative. Only use figures you can back up in an interview.

ATS tip for lawyer CVs

Lead with practice area and post-qualification experience, e.g. "4 PQE commercial litigation solicitor". Recruiters search on PQE and practice area together.

How to use these keywords

  1. Start from the job description, not this list. Keywords that appear in the ad matter most — paste it into the job description keyword extractor to pull them out.
  2. Only include skills you genuinely have. You will be asked about them.
  3. Put the most important keywords in both your Skills section and your experience bullets.
  4. Use the employer's exact wording (e.g. "LexisNexis", not a synonym).
  5. Keep formatting simple: single column, standard headings, no text inside images.

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