The 1L resume: what to include after one term

After one term of law school, your resume has to do a lot with very little. Employers in the 1L recruit see one set of grades, your past jobs, and whatever you did before law school. This guide covers what to include, in what order, and what to leave out, so the resume is ready before first-term marks arrive.

Dates and the application package

In Toronto, Osler lists the 1L dates for summer 2027 on its application page, noting that the deadline is set by the Law Society of Ontario (Osler). Our Toronto 1L recruit guide covers the full process.

Firms ask for more than a resume. Bennett Jones lists a cover letter, resume, undergraduate transcript, and law school transcript (official or unofficial) for its Toronto student applications, makes reference letters optional, and says not to include a reference list or a writing sample (Bennett Jones). Aird & Berlis, which runs a first-year round in Toronto, sends applicants to their career development office for the details (Aird & Berlis). Read every posting, because the package is not identical from firm to firm.

How long it should be

The University of Ottawa law faculty's resume guide limits legal resumes to two pages and keeps cover letters to one (uOttawa). Most 1L students do not need the second page. One full, readable page usually holds everything relevant, and a second page of thin entries reads as padding.

If you have several years of work before law school, two pages can be fair. Cut anything a lawyer would not ask you about in an interview first.

Section order

The uOttawa guide sets out a standard order for a legal resume and says it has no Objective or Skills Summary section, since your skills should show in what you did (uOttawa).

Education after one term

List your law degree first, with your school and expected graduation year. Put scholarships and Dean's List standing under Education or in an awards section. Use degree names as they appear on your diploma (uOttawa).

Your marks go on the transcript, not the resume. For winter applications, the uOttawa guide says to send unofficial fall grades if the official transcript is not ready by the deadline, and mid-term grades for full-year courses (uOttawa). Lawyers on the Canadian Law Forum say first-term grades carry most of the weight in the Toronto 1L recruit, though strong marks alone do not ensure interviews (Canadian Law Forum).

Making non-legal jobs count

Most 1L students have no legal experience, and employers know it. The uOttawa guide tells first-year students to draw on transferable skills from past jobs, volunteering, and studies (uOttawa). A lawyer on the Canadian Law Forum who reviews 2L applications says many competitive applicants worked in retail or service jobs (Canadian Law Forum).

• Two to five bullets per job, each under two lines (uOttawa).
• Start with a varied action verb, past tense for finished roles and present tense for current ones.
• Show results, not only duties. "Trained six new staff on the closing procedure" says more than "Responsible for training."
• Spell out an organization's full name before using its acronym.

What to add from your first term

Add what you actually did this fall: a club role, a clinic or pro bono volunteer position, a law journal, a competition, or a research assistant job. If none of it involved research, writing, or advocacy, put it under extracurriculars rather than creating a thin law-related section (uOttawa).

Do not join something in December just to list it. One activity you can talk about in detail does more in an interview than three you joined last week.

Interests and languages

The uOttawa guide calls the interests section important and notes it often comes up in interviews. Keep it personal rather than academic, be honest, and list languages with your level of fluency (uOttawa). Pick interests you can talk about for two minutes, because someone will ask.

What to leave out

• A photo, marital status, or other personal details (uOttawa).
• An objective or skills summary.
• "References available upon request" or a list of referees, unless the employer asks for one (Bennett Jones).
• Grades typed onto the resume when the transcript already shows them.
• Wording copied from a sample resume. The uOttawa guide warns that readers notice.

A December checklist

1. Finish the resume and have your career office review it.
2. Write a cover letter you can tailor in a few sentences. See our cover letter guide.
3. Order or download your undergraduate transcripts.
4. Make a list of employers and each one's deadline and document requirements.
5. When fall grades arrive, add them and submit before January 20 at 5:00 p.m.

For layout, our Canadian legal resume format guide and free templates give you a clean starting point.