Resume keywords & skills for an Attorney
An attorney resume's keywords center on researching, writing, and getting matters done: legal research, legal writing, litigation, contract drafting and negotiation, case management, due diligence, regulatory compliance, and client counseling. On tools, recruiters look for Westlaw, LexisNexis, Clio, and PACER, while bar admission and a JD are gate-level signals. Paste your resume below to see which of this role's keywords you hit and miss — comparison only, nothing uploaded. Keywords align your practice area and experience to the role; they don't invent credentials.
Attorney resume keywords (29)
Hard skills
Tools & tech
Soft skills
Check your resume against these Attorney keywords
Paste your resume (or drop a file) and see which of this role's keywords you already have and which you're missing — entirely in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Keywords are relevance, not a trick
An attorney's bar admission, the states they're licensed in, and the matters they can handle are all verified — never misstate them. List only credentials you actually hold and work you genuinely did; in law, a faked résumé isn't just exposed, it crosses an ethics line.
Frequently asked questions
Lead with your credentials: the state(s)/jurisdiction where you're admitted, your JD, and bar status. Then pick keywords by your practice area — litigators highlight litigation, motion practice, depositions, and trial preparation; transactional/corporate lawyers highlight contract drafting, due diligence, and regulatory compliance. Pairing them with matter scale or (redacted) representative cases reads stronger than a string of terms.
Choose by your real practice area; don't pad with fields you can't back up. Law is highly specialized, and a recruiter is judging fit at a glance. Naming your core area honestly — with the relevant statutes and matter types — reads more credibly than 'handles all kinds of cases,' which a conversation about specific procedures will test.
Highlight real law-school experience: law review, moot court, genuine internships and clerkships, the kinds of memos and briefs you've written, and your Westlaw / LexisNexis research. Don't claim trials or deals you didn't handle independently — describing the actual work you did is safer and more trusted in legal hiring than stacking senior-level keywords.
No — and no tool can promise that. Keywords only raise relevance; attorney hiring ultimately turns on your real bar credentials, specialty fit, and case/writing ability. PolishCat helps align wording and spot gaps, but in a license-regulated legal role, honesty always comes before any 'pass-the-screen' tactic.
Updated · PolishCat team