The specific signals an experienced lawyer / attorney hiring panel grades on during the eight-second scan.

• Bar admissions + year in the header

  'Admitted: NY (2019), NJ (2020)' beats 'attorney.' Jurisdictions + admission year are verifiable credentials.

• JD school + year + honors

  JD school + class year + cum laude / magna / summa. Law-firm hiring scrutinizes both school + class rank.

• Practice area + sub-practice named

  Corporate (M&A, capital markets, fund formation), Litigation (commercial, securities, white-collar), IP (patent, trademark, copyright), Employment, Tax, Real Estate. Sub-practice is the role-fit signal.

• Representative matters with scope

  Deal sizes, case outcomes, matter complexity. Generic 'represented clients' parses as junior.

• Hours + billable expectation context

  Billable hours/year (Big Law: 1,900-2,100; boutique: 1,700-1,900; in-house: N/A). Surface honestly.

• Publications + speaking (for senior tracks)

  Law review notes, Practising Law Institute (PLI) faculty, ABA section publications, secondary literature contributions.

1. 1

   Open with JD + bar admissions + firm + practice

   Senior associate: 'Sarah Chen — JD, Columbia Law School (2019, cum laude) | Admitted: NY (2019), NJ (2020); S.D.N.Y. (2021) | Senior Associate, Corporate M&A — Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.' In-house: 'JD, NYU Law School (2015) | Admitted: NY, CA | Deputy General Counsel — Acme Tech Inc.' Junior associate: 'JD, Stanford Law School (2024) | Admitted: NY (pending — December 2024 bar) | First-Year Associate, Litigation — Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.'

   JD + bar + firm + practice is the first scan.

2. 2

   List representative matters by transaction / case

   Each matter should include: scope (deal size, case value), role (lead associate, junior associate, supervised by [partner name]), client type (anonymize where required), key workstreams, outcome (closed, settled, judgment).

   Group matters by practice area. 4-8 representative matters is typical for senior associate + counsel; more for partner/GC track.

3. 3

   Quantify scope in legal units

   Transactional: deal value ($), parties (acquirer + target), structure (cash, stock, asset, merger), regulatory clearances (HSR, CFIUS, EU), close timing. Litigation: case value, jurisdiction (court name), counts, depositions taken/defended, motion practice (MSJ, dismissal), trial days, settlement/judgment. Both: hours billed on matter, team size + role.

4. 4

   Surface law-school credentials precisely

   JD school + class year + honors (cum laude / magna / summa cum laude / Order of the Coif). Law Review or journal positions with role (Articles Editor, Senior Editor, Notes Editor). Moot court / mock trial team membership with results. 1L/2L summer associate placements.

5. 5

   Close with bar activities + publications + pro bono + awards

   Bar membership committees (ABA Section work, state bar committees), publications (law review notes, NYLJ articles, PLI faculty), pro bono matters with outcomes, awards (Chambers, Legal 500, Super Lawyers Rising Stars, ABA awards), professional memberships (AmLaw 100 firm partner associations, etc.).

Each follows the [verb] [object] [number] structure hiring managers grade against. Copy them as a starting point, swap in your own numbers, and read the annotation to understand why each one works.

• M&A representative matter

  Lead associate on a $1.2B all-stock acquisition of a public SaaS target (representing the acquirer); managed 8-member deal team across due diligence, SPA negotiation, regulatory clearance (HSR + CFIUS), and closing. Closed Q3 2024.

  Why it works: Deal size + structure + target type + role + team size + 4 workstreams + 2 regulatory components + close timing.

• Litigation outcome

  Lead trial associate on a $48M breach-of-contract action in S.D.N.Y.; summary judgment granted on all 4 counts (Feb 2024); represented a Fortune 500 manufacturer against a former supplier; 14-month case, 28 depositions, partner-led trial team of 6.

  Why it works: Case value + jurisdiction + outcome + client type + counts + duration + deposition volume + team scope.

• Cross-border IP

  Co-lead associate on a $480M cross-border IP licensing transaction between a U.S. media company + a Japanese broadcaster; managed Japanese-counsel coordination + IP diligence + license-agreement drafting; closed Q1 2024.

  Why it works: Deal size + structure + parties + role + three workstreams + close timing.

• Securities class action

  Senior associate on a securities class action defending a public biotech against fraud claims; primary motion-practice associate (drafted MTD + Daubert briefs); MTD granted in part (Apr 2024), settlement Q3 2024.

  Why it works: Case type + client industry + role + motion-practice scope + two outcomes.

• Transactional contract drafting

  Drafted and negotiated the merchant-payment commercial terms for a $280M minority investment in a fintech; partnered with finance team + transaction tax counsel on the term sheet through definitive agreements; closed Q2 2024.

  Why it works: Deal scope + role + cross-discipline partnership + close timing.

• Pro bono

  Pro bono: lead associate on an asylum matter for a Honduran client (granted, May 2024 — full administrative record); affirmative asylum interview prep + brief drafting + USCIS appearance; 180 hours.

  Why it works: Matter type + client + outcome + scope + workstreams + hours.

• Mentorship

  Mentored 2 junior associates through their first-year deal-team rotations; both promoted to second-year on time + received positive evaluations from supervising partners on document-drafting + due-diligence work.

  Why it works: Mentee count + rotation type + promotion outcome + evaluation context.

• Internal publication

  Authored the firm's M&A practice-group newsletter section on 'Material adverse effect clauses post-pandemic' (Q2 2024); cited by the practice-group leader in a client alert.

  Why it works: Publication type + topic + quarter + internal-recognition citation.

• External publication

  Chen S. 'Material adverse effect clauses post-pandemic: a five-year retrospective.' New York Law Journal, March 2024.

  Why it works: External byline + topic + publication + month/year.

• Hours profile

  Billable hours: 1,950 avg (2022-2024); non-billable contributions: 280 hours pro bono, 120 hours associate-recruiting interviews, 60 hours practice-group training delivery.

  Why it works: Billable avg with year range + three non-billable categories with hours.

• Software

  Software fluency: Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Bloomberg Law, Practical Law (Corporate M&A research), Litera Compare (redlines), iManage (DMS), Relativity (e-discovery — prior litigation matter).

  Why it works: Six legal software platforms with use-case context.

• Law school credentials

  JD, Columbia Law School (2019, cum laude). Articles Editor, Columbia Law Review (2018-2019); Law Review Note: 'Allocating cybersecurity diligence risk in private M&A' (cited by Practical Law's M&A guide).

  Why it works: School + year + honors + journal role + Note citation.

Same intent, two phrasings. Read why the right column lands on the keep-pile and the wrong column doesn't.

Patterns our writers see most often when reviewing lawyer / attorney resumes — each one disqualifies candidates faster than weak experience does.

• Mistake

  Missing bar admissions with year.

  Fix

  List every jurisdiction admitted with year + federal court admissions where you regularly practice.

• Mistake

  Vague matter descriptions.

  Fix

  Each matter needs scope (deal value / case value), role, key workstreams, outcome.

• Mistake

  Not naming the practice group.

  Fix

  Sub-practice is the role-fit signal. 'Corporate M&A' beats 'corporate.'

• Mistake

  Missing law-school honors / journal positions.

  Fix

  Order of the Coif, Law Review, journal editor — these matter at every level.

• Mistake

  Generic 'researched legal issues' bullets.

  Fix

  Replace with matter-anchored bullets. Research is the substrate; matters are the evidence.

• Mistake

  Two-page resume below 8th-year senior associate.

  Fix

  1-2 pages for associate; 2-4 page CV for senior associate / counsel / partner / GC tracks.

• Mistake

  Conflating Big Law with boutique on the same resume.

  Fix

  Surface the distinction honestly. Big Law brings hours + deal size + prestige; boutique brings depth + autonomy.

• Mistake

  Pro bono listed without outcome.

  Fix

  Surface outcome (granted, won, settled). Pro bono with outcomes signals real lawyering.

Strong verbs lead strong bullets. Replace generic openers (worked on, helped with, was responsible for) with the specific verb that matches what you actually did.

ATS pipelines weight your Skills section as a structured list. Include 15-25 of the items below if they match your experience — not soft skills.