[TRANSCRIPT] Resume Review Workshop

Welcome to the resume review workshop, one of my favorite presentations. This workshop is highly valuable because making different changes to your resume can significantly improve your job search outcomes. Most resumes I encounter can be improved by two, three, four, five, or even ten times.
 
Common Resume Mistakes
What typically happens with attorneys is that they get stuck not knowing how to create a strong resume. No one really teaches you how to do it. People make mistakes early in their careers—law students, for example—and even as they become more senior, they continue making the same errors.
 
Those who make many of the mistakes I will cover today often struggle to land the jobs they want. They may attribute it to a tough job market, a recession, or feel that others with better qualifications are being selected. When you find yourself in this rut, one of the smartest things you can do is take a good look at your resume. Ask yourself, "Am I doing something wrong?" The resume is often the first and most critical element potential employers will see. Today, I will highlight what a resume needs to do and review several real examples.
 

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The Importance of Improvements
I'll be going over resumes that I believe could be drastically improved, and once these changes are made, you'll have a better chance of landing a job. I will share examples and provide a URL with a document summarizing key points after the call. Making improvements to your resume—whether large or incremental—can have a major impact on your job search success.
 
Resume Blind Spots and Ego Involvement
Most people go into resume writing without understanding the key principles that can make their resume more effective. Another common issue is the involvement of ego. Many people use their resumes to highlight things that make them feel good rather than focusing on what employers are actually looking for.
 
Employers are not interested in your ego—they are looking for specific qualifications. The more you let your ego control what you put on your resume, the worse it typically becomes. Instead, think of your resume as a business offer. You're selling your skills to a law firm, which is a business, and you need to focus on what will make them respond to your offer.
 
My Experience and Confidentiality
I've been doing this for over 25 years, having reviewed hundreds of thousands of resumes. Since my company gets paid when law firms hire our candidates, I know exactly what law firms are looking for. Today, you'll get the benefit of those 25 years of insight.
Some people may be watching the workshop but are hesitant to have their resumes reviewed publicly. Rest assured, we've removed all identifying information from the resumes we're reviewing today, so there's no risk of anyone knowing who you are. Your confidentiality is protected.
 
Private Resume Evaluations
If you're interested in a more personalized review of your resume, I also offer private consultations that last about 30 minutes. I will place a link in the chat if you'd like to schedule a one-on-one review.
 
Review Process
Now, let’s begin reviewing the resumes we have today. Give me a moment while I pull them up.
 
Developing a Strategy
We'll begin by reviewing the first resume, which belongs to a law student. Typically, our company doesn't work with law students, but I thought this particular resume would be a good example to start with. It highlights many of the common mistakes people consistently make in resumes, and this one needs a lot of work.
 
Formatting Rules for Resumes
The first thing I'll mention is that the resume is well formatted, but there are certain rules that apply to resumes. If you're in law school or have less than five years of experience, you should always lead with your education. This means putting your school first on your resume. However, once you have more than five years of experience, your school should move to the end of the resume. At that point, most law firms are primarily concerned with your professional experience, not your education. The experience gained in the first five years of your career becomes the most critical factor in your marketability, so your experience should take precedence over education after that point.
 
Resume Length
One major issue with this particular resume is that it spans two pages. A key rule for resumes, regardless of your level of experience, is that it should always be one page. Even senior attorneys with extensive experience should stick to one page. In cases where older attorneys are working in transactional fields like patent law, trademarks, real estate, or corporate practice, they can include a separate transaction sheet as an attachment. However, the resume itself should remain one page.

If your resume exceeds one page, you're doing something wrong. Attorneys, especially, are expected to communicate complex information succinctly. Whether you're a corporate attorney, litigator, or any other type of lawyer, your job is to distill large amounts of information into something easy to understand. Overloading a resume with excessive information makes it difficult for employers to figure out what you want to do or what you specialize in.
 

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See Related Articles:

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• What Should I Put on My Attorney Resume?
• 6 Things Attorneys and Law Students Need to Remove from Their Resumes ASAP If They Want to Get Jobs with the Most Prestigious Law Firms
• Attorney Resume Writing Tips

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The Importance of Focus
A lack of focus is another common issue I see in resumes. Focus means that your resume should clearly demonstrate your commitment to a specific area of law. For example, if you're interested in real estate law, your resume should reflect that by highlighting relevant experiences, memberships in related groups, and any classes or certifications you've pursued. Law firms want to hire specialists, so it's crucial to show a consistent commitment to your chosen practice area.
 
Example of Focus in a Resume
Let's take the example of a law student interested in energy law. If this student worked for energy companies before law school, they should highlight that experience. In law school, they should take relevant classes, join energy law-related groups, seek out summer jobs in the field, and perhaps write law review articles or notes on energy law. They could even work as a research assistant for an energy law professor. By showing this kind of focus and commitment, the student significantly increases their chances of getting hired by a law firm specializing in energy law.
 
Specialization and Goals in a Legal Career
The same principle applies to attorneys who are already practicing. Law firms typically prefer specialists, so they look for candidates who have a strong background and a clear goal related to their practice area. Firms want attorneys who are enthusiastic and committed to their chosen field, whether it's energy law, real estate law, or another specialization.
 
The Problem of Undefined Goals
One of the most significant problems I see with attorneys, especially when reviewing resumes, is the lack of clearly defined goals. Many attorneys don't have specific, measurable goals for their career. For instance, most law students don't say, "I want to be a litigator with a major law firm" or "I want to become a federal judge." Without such goals, it becomes difficult for them to focus their resumes and make a compelling case for why they should be hired. Having well-defined goals helps attorneys stay focused and makes their resumes more effective.
 
The Power of Clear Goals
I knew someone in college whose goal was crystal clear from the start. From her freshman year at the University of Chicago, she had one simple goal: to become a federal district judge. That was her sole focus. She knew exactly what she wanted to do, and every action she took aligned with that goal.
 
Steps Toward Success
She achieved the best grades, worked for judges during college, and pursued litigation—exactly what a future judge should be doing. Every step she took was designed to move her closer to her ultimate goal. This kind of clarity is rare, as 90-95% of attorneys don’t have strong long-term goals. They get hired, follow instructions, and drift along without a clear vision of where they want to go.
 
The Importance of Long-Term Goals
When you have strong long-term goals, you’ll figure out how to achieve them. I frequently watch interviews with billionaires and other highly successful people, and they all have one thing in common: they had a goal early in their careers. It didn’t matter what the goal was, but they had one, and they pursued it relentlessly.
 
A Case Study in Success: Energy Industry
I recently watched an interview with a Russian billionaire who decided early on that he wanted to work in the energy industry. He started with a successful business but knew he needed to learn more about the field. He went back to school, studied at an institute focused on energy, and built connections. This clear focus helped him become a tycoon in the energy industry, despite starting when opportunities were scarce.
 
Another Example: Arnold Schwarzenegger's Goal-Setting
Another well-known example of goal-setting is Arnold Schwarzenegger. He grew up in a small Austrian town where most people ended up working in factories. But after seeing images of skyscrapers in the United States, he made his first goal: to move to the U.S.


While walking in his small town, he saw a magazine with a bodybuilder on the cover, and his goal expanded. He decided to become a bodybuilder, move to the U.S., and eventually star in movies. People questioned why he was working so hard, but he knew what he wanted. By the age of 19, he had won the Mr. Universe contest, moved to Los Angeles, and began acting.
Eventually, Schwarzenegger became a famous actor, and later, the governor of California. His success was a result of setting clear goals and pursuing them relentlessly.
 
Lessons for Attorneys
As an attorney, you can’t afford to drift aimlessly. You need to have goals, and your resume should reflect those goals. The problem with most resumes is that they don’t show any clear objective. You should never enter the legal profession without some sort of goal.
 
The Importance of Goals in Your Resume
Having goals isn’t just about wanting success; it’s about knowing where you want to go and how you’ll get there. There’s a famous book called Think and Grow Rich that emphasizes the importance of goals, persistence, and focus. Your resume won’t take you anywhere if it doesn’t reflect your goals.

Employers want to see that you have a direction, a purpose. If your resume reflects that you have goals, employers will take notice. Without goals, your resume will confuse employers and make it look like you have no idea what you want to do—just like 99% of the resumes out there.
 
Setting and Tracking Goals
You need to set goals and review them daily. A helpful resource for this is the website Hero on a Mission. It’s a free tool that takes you through a goal-setting exercise for one-year, five-year, and ten-year goals. You’ll even write your own obituary to clarify your life’s direction. By reviewing your goals daily, you’ll train your mind to bring those goals to fruition.
You might not know exactly how to go from working at a small law firm to a major American firm, but if you have a ten-year goal, you’ll figure it out. You just need to stay focused and work towards it.
 
Goals and Professional Growth
In the legal profession, your resume should clearly reflect your goals. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for your resume to show that you know where you’re going. Write your resume with clear, concrete goals in mind, and review those goals regularly to ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
 
A Story of Goal-Oriented Success
I once worked at a law firm where a famous real estate attorney, John Hedges, was a key figure. There was a litigator who joined the firm with the goal of becoming an entertainment lawyer. He did everything he could to get close to Hedges, despite being in a different practice area. He volunteered for work, made connections, and eventually became a successful entertainment lawyer.
This is what all smart, successful people do—they set clear goals and work toward them relentlessly. Your resume needs to reflect that same kind of commitment.
 
So, this first resume right here—when you look at it—the person talks about mergers and acquisitions, a class they did well in. They talk about doing cyber threats work. They mention, let's see here, cyber threats again. Then they talk about doing immigration law. What else? Here, just at the beginning, they mention all these different things that are all over the map. They talk about working in a court, which is litigation. Then they talk about doing international tax and tax transfer pricing.

Next, they mention business organizations and books, then they bring up tax again. After that, they talk about being a quantitative analysis associate. Then they do the same thing here. There’s a lot of stuff about data analytics, which is actually very interesting, and I’ll talk about that in a moment. They talk about business writing, legal research, and data science. They also mention leadership certificates. All of these things are all over the map.

They also talk about their interests, which are kind of fun. I have no problem with that. I have no issue with their fluency in different languages. But the problem with this resume is that it’s all over the place. You have no idea what this person wants to do. And then, they mention a technology law journal. You just don’t get a clear sense of what this person is aiming for from their resume.
There’s nothing consistent in it. If the person wanted to be a litigator, everything would be about litigation. If they wanted to be a data science attorney, the resume would focus on that. If they wanted to be an immigration attorney, the resume would reflect that. Oh, I missed one—real estate law.

The problem is that everything on this resume reflects different interests, and that’s not good. If I were a law firm and received this, I’d think, "This person has no idea what they want to do." And because they don’t know what they want, I wouldn’t know where to place them. I wouldn't know if they’re going to stay, or if they’re even interested in what we do. There's just no consistency.

Now, this resume can be fixed. There are some consistencies, but the issue here is the same one that plagues many resumes. It includes a lot of content that doesn’t align with any particular goal or focus.
For example, did they join the Immigration Law Society because they want to be an immigration attorney? Did they join the Real Estate Law Association because they want to do real estate law? What's the story here? Did they get the best grade in their mergers and acquisitions class because they want to be a corporate attorney? It’s unclear, and no one reading the resume will know.

That’s the problem. And it's the issue with almost every resume we’ll review today—it all goes back to goals. What does this person really want to do? What is their goal? How can we make that goal stand out and show that they know what they want to do?
 

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The Problem with Hiring Candidates Without Clear Goals
What’s the problem for law firms when they hire people who don’t know what they want to do? When someone doesn’t know what they want, they might start at a law firm thinking, "Well, I’m not really enjoying corporate mergers and acquisitions. Maybe my calling is immigration law or real estate law." They join the firm but have no idea what they truly want to do, and as a result, they might jump between jobs.
They won’t be fully committed to whatever they’re doing because they just don’t know.
 
The Benefits of Being a Jack of All Trades
So, what are the benefits of being a jack of all trades? Well, you can do a lot of things, which might work if you want to join a smaller firm. Maybe smaller firms don’t care as much if you’re an expert in one specific area. But by being a jack of all trades, you risk boxing yourself into smaller firms that will never grow significantly because they lack focus.
I want to give you a couple of insights into different types of law firms so you can understand where your lack of focus might lead you.
 
Solo Practitioners and the Legal Industry
Solo practitioners in small markets often do whatever walks in the door. This could mean trusts and estates, litigation, or anything else. However, they typically don't make a lot of money unless they specialize in something. Most solo practitioners, because they lack specialization, work for smaller clients who aren’t willing to pay top dollar.
There are exceptions, of course. I know two solo practitioners with focus who have done exceptionally well.
 
Stories of Solo Practitioners with Focus
One individual I know specialized in trusts and estates in Malibu. He had been out of law school for four years and decided to focus solely on this area. Within a few years, he had bought a $5 million house in Malibu for cash and was making a significant amount of money because he was focused. He went to Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, which is a good school, but it was his focus that made him much more successful than many of his peers who graduated from top schools like Harvard or Stanford.

Another example is a woman I know who graduated from Southwestern Law School, a local law school in Los Angeles. No one would hire her, so she decided to focus on immigration law, which was something she personally struggled with as a Canadian citizen. Fast forward seven years, and she now runs a large immigration firm with about 50 or 60 employees, including 20 attorneys. Her firm generates millions in revenue annually, and she lives in a home designed by a famous architect. This success was all due to her focus. It didn’t matter where these people went to law school or how well they scored on their LSATs. What mattered was their focus.
 
Focus in Large and Mid-Sized Firms
As you move into larger firms, you’ll find more focus. Larger firms expect their attorneys to specialize, and clients of these firms demand that expertise. The largest firms have the most focused attorneys because their clients want specialists who are the best in their field. A corporate lawyer at a large firm, for example, might specialize in mergers and acquisitions within the biotech industry.

Mid-sized firms may have less focus, with attorneys doing a wider range of work. For example, a corporate attorney in a mid-market firm might handle mergers and acquisitions as well as general corporate work and some securities law.
 
Focus in Smaller Markets
In smaller markets, attorneys often act as generalists, handling a variety of cases such as personal injury, corporate law, and trusts and estates. If you want to work in larger markets, however, it's often in your best interest to be more specialized.

For example, think of how medical doctors operate. In a small town, a doctor might be a generalist, handling a variety of cases. But if a patient has a serious illness like cancer, they’re going to be referred to a larger hospital or even to a specialist at a renowned facility like the Mayo Clinic. Wealthy clients always seek out the best specialists. This is the same for law firms. If you want to command higher fees and work with sophisticated clients, you need to focus on a specific area of expertise.
 
Okay, so this is not, you know, all the resumes. If you do want to send me a resume during the call, and I think it looks interesting, and you take off your personal information, you can send it to me. I'll do this during the break—Barrister Consulting dot com—if there are questions that aren't answered.
Okay, so this person's resume, as we said, has no particular goals. The person is doing a lot of things, but if you look at it and edit it, it could actually be a very good resume. I'll talk about how to do that and how I would change this. Here’s what I would do if this person signed up for a resume review.
 
Listing Activities and Achievements
When people list different activities on their resume, whether from school or elsewhere, you don't want to put anything on there that draws attention to a lack of achievement and excellence. What does that mean? You don't want to say you got a 3.1 GPA if that's in the middle of the class—no one cares. It’s basically saying, “Hey, I'm proud of being average.” You don’t do that. You only list your grades if you finished in the top 5%, top third, or were at a top 10 law school. You don't want to draw attention to things that aren't excellent.

For example, this person mentions receiving the highest grade in one class. That implies they didn’t get the highest grade in other classes, which draws attention to that fact. Lawyers tend to look for weaknesses, so I would take that out—you don’t need it.
 
Highlighting Technology Experience
Now, I actually like the technology focus on this resume, and I’ll explain why in a moment. However, unless this person wants to be an immigration attorney, the section on immigration should be removed. It doesn’t inspire confidence if the person’s interests are scattered. You don’t need to include all these associations, either. For example, when I was in law school, I was the vice president of a group, but I didn’t put it on my resume. Why would I tell employers I was affiliated with a political group? Why be proud of something where there were only four or five meetings a year?

If you're in the Immigration Law Society, it’s not like you're having regular, in-depth meetings about immigration law. The same goes for real estate law—these aren’t things employers care about. Now, if it’s related to technology, that would be more interesting, and I’ll talk about that shortly.
 
Study Abroad and Irrelevant Information
Study abroad programs—people put those on their resumes, but they aren't something most attorneys care about. It usually just says, “I had the money to travel and support myself while I was in law school.” It's not something you want to draw attention to.

However, when this person talks about cyber threats, comparative law, and regulating war, I actually like that. I like it because there's a theme emerging here—technology, cyber threats, and data analytics. I really like that because it starts to emphasize a consistent interest.
 
Resume Experience
Let’s get into the experience section. This person lists being a Federal Court intern. When you list law school or pre-law school internships, people already know you’re likely doing research. You don’t need all this detail. Simply stating you were a U.S. District Court intern is enough. It’s also important to note that working for a Federal District Judge is more prestigious than working for a magistrate, so just say "Federal Court Intern." But does this job support what you want to do in a law firm? I don’t think so. The litigation experience here doesn’t align with the technology focus in other parts of the resume.
Then there’s a section about tax and transfer pricing. Again, that has nothing to do with the theme of cyber threats and technology, so I wouldn’t include it.
 
Building a Consistent Theme
It's good to show that you worked during law school, but you don’t need to draw attention to experience that doesn’t align with your focus. If I were advising you, I’d remove any information that doesn’t directly support the theme of cyber threats or technology.

For example, the internship section talks about business organizations and litigation, which distracts from the overall focus. Instead, simply list the internship and leave out the unnecessary details. You don’t need to list everything you did—just say you were an intern. You should also take out experience that doesn't align with your goal.
 
Consistency is Key
When an employer looks at your resume, they need to get a sense of what you want to do. Think about it like this: do they “smell” a pattern? Do they get a clear sense of your direction? If your resume has elements from different areas like litigation, corporate law, and tax, the employer won’t know what you want. Would you hire someone for a corporate attorney role if they had a bunch of litigation experience on their resume? No. You’d want someone who looks like they know what they want and are committed to it.
 
Data Analytics and Technology Focus
Now, this person has research experience in a mediation clinic, which again points toward litigation. Is that necessary? No. You don’t need to include anything that detracts from the strength of this person’s focus on technology and data analytics.

If they want to be a corporate attorney, they can mention business organizations and tax. However, they need to streamline the resume so it all points in one direction. The technology and data analytics experience is very strong, and that's the angle they should focus on.

For instance, this person did quantitative analysis work for four months. That’s interesting, but again, it only lasted four months, so there’s no need to overstate the experience. Just say “Data Analytics Intern.” You don’t need to include excessive details because you're trying to fit everything into one page and keep it consistent.
 
Refine the Resume
Now, let’s clean up this resume. First, remove the unnecessary information about litigation, internships, and business organizations. Keep the focus on data analytics and technology. Once you remove all the irrelevant details, you’ll see a clear pattern emerge—this person looks like they’re focused on data analytics and cyber technology.

You don’t need to include every job detail. Just emphasize the parts that align with your goal. For example, this person has certification in data science—that’s something worth keeping because it fits the theme.
 
Activities and Interests
The activities and interests section is fine, but be careful with things like diversity initiatives. While some firms might appreciate it, others won’t, and you could alienate certain employers. It’s not about right or wrong; it’s just about being strategic. For example, being interested in data analytics is more relevant than focusing on diversity initiatives if you’re trying to work in that area.
  
With the unnecessary details removed, this person’s resume becomes focused on technology, tax, and data analytics. Now, it looks like a resume for someone who wants to work in data breaches and data protection. If I were a law firm looking for someone in this field, I’d find this resume very appealing.

The resume has gone from being scattered and inconsistent to one that’s focused and clear. This person now stands out as someone who is committed to a career in data analytics and technology.
 
I had a candidate not too long ago who did something similar to this. He started his career at a firm he didn’t like, but he kept reading about and writing papers on a particular area of law. He developed his own special files on the subject and sought out associations where attorneys focused on the same topic. At that time, it was data privacy, and he became very focused on it.
 
He went from having a lot of problems early in his career—failing the bar and not having a job when he graduated from law school—to working at a top U.S. law firm with lots of business because clients valued his expertise. Suddenly, he had a very good resume. Before, it was nothing. This is what anyone on this call can do with their resumes: anyone can make their resume very strong if they focus. This resume became exceptional because it focused on one area, and people who hire him will know exactly what he wants to do. There's no doubt about it.
 
So, these are very helpful changes.
 
This person is in-house counsel, so I’m not going to look at that right now. I will review some in-house resumes later. Let’s look at this particular person and what they’re doing.
 
This is their school listed at the end of their resume. Let’s find more information.
 
This person is of counsel in employment law. They moved from an in-house position and are now at a law firm. Before that, they worked in civil rights and public law. They were also an associate at two law firms, and then they attended the University of Virginia Law School, where they graduated in the top 15% of their class, which is excellent. Afterward, they went to Yale University, which is also very impressive.
This person is obviously very intelligent and has a lot of potential, even though they are 18 years out of law school. Let’s talk about what we can do with this resume.
 
There’s a big theme here with this attorney: public law, civil rights, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and social governance work for several years. Now they are doing employment law.
This resume has some of the same issues as the one we saw earlier. The previous resume focused on data science, which made it an excellent resume after being revised. Now, we have this resume, which is also two pages long, from a very accomplished attorney.
 
I want everyone to notice some interesting patterns here because of the various jobs this person has held. They were an associate at what seems to be a large law firm for five years, starting in 2006. However, after that, they went to work for the government, did civil rights work, and then transitioned into diversity and inclusion work for a company in the Washington, D.C. area. More recently, they moved into employment law, but they were only at their last job for seven months. This raises questions.
 
Key Questions to Consider
What is this person's focus? Do they want to be in a law firm, in-house, or in government? Their resume doesn't clearly answer that. What is their practice area? Is it public law or employment law? It’s unclear. When employers look at this resume, they need to be able to discern what the person is focused on and what they want to do. That’s the purpose of a resume.

This resume raises many questions because this person has worked in various practice settings, which makes it seem inconsistent. Why didn’t they stay longer at some of their jobs? What is going on here? Although they have experience in DEI, which they’re clearly proud of, we have to consider the current market for that type of work.
 
The Current Market for DEI and ESG
If you read the news, many companies are letting go of their DEI professionals and moving away from ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) programs. The job market for these roles is shrinking, which poses a challenge for this person if they want to find another position in these areas.
While DEI was a hot practice area a few years ago, it’s not as strong today. If this person wants to get a job at a law firm, something needs to change on their resume.
 
How to Revise the Resume for Law Firms
If this person wants to get a job at a law firm, I would make the following changes. First, I would tone down the DEI and ESG focus. Law firms aren’t social justice organizations; they want attorneys who can do the work and generate revenue. If a law firm sees too much focus on social justice or diversity-related work, they may worry that the candidate will bring in those views and criticize the firm’s operations or clients.
 
Refocusing the Resume
If I were advising this person on how to get a job at a law firm, I would take out the DEI and social governance references. Instead, I would emphasize their role as senior counsel at the firm, focusing on environmental and employment matters. You don’t need to mention every detail of your work; just highlight what’s relevant to the law firm job you want.

For example, instead of listing everything about their DEI work, I would simplify it: “Worked on employment-related matters.” That’s all you need to say. You want to give people a clear sense of what you do, which is employment law in this case.
 
Employment Law Focus
This person has been working on employment-related matters since 2011. By simplifying their resume, they would appear as a strong employment lawyer, which could make them more attractive to law firms. It’s important to focus on one area, and in this case, it’s employment law. Suddenly, this resume looks more appealing to law firms looking for senior employment lawyers.
 
Final Adjustments
I would remove the mention of white-collar defense and focus solely on employment law. You don’t need to include every detail; law firms will understand that you’ve worked on a variety of matters. The goal is to present yourself as an employment law expert.
 
I remember early in my career, there was a guy who had gone to Princeton, then Harvard Law School. He had worked at one firm as a corporate associate, and his resume was basically three-quarters of a page. All it said was:
 

• Harvard Law School
• Great grades
• College, great grades
• Worked at this law firm as a corporate associate
• Worked on M&A

 
That was it. He got the most interviews of anyone I had ever seen up to that point. You can too—you just need to make your resume focused on one thing. Employers hire specialists; they do not hire jacks of all trades. Employers want people who don’t bring their personal motivations, whether it’s diversity and inclusion, public interest, or other outside causes. They’re not impressed by that because it makes it seem like your interests and passions lie elsewhere.
 
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this person having passions outside of work. I’m just saying, if you want to get a job, this is what you need to do. That’s it. If I saw this resume now, I’d be interested. I would grab the resume, search all the firms that have employment work in Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia, and work hard to get this person an interview. That’s it.
Maybe they don’t want to be in a law firm; they’ve tried other things, and they have their reasons for it. But that’s how you fix that resume.
 
Let's Look at Some More Resumes
Okay, here’s another one. Wow. This is a good resume to look at, and it's very common. I’m not going to name names, but let’s talk about how we can fix this up.
The person was admitted to practice in January 2021. So, they graduated in 2020 from law school. That’s fine. This person graduated from an unaccredited law school, but that doesn’t mean anything. They can still get a job. Let’s talk about how we can fix this resume.
 
Removing Irrelevant Information
If you graduated from law school in 2020, there’s no need to put 2021 as your admission year unless it's relevant. Obviously, if you're working in California, people know you’re an attorney and admitted to practice, so there’s no need to highlight that. You don’t need a professional summary either. It’s unnecessary.
Let’s move that information to the end. Now, let’s clean this up.

This person is an immigration attorney, which is a good practice area. This person is marketable. Let’s see what they’ve done here.
They’ve handled lots of immigration-related cases. However, saying things like “proven success handling large cases” doesn’t add value. No one cares about that—employers just want to know you can do the job. You don’t need to explain what these types of immigration cases are; anyone reading this resume will already know what these terms mean.
 
Shortening and Simplifying
You don’t need to list everything in great detail. Just mention the types of cases you’ve worked on and leave it at that. For example, if you were a senior immigration paralegal, just say that. No need for extra details.

Let’s remove unnecessary information like your paralegal certification, internship details, or anything unrelated to your role as an immigration attorney. These things aren’t relevant anymore. You're applying to be an attorney, not a paralegal.

You don’t need to include details about work you did before law school unless it directly relates to immigration law. In this case, it doesn’t.
 
Focusing on What Matters
No one cares that you got a paralegal certificate or that you’re proficient in software like LexisNexis or Microsoft Word. These are basic skills that every attorney should have. Including them doesn’t add any value to your resume and may even make you seem less experienced.

Now, let's look at what happens when we clean this up. We remove the irrelevant details and focus on what matters.
 
Finalizing the Resume
This person is now presented as an immigration attorney, and their resume is much shorter. There's no need to list things like being certified in privacy law—it’s not relevant to immigration law. By removing unnecessary information, this resume now tells a clear story: this person has been working in immigration law and wants to continue in that field.

Now, the resume is down to one page, and it’s clear that this person has been focused on immigration law since they graduated. This is a strong resume. An immigration law firm would look at this and say, “Yes, this person is dedicated to immigration law.”

By removing irrelevant details and focusing on one thing—immigration law—this resume is now marketable. The person can apply to immigration jobs with confidence.
 
Okay, let's get to this other one here. This looks like a pretty good one. So, this person is an in-house attorney. I'm going to try to find another law firm example before I dive into this one. You see, a lot of people send their resumes because they often have issues getting positions, which is why they send them.

Let me see here... I'll find one. Give me a second. I was looking through some of these because many of them have major issues. Okay, here’s one. I like Knox College—my college counselor in high school went there, and he was always encouraging me to go. It’s a great school.
 
So, let’s look at this person. They graduated in 2020. We’re going to go through and fix all of this. Looks like they did pretty well. We’ll go through this one quickly because it’s not a law firm attorney, but it’s interesting to see. Everyone on this call should know that you have decisions to make when you're in law school about your career path and how that path will lead you to success.
 
And, you know, this is one of the things... the career path you choose, your interest, and motivation need to be clear later when you get out of law school and throughout your career. Everything needs to point to one thing.
 
A lot of the resumes I’ve received, that's one of the problems—they lack a clear goal. And knowing what you want to do and being hireable by a law firm because of that focus is crucial.
 
One of the themes I see in many resumes is that people don’t have that focus. Now, sometimes every single resume we’ve looked at today, we’ve been able to fix and give people that focus. But you need to step back and look at it from an employer’s point of view. What would you want if you were an employer? Would you want someone doing a lot of different things with no focus, or would you want someone with a focus?
 
It’s sad because all of you on this call—hundreds of people—are looking at these resumes, and you have a decision to make now, before law school, during law school, or when you graduate: What am I going to be? Where am I going to go?
 
I can review resumes all day, but I really want to give you some career advice: What’s your point? Where are you going to go? What do you offer?
 
I see people, and I always come back to Yale Law School. People who go to Yale Law School tend to have different career trajectories. There are people from Yale who, early on, like Bill Clinton and J.D. Vance, make decisions that they’re going to go somewhere and have a goal, and they get to it. People from Yale Law School who do that go on to great things. They become presidents, world leaders, famous authors—they're so talented. But a lot of people get into this whole vibe of public interest, and they're smart, but they end up working in a variety of organizations like that. Then they decide they want to go into law firms, and law firms are like, "Are you out of your mind?" because they’ve never focused on anything. So, these questions: What am I going to be? Where am I going to go? What type of person do I need to be to get there?
 
Most people on this call, most attorneys, never make that decision. It doesn’t matter what your practice area is. You could say, "I’m going to be the best insurance defense attorney in the world. I’m going to be a partner in five years at a major firm, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got." Or, "I’m going to develop a huge book of business in entertainment law." And then you ask yourself, "What do I need to do to be those things?"
 
You need to make these decisions because if you don’t, you’ll just get whatever you can get.
Take that immigration attorney we just looked at. The person went to an unaccredited law school, and they’re older. But they’re marketable, and they can get a job—no question about it—if they focus on immigration law. They did all this stuff, even as a paralegal, so they’re hireable. They’ll get a job. But many people with better qualifications, younger, and from better schools can’t get a job because they haven’t made that decision.
 
The person from the University of Virginia, a top 10 law school, with a fixed resume, will get a job in employment law. But it wasn’t going to happen before.
 
You can pay me $500 for a 30-minute resume review, and I’ll record it for you. But you don’t need to do that—well, maybe you do. But you just need to look at yourself and ask: What am I going to be? Where am I going to go? What do I offer people?
 
You need to have these goals that you look at every day. You need to know these things because if you don’t, most people don’t have goals—they just go to a job and do whatever. And maybe they’re not passionate about it. You need to be passionate about your subject matter.
 
When you talk to successful people, there’s generally something that motivated them to go into their field. I remember going to a presentation with a guy. It was a very small group of like four people—part of the Young Presidents’ Organization. This speaker’s father had a catastrophic injury and lost both his legs. He got a bad settlement from an insurance company—like $200,000—and should have gotten millions. So, his son, early in his career, saw this injustice and was motivated. He decided to figure out how people could get the money they deserved from insurance companies.
 
He founded a national firm where personal injury attorneys shared their settlements. He realized if State Farm was involved, they’d pay $3 million, but other companies might only pay $800,000 for similar cases. He started gathering this information, and within two years, his business had a billion-dollar valuation.

People who do great things are often motivated by something personal that drives them. You have to love what you do. If you enjoy your practice area, you’ll work harder, have more fun, and improve. That’s what will set you apart.
 
Now, let’s look at this other resume. This person attended a great law school, and they’re talking about how they’re admitted to the bar. Well, I hope so! They’re practicing as an attorney. Typically, attorneys from lesser-ranked law schools will talk about passing the bar, but every practicing attorney passed the bar. You don’t need to tell people that.
 
I don’t know what “Outlaws” or the “Incarcerated Law Students Advocate Association” or the “Second Look Project” are, but none of this is relevant to any practice area. Phi Beta Kappa is great, but I don’t know how a prize in French writing is relevant to being an attorney.
 
Now, this person is a removal defense attorney for a year in San Francisco, handling immigration cases. Then they did evictions, externships, and legal seminars. This resume has some issues, but let’s focus on their immigration work. We’ll take out anything unrelated to immigration and make them look like an immigration attorney, which may be what they want.
 
You need to give a clear message with your resume. People need to get the sense right away that you're one type of attorney.
 
Okay. So one of the first things is you don't tell people that you have a JD or an MBA at the top of your resume. If you put that at the top, it makes it look like you're trying to overemphasize it. And I don't even know what a CCF is, but you should never put that on top of your resume either.
 
You should also shorten things. For example, don't say "work experience"—just say "experience." Everyone knows it's work experience.
 
This person is in-house counsel and doing something related to blockchain and artificial intelligence, which is good. That could be the focus.
 
I'm a little concerned because this person only did the job for six months. Let's see what happens here.
 
Okay, so blockchain consulting—that's good. The focus should remain on that. I'm not going to spend too much time on this resume, but for each job this person has had, they need to emphasize the blockchain experience.
 
For example, for this job, I would talk about blockchain, even if I'm not fully sure what it entails. They should focus on blockchain-related consulting.
 
If the consulting was a full-time job, all this needs to reflect that blockchain focus. I actually like this resume; it’s quite interesting, especially with the consulting experience. However, the person is essentially doing two jobs, so the consulting should go toward the end.
 
The person had their own practice, then they did various things. This makes the resume difficult to work on because they're doing so many different things. The goal should be to highlight the blockchain experience. You don’t need to include languages—it's unnecessary here.
 
This person has a long-term interest in blockchain, which is good. Consulting should be placed at the end.
 
This resume needs a lot of work and would probably take quite a while to fully revise. My suggestion would be that everything on this resume should focus on blockchain.
 
They ran their own practice for only three months. If you did something for only three months, you might not want to put it on the resume, especially when you were consulting at the same time.
 
Everything blockchain-related should stay. The resume is too wordy. Terms like "acquiescence" make it sound overly academic and unnecessary. Everything should be focused on blockchain.
 
You could also shorten the resume to one page. Take everything off that’s not blockchain-related. With this focus, the person goes from looking like a jack of all trades to being a blockchain expert, making them much more marketable, especially to law firms needing blockchain expertise. If you start mentioning things like estate planning, it detracts from the overall message.
 
Regarding the consulting from December 2020, I would try to integrate it within the blockchain focus. The key is to make everything about blockchain. Then, the person looks like a blockchain expert, not someone doing a bunch of unrelated things. This focus will make the resume marketable to companies and law firms, showing a consistent track record of blockchain work.
 
We removed the blockchain certification from the top, which should be placed at the bottom. Look at this experience—it's great. I’m not sure if all of it is blockchain-related, but anything relevant should stay. The bar admissions should be at the end. You don’t need to include "email," "cell phone," or "link tree." Just list your email and phone number.
 
This resume is now a lot better. Let’s see here... I think we've made a lot of progress on many of these resumes. Let me check for additional resumes to review.
 
I'm very impressed with everyone for spending time watching this webinar because you’ve probably learned more than you anticipated. What we covered today could change the course of your life if you apply these strategies.
 
This next resume looks interesting. If this person is an attorney... no, they're not an attorney. We'll still go through it briefly before taking a break, and then we’ll come back, answer questions, and summarize a lot of what we’ve discussed.
 
These summary sections at the top of resumes need to go. Writing a summary suggests to the reader that you're not confident they’ll understand what your resume is about without explaining it to them. Law firms can quickly understand your qualifications by reviewing your experience.
 
Let me remove this summary. We’ve discussed today the importance of focus. Having multiple practice areas listed as your expertise isn’t a good idea if you're applying to a law firm. Mentioning that you want to work in a multicultural environment isn't helpful because what if the law firm isn't multicultural? They might be hesitant to hire you.
 
If you speak Mandarin, that’s great, but including all this information about working in multilingual settings or being passionate isn’t necessary. It’s assumed that you’re passionate if you’re applying to a job. Law firms will already know you have 10 years of experience from your resume. They don’t need a summary stating that you worked in the U.S. and overseas.
 
Focus on making your resume simple and direct. If you’re applying to law firms, stick to relevant experience and eliminate unnecessary details.
 
 
Okay. So here’s what I did: I plugged this resume into ChatGPT to make it better, and now we have a much shorter, streamlined version. I recommend everyone watching this to do the same for your resumes—it can make a big difference.
 
This person worked from 2019 to the present, so let’s check when they graduated from law school.
 
Oh boy, I’m not sure I understand what's going on here with how this person is working in the United States. I’m not entirely sure how to figure that out.
 
First of all, skills like "critical thinking" and "research" don’t need to be listed. No one cares about those because your resume should already imply that you know how to do those things if you're applying for a job as an attorney. You don’t need to include jobs that aren't relevant to your current field. For example, if you were a "patent attorneys’ assistant," that doesn’t need to be on a resume if it’s not relevant to your current work in the U.S.
 
Publications are great and interesting, but make sure they are relevant. If they are, go ahead and include them.
 
Now, moving forward with this particular resume—oh wait, this is a different one. I see now. Let’s focus on the right one.
 
Trademark Counsel, for instance. Remember, after five years of experience, your education should be at the end of your resume, not the beginning.
 
I’m very excited about reviewing these resumes! Let's see what we have here.
 
We’ve got another one: solo practitioner and agency child attorney. I’m not going to work on this one right now. Oh, New York University! Okay, this person went to a good law school. Let’s work on this one.
 
For starters, under "activities" you’ve listed Black Law Students Association, which doesn’t need to be on your resume. It’s not necessary to include affiliations unless they are directly related to your job, like if you were a member of the Trademark Attorneys Association.
 
When it comes to education, "BA in Sociology with honors" should be capitalized. Always proofread your resume carefully.
 
Let’s continue with this review. The person graduated in 2005 and their first job was probably at a big firm for a year and a half, doing commercial litigation and other work.
 
After that, they took some time off—about nine months—and volunteered before becoming a trial attorney, followed by five years as a solo practitioner, and now they are general counsel in Omaha, Nebraska.
 
This resume is interesting. The person went to a great law school, worked at what seems to be a big firm in Cleveland, but then moved on to something else in New York. If they want to get hired at a law firm again, they need to make this resume laser-focused on litigation. It already has a good litigation background, but it needs a stronger emphasis on that.
 
While their experience with helping immigrants and vulnerable populations is valuable, it's not necessarily going to help them get a job in a law firm. That experience is more likely to appeal to government jobs, public interest roles, or other similar positions.
 
If this person is more interested in public interest, then they should lean into that. The world definitely needs people like this, but if they want a law firm job, I’d suggest making the resume more focused on litigation.
 
Earlier, I mentioned using ChatGPT to focus the resume. Let’s give that a try here. I’ll plug the resume in and ask it to make the resume look more focused on litigation instead of public interest work.
 
Look at how it’s transforming the resume—it’s making it much more focused on litigation, highlighting pleadings, trials, and settlements. That’s much more powerful and will help this person appear as a dedicated litigator.
 
Instead of being scattered, the resume is now focused on litigation experience, and this transformation can really make a difference. With this new, focused version, if the person wanted to work for a litigation firm in Nebraska, they could probably get a job much more easily.
 
Litigation is a very common practice area, and having a resume that shows a strong focus on it is essential. Before, the resume had too much information about various unrelated areas. Now, after making these edits, it’s all about litigation. This person would definitely stand out when applying to firms that need litigation support.
 
This is something everyone can do—make your resume focused on one clear thing instead of many different things. Even though you might have a variety of interests, focusing on one will help you land a job in that area.
 
Before, this resume had a lot of unnecessary details, but now it’s much cleaner and more direct, focusing solely on litigation. This approach will get you hired much faster.
 
Okay, so this is a good example of an academic resume.
 
Thanks, Kristen Cratchbury.
 
I get these questions all the time. People ask about getting jobs after a career in academia. If you haven't worked in the legal profession, a law firm, or a company for 20 years because you've pursued another career, it shows that your passion is in academia. That's why you have a PhD — that's your passion.
 
You can shorten this. You can plug this into ChatGPT. Give me one second, and I'll show you what I'm doing. I'm going into ChatGPT, and I'll share my screen so you can see. I’m going to ChatGPT and asking it to make this more focused on litigation. I’m plugging this into ChatGPT, changing your experience to make it more targeted. This is awesome because we’re making you look more focused on one thing.
 
Everyone should understand this. I’m very surprised that this is such a long webinar, and most of you are still here. Very interesting people, I guess. But see, suddenly, you take all this information, and you change it using ChatGPT, and you get this: Litigation, litigation, litigation. Now, you're a litigator instead of having a more scattered background. It highlights motions, advocating for clients, and all that.
 
I hope everyone can see this. Whatever your resume is, you need to make it focused on one practice area. I just did it very quickly through ChatGPT to show you how it would be done. I’d spend more time if someone were doing a call with me, but this is all focused on litigation, which is great. Now, this person looks like a litigator.
 
I want to give everyone a little talk here because it’s important to think about what you’re doing in your career. Where’s your passion? What should you be doing? A lot of people don’t get PhDs, study things, and become law professors without being deeply passionate about those career choices. So, why do something that’s not your passion? Why try to return to a career that’s not aligned with your interests?
 
Obviously, you started in 1985, did it for 20 years, and then you were gone for a while. You didn’t like it, so you did something else. Now, you’re back with all this academic experience because that’s where your passion is. I would caution anyone to do their best to follow their heart and do what they truly want. Why return to law if you're not passionate about it?
 
If you’ve written all these academic papers, and that’s where your strength lies, why go back to law if it’s not what excites you? You likely enjoy being an academic—that's where your heart is.
 
I’ll quickly show you something else for everyone's benefit. I’ll go back into ChatGPT and say, “Can you shorten this and make it more direct for a law firm that would likely hire this person for a litigation job?” I’m plugging two decades of experience into ChatGPT to shorten it. Academic resumes are often very long because part of being an academic is talking about all your papers and accomplishments. But when people in the legal field look at that, they don't have time to read through it all.
 
You can take your life’s work and make it concise. Let me share my screen again to show what I mean. Instead of all that long experience, here it is, shortened and made easier to read, with a brief mention of academic experience and publications. You don't need to include all your publications and presentations—just make it readable and something people will pay attention to.
 
If you’re an academic, you should follow that path. Professors often wouldn’t thrive in most law firms because they think theoretically, not practically. Clients and law firms need attorneys who simplify legal issues and get practical results.
 
You could certainly be a law professor, and we’ve shortened your resume here to make it more practical. But I would caution anyone with a passion for academia not to return to practicing law if that’s not what they enjoy.
 
Let’s look at another resume. You don’t need to list certifications like Microsoft Word or Excel—everyone assumes you know how to use those. This person worked for a major law firm, so that’s a good start. But this is an in-house resume, and there’s not much more I can add here. If you're working across different areas—corporate law, investment management, litigation—you need to focus your resume on one thing to get hired by a law firm.
 
You can use ChatGPT to make it look more focused on corporate law. Let’s see how that works. We’re taking this person’s resume, making it all about corporate law, and it’s much shorter and more concise. It’s much easier to read, and the focus on corporate law is clear.
 
This person also worked at Graham and James, which was absorbed by Squire Sanders. It’s amazing that ChatGPT picked that up. Now, you’ve taken all this experience, boiled it down, and made it focused on one thing.
 
Corporate and transactional attorneys, listen up: You should create a separate transaction sheet listing your deals, contracts, and key transactions. Don’t put all that on your resume. It’s more powerful to keep it separate and only show it when necessary. I’ll ask ChatGPT to create a transaction sheet from this resume. Let's see what happens.
 
This is so cool! It generated a transaction sheet that lists deals like multimillion-dollar contracts, and it makes your resume look much more professional and focused. Now, instead of a long resume with all your deals listed, you have a concise resume with a separate transaction sheet, which is exactly what the best corporate attorneys do.
 
This makes your resume so much better than it was before. It turns your experience into something streamlined, readable, and powerful.
 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

 
This is a side note: I can't tell you how unbelievably impressed I am with everyone that's on this call because the most important thing you can do is improve, learn how to improve, and take advice. Very few people want advice or are willing to take advice, and your ability to stay in the call for over four hours is amazing. You're hungry for information and to improve, and you should be. Graduating from law school or going to law school is a big choice.
 
Q: I noticed on LinkedIn that certain people list their certifications or specializations following their name. Where should you list this? Should it be under law firm information?
 
A: Yes, you get the idea. Those certifications and so forth should always go at the end of your resume. You never want to put them at the top. That's just not necessary. We saw a lot of examples today where people put stuff that wasn't needed at the top. You put it at the end. You don’t need to put it in front of your name, and those certifications—by the way—I don't know how difficult they are to get, but it’s not something that needs to go there.
 
Q: If you have a gap in your resume because you were caregiving or a caretaker for a parent or had a medical issue for several years, in your opinion, should you put something about that, or should you leave it out?
 
A: Personally, I think you can just have a gap in your resume. You can put something like "taking care of children" or something along those lines if you want. But a lot of times, especially if you’re a woman and there’s a gap, people will just assume you had kids and now you want to come back, and that's perfectly normal. I think you're just as likely to get a job with that break as if you didn’t have one. I’ve seen firms be very respectful of that. So I think that’s something that’s acceptable. I don’t think you need to worry too much about it. Sometimes people have gaps because they were unemployed. I’ve even seen people with gaps because they went to prison—not attorneys, but people. You can put something in your resume about it, but typically, you want people to ask during interviews. If they ask, then you can answer. But sometimes just leaving the gap there is okay, and people may ask you why you haven’t worked. Obviously, it’s better not to have a gap, but you don’t need to worry about it too much.
 
Q: I’m confused because every resume advice is to give specific examples of what you’ve done and quantify when possible. You’re saying just list the business name and job title? Do we not need to tell what we did in those jobs?
 
A: Yes, you need to tell what you did, but you don’t have to go into a ton of detail. If you were an employment attorney at a big firm for three years, you can list that you did employment work and maybe describe it succinctly, but most people know what it means to be an employment attorney at a big firm. You don’t need to go into a lot of detail. The point of your resume is to make it one page and to make sure everything has a theme so that when people look at it, they can see your focus. As we’ve seen today, many resumes highlight different types of experience, but the goal is to stick to one practice area. You tell what you did, but you don’t need to go into a lot of detail. If you're a corporate or transactional attorney, for example, it's better to have a separate transaction sheet rather than clutter your resume with too many details.
 
Q: I live in the Tri-state area, where firms are looking for attorneys in multiple jurisdictions. Should you put your bar jurisdictions on your resume?
 
A: Yes, absolutely. If you’re in New York and also barred in New Jersey, you should list it. It’s important for a lot of law firms, especially in that area.
 
Q: What advice do you have for an attorney who left the profession to work in another career and is now seeking to return to the profession? How do you treat the other career on your resume?
 
A: Typically, if you left to go into another career, it’s because you wanted to pursue that more than practicing law at the time. We saw an example earlier where someone went into academia and then wanted to return 20 years later. Most of the time, if you want to return to the profession after doing something else, it comes down to the law of supply and demand. If you price yourself competitively and go to a geographic area where there’s a shortage of attorneys, you can get hired. I’ve seen many firms in places like Montana, Wyoming, and other smaller states that are desperate for attorneys. If you go where there’s less competition, you’re more likely to get hired, even if you’ve been out of practice for a while.
 
Q: I was told that the more keywords you include, the better, in order to get past AI monitors to reach an in-person interview. Does that mean we should use lots of words on our resume?
 
A: I don’t know if law firms use AI as much as large companies do, but regardless, your resume should be focused on your practice area. Your whole resume should be talking about your area of expertise, and everything should be related to that. You want people to look at your resume and immediately understand your focus, whether that’s corporate law, litigation, or whatever your specialty is. Avoid confusing the reader with unrelated details.
 
Q: My CV indicates that I have experience in one area of practice, but I’m trying to transition to a new area of practice where I don’t have professional experience yet. I do have related certifications. What is the best way to indicate this on my CV?
 
A: Switching practice areas is very difficult because any law firm with an opening will want to hire someone who already has expertise in that area. A law firm with a corporate opening wouldn’t hire a litigator for that role unless they had some reason to do so. It’s challenging to switch, but you can make it work by going to a smaller firm where they may need a generalist rather than a specialist. Smaller firms often require attorneys to wear multiple hats, which can give you the experience you need in the new area. Certifications are helpful, but they won’t necessarily make up for a lack of experience.
 

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About Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes is a prominent figure in the legal placement industry, known for his expertise in attorney placements and his extensive knowledge of the legal profession.

With over 25 years of experience, he has established himself as a leading voice in the field and has helped thousands of lawyers and law students find their ideal career paths.

Barnes is a former federal law clerk and associate at Quinn Emanuel and a graduate of the University of Chicago College and the University of Virginia Law School. He was a Rhodes Scholar Finalist at the University of Chicago and a member of the University of Virginia Law Review. Early in his legal career, he enrolled in Stanford Business School but dropped out because he missed legal recruiting too much.

Barnes' approach to the legal industry is rooted in his commitment to helping lawyers achieve their full potential. He believes that the key to success in the legal profession is to be proactive, persistent, and disciplined in one's approach to work and life. He encourages lawyers to take ownership of their careers and to focus on developing their skills and expertise in a way that aligns with their passions and interests.

One of how Barnes provides support to lawyers is through his writing. On his blog, HarrisonBarnes.com, and BCGSearch.com, he regularly shares his insights and advice on a range of topics related to the legal profession. Through his writing, he aims to empower lawyers to control their careers and make informed decisions about their professional development.

One of Barnes's fundamental philosophies in his writing is the importance of networking. He believes that networking is a critical component of career success and that it is essential for lawyers to establish relationships with others in their field. He encourages lawyers to attend events, join organizations, and connect with others in the legal community to build their professional networks.

Another central theme in Barnes' writing is the importance of personal and professional development. He believes that lawyers should continuously strive to improve themselves and develop their skills to succeed in their careers. He encourages lawyers to pursue ongoing education and training actively, read widely, and seek new opportunities for growth and development.

In addition to his work in the legal industry, Barnes is also a fitness and lifestyle enthusiast. He sees fitness and wellness as integral to his personal and professional development and encourages others to adopt a similar mindset. He starts his day at 4:00 am and dedicates several daily hours to running, weightlifting, and pursuing spiritual disciplines.

Finally, Barnes is a strong advocate for community service and giving back. He volunteers for the University of Chicago, where he is the former area chair of Los Angeles for the University of Chicago Admissions Office. He also serves as the President of the Young Presidents Organization's Century City Los Angeles Chapter, where he works to support and connect young business leaders.

In conclusion, Harrison Barnes is a visionary legal industry leader committed to helping lawyers achieve their full potential. Through his work at BCG Attorney Search, writing, and community involvement, he empowers lawyers to take control of their careers, develop their skills continuously, and lead fulfilling and successful lives. His philosophy of being proactive, persistent, and disciplined, combined with his focus on personal and professional development, makes him a valuable resource for anyone looking to succeed in the legal profession.

About BCG Attorney Search

BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive, while achieving results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.