Quick answer: A law internship CV should be one page, in a clean format, with these sections in order: contact details, education, internships and work experience, moots and competitions, publications and research, positions of responsibility, and skills. Lead with your strongest section, use short action-led bullet points, and tailor it to each firm, chamber or NGO. Check each application’s instructions, because they override any general format, including this one.
You have found an internship you actually want. The email is half-written, the deadline is in three days, and your CV is a Word file from first year that still lists your school marks above everything else. Sound familiar?
Most law students lose out at this stage, not because they lack experience, but because the CV hides what they have. A recruiter or partner often gives a CV a very short first look, so the layout and the first few lines matter as much as the content. This post shows you how to build a CV that gets read, with a sample you can copy and adapt.
What a law internship CV needs to do
A CV for an internship has one job: to make the reader say “this student is organised, serious and worth a call.” It does that by showing three things quickly.
- You can research and write, which is the core of legal work
- You take on responsibility and finish what you start
- You are interested in this particular kind of work, not just any internship
Notice that nothing in that list is “got high marks”. Grades matter, but a CV that shows only grades looks thin. Moots, research, earlier internships and writing show what you can do.
Keep it to one page
For internships, one page is the safe length. You are a student, and a longer CV usually means padding. If you cannot fit everything, cut the oldest or weakest items instead of shrinking the font.
Some applications specify a format or length in the posting. Follow it exactly. Ignoring a stated instruction is one of the quickest ways to be filtered out.
The layout that works
Use a plain, single-column layout. Fancy templates with icons, colour blocks and skill-rating bars often look good to you but cause trouble, because many firms receive CVs by email as PDFs, and some are read on phones or run through software that scrambles complicated formatting.
A safe setup:
- Font: Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial, size 10.5 to 12
- Margins: about 0.7 to 1 inch
- Headings in bold capitals, with a thin line underneath
- Dates aligned on the right
- File saved as PDF, named properly, such as
Riya-Sharma-CV.pdfand notCV-final-final2.pdf
Skip the photo unless the posting asks for one. Also skip details like religion, caste, parents’ names and full home address. Your email, phone number, city and LinkedIn link (if it is tidy) are enough.
The sections, in the order that works best
Header and contact details
Your name in bold at the top, with your email, phone number, city and your college and year. Use a professional email address. Something like riya.sharma@gmail.com beats cutelawgirl99@.
Education
List your law degree first, with the college name, university, years and current year of study. Add your CGPA or percentage only if it helps you. If your marks are modest, you can leave them out. Many students list Class XII marks in one short line, or skip them once they are in second or third year.
You can add honours here, such as a rank in your batch, scholarships or a dean’s list mention, but only if you really have them.
Internships and work experience
This is usually the heart of the CV. List the organisation, your role, the dates, and two to four bullet points on what you did.
Write each bullet so it shows a task, a skill and a result where possible. Compare these two:
- Weak: “Worked under the supervising lawyer on various matters.”
- Better: “Researched case law on anticipatory bail under Section 438 CrPC and prepared a 6-page memo used for a bail hearing.”
The second one tells the reader what you did, how much, and why it mattered. If you cannot recall exact details, be honest and describe the real work: “drafted replies to legal notices,” “attended hearings at the District Court and maintained case diaries,” “prepared case summaries for the senior partner.”
Never inflate. Interviewers often ask you to explain the matter you describe, and a made-up claim falls apart in one question.
Moots and competitions
For a law student, this section often does the work that experience does for others. List the competition, the year, your role (speaker or researcher) and any result.
Example: “Participated in the [Name of Competition], 2025 as a researcher. Drafted the Respondent’s memorial on Article 21 and the right to privacy.”
Add results like “quarter-finalist” or “Best Memorial” only if true. Mentioning that you took part and worked on the memorial is still valuable even without a prize.
Research, publications and writing
Include published articles, blog posts, case comments, research papers and paper presentations. Give the title, where it appeared and the year. A link to the published piece is useful.
If you have never published anything, you can still include a research paper submitted for a course, a seminar paper or a draft you are proud of, described honestly. Better still, write a short case comment or blog and publish it before you apply. It takes a weekend and gives you something concrete to show.
Positions of responsibility and activities
Moot society roles, legal aid clinic work, debating, student committees, NSS or volunteer work, and organising events all belong here. Choose the ones that show reliability and leadership, and give each a one-line explanation of what you actually did.
Skills and interests
Keep this short and useful. Legal research platforms such as SCC Online, Manupatra or Westlaw, drafting, MS Office, and languages you can work in are all relevant. Languages matter more than students realise, especially for litigation chambers working in regional courts.
Skip vague items like “hardworking” or “good communication”. Show those through your bullets instead. Leave out rating bars such as “Legal research: 90%”, because they mean nothing to a reader.
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Join WhatsApp ChannelA sample CV you can adapt
Here is a text version of a CV for a third-year BA LLB student. Everything below is fictional.
RIYA SHARMA
riya.sharma@email.com | +91 98XXXXXXXX | Chennai | linkedin.com/in/riyasharmaEDUCATION
B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), [Name of Law School], [University] | 2023 to present | Currently in Year 3
Class XII (CBSE), [School Name] | 2023 | 91%INTERNSHIPS
Legal Intern, [Name of Law Firm], Mumbai | June 2025 to July 2025
- Researched and summarised case law on arbitration clauses for a commercial dispute
- Drafted a first version of a reply to a legal notice, reviewed by the senior associate
- Assisted in preparing due diligence checklists for a private company
Intern, [Name of Advocate] Chambers, Madras High Court | December 2024
- Attended hearings and maintained a daily case diary
- Prepared a note on limitation under the Limitation Act, 1963 for a civil appeal
MOOT COURT
Researcher, [Name of National Moot Court Competition], 2025 | Drafted the Petitioner’s memorial on Article 19(1)(a)
Speaker, Intra-college Moot Court Competition, 2024 | FinalistRESEARCH AND WRITING
“[Title of Case Comment],” [Name of Blog or Journal], 2025 | [link]
Paper presented on “Data Protection and Consumer Rights” at [Name of Seminar], 2024POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Member, Legal Aid Clinic, [College] | 2024 to present | Assisted with client interviews and drafting simple applications
Joint Coordinator, Moot Court Society | 2025 | Organised an internal moot with 12 teamsSKILLS
Legal research: SCC Online, Manupatra | Drafting: notices, replies, basic agreements | Languages: English, Tamil, Hindi
Notice what that CV does. The most recent and relevant items come first, and every bullet describes an action. Nothing is padded.
How to tailor your CV for different internships
One CV rarely suits every application. You do not have to rewrite it each time, but you should adjust it.
For a law firm, move corporate-related experience, drafting and research to the top and mention any commercial law coursework. For litigation chambers or courts, bring forward hearings attended, moots and procedural knowledge. For an NGO or policy organisation, highlight research, writing, legal aid work and any field experience. For a High Court or Supreme Court internship, emphasise research and drafting, and keep the CV particularly clean.
Spend ten minutes on each application reading what the organisation does, then pick the two or three bullets from your CV that match it. Put them first.
Insider tip: write the bullet, then ask “so what?”
Read each bullet and ask what the reader learns from it. If the answer is nothing, rewrite it. “Assisted with research” becomes “Researched Supreme Court judgments on [topic] and summarised them in a table the team used for the brief.” The detail is what makes the line believable.
Another habit worth building: keep a running “brag file” with every task you do in an internship, as you do it. Six months later, when you write the CV, you will remember the specifics you would otherwise have forgotten.
Mistakes to avoid
- Sending a three-page CV when one page would do
- Putting school marks above your internships and moots
- Using a generic CV for every application without any tailoring
- Writing bullet points that start with “Responsible for” and say nothing specific
- Listing skills with ratings or percentage bars
- Including a photo, date of birth or personal details when the posting does not ask for them
- Spelling mistakes, especially in the name of the firm or a judge. Proofread aloud
- Exaggerating a role or a result
- Sending a Word file that changes formatting on the reader’s screen. Send a PDF unless told otherwise
- Using an unprofessional email address or a messy LinkedIn link
Frequently asked questions
What should I put on my CV if I have no internship experience?
Lead with education, moots, research or writing, college committees, legal aid clinic work and any volunteer or part-time work that shows responsibility. Be honest about it. Many first-year applicants have no internship experience, and recruiters expect that.
Should I include my CGPA or marks?
Include them if they are strong or if the posting asks. If they are average, you can leave them out and let your experience and moots carry the CV. Never state a figure that is not true.
How long should a law internship CV be?
One page for an internship. A two-page CV makes sense later in your career when you have more work to show.
Should I send my CV as a PDF or Word file?
PDF, unless the posting asks for something else. A PDF keeps your formatting the same on every device.
Do I need a cover letter with my CV?
Often a short email serves as the cover letter. Keep it to a few lines: who you are, why this organisation, and what you are attaching. Follow the instructions in the posting if they ask for a separate letter.
Can I use the same CV for a law firm and for an NGO?
You can use the same base, but reorder it. For a firm, lead with drafting, research and commercial exposure. For an NGO, lead with research, writing, legal aid and fieldwork.
What to do next
Open your current CV and check three things. Does it fit on one page? Does every bullet say what you did? Is your strongest section near the top? Fix those three, save it as a PDF with a proper file name, and send it with a short, specific email.
If you also need the email, see our guide on writing an internship application email.
