Home Barrister Resume template
Barrister resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what barristers actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most barristers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Barrister with experience in courtroom advocacy, legal opinion writing and case strategy, briefed by instructing solicitors across civil and administrative matters. Comfortable running cross-examination, drafting pleadings and submissions, and advising on prospects and settlement under time pressure. Admitted to practice with a working knowledge of court procedure and evidence law.
Key skills
- Legal research and case law analysis
- Drafting pleadings, submissions and legal opinions
- Cross-examination and witness handling
- Litigation strategy and dispute resolution
- Regulatory and administrative law
- Westlaw and LexisNexis research databases
- Court e-lodgement and case management systems
- Client and instructing solicitor liaison
Experience: example bullet points
- Prepared and delivered oral submissions in court and tribunal hearings, adapting argument in response to bench questioning
- Drafted legal opinions and advices on prospects of success, reducing instructing solicitors' need for further clarifying queries
- Conducted cross-examination of witnesses in contested hearings, testing evidence against the pleaded case
- Researched case law and statutory provisions to support litigation strategy, identifying precedent that shaped settlement advice
- Advised clients and solicitors on settlement options ahead of hearing dates, contributing to matters resolving before trial
- Managed briefs across concurrent matters using case management and e-lodgement systems, meeting court-imposed filing deadlines
Education
Bachelor of Laws (or Juris Doctor) followed by Practical Legal Training, admission as an Australian legal practitioner, and completion of a bar practice course or reading period before signing the Bar Roll in the relevant state or territory.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- Barrister
- Bar Roll
- Chambers
- Admission to practice
- Practical Legal Training (PLT)
- Bar practice course
- Pleadings
- Submissions
- Cross-examination
- Instructing solicitor
- Brief
- Counsel
- Westlaw
- LexisNexis
- Court e-lodgement
- Tribunal advocacy
- Litigation
- Legal opinion
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.