Do you need work experience for law school?

Jan 29, 2023

Written By Annika De Lathauwer

It’s definitely a good idea to get some work experience before applying to law school. This experience shows to employers that you have experience working in a professional environment, and have transferable skills such as time management. Here’s how to secure work experience, and how to include it in your law school application:

If you have a lot of work experience

In this case, as you will have a limited amount of space or word count to explain what work experience you have done, it is best to focus on what is most applicable to studying law. However, you can still include plenty of non-law work experience, as long as you are able to link it back to how it is relevant to studying law. Remember, quality over quantity.

If you don’t have much work experience

If you do not have much work experience do not panic. It is likely that you have a lot more experience than you realise. The first thing to do is to create a list of all possible work experiences that you can think of. This can include: shadowing opportunities, internships, summer jobs and volunteering.

At this stage you may be worried that a lot of your work experience is not directly related to law. Again, do not panic! The most important thing in a successful law school application is linking work experience you do have to how it relates to studying law. For example, if you have worked the same summer job for several years, you could talk about how this demonstrates your perseverance and dedication to your work.

It’s also worth including what you have learnt along the way. If you do have legal work experience, of course include this in your application, but linking non-legal work experience can be just as valuable.

If there is a long gap in which you have no work experience, for example due to family circumstances, be sure to provide a brief explanation for this. Not only will this show the reviewer of your application the reason why you were unable to complete work experience, but it is possible that you may have developed other responsibilities during this time, which will also be helpful to include in your resume.

What else do you need for law school?

Possibly most important, for law school you will need good grades. When in school, college, and university it is important to get involved in extracurricular activities to round out your CV, but not if they are going to compromise your grades. This is because this could potentially affect your ability to secure placements and jobs in the future.

Still concerned about not having enough work experience?

If you are still concerned about not having enough work experience there are many online and in-person events, such as open days and workshops, which you can attend to gain an insight into law and boost your CV. Some law firms even offer virtual internships, which don’t involve an application process and allow you to complete trainee-level tasks.

Additionally, it’s worth reaching out to professionals in legal and non-legal sectors (via Linkedin, for example) to see if you can arrange work experience, shadowing, or even a conversation with them about how to succeed in the industry.

Legal Work Experience