If someone has told you your CV bullets are “weak” and left it at that, it wasn’t very helpful, was it?
Because you’re not sure what a strong one even looks like or how to describe work that felt fairly ordinary at the time. Good news: this is a technique, not a talent. Once you see the formula behind a strong achievement statement, you can rewrite your whole CV in an afternoon. Let me hand you the formula.
Quick answer: what an achievement statement is
An achievement statement is a CV bullet that shows what you actually did, the legal work involved, and, where possible, the purpose or outcome. Instead of simply listing a responsibility like “conducted legal research,” it explains the work in context, for example, “researched X to support the team’s advice on Y.” The result is a specific, credible bullet that gives recruiters evidence of your skills and something meaningful to discuss in an interview.
The formula
Most strong legal CV bullets follow a simple shape:
Action verb + specific legal task + context or purpose (+ result, if there is one)
You don’t need a dramatic “result” for every bullet — a lot of good legal work doesn’t have a measurable outcome, and that’s fine. The specific task and its context alone are usually enough to make a bullet strong.
Example built up in stages:
- “Did research” is too vague.
- “Researched limitation law” is better, but it still lacks context.
- “Researched the law on limitation for a recovery suit and summarised the key authorities for drafting counsel.” Now you have an achievement statement. It explains the action you took, the specific legal issue you worked on, the context, and who benefited from your work.
Before and after (real situations)
- Before: “Assisted in due diligence.”
- After: “Reviewed a set of vendor contracts during a due-diligence exercise and flagged non-standard indemnity and termination clauses for the associate’s review.”
- Before: “Helped with drafting.”
- After: “Prepared the first draft of a legal notice and a chronology of key events, later refined by the supervising advocate.”
- Before: “Worked on a moot.”
- After: “Researched and drafted the applicant’s submissions on jurisdiction for a national moot and argued the preliminary issues before the bench.”
Notice the pattern. Every “after” version tells the reader something specific and true. You’re not exaggerating or inflating your experience. You’re simply describing, with accuracy and context, what “helped with drafting” actually involved.
Choosing strong verbs
Lead each bullet with a precise verb that reflects what you did: researched, drafted, reviewed, summarised, analysed, prepared, compiled, assisted (with specifics), argued, negotiated (if you truly did), flagged, or verified.
Avoid weak openers like “was responsible for” or “worked on”. They bury the real substance of the bullet and make your experience sound less impactful than it is.
YLCC ACTION STEP: Take your three weakest bullets. For each, ask yourself three questions: What exactly did I do? On what legal issue or document? Who used it, or what was it for? Answer those, string them together, and you have an achievement statement.
“But my work really was small.”
Here’s the reframe. “Small” work described specifically almost always sounds more impressive than “big” work described vaguely, because specificity signals you understood what you were doing. Summarising three judgements accurately, flagging the right clause, and preparing a clean chronology are all real, useful legal tasks. Describing them precisely demonstrates sound judgement. You don’t need to have led a transaction or argued a landmark case. You need to show that you can do careful, reliable legal work that others can build on.
PLEASE DON’T DO THIS: Please don’t inflate a bullet into something you can’t back up, “led the due diligence” when you reviewed a folder of contracts. The interview is where inflated bullets go to collapse. Accurate-and-specific always beats impressive-and-fragile.
FAQs
- Do all CV bullets need a measurable result? No. Much legal work has no metric. A specific task and its context are enough; add a result only when there genuinely is one.
- How many bullets per experience? Usually, two to four strong bullets are enough. Prioritise quality over quantity. Three specific, evidence-based bullets will always make a stronger impression than six vague ones.
- What if I can’t remember the details? Reconstruct honestly from what you did, and going forward, note tasks as you do them so next year’s bullets write themselves.
- Isn’t this just making small work sound big? No, it’s describing real work accurately. The line you must not cross is claiming something you didn’t do.
- Can I use the same verb repeatedly? Vary them a little for readability, but clarity matters more than a thesaurus. Precise beats fancy.
Thank you for reading!
If you found this article helpful, explore more resources from YLCC and continue your legal learning journey.
