This guide helps you craft a mid-level employment solicitor CV that highlights relevant UK experience and positions you for progression or a lateral move within private practice, in-house teams, or public sector roles. You will find practical structure guidance, example bullet lines tailored to UK practice, and tips for tailoring your CV to hiring managers and recruitment teams.
Building a Mid Level Employment Lawyer resume?
Skip the blank page. Start with a template built for this role, then tailor it for each job you apply to.
Tip: use the template as a starting point, then swap in your own numbers and project names.
CV at a glance
Begin with a clear header showing your name and contact details, city and country (full address is optional), and a LinkedIn profile link. Then include a concise professional profile, a carefully ordered career history, a skills section, and education plus professional status (for example Solicitor admission with the SRA) so a reader can scan qualifications quickly.
Who this guide is for
This guide is for mid-level employment solicitors (PQE 3-8 years) who handle advisory work, litigation, or both. If you are aiming for senior associate, in‑house, or partner tracks, you will receive targeted advice on what to emphasise and how to quantify impact in the UK market.
CV structure and order
Use reverse chronological order for experience, placing your most relevant roles first within each entry. Keep each role focused on achievements and responsibilities that align with UK employment law, and place skills and professional qualifications after experience to avoid cluttering the header.
Writing a professional profile
Draft a 2-3 sentence profile that states your PQE, practice focus, and the value you bring in clear terms. Use language that tells a UK hiring manager what you do and for whom, for example advising on workplace investigations or defending employment disputes, and avoid generic claims.
Crafting experience bullets
Each job entry should include 4-6 bullets mixing responsibilities with achievements, using the action‑plus‑outcome pattern. Lead with strong verbs, provide context such as issue type (for example unfair dismissal or discrimination) or client size, and finish with measurable or demonstrable results when possible.
Include tribunal outcomes, settlements, or policy implementations where relevant.
Sample bullet templates
Use templates you can adapt to your matters, for example: 'Counselled HR and senior leadership on [issue], resulting in [outcome] for [client type].' Another template is: 'Led defence of [type] claim from issue to resolution, achieving [outcome].' You can also say: 'Implemented [policy/intervention], improving [metric] by [percentage].' Replace placeholders with specific facts from your file list.
Highlighting counselling and preventative work
Emphasise proactive employment practice, including policy design, risk mitigation, training, audits, and preventative measures; mention collaboration with HR, management, or unions; show outcomes such as reduced dispute volume, improved compliance metrics, or successful policy adoption. In the UK context, reference any public sector or NHS‑specific frameworks where relevant and align language to job descriptions.
Additional Tips
- 1Maintain a separate, secure file of matter summaries with dates and outcomes so you can pull accurate details for CVs and interviews.
- 2Use brackets sparingly to clarify the type of matter, for example '(employment tribunal claim)' next to a bullet when helpful.
- 3If you lack quantifiable results, emphasise process improvements, policy adoption rates, or the complexity of issues you handled.