Environmental Lawyer Resume: Free Template, Guide & Examples

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Are you ready to fight for the trees and argue for the protection of birds for a living, but not sure where to start?

In this guide, we’ll cover all the ins and outs of designing the perfect Environmental Lawyer resume, including:

• How to write an eye-catching resume summary or objective
• How to best incorporate your relevant experience within your resume
• What hard-earned qualifications you should include
• Tips for both entry-level and experienced applicants

Once you know how to write an amazing resume, you’ll be one step closer to fighting for the environment for a living — which is great because the BLS projects there will be around 80,000 new lawyer positions in the US by 2031! 

If you follow the tips in this resume guide and choose one of our range of professional and modern resume templates, it should get you on your best footing to land that interview. Let’s get started.

When you’re ready to become an Environmental Lawyer, you need to start with a great resume. 

It’s always nice to start with a precedent, so let’s take a peek at what a good Environmental Lawyer resume looks like.

resume Example

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[Godfrey Greene]

[Environmental Lawyer]

[Charlotte, NC | 555-555-5555 | Go.GreeneLaw@randomemail.com]

Summary

Results-oriented Environmental Lawyer with 4+ years of experience working on high-profile cases. Successfully led negotiations on 20+ projects resulting in the protection of delicate ecosystems while allowing business to sustainably continue their development. Looking to utilize extensive knowledge of environmental regulations to provide legal service and advice to construct environmentally sound corporate policies.

Experience

Change the World LLC | Charlotte, NC

Environmental Lawyer

2020 – present

• Conduct in-depth site visits to identify environmentally hazardous conditions at businesses in the Charlotte area.
• Led 15+ environmental court cases, resulting in over $10M in settlements for communities affected.
• Develop and review business and government regulations for legality and environmental impact. Provided revisions and advice to ensure environmental safety.

Go Green Firm | Concord, NC

Intern

2019 – 2020

• Conducted thorough research to determine the environmental impact of various business and government policies.
• Organized documents and projects to ensure all project timelines with a 99% deadline success rate. 
• Assisted with court cases by organizing courtroom documents for the legal representatives.

Education

Duke University

Juris Doctorate

2017 – 2020

University of North Carolina

BS in Environmental Science

2013 – 2017

Skills

• Environmental laws and regulations
• Research and data analysis
• Environmental policy analysis
• Public speaking and presentations
• Strategic planning
• Project management
• Organization and data collection

Certifications

• Juris Doctorate (2020)
• Certified Environmental Law Specialist (2020)

Languages

• English (native)
• Spanish (fluent)

Don’t want to limit yourself to just environmental law? Check out our guide to writing a Lawyer resume.

If you are involved in research within the area or want to return to academia, take a look at our blog post about CVs vs resumes and their differences to make sure you submit the correct document.

Just like a legal argument, there’s no standard way to go about organizing your resume. It all depends on what you want to showcase.

While there’s no best resume format, there are a few time-tested tips that will make your resume easier for potential employers to read:

• Use reverse-chronological order in all sections
• Leave plenty of space between sections for a clean appearance
• Put the most important information first

If you want a little help organizing your Environmental Lawyer resume, head over to ResumeGiants’ customizable resume builder to get started. 

Everyone has to start somewhere. Just because you don’t have professional experience as an Environmental Lawyer doesn’t mean you can’t land your dream job! It just takes some careful resume planning to showcase your strengths. 

While your professional experience section might not be the strongest “evidence” that you’re ready for the job, there are plenty of other qualifications you can show off to prove you’ll be a great lawyer:

• Relevant past jobs like a legal assistant, paralegal, or internships
• Your education (a law degree goes a long way!)
• Certifications, especially if you passed your state’s Bar Exam
• Specific skills relevant to being an Environmental Lawyer
• Environmental or legal extracurricular activities, hobbies, or memberships

It also doesn’t hurt to fill your resume with plenty of legal nomenclature and power words to show you know what you’re talking about. But more specifically, let’s break down the parts of a typical entry-level Environmental Lawyer resume.

How to Write an Environmental Lawyer Objective Without Experience

Your resume objective is like your opening statement. It gives the judge — which in this “case” is the hiring manager — a brief overview of the main points you’ll cover in the rest of your resume. After all, what is a resume if not an argument about why they should hire you!?

Since you don’t have experience to lean on, your entry-level resume objective should focus on your specific knowledge, skills, and career goals. Sum all that information up into a few sentences, and you’re good to go! 

But first, let’s take a look at what you shouldn’t do with your resume objective:

While arguing is definitely a skill any lawyer should possess, this resume objective doesn’t provide any specifics about the applicant’s skills or background. They might as well have left the section blank.

Instead, here’s what a good entry-level Environmental Lawyer resume objective might look like:

Although they don’t have professional experience as an Environmental Lawyer, this applicant still showcases specific skills that would make them an asset to any law firm.

Entry-Level Environmental Lawyer Work Experience Section

Just because you don’t have professional experience as a lawyer doesn’t mean you can skip the experience section on your resume. It’s still arguably the most important part! 

The key to an entry-level experience section is to showcase previous jobs and experience that are relevant to environmental law. That means you can use everything from volunteering for conservation efforts and unpaid internships to jobs in related fields work and even shadowing hours. 

Here’s an example of what your entry-level Environmental Lawyer experience section should look like when outlining an internship:

Example

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Experience

Bloom Environmental Consultants | Charlotte, NC
Legal Intern
2015 – 2017 

• Worked closely with executives on 17 environmental conservation efforts in the Catawba River.
• Wrote and applied for over 20 government grants to get funding for environmental projects.
• Documented current projects to ensure all environmental regulations were being met.

This applicant might not have strong experience as an Environmental Lawyer, but they worked closely with environmental regulations, which is definitely a plus for anyone getting into the field.

Environmental Lawyer Education Section When Starting Out

Since you don’t have a long professional work history, your education section can help make up for your lack of experience. It shows that you have at least the basic knowledge required to become an Environmental Lawyer — not to mention law firms likely won’t hire lawyers without a degree.

Luckily, it’s easy to write a good education resume section. Here’s what you’ll need:

Example

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Education

Northwestern University School of Law
Juris Doctorate
2017 – 2020 

• GPA: 3.7
• Emphasis on environmental law

University of North Carolina | Charlotte, NC
B.A. in Environmental Studies
2013 – 2017

• GPA: 3.9
• Relevant coursework: Biology, environmental regulations, geology, chemistry
• Completed an internship with a local environmental conservation firm, working with grants and conservation efforts in river waters around major cities.

When you don’t have professional experience to back up your resume, it’s important to be more thorough in your education section.

Include your GPA and any relevant academic achievements or coursework relevant to the position you are applying for. 

Environmental Lawyer Skills for Entry-Level Candidates

Like your education section, adding a skills section on your entry-level Environmental Lawyer resume will help show employers that you have what it takes to be a great lawyer, even if you don’t have extensive professional experience. 

Your skills section can simply be a bulleted list of relevant skills you possess. And since you’re just starting out, you’re probably going to want to focus on more generic soft skills. Here are a few of the best skills for an entry-level Environmental Lawyer resume:

You can also check out this article from blue&green tomorrow which has some more useful information on the kinds of skills an Environmental Lawyer needs to be successful in their field.

Extra Sections that Look Good on an Entry-Level Environmental Lawyer Resume

Every employer likes to see a candidate with hands-on experience. And since you don’t have much professional experience, adding a few extra sections can help you fill out your resume.

Some of the most common extra sections for entry-level Environmental Lawyers include:

• Certifications
• Projects
• Languages
• Extracurricular activities
• Volunteering on relevant projects

Just like with your education section, you really want your extra sections to stand out so they can compensate for your lack of professional experience. 

Rather than simply list items in bullet points, add brief descriptions under each item showcasing what you did and the relevant skills you learned.

This example lacks concrete information. It does not outline exactly what the candidate did with these projects, nor where they were or when they took place. See a better example here below:

The main difference between entry-level and experienced Environmental Lawyer resumes is that, well, you have experience! And relevant experience is something that every employer will see as a benefit to their company. 

However, just because you have a big fancy experience section doesn’t mean getting your next job will be without its challenges. You still have to follow some resume-writing best practices.

Environmental Lawyer Resume Summary Example

Starting off with a resume summary, this is exactly as it sounds: It’s a rundown of your professional experience and skills. It’s supposed to grab the hiring manager’s attention and showcase your most important background information. 

First, let’s check out an example of what you shouldn’t do:

Yes, this applicant mentioned their attention to detail and communication skills, but do you think those will make them stand out among the other candidates? I mean, how many experienced lawyers can say they have attention to detail and communication skills? Likely all of them! 

The key to a strong resume summary is in the details. Be as specific as you possibly can.

Use your experience to your advantage! Look at all the specific numbers and skills in there. That’s what’s going to stand out to potential employers and separate this applicant from the pack.

Environmental Lawyer Resume Experience Section Tips

An experienced Environmental Lawyer resume experience section will look very similar to an entry-level one, just more filled out. 

As you’re drafting your experience section, be sure to include any relevant job experience you have and describe the skills you’ve gained in as much detail as possible. Specifics and concrete numbers and statistics are your friends!

This experience section is so boring that the hiring manager will be asleep in their chair before they can even drop the resume into the trash can! Words like ‘worked on’, ‘drafted’, and ‘assisted’ are all too passive.

Instead, your experience section should look more like this:

This entry includes a measurable achievment, an important publication and a mix of skills necessary for the job, much better!

What Do You Need for an Experienced Education Resume Section?

Because you have so much experience backing your resume, your education section doesn’t need to be as filled out with details of your projects, coursework and above average GPA.

You simply need to include your school, degree, and the dates of attendance for each item. It’s as simple as that!

Example

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Education

Harvard University
Juris Doctorate
2016 – 2019 

University of Maryland | College Park, MD
BS in Environmental Science
2012 – 2016 

Skills Required from Experienced Environmental Lawyers

Your experience section says a lot, but it won’t have everything you need to make an impact on hiring managers. 

To really strengthen your case, add a skills section to showcase your understanding of environmental law. Since you have so much experience, be sure to include mostly specific high-level skills that really showcase your extensive knowledge. 

Experienced Environmental Lawyer Resume Extra Sections

If you still have more you want to stay about yourself (and you likely do), adding a few extra sections can really round out your experience. These are some of the most popular extra sections for an experienced Environmental Lawyer resume:

• Certifications
• Publications you have written
• Projects

Since your experience section will do most of the talking, your extra sections can be more stripped down. Here’s a quick example of a perfectly good certifications section:

Example

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Certifications

• Juris Doctorate (2019)
• Certified Environmental Law Specialist (2019)

If you want to showcase some of your more high-profile projects, a sentence or two describing the details and the skills you learned would be helpful, but remember to keep it short and succinct. Every word takes up valuable resume space!

Get your documents in order. It’s time to start compiling your argument — the argument that you should be hired as an Environmental Lawyer! 

As you’re working on your resume, be sure to keep in mind the following:

• Use specific and concrete details about your experience and skills
• Make sure every item on your resume is relevant to environmental law
• Use a clean and readable resume format with a professional font
• Save your resume as a PDF to prevent formatting issues

If you need a little help getting started, check out some of the professional resume templates available on ResumeGiants.com. With a well-laid-out case, there’s no way a hiring manager won’t rule in your favor.