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Legal Classic

Legal Classic is deliberately traditional. The name is centred, headings are underlined rather than boxed or coloured, and the palette stays near-black throughout. Legal recruitment involves reading a large volume of similar documents against clear criteria - PQE, practice area, matter types - and the layout is built to make those findable rather than to stand out. Admission details and qualifications sit high on the page where they are checked first.

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What makes it different

  • Traditional presentation that matches sector expectations
  • Qualification and admission details sit high on the page
  • No colour, which suits conservative firms and print review
  • Underlined headings give structure without visual weight

Best for

Solicitors and legal associates · Compliance and regulatory roles · In-house legal applications · Chambers and professional services

When to choose something else

  • Deliberately conservative, to the point of being plain. In a startup or a creative team it reads as stiff.
  • The near-black palette gives you no way to draw the eye to anything, which is a real cost on a long CV.
  • The centred name and underlined headings are a traditional convention, not a universal one, and look dated outside professional services.

Where your sections go

Every section runs the full width of the page, one after another, in the order you set them. Nothing is moved into a side column, which is why the order you choose in the editor is exactly the order a reader meets it in.

Parses correctly in normal use, with some visual structure. Suitable for most direct applications.

Showing the Lawyer / Legal Associate example. All sample details are fictional.

Professions this layout suits

These examples open on Legal Classic by default. You can pair any profession with any template — the suggestion is a starting point, not a restriction.

Lawyer / Legal AssociateCompliance Officer

Guides that go deeper

Choosing a layout settles how the page looks. These settle what goes on it.

How to Write a CVThe structure, the order, and what belongs in the first third of the page — where most CVs are won or lost.How to Describe Work ExperienceThe difference between listing duties and demonstrating impact, and a repeatable way to rewrite any weak bullet point.How Long Should a CV Be?Two pages for most people, and a clear method for getting there when you have more experience than space.

If this is not the right layout

The layouts a reader of this page most often wants instead, rather than the rest of the gallery in order.

ExecutiveA formal serif layout with a centred header, for senior and board-level applications.Minimal ATSA plain one-column layout designed to survive applicant tracking systems intact.European ProfessionalA structured European-style layout with a personal information panel, left-gutter dates and CEFR language detail.AcademicA serif long-form layout with left-gutter dates, built for CVs that run to several pages.