Unless you are applying for a position at a law school or other academic institution, a lawyer should be sending a resume, not a CV, when applying for a position. The CV, which stands for curriculum vitae, literally means “course of one’s life” in Latin. Knowing that definition, then it’s easy to see why you don’t want to use a CV. Your life is long, and employers don’t want to her the whole story – just the relevant parts!
Your resume should always be targeted and tailored for a specific position. CVs, on the other hand, are meandering discourses that highlight all of the work that you have done to date. CVs are long, thorough and demonstrate the progression of your career. Resumes are as long as they need to be (but no longer) and they are artfully tailored to demonstrate how your skills match the skills sought by the hiring firm. You shouldn’t include everything you have ever done in a resume. Clearly your law school internship can fall off your resume if you are a senior partner, but in a CV, it is used to demonstrate the progression of your career.
Think about it this way, studies show that employers spend as little as 8 seconds reviewing a resume before making a determination on your candidacy. Do you want them reviewing the most pertinent information about you and your career or a long, meandering treatise on how you got so smart? Exactly – you need a tactical strike, and that comes with a well-drafted resume.
Even if a job posting uses the phrase “CV” when requesting materials, you should send a resume.
Lawyers get to use a lot of Latin in the course of their practice, but curriculum vitae should not be used!