The VIE (Volontariat International en Entreprise, an international volunteer placement) is not reserved for finance or sales profiles: the legal and compliance departments of large groups also recruit young lawyers abroad. You still need a resume that speaks the language of business law and international work. Here is how to build it.
Typical missions of a legal VIE
The VIE is a professional assignment abroad entrusted to a young person aged 18 to 28 by a company under French law, within a framework managed by Business France. It is not a standard employment contract but a public-law contract, which does not prevent you from gaining real field experience. Offers can be browsed on the official platform Mon Volontariat International 🔗.
On the legal side, the range of positions is wide. Business France notably lists roles such as compliance officer, data protection officer, contract lawyer, environmental law, international law, intellectual property, as well as tax and risk-management assignments. In practice, a legal VIE may:
- draft and negotiate commercial contracts with local partners;
- ensure a subsidiary's compliance (anti-corruption, sanctions, data protection);
- follow disputes with local law firms;
- roll out group procedures and train local teams;
- monitor regulatory developments in the host country.
Building a convincing legal VIE resume
A VIE recruiter reads two things: legal soundness and the ability to be operational far from head office. An effective structure:
- Headline: "Business law jurist, VIE candidate" or "Master's in International Business Law, available for a compliance VIE".
- Education: Master's degree, specialisation, relevant thesis, exchange programmes. Indicate courses taught in English.
- Experience: internships in law firms, legal departments, courts; work-study. Detail the documents you produced.
- Legal skills and tools: contract drafting, due diligence, monitoring, contract management tools.
- Languages: levels and certifications.
- Mobility and commitment: stays abroad, legal clinic, moot court, association.
As with the resume of a practising lawyer, quantify what can be: "60 contracts reviewed", "15 compliance files processed", "weekly watch sent to 30 colleagues".
💡 Going further: if your profile sits between law and finance, see our finance VIE resume guide to see how a resume adapts to the VIE format.
Language and intercultural skills to highlight
For a VIE, language is not a small box at the bottom of the page: it is a working skill. Specify:
- legal English: contracts, correspondence with foreign lawyers, meetings in English;
- a second language useful for the target region (Spanish, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Mandarin);
- specialist vocabulary: "common law", "due diligence", "anti-bribery", depending on your experience;
- intercultural experience: Erasmus semester, internship abroad, work with international teams.
Avoid inflated levels: an interview in English quickly exposes the gap. Mention a certification (TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge) when you have one.
⚠️ Warning: a VIE in a civil-law country and a VIE in a common-law country call for different arguments. Adapt your resume's headline to the region of the offer.
Sample legal VIE resume
Take a candidate holding a Master 2 in International Business Law:
- Headline: "Compliance and international contracts jurist, VIE candidate."
- Internship (6 months), legal department of an industrial group: "Reviewed and negotiated 40 distribution contracts (liability clauses, governing law); updated an anti-corruption risk map for 5 subsidiaries."
- Internship (3 months), business law firm: "Competition law research, note drafting, contributed to two due diligence operations."
- Languages: "English C1 (TOEIC 940), Spanish B2."
- Mobility: "Erasmus semester in Madrid, European law and company law."
What works: the headline announces the target job, missions are quantified, and languages are tied to concrete work situations.
To make this resume readable in seconds, let FinanceCV handle the layout: you spend no time on margins and fonts, and the document stays compatible with the applicant tracking systems (ATS) large companies use to filter VIE applications.
Ready to apply for your VIE? Create your resume for free in a few minutes.