Legal Assistant Resume Examples, Template, & Tips

Legal Assistant Resume Template (Text Format)

Don’t forget to include a well-written legal assistant cover letter with your application.

Copy-and-Paste Legal Assistant Resume Template

FIRST AND LAST NAME

Email: your.email@email.com

Phone: (123) 456-7891

Address: Street, City, State

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yourprofile

RESUME SUMMARY

Dedicated legal professional with [number] years of experience. Seeking to leverage my experience in [relevant abilities] to fill the Legal Assistant position. Hold a [degree/diploma/certification] in [Degree/Diploma/Certification Title]. Skilled at [2–3 relevant skills]. A [adjective #1] and [adjective #2] worker aiming to contribute to the success of [Law Firm].

WORK EXPERIENCE

Current Job Title (e.g., Senior Legal Assistant)
Law Firm Name, City, State | Month 20XX–Present

• Include a bulleted list of your achievements as a senior legal assistant
• Start each bullet point with an action verb (like “develop” or “manage”) to grab attention
• Use the present tense for your current legal assistant role, unless describing a completed project or initiative
• Use hard numbers when possible to quantify your accomplishments as a legal assistant
• Mention how you’ve used some of the legal assistant skills listed in your skills section to demonstrate your mastery of these abilities

Previous Job Title (e.g., Legal Assistant)
Law Firm Name, City, State | Month 20XX–Month 20XX

• List relevant accomplishments from your previous role as a legal assistant
• Assuming you’re no longer working in this legal assistant role, use past tense verbs to describe your work
• Include 3–6 bullet points for each legal role, both your current one and previous ones
• Skip the pronoun “I” and begin directly with a verb
• Although you’ll usually list work experience, feel free to include legal industry-relevant internships as well as any volunteer work and extracurricular activities if you lack formal work experience

EDUCATION

Degree Name / Major
University, City, State | Graduation Month, Year
GPA: 3.X/4.0 (optional)
Latin honors (if applicable)

SKILLS & CERTIFICATIONS

• List skills and certifications relevant to the legal assistant job you’re applying for
• Look at the job description for ideas of the skills the employer wants and that are common in the legal sector
• Emphasize legal industry-specific hard skills and technical skills in this section
• Be as specific as possible by including names of tools, equipment, and software you’ve mastered that are used in the legal industry

OPTIONAL RESUME SECTIONS

• Add any other relevant information about your background here
• For example, a separate section could be used to highlight any of the following information: legal industry-relevant awards, publications, or coursework, as well as languages and volunteer experience

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Entry-level legal assistant resume

If this is your first time applying for a legal assistant role, model your resume after this entry-level legal assistant resume example:

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Example highlights

• Relevant experience: This applicant showcases their experience working in a law firm environment as an intern, and their administrative experience gained from working at a hospital. Don’t worry if your previous experience isn’t in the legal field; as long as you show that you’ve developed relevant skills, it will be enough to impress most employers.
• Relevant coursework: The applicant lists some of the legal courses they took in their education section to give employers a better understanding of their legal knowledge level.

Senior legal assistant resume

When you have a few years of experience in the legal field, this is what your resume should look like:

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Example highlights

• Quantified bullet points: The applicant describes their achievements using numbers and percentages to measure the impact of their contributions in previous roles, making their resume more convincing.
• Brief education section: Because they already have over a decade of experience in the field, they keep their education section short. This leaves more space for their work-related accomplishments.

Law clerk resume

If you’re looking to land your next job as a law clerk, take a look at this example to see if there are any key elements missing on your resume:

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Example highlight

• Language certification: Including a language certification on your resume, like this applicant does, can help set you apart from other candidates by showing you can communicate with clients in their mother tongue.

Average legal assistant salaries in the US

The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. The data is presented based on the top states in the United States.

How to write a legal assistant resume

With a mean salary above the U.S. average and a variety of routes into the profession, becoming a legal assistant is an attractive career path.

Follow our tips below to optimize your resume and improve your chances of landing your dream role as a legal assistant or legal secretary.

1. Use action verbs

A mistake many job seekers make is to start every bullet point with dull phrases like “tasked with” or “responsible for”. Starting your resume bullet points with powerful action verbs will help you keep hiring managers’ attention as they read your resume.

Here are some examples of action verbs to use on your legal assistant resume:

• Draft
• Prepare
• Organize
• Manage
• File
• Schedule
• Research
• Compile
• Process
• Review
• Communicate
• Support
• Arrange
• Analyze

2. Use hard numbers to create a persuasive experience section

As a legal professional, you undoubtedly know that the more compelling evidence an attorney provides, the greater the chance of winning over a jury.

It’s the same deal with hiring managers—the more evidence of your abilities you cram into your resume, the more likely you are to impress them. Specifically, you should use hard numbers to quantify your resume and back up your claims.

Here are some examples of the types of data you can include in your resume:

• Number of cases you juggle each week (or month, or year)
• Size of the law firm budget you manage
• Number of legal documents you draft each week
• Amount of time you’ve saved for attorneys (through better time management, more accurately researched reports, etc.)
• Percentage of cases with a successful outcome you’ve contributed to compared with your colleagues
• Amount of money you’ve saved your law firm (through efficiency savings, better time management, etc.)

And here are a couple of examples of how you can include such statistics on your resume:

Implemented a new document management system that saved attorneys 10 hours per week, enhancing overall productivity

Managed the preparation and filing of over 100 legal documents per month, ensuring accuracy and compliance with court deadlines

3. Write an engaging introduction

Because it’s the first thing readers will see, your resume introduction needs to capture potential employers’ attention.

The best way to do this is by writing a concise paragraph of 3–5 sentences that includes highlights from your career as a legal assistant and shows you have the skills necessary to succeed at a law firm.

Here are three good examples:

Resume examples for different industries

Not sure what your resume should look like? The best way to learn is by taking inspiration from resume examples written by other candidates in your industry.

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