Paralegal Resume Example

Paralegals assist lawyers and law firms by performing daily tasks such as research, drafting legal documents, interviewing clients and witnesses, trial preparation, and handling administrative procedures.

Since paralegals are responsible for many of the day-to-day tasks law firms must perform to meet their client’s needs, lawyers rely heavily on paralegals and will only hire the most dedicated and detail-oriented professionals.

To convince them you’re the right person for the job, you’ll need a great paralegal resume that highlights your relevant experience and qualifications. To help you, here are four insider tips for writing a great paralegal resume.

1. Create a detailed resume objective

First, when writing your paralegal resume, you’ll need to create a detailed resume objective.

Resume objectives are typically for recent graduates or entry-level candidates with little to no relatable experience. Though, if you’re a candidate with experience, you can also consider writing a resume objective if you simply really want the position you’re applying for.

When writing a resume objective, state your relevant experience and transferrable skills, highlight your applicable education and training, and include any other relevant qualifications. Finally, you’ll also want to state why your skills make you a valuable candidate for the position.

Here’s an example of a well-crafted resume objective for a paralegal:

Detailed-oriented and organized certified paralegal with 3+ years litigation experience in criminal law. Background in legal research, trial preparation, client and witness interviewing, and drafting legal memorandums. Bilingual, fluent in English and Spanish. Seeking to leverage legal research and trial preparation experience to fill a paralegal position at Darren Brother’s Law Firm.

Notice how the candidate includes their relevant experience (3+ years), job-related skills (legal research, trial preparation, client and witness interviewing, and drafting legal memorandums), and other qualifications (bilingual in Spanish and English).

Additionally, the candidate also states why their skills make them a good candidate (seeking to leverage legal research and trial preparation experience to fill a paralegal position at Darren Brother’s Law Firm).

2. Include essential skills for a paralegal

To correctly execute their duties, paralegals need to be proficient at using a variety of computer programs and possess certain hard and soft skills.

To show employers that you’re qualified to do the job, you need to highlight these skills on your resume.

For example, here are some of the top skills required for most paralegal roles:

Additionally, here’s an example of some sought-out paralegal hard and soft skills:

Hard skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, and Powerpoint)
• Proficient with LexisNexis, Westlaw
• Legal document preparation and drafting
• Client interviewing and consulting
• Trial preparation
• E-filing and records management
• Legal research
• Court calendaring
• Case management
• Legal contracts and agreements
• Proofreading and editing
• Litigation

Soft skills:

• Time management
• Organizational skills
• Negotiation tactics
• Adaptability
• Multitasking
• Attention-to-detail
• Oral and written communication

Remember, while your soft skills are important, employers are more concerned with your hard skills as they speak to your credibility as a paralegal. It’s best to list more hard skills than soft skills, or list half and half at a minimum.

Finally, due to the variety of clients law firms deal with daily – some of which are not native English speakers – it’s always great to list foreign languages skills on your paralegal resume.

Include the foreign language you’re proficient in, along with your proficiency level (native, business proficiency, limited business proficiency, novice).

3. Provide a detailed overview of your work experience

The part of your resume that law offices ultimately pay the most attention to is your work experience section. To get the job you want, you’ll need to know how to list work experience on your resume in a way that gets their attention and showcases your strengths.

To start, add keywords to some of the bullet points in your experience section. Because paralegals deal with legal work, you’ll need to use keywords specific to law practice, such as “legal documents and research”, “litigation”, “attorney reviews”, and “client interviews”.

Additionally, use action verbs to describe your work experience, instead of phrases such as “responsibilities” or “duties include” to convey work ethic and leadership skills to the law firm’s hiring manager.

Here are three great bullet point examples of paralegal work experience using highlighted action verbs and proper legal phrases:

• Serve as client-attorney liaison, managing high-volume email and phone correspondence, and scheduling and conducting client and witness interviews
• Reduced administrative investigative expenses by 15% through reviewing and developing questionnaires and SOPs for attorney usage when interviewing clients or witnesses
• Gather, analyze and investigate statutes and legal decisions relating to criminal cases, while managing additional office-related tasks

However, there are many action verbs besides those listed above that would look great on your paralegal resume. For help, here’s an example of additional paralegal actions verbs:

4. Listing your educational background and additional skills

Law firms and lawyers typically look for candidates with either an associate’s degree in paralegal studies, or a bachelor’s in another field supplemented with a certificate in paralegal studies. Most U.S. universities also offer certificates in paralegal studies, which can be completed in under a year.

Make sure to include your degree achieved and date of graduation in the education section of your resume, along with your paralegal certificate (if your major was not paralegal studies).

If you’re an entry-level paralegal, make sure to also include any legal-related social clubs or societies you’ve joined while studying.