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Paralegal Resume Examples: 5 Best Samples & Why They Work

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Are you trying to make the best paralegal resume so you can get hired ASAP?

If so, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to including necessary information, standing out against the competition, and formatting a foolproof resume to increase your likelihood of getting a job.

Fortunately, you are not alone in this struggle!

Many qualified paralegals are trying to decipher the most efficient way to create a detailed resume.

Forget struggling for hours and hours on end — we can help you write the best resume!

Paralegal Resume Examples

Determining the types of resumes required to become a specific type of paralegal can help you figure out what to include on your resume.

Entry-Level Paralegal Resume Example

An entry-level paralegal helps a business or individual perform required research and provides necessary legal help to the company’s attorneys.

Suppose you are working as an entry-level paralegal in the law field. In that case, your primary purpose in a company is to help attorneys and lawyers at the firm with organization, communication, administration, and research.

A beginner paralegal who is just entering the field should learn basic administrative skills beforehand, such as how to organize files, communicate with clients, effectively delegate tasks, utilize online research skills, and understand the basics of law.

Entry-level paralegals who are working in a subset of law (ex: constitutional law, Administrative Law, Contract Law, etc.) should know the specifics of that field.

Entry-Level Paralegal Resume Example

Why We Suggest this Resume

This is the best resume option when applying for a first job as an entry-level paralegal position because it demonstrates proficiency in other similar industries.

  • Type of Resume: Entry-Level Paralegal Resume Example
  • Best For: Fresh graduate paralegals applying for entry-level paralegal jobs

Work Experience 1: Legal Assistant  

  • Organizational skills for creating appointments and delegating daily tasks
  • Answering phones and speaking with clients in-person
  • Patience when dealing with clients and co-workers
  • Proficient computer skills — Excel, Word, e-mailing

Work Experience 2: Customer Support Specialist

  • Created multiple business relationships with long-term clients
  • Promoted the business using consistent communication skills and pitching innovative ideas
  • Kept track of online and electronic records for new clients
  • Created a relaxing and collaborative work environment with co-workers to meet long and short-term company goals
  • Communicated with clients to increase the likelihood of resolving outstanding queries or concerns

Work Experience 3: Receptionist

  • Answers and forwards phone calls from customers
  • First point of contact for customers
  • Provides guidance to customers and clients
  • Obtains information from clients to forward to the correct department
  • Collects and distributes mail to the right department
  • Monitors and screens visitors to enhance business security

Project Experience:

  1. Broadcasted a company’s referral program, which helped boost the sign-up rates by 50%
  2. Filed documents with the local courthouse prior to the court case to help increase office and lawyer efficiency by over 15% while working as a legal assistant
  3. Worked with management staff as a receptionist to utilize new communication software in the office to help increase in-house collaboration

Skills

  • Communication skills with clients and co-workers
  • Online research skills
  • Understand the details of the specific type of law
  • Organize and schedule daily tasks
  • Research and interpret data to use for a trial
  • People skills to take care of pre-trial interviews with clients
  • Writing — Communicate online and in person clearly and succinctly
  • Teamwork with co-workers and management staff  
  • Flexible and versatile schedule
  • Business understanding and proficiency, specifically in the legal world

Education:

  • American Bar Association paralegal studies program
  • Degree in paralegal studies — 4-year Bachelor’s Degree and post-degree accreditation

Licenses And Accreditations List

  • Paralegal qualification
  • National Association of Licensed Paralegals certification

Why This Resume Works

This is the best option for a resume for a first job as an entry-level paralegal position because it demonstrates their proficiency in other similar industries. Although you may not have experience as a paralegal in the law industry, showcasing that you can use similar skills — such as organization, communication, and scheduling — can increase your likelihood of being hired.

Litigation Paralegal Resume Example

A litigation paralegal is a person who helps the lawyer with case management, trial preparation, and litigation.

This person helps a lawyer with the must-do activities before a trial, such as case research, document preparation, and brief creation.

Litigation Paralegal Resume Example

Why We Suggest this Resume

This resume demonstrates how you can use your past work experience as a paralegal and past project experience to help increase the likelihood of being hired in a similar role.

  • Type of Resume: Litigation Paralegal Resume Example
  • Best For: Job seekers applying for the litigation paralegal role

Work Experience: Paralegal

  • Organized information for clients’ court cases using specific software, helping increase the attorney’s efficiency by over 30%
  • Conducted 50+ client interviews to help build a trusting and collaborative relationship
  • Optimized specific operations to help improve the efficiency of daily scheduling within the workplace, such as using cloud-based software to share documents and delegate the workload between lawyers
  • Created 70+ types of legal documents, such as agreements, commercial agreements, and client contracts

Work Experience: Litigation Paralegal

  • Created hundreds of files for annotations, client testimonials, court summaries, court proceedings, physical evidence, and legal documents every day
  • Prepared various court analyses that helped in a favorable outcome for 75+ litigation cases
  • Formulated 50% of the firm’s requests for information from auditors, company regulators, and legal partners
  • Wrote drafts for hundreds of legal documents, such as client agreements, business contracts, and non-disclosure agreements
  • Prepared client subpoenas
  • Created interrogations, motions, deposition formats, and judicial decisions, leading to a 90% disbursement achievement

Work Experience: Paralegal Intern

  • Helped with over 74+ types of legal tasks for daily attorney work, receiving 95% positive feedback from management staff
  • Facilitate a more streamlined case preparation strategy to help attorneys with their daily tasks by organizing information, leading to an increase in pre-trial efficiency by over 40%

Project Experience:

  1. Created accurate legal paperwork to help increase case efficiency, such as formulating briefs and client contracts
  2. Developed research strategies during every phase of the trial preparation process
  3. The only paralegal investigator on personal injury cases, showcasing independent skills and aiding in achieving a defense verdict

Skills:

  • Proficient verbal, manual written, and online written communication skills for collaborating with co-workers and speaking with clients
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office, Excel, and Word
  • Delegation and management skills to help prioritize daily tasks, various projects, and numerous clients
  • Conducts practical research using online methods and analytical interpretation
  • A high level of attention to detail when communicating with clients and deciphering documents
  • Prepare and review dates for deadlines

Education:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Paralegal

Licenses & Accreditations:

  • Certificate program from the American Bar Association
  • Real Estate License Exam

Why This Resume Works

Demonstrating how you can use your past work experience as a paralegal and past project experience will help increase the likelihood of being hired in a similar role.

Job seekers who ask employers to please find my attached resume can boost their chances of employment.

Showcasing specific litigation skills, such as time management, dealing with demanding clients, and creative thinking, is an excellent way to increase the chances of future client-employer contact.

Immigration Paralegal Resume Example

An immigration paralegal is a professional who works directly with lawyers to help immigrants from other countries become citizens.

Although this paralegal cannot provide direct legal advice to the client, the immigration attorney will collaborate with the paralegal to help with citizenship requests, political asylum, and visa issues.

Immigration Paralegal Resume Example

Why We Suggest this Resume

This resume can help a previously-experienced paralegal obtain an immigration paralegal role by showcasing past experience in the industry, certifications specific to security or deportation, and organizational skills.

  • Type of Resume: Immigration Paralegal Resume Example
  • Best For: Paralegals with experience applying for an immigration paralegal role

Work Experience: Immigration Paralegal

  • Created trial exhibits by gathering necessary materials from clients, composing legal documentation, and preparing multimedia presentation displays
  • Completed accurate and data-driven legal paperwork for the displays, such as client briefs, client contracts, and court proceedings
  • Formulated legal documents, including client briefs, to help increase the efficacy of court proceedings
  • Collaborated and communicated with clients to ensure an accurate portrayal of the court outcome and information
  • Reviewed government structures and specific laws, such as arbitration information, to help with negotiation and court presentations
  • Prepared status adjustments for potential clients, such as employment-based adjustments

Work Experience: Paralegal

  • Prepared legal documents for client interviews and trials
  • Performed preliminary client interviews
  • Drafted briefs and legal documents
  • Communicated with clients regarding case information
  • Reduced the lawyer’s total workload by reviewing the court case documents, evaluating legal documentation, and analyzing the discovery materials

Work Experience: Research Technician

  • Supported the research team and development officers to help formulate new products, maintain equipment, and streamline processes
  • Evaluated subjects and possible participants to reduce the risk possibilities
  • Conducted data-driven research to gather information, answer questions, and avoid confusion in the workplace
  • Collaborated with co-workers and the management staff to identify concerns or queries
  • Planned, edited, and carried out complicated research techniques
  • Developed specific formulas to help produce accurate reviews
  • Retained and organized data for long-term analysis

Project Experience:

  1. Responsible for preparing immigration applications, such as H-1B, H-3, L-1, and P-1 visas, increasing efficiency by 30%
  2. Researched immigration regulations and case law to help lawyers’ daily efficiency
  3. Managed personal case information for 80 clients

Skills:

  • Research skills regarding complex immigration and legal data
  • Communicate efficiently with both the lawyers and clients to avoid misinformation or delays in the filing process
  • Organizational methods to increase daily efficiency, balance caseload, and manage various cases simultaneously
  • Strong attention to detail and clerical skills to manage a large caseload
  • Knowledge of immigration documents, forms, and how to fill out the necessary paperwork for the related visas
  • Proficiency with online systems and computer skills (ex: Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.)
  • Creates and organizes court calendars to avoid scheduling conflicts
  • Conducts client interview to gather and organize background information and case details

Education:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science

Licenses & Accreditations:

  • Professional certification in Homeland Security Guidelines

Why This Resume Works

This resume can help a previously-experienced paralegal obtain an immigration paralegal role by showcasing past experience in the industry, certifications specific to security or deportation, and organizational skills.

Real Estate Paralegal Resume Example

A real estate paralegal is a professional who provides administrative, communication, and clerical aid to a business in the real estate industry.

This person helps with the compliance and regulation of processing and selling properties.

The main function of a real estate paralegal aid is to help a law firm with communication, delegation, and processing of sales within the real estate industry.

The paralegal will aid with reviewing cases, communicating with clients, creating and updating files, and finalizing legal documents.

Real Estate Paralegal Resume Example

Why We Suggest this Resume

Listing employment history, education, and licenses can increase the likelihood of an employer viewing your resume. This resume focuses on such and highlights paralegal licenses.

  • Type of Resume: Real Estate Paralegal Resume Example
  • Best For: Paralegals looking for jobs in the real estate industry

Work Experience: Paralegal

  • Created and organized practice trials by gathering materials, necessary documentation and preparing visual aids
  • Formulated accurate legal documents, such as contracts and client briefs
  • Developed legal documents, such as motions, to help with the efficiency of court proceedings
  • Communicated with clients to keep track of daily updates and current case information

Work Experience: Legal Secretary

  • Correspondence with clients regarding the current court case
  • Scheduling of each lawyer’s daily tasks and meetings
  • Time billing for up-to-date hours and weekly work
  • Data entry for multiple lawyers
  • Prepared and created legal forms for court
  • Worked as an officer of the court by serving court notices
  • Listed actions for court actions
  • Documented the details of court proceedings

Work Experience: Receptionist

  • Entered accurate data into the correct spreadsheet and computer system
  • First contact for customers and clients who were considering working with the business
  • Responsible for the business’ inventory and ordering supplies on time
  • Maintenance of office equipment
  • Screened phone calls and forwarded them to the correct department
  • Sorted and forwarded mail to the right department

Project Experience:

  1. Create personalized resorts for over 50+ cases as a paralegal, helping organize the daily motions, client arguments, case briefings, and other filings to achieve positive results in 95% of cases
  2. Became proficient in 10+ types of legal software to create a more streamlined work approach, such as LexisNexis, MS Office Suite, Excel, and others
  3. Taught management staff the details of how to use cloud-based storage to boost office efficiency and increase attorney efficiency by over 15%

Skills:

  • Proficient in the English language and grammar
  • Excellent communication skills when dealing with co-workers and clients
  • Organizational skills — create daily schedules, delegate tasks, multi-task with various cases at one time, and communicate with several clients simultaneously
  • Understand legal terminology and the details of specific cases
  • Transcribe legal documents
  • Attend meetings and document the outcome
  • Answer phones and document the conversation to pass on to the correct department
  • Organize the court files
  • Manage multiple workers’ schedules
  • Negotiate contracts while maintaining good business relationships
  • Collaborate with other businesses and real estate brokers
  • Create bankruptcy and escrow documents

Education:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Paralegal

Licenses & Accreditations:

  • Certificate program from the American Bar Association
  • Real Estate License Exam

Why This Resume Works

Listing employment history, education, and licenses can increase the likelihood of an employer viewing your resume, reaching out for further contact, and hiring you at the end of the screening process.

Becoming a real estate paralegal has numerous benefits compared to other professions. The salary of a real estate paralegal is extremely high, with the average salary coming to almost $50k for real estate paralegals. Furthermore, the job outlook is positive — the number of paralegal jobs continues to increase every year.

By listing your responsibilities and daily tasks completed in previous occupations, you can demonstrate how you can multitask during your job as a real estate paralegal — paralegals must perform a wide range of activities in their daily job, such as filing motions, communicating with clients, filling out paperwork, and speaking with witnesses.  

Corporate Paralegal Resume Example

A corporate paralegal is a legal professional who works with corporate law.

This type of professional focuses specifically on business contracts, client contracts, internal finances, bankruptcy filings, company securities, and patent trademarks.

This role is essential for businesses to make sure that their internal proceedings are legal and accurately recorded.

Corporate Paralegal Resume Example

Why We Suggest this Resume

This resume demonstrates proficiency with past work as a paralegal and a certification that showcases expertise in the paralegal industry.

  • Type of Resume: Corporate Paralegal Resume Example
  • Best For: Legal professionals looking for jobs in corporate law

Work Experience: Paralegal

  • Managed legal team for a company of 8 people and three lawyers
  • Drafted legal documents and client contracts
  • Managed research for the three lawyers, receiving positive feedback from all management staff due to the accurate, detailed, and organized client information
  • Conducted 10+ daily requests for information from stakeholders, company partners, and business auditors
  • Increased the corporate internal processes for the firm by streamlining the recordkeeping techniques, formulating presentations, aiding in conflict resolution, and providing various materials to employees
  • Crafted detailed reports based on the specific attorney requests for over 50 cases, including creating motions, client arguments, and court proceedings

Work Experience: Paralegal

  • Developed data-based resorts for attorneys on 50+ cases
  • Helped six attorneys with cloud-based management techniques
  • Mastered ten types of software to increase workflow efficiency
  • Created over 40 types of legal documents for clients and lawyers, including business contractors, service agreements, and other business agreements
  • Developed an index filing system to aid in the intra-company organization and case archiving
  • Organized document collection to aid in case litigation efficiency

Work Experience: Corporate Paralegal

  • Carried out 5+ daily requests for information from external auditors and internal partners
  • Assessed business leases across five departments
  • Created 50 types of documents, such as distribution agreements
  • Created over 45% of the firm’s information requests from external sources and internal audits
  • Organized interrogations, motions, depositions, and data logs to help the business partners
  • Formulated over 300+ winning case reports
  • Researched opposing arguments, legal decisions, case materials, and relevant laws to provide clients with the necessary information, helping increase the firm’s disbursement rate

Project Experience:

  1. Organized the internal filing system to increase office efficiency by 10%
  2. Created 75% of informational requests from auditors
  3. Collected and organized 200+ files on summaries and client testimonials

Skills:

  • Legal software
  • Conducting research for multiple projects simultaneously
  • Multi-tasking to help numerous lawyers in the business
  • Adaptability to thrive in any environment
  • Proficient in drafting consultation agreements
  • Multi-tasking to help numerous clients at the same time, helping with the firm’s caseload and efficacy
  • Bilingual to aid various clients in communicating effectively
  • Goal-oriented to help the firm achieve both long-term and short-term goals  

Education

  • Associate of Arts

Licenses & Accreditations

  • Advanced Certified Paralegal

Why This Resume Works

Demonstrates proficiency with past work as a paralegal and a certification that showcases expertise in the paralegal industry.

By including the project experience of how their past work as a paralegal has benefited their companies, they can show how they will also excel as a corporate paralegal.

Common Skills & Action Verbs To Include On A Paralegal Resume

There are specific personal, social, educational, and technical skills job seekers should include on their resumes. By including relevant skills on a resume, job seekers can increase the likelihood that their past experience, abilities, and personal character can make them stand out among the other applicants.

The skills section is one of the most essential parts of a resume, as it shows the employer that you have the required background and skills to succeed — this will increase the likelihood of them taking a chance on you.

Common Skills For Paralegal Resumes

  • Legal research
  • Office scheduling
  • Outlook
  • Data entry
  • Court depositions
  • Client communication
  • Professional interviews
  • Writing legal documents
  • Business planning
  • Risk identification
  • Executive presentations
  • Business contracts
  • Legal filing
  • Legal assistance
  • Accountability
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Professionalism
  • Attention to detail
  • Technology
  • Adaptability
  • Active listening
  • Customer service
  • Quick and accurate decision making
  • Problem-solving
  • Teamwork

Common Action Verbs For Paralegal Resumes

  • Collaborated
  • Created
  • Formulated
  • Responsible for
  • Attended
  • Aided
  • Gathered
  • Conducted
  • Participated
  • Reviewed
  • Analyzed
  • Implemented
  • Verified
  • Negotiated
  • Handled
  • Organized
  • Facilitated
  • Worked with
  • Helped

Tips For Writing A Better Paralegal Resume

Job seekers should keep a few tips in mind to create the most effective paralegal resume and increase their chances of obtaining an open job position.

1. Write A Professional Summary

Including a professional summary that gives a brief introduction into who you are, your past work, and anything interesting about you can help you stand out and personalize your resume. Those who have multiple years of experience or work as a paralegal, assistant, or secretary should include a professional summary. Make sure to include a resume objective if you are applying for an entry-level position or are going for a specific job opening.

2. Highlight Your Achievements

Highlighting your achievements, such as awards, projects completed, and unique qualifications can help you stand out among the rest. Make sure to include completed projects that are unique to your work history.

3. Showcase Your Skills

Showcasing your skills that are relevant to the specific job is a good way to show that you can effectively succeed in the open role. For example, broadcasting your organization, personal skills, and research capabilities can help you obtain a job as any subset of a paralegal.

4. Reference Your Past Work Experience

Including past work experience is one of the most important items to include on your resume. If you have no past occupations or jobs, this is a red flag to employers. Employers want to see that you are qualified and have the experience and skills necessary to succeed in the job position. Plus, including work experience allows the new employer to contact your past bosses.

5. Detail Your Education And Certifications

Detailing your past education, certifications, and accreditations can help an employer see the extra steps you took to stand out among the rest of the competition. Include your education and elaborate on your experience if you are a recent graduate with a detailed intern resume or you recently implemented your degree with a certification.

By demonstrating your proficiency and expertise in legal studies, paralegal work, or specific industries (ex: security or immigration), you will have a better chance of getting noticed. Make sure you include certifications that showcase your expertise in the industry, such as the following:

  • Legal Document Preparer
  • Legal Document Assistant
  • Professional Paralegal
  • Registered Paralegal
  • Advanced Certified Paralegal

6. Consider Adding Extra Sections

If you have details on your resume and background that can make you stand out among other similar applicants, it can be a good idea to add extra sections to your resume. Some ideas include publications, research papers, blogs, industry awards, conferences attended, and volunteer experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are a few commonly asked questions that potential future paralegals have about the legal world and formulating resumes to get noticed.

What Are Technical Skills For A Paralegal?

There are a few technical skills that are crucial for a future paralegal to have:

  • Basic computer skills (documents, Excel spreadsheets, e-mail communication, intra-company messaging, etc.)
    • Excel is essential for creating templates, organizing spreadsheets, and collaborating with co-workers
    • Word Processing is crucial for all levels of paralegals to create documents, edit templates, and re-design documents
  • Scheduling and creating daily tasks — Multi-tasking with different types of calendars are required for prioritizing and creating daily to-do tasks
  • e-Filing data and client information — Knowing how to submit electronic documents is required for paralegals
  • Electronically stored information
  • Presentation software for trials
  • Billing software for financial management
  • Online research — Researching legal documents, laws, and court cases is key for paralegals to look up information quickly and easily
  • File management — keeping track of various files is essential for managing client information

What Is A Good Example Of A Paralegal’s Resume Objective?

A good example of a paralegal resume objective includes describing a person’s skills, short-term goal, long-term goal, and attention-grabbing statement.

An example of a paralegal resume objective is “A detail-oriented immigration paralegal with a specific legal certification and research skills seeking a management position in an immigration law firm.”

Similar Resume Types To Reference

There are other resume types you can use to grab an employer’s attention.

Wrapping Up

Understanding the different types of resume examples to use for a potential job opening can increase the chances of being seen, noticed, and hired by an employer.

If you are looking for a specific job in the paralegal world, using one of these resume templates can help you stand out amongst other applicants.

Let us know in the comments what you think of our resume examples! Share this article if you found our information helpful.

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