As a legal assistant, you’ll be working in an administrative office-based role within the legal industry. While an interest in law and additional qualifications can be ideal, they aren’t necessary. Most positions are open to high school graduates or those with general office administration experience, but if you really want to stand out or move into higher roles within the industry, you might consider pursuing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in law or paralegal studies or a Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) certification.
Even more important are administrative skills like computer literacy, filing, scheduling appointments, and typing correspondence. Familiarity with legal terms and procedures and experience preparing legal documents is also a plus. If you’re interested in a career in law, like becoming a paralegal or attorney, working as a legal assistant is a great way to gain some experience and insight into the field before you commit to an expensive degree.
Legal assistants are generally paid hourly, with salary ranges fluctuating depending on your state. Average wages across the United States can range from $16.86 to $25.49 per hour. In 2023, legal assistants should be aware of the impact of trends like automation and remote work on the industry.
Like the name implies, legal assistants are mainly tasked with assisting lawyers and other legal professionals in an office environment. Depending on your industry and firm, your role could include anything from organizing and filing documents to gathering evidence and assisting during trial. You’ll need a high level of research and organizational skills, excellent communication, and the ability to take direction and work within a team.
Including numbers and metrics in your accomplishments is a great way to provide extra context for your experience. It also clarifies exactly what you achieved and emphasizes what you can bring to the position. “Updated office records” is a duty, but “updated office records, improving the department's efficiency by 40%” is a resume-worthy accomplishment.
When listing skills on your resume, remember to focus solely on hard skills — things like specific software programs and legal certifications. To make this section even easier for a hiring manager to skim, consider breaking these skills down into sections by including separate subheadings for software, techniques, and certifications.
You can apply for entry level legal assistant positions even without any legal qualifications or office administration experience, or transition to the field from other administrative roles. Employers will be looking for evidence of transferable skills as well as technical skills like data entry software and Microsoft Access. If you have experience as an intern or volunteer in a legal or related field, that can also strengthen your candidacy.
Tailoring your resume to a specific position is easier than you think, even if you’re applying for an entry level position. Including the title of the job you’re applying for at the top of your resume is the quickest way to do this and is a great way of getting past Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
Avoid falling into the trap of listing job duties instead of accomplishments by starting each bullet point with a strong action verb. This keeps the focus on what you actually did and makes it easier for hiring managers to understand your skills and experience. Emphasize your transferable skills by talking about times you’ve organized records, analyzed data, or conducted research.
An experienced legal assistant supports attorneys in a variety of ways. Tasks you can expect include doing research, preparing legal documents, scheduling meetings, organizing documents, etc. To qualify for this job you need to have a degree in law or paralegal studies or a paralegal certificate. This position is for an experienced legal assistant so you will be expected to have years of experience as a legal assistant. It would also benefit you to have experience as an administrator, especially in a law firm. Take a look at this recruiter-approved resume sample.
This position will have you doing a variety of roles as you support attorneys, so show a variety of skills in the skill section. Some basic skills you can include are legal research, scheduling, docketing, etc. Take a look at our list of recommended skills in this guide for more options.
Action verbs are powerful tools that you can use to shape your experience section. For this position, you can use them to indicate that you have experience performing a variety of tasks expected for this position. Useful action verbs can include ‘filed’, ‘assisted’, and ‘organized’. Take a look at the action-verb section of this guide for more action-verb options.
As a legal assistant, office administrative skills are crucial. These include both soft and hard skills, but remember not to lump these together in your skills section. Technical skills like document drafting or CLA certification are hard skills that can be listed at the bottom of your resume. Transferable skills, on the other hand — things that are harder to demonstrate, like communication skills or time management — need to be highlighted through your accomplishments rather than stated outright.
To find out the exact skills hiring managers and ATS are screening for, always review the job description itself. From there, you can pull out the top skills the job is asking for. For more guided assistance, you can upload your resume to our Targeted Resume tool or browse our comprehensive list of legal assistant skills and keywords to ensure your resume lands on the top of the ‘yes’ pile.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Legal Assistant job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
The work experience section of your resume should never read like a job description. Recruiters aren’t interested in what duties you were assigned — they want to know what you accomplished in previous roles and what you’re likely to achieve in this one. The easiest way of distinguishing between a duty and an accomplishment is by starting your bullet points with a strong resume action verb, which keeps the focus on what you actually did.
As a legal assistant, you’ll be conducting research, preparing documents, and organizing legal documents. To emphasize your ability to do the job, choose action verbs that reflect what you’ll actually be doing. Systemized and Organized highlight your attention to detail and organizational skills, while Supported, Assisted, and Coordinated emphasize your teamwork and communication.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
If you're a senior-level employee, or you're changing careers to become a Legal Assistant, it's useful to add a paragraph at the top of your resume highlighting your most impressive accomplishments. This is called a resume summary.
Here's an example of a summary that can be used on a Legal Assistant resume.
A resume summary is a totally optional section, and in most cases, it's better to leave it out of your resume than include it. For example, if you're a student or mid-level hire, you should not include a summary, and instead use the space to add to your work experience.
To learn how to write an effective resume summary for your Legal Assistant resume, or figure out if you need one, please read Resume Summary Examples for Job Seekers: When To Include One.
