Paralegal resume example

• Entry level

  Paralegal certificate graduate from an ABA-approved program with a 240-hour internship at a county legal aid office. Drafted intake summaries, organized exhibits for eviction hearings and e-filed routine motions under attorney review. Comfortable in Westlaw, Clio and Word pleading templates. Looking for a litigation paralegal role in a small or mid-size firm with a busy state court docket.

• Mid level

  Litigation paralegal with six years in commercial disputes at a 40-attorney firm. Runs document productions in Relativity, drafts discovery responses and privilege logs, and keeps the docket for about 35 active matters with no missed dates. Prepared trial binders and exhibit lists for four jury trials in state and federal court. Holds the NALA Certified Paralegal credential.

• Senior

  Senior paralegal and team lead with twelve years in complex litigation and class actions. Supervises five paralegals and two case clerks, sets review protocols with e-discovery vendors and trains new hires on court rules and the firm's docketing system. Managed review of 1.2 million documents for a multidistrict matter while keeping vendor spend inside the approved budget.

• Corporate paralegal

  Corporate paralegal supporting a six-lawyer business group on entity formation, financings and asset purchases. Keeps minute books and annual filings current for about 150 entities, runs UCC and lien searches, and assembles signature pages and closing sets so deals close on the scheduled day.

• Returning to practice

  Litigation paralegal returning after three years at home with young children, with five earlier years in insurance defense. Kept skills current through a Relativity refresher course and weekly intake shifts at a legal aid clinic. Ready to resume discovery drafting, medical record summaries and docket work for a defense or plaintiff firm.

• Graduate

  Recent paralegal studies graduate from an ABA-approved program, with a 200-hour internship at a public defender's office. Practiced Westlaw research, exhibit preparation and e-filing, and wants a litigation paralegal role supporting a criminal defense or civil rights practice.

• Legal secretary

  Legal secretary with seven years at a real estate firm, now finishing a paralegal certificate. Already prepares closing binders, orders title work and tracks lender conditions, and is applying for a real estate paralegal position with drafting responsibility.

• Writing "legal research" with no tool or output

  Fix: Say where you researched and what you produced. "Pulled and Shepardized authority in Lexis+ for a summary judgment brief" tells an attorney far more than a skills chip. Mention memos, case summaries or cite-check work and the jurisdiction, so the reader can match your research to their practice.

• Leaving the deadline work invisible

  Fix: Docketing protects a firm from missed filings and malpractice exposure, yet many resumes skip it. State the calendaring system you used, such as CompuLaw or Clio, how many active matters you tracked, and whether you calculated dates from court rules yourself.

• Blending every practice area together

  Fix: A posting for a corporate paralegal wants entity formation, minute books, UCC searches and closing sets, not deposition prep. Sort your experience by the practice area each employer needs, move the matching bullets to the top of every job, and cut tasks that belong to another group.

• Wording that sounds like you gave legal advice

  Fix: Paralegals work under attorney supervision and cannot advise clients. A phrase like "advised clients on their rights" can worry a hiring partner. Write what you actually did: interviewed clients to gather facts, explained next procedural steps the attorney approved, or prepared intake summaries for attorney review.

Match these against the job posting you are applying to: the free resume checker shows which keywords your resume is missing.

Litigation paralegal

Put the phrase in your headline and back it with the courts and case types from your most recent role.

Relativity

Name the tasks you did, such as searching, coding or production, and the size of the largest review you supported.

Docketing

Give the calendaring system and the number of active matters you tracked in one experience bullet.

Discovery

State which discovery documents you drafted and how many cases a year relied on your first drafts.

Westlaw or Lexis+

Pair the platform with a research product, like a memo or a cite check.

CM/ECF

Mention federal e-filing next to any state portal you use, with a filing count in your experience section.

Trial preparation

Say how many trials you worked and what you built for them: binders, exhibits or witness folders.

Certified Paralegal

Spell out the credential and the issuing association in certifications, with the year you earned it.

Privilege log

Fold it into your production bullet.

• Managed a 180,000-document production in Relativity, applying Bates numbers, redactions and privilege tags and delivering every volume to opposing counsel on the agreed date.
• Drafted first versions of interrogatory answers and requests for production for 25 commercial cases a year, freeing associates for motion practice.
• Maintained the litigation docket for 40 active matters in CompuLaw, calculating response dates from federal and state rules with no missed deadlines in four years.
• Summarized 60 deposition transcripts into issue-coded digests that attorneys used to build cross-examination outlines and summary judgment briefs.
• Built trial binders, exhibit lists and witness folders for 3 jury trials, then ran exhibits on the courtroom display system during testimony.
• Cite-checked a 45-page appellate brief in Westlaw, correcting Bluebook format and flagging two cases with negative treatment before filing.
• E-filed more than 300 pleadings and motions through CM/ECF and the state portal, confirming service and saving stamped copies to Clio the same day.
• Prepared closing packages for 70 commercial real estate transactions, ordering title commitments, reviewing surveys and tracking lender conditions until funding.

• Match the practice group in the posting

  Read the posting for its practice group and court level, then reorder each job so the matching bullets come first. A firm hiring for insurance defense wants medical record summaries and depositions. A corporate group wants closings and entity upkeep. Copy its software names exactly when you have used them. Tailor your paralegal resume to the practice group

• Open the letter with a matter you carried

  Start with one matter you helped move from intake to resolution, described without client names. Then tie it to the firm: its practice areas, the courts it appears in, or a public case it recently handled. Close with your availability around trial dates. Write a cover letter for a law firm

• Expect a proofreading or deadline exercise

  Firms often ask paralegal candidates to proofread a short brief, calculate a response deadline or summarize a deposition excerpt. Practice counting days under your state's civil rules and the federal rules, including weekends and court holidays. Prepare a story about a deadline you nearly missed, how you caught it, and what you changed in your process afterward. Rehearse paralegal interview questions

• Put credentials where attorneys look

  List an ABA-approved certificate and any voluntary credential, such as NALA's CP or NFPA's RP, in a short credentials line under your name. If your bachelor's degree is in an unrelated field, place the paralegal certificate first in education. Check where your credentials appear