Paralegal Resume
A paralegal resume is screened by a hiring partner or senior paralegal who wants three answers: what kind of matters you have carried, which parts of a file you can own without supervision, and which systems you already know. Litigation and corporate roles ask for different evidence, and both expect the vocabulary of the practice — discovery, cite-checking, e-filing and billable time. Below is a full example and the sections that get read.
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What a paralegal resume must include
- Practice area up front — litigation, corporate, real estate, intellectual property, family law or trusts and estates. Firms hire for the practice, not for “legal work” in general.
- Matter volume and matter type: “60–80 active commercial litigation files” or “30+ entities maintained across two acquisitions” tells a hiring partner what you can carry.
- The tasks you own end to end, such as drafting discovery, cite-checking briefs, e-filing, preparing exhibit lists or managing closing binders.
- Software by name — PACER and CM/ECF, Relativity, iManage, Westlaw, Aderant. Firms screen for systems they already run.
- Billable hours: your annual total or target and the software you enter time in. Law firm economics make this a real filter.
- Education and certification: an ABA-approved paralegal certificate, an associate or bachelor's degree in paralegal studies, or the NALA Certified Paralegal (CP) credential.
- Court and jurisdiction experience, including the e-filing systems you have used — federal CM/ECF and the state systems vary by venue.
Paralegal hiring is portfolio-based: the reader is matching your file experience to the work on their desk next month. Confidentiality is part of the evaluation too, so describe matters by type and scale, never by client name or settlement figure.
Paralegal Resume Example
Example resume
A two-page litigation paralegal resume with matter volume, discovery ownership, cite-checking and PACER e-filing — the same structure our builder produces, exported as PDF or DOCX with no account needed.
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Recommended sections for a paralegal resume
- Certifications and education — paralegal certificate and CP credential near the top, with degree details.
- Summary — three lines: practice area, years, matter volume, billable target and top systems.
- Experience — reverse-chronological, with matter volume and ownership in the first bullet of each role.
- Skills — grouped into litigation, corporate, research and software so a reviewer can scan for a match.
- Professional development — continuing legal education, bar association sections and technology training.
- Community and pro bono — optional, but valuable when it shows courtroom or client-facing work.
How to describe paralegal work accurately
Describe substantive ownership inside the paralegal role and attorney supervision where it applies. “Drafted discovery for attorney review” is accurate and strong; “gave legal advice” is neither. Client names, matter numbers and settlement amounts stay out of the document.
- Instead of “Assisted attorneys with litigation” → write “Managed a 60-case commercial docket from intake through trial, drafting discovery, tracking deadlines and preparing exhibit binders.”
- Instead of “Did legal research” → write “Researched and drafted memoranda on contract and employment issues in Westlaw, and cite-checked briefs under Bluebook rules.”
- Instead of “Filed documents” → write “E-filed motions and pleadings in federal court through PACER/CM-ECF and in state court, with proofs of service and courtesy copies.”
- Instead of “Helped with discovery” → write “Reviewed 25,000+ documents in Relativity for responsiveness and privilege and prepared production logs.”
- Instead of “Handled billing” → write “Entered time daily in Aderant, resolved billing discrepancies and averaged 1,650 billable hours a year.”
Paralegal skills and keywords
Firms post the same work as paralegal, litigation paralegal, legal assistant, corporate paralegal and case manager. Mirror the posting's title where it matches your actual duties, and name the courts, systems and task types the posting lists — those are the keywords the screening searches for.
- Litigation: case management, discovery, interrogatories, requests for production, depositions, trial preparation, exhibit lists, subpoenas
- Citations and filing: Bluebook, Shepard's, KeyCite, PACER, CM/ECF, state e-filing, proofs of service, docket calendaring
- Research and drafting: Westlaw, LexisNexis, pleadings, motions, discovery requests, deposition summaries
- Corporate: entity formation, minute books, board consents, due diligence, closing binders, UCC filings, SEC EDGAR
- Software: Relativity, iManage, NetDocuments, CaseMap, Clio, Aderant, Elite, iTimekeep
ATS notes for paralegal resumes
- Law firms and legal recruiters parse resumes in applicant systems, and smaller firms run keyword searches against a stack of PDFs. Spell systems and task types out rather than abbreviating.
- Write “paralegal certificate (ABA-approved)” and “Certified Paralegal (NALA CP)” exactly — the credential is a hard filter for many postings.
- Name e-filing systems explicitly: PACER, CM/ECF, and the state system the venue uses. “E-filing” alone is too generic for a search.
- Keep case lists in plain bullets, not in a table with merged cells; parsers scramble table structure and drop rows.
- Use month-and-year dates for every role and certification; a year alone can attach the wrong dates to the wrong job.
- State your billable-hours history as text in the summary or experience — firms filter on it, and it should not sit in a graphic.
Common mistakes on paralegal resumes
- Writing “assisted” and “supported” with no volume or ownership, leaving the reader unsure what you can carry alone.
- Omitting software names, when a firm's onboarding plan depends on whether you already know its document management system.
- Describing work that reads as attorney work — legal advice, signing filings, setting fees — which raises an ethics question rather than a skill one.
- Leaving out the practice area, so a litigation opening gets a generalist resume with no relevant file experience.
- Burying billable hours, which partners read as a signal of whether you understand law firm economics.
- Including client names, matter numbers or settlement figures, which breaks confidentiality before the first interview.
- Running to three pages with task-level repetition instead of consolidating similar matters into one strong entry.
ShitResume keeps every template to a single column of selectable text, so matter descriptions, billable-hours totals and PACER or CM/ECF references survive parsing in the order a firm expects them. The builder is completely free, and it opens without an account or a payment step.
ShitResume is free for every template and every export, keeps matter descriptions and billable-hours history on your device rather than a server, and opens without an account. Confidential career details get the same care a firm would expect you to give its files.
Skills and keywords for this role
Use the terms that genuinely describe your work — an interviewer will ask about anything you list.
- Litigation: case management, discovery, interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, subpoenas, deposition preparation, trial preparation, exhibit lists
- Citations and courts: Bluebook cite-checking, Shepard's and KeyCite, PACER and CM/ECF, state e-filing systems, proofs of service, docket calendaring
- Research and drafting: Westlaw, LexisNexis, pleadings, motions, discovery requests, correspondence, deposition summaries, memoranda support
- Corporate: entity formation, minute books, board consents, due diligence, closing binders, UCC filings, SEC EDGAR filings, contract management
- Software: iManage, NetDocuments, Relativity, CaseMap, Clio, Aderant, Elite, iTimekeep, DocuSign
- Operations: billable time entry, matter budgets, client intake, file organization, confidentiality, notary public
Frequently asked questions
What should a paralegal resume include?
Lead with your practice area, then give matter volume, the tasks you own — discovery, cite-checking, e-filing, closings — and the systems you know by name. Add billable-hours history, certification and court experience. Firms hire for the work on their desk next month, so the resume should read as a match to a practice area rather than a list of every legal task you have touched.
What is the difference between a paralegal and a legal assistant on a resume?
Titles vary by firm and there is no universal rule, so use the title your employer gave you and describe the work honestly underneath. “Paralegal” generally signals substantive work under attorney supervision, often with a certificate or degree, while “legal assistant” covers administrative and clerical support. If your duties grew past your title, describe the ownership without inflating the title itself.
How do I show e-filing experience on a paralegal resume?
Name the systems and the courts: “E-filed motions and pleadings in federal court through PACER/CM-ECF and in state court via the venue's system, with proofs of service.” Add volume or range if you can — filings per month, case types, jurisdictions. Specific system names are what screening searches match, and they tell a hiring partner how quickly you can file independently.
Do I need a paralegal certificate to get hired?
Many firms require an ABA-approved certificate or a degree in paralegal studies, and some states set education or experience requirements for the title. Others hire legal assistants and train them into paralegal work. If you hold the NALA Certified Paralegal (CP) credential, list it near the top; if you do not, describe your education, years of substantive experience and the tasks you handle.
Should I include billable hours on a paralegal resume?
Yes, when the number is accurate. State your annual average or the target you worked to — “averaged 1,650 billable hours a year” — and name the timekeeping software you used. Law firm hiring depends on whether you understand the billable-hour model, and the number is a concrete signal of productivity that a hiring partner will look for anyway.
How long should a paralegal resume be?
One page for early-career paralegals and legal assistants; two pages for experienced litigation or corporate paralegals with multiple practice areas and systems. Do not let it run to three — consolidate similar matters into one strong entry instead of repeating task lists. Keep certifications, matter volume and software on page one, because that is what gets the first read.