Paralegal resume tips
A paralegal resume should name the area of law and the documents you prepared. Attorneys read for substance: litigation, corporate, family, immigration, or trusts. They also notice if you describe yourself as practicing law. You should not.
What to put first
State the practice area and the setting: a firm, a corporate legal department, or a public office. Then the documents and the tasks: drafting under review, filing, managing a deadline calendar, organizing productions. Put the closest area first.
The document
Name what you drafted or assembled and who reviewed it. A complaint, a closing binder, a discovery response, or a visa packet are different work. "Assisted attorneys" names none of them.
Deadlines and facts
A calendar you kept and a factual record you organized are core skills. Say so. Do not claim you decided strategy.
The boundary
Write that work was under attorney supervision when that was the case. Do not use phrases that sound like you represented a client or gave legal advice.
An example line
Adapt this only where it is true for you. It is a shape for a bullet, not a claim that a particular person did this work.
Litigation paralegal: assembled discovery responses from the client's documents, kept the deadline calendar, and drafted first versions an attorney revised before anything was filed.
What to leave off
Leave off client names, strategy memos you should not share, and any wording that you "practiced" or "won" a case. Leave off areas of law you have not worked. Leave off a certificate you do not hold.
Questions
- Should I say I am certified?
- Only if you hold the certificate you name, in the words the issuer uses. A paralegal studies program is education, not automatically a certification.
- How do I show writing without sharing confidential work?
- Describe the document type and that an attorney reviewed it. Do not attach a real client's filing.