Legal Assistant Resume Sample, Job Description & Writing Guide for 2024
Anywhere there are attorneys, there also have to be legal assistants. These individuals are the support staff behind the scenes who are working on client files and other legal documents. Anyone who wants an administrative career or who is working toward paralegal or attorney positions will find a legal assistant career is a great bridge to a fantastic career.
However, there are tons of people out there who want to be hired in these positions. That makes it essential to have a well-crafted legal assistant resume. Legal assistants often get great benefits and excellent pay, but the job can be tedious, stressful, and often involves long hours. You want to ensure your resume shows that you are the ultimate candidate who will excel in the role.
We’ve written this guide to give you a leg up on the competition. Once you incorporate our tricks and tips, you’ll be sure to have a better resume than most people looking for this kind of role. We’ll share what you need to include to get an interview and outline the way to share your skills and achievements. Let’s get started by looking at the two phases of building a legal assistant resume.
Legal assistant resume writing guide: Where to start?
Even if you have the relevant skills for a family law firm as a legal assistant – you have to prove it. Your resume has to show that you’re detail-oriented, capable of working with legal documents, and communicative with both attorneys and their clients. This section of our guide will explain how to start creating a legal assistant resume that shows off what you can do.
Master legal assistant resume description
Knowledge of legal materials and a great deal of legal experience can be huge perks for your legal assistant resume. However, first, you want to make sure you understand how to put this document together. The first stage of that process is to craft a master resume. Don’t worry, this is a resume just for you. It never needs to be sent in with an application.
All you need to start is a Word document (or any other place you can jot down information). Your master resume is going to compile your work experience, education, and skills. You can save your achievements and list any projects you might want to talk about in future applications. The master resume is a document you can use as long as you’re in the workforce. It lets you remind yourself about positions from the past so you can show all the things you do well when you want to land a new job.
Since this is only for you, there’s no need to worry about format or design. This document can look however you like. Just make sure it’s organized well enough that you can find things in the future. When you are having issues remembering something that you want to add to a job-specific resume, the details should be in this document. A simple copy and paste can give you the opportunity to share important information.
Some of you may already have a master resume, which makes this step even easier. There’s no need to make a new one since this document is updated over time. Make sure you’ve added anything new that you might use on applications in the future. Once that’s done, you can go ahead and move forward to create the resume that you’ll be sending in with your application.
Job-specific legal administrative assistant resume
You’re going to want to have your master resume for this phase. You also want a legal assistant job description for the resume. When you have both of these resources, you’ll be able to get the job done much more quickly and with total efficiency. You have the details about your professional past and know what an employer wants from you.
The job description is more than just an ad letting you know a job is open. Most of them are going to share what skills are useful, the things a candidate would do in the position, and more. You can use this knowledge to build a unique resume for this position that shows you can handle it – and help the firm to be successful. But you’ll need to do your research.
Look for keywords in the job description and use those same words in your legal assistant resume. You can include skills that are needed, education that fits the company’s need, and relevant experience to show you’re worth learning more about. Every section of the resume should be tailored to this position. This is how you get an interview.
In addition to having the right information, a good format is also a must here. Other people see this document so it has to look good and be simple to read. Using templates and looking at examples online can be a huge help here. Focus on relevancy above all else as you make a job-specific resume. You need to show you understand what you’d be doing in the role.
Legal assistant resume sample
There are lots of legal assistant resume examples you can view online. One of our favorite sample legal assistant resumes is available above. This resume has all the needed sections and gives a lot of information about the candidate and what they are good at. It’s customized for the position and shows the applicant understands what the hiring manager wants to see in a candidate. You can use it to guide your own writing and design process.
How to write a successful resume for a legal assistant? Writing tips and examples
Once you find a job posting you want to apply for, having a great resume is the best way to move forward. Showing you value client relations and can understand legal documentation is part of the process, but you also want to make sure your resume looks similar to what a firm is used to. Use the sections below to get extra details on how to write and format three essential parts of the document.
Tips to write a resume objective on a legal assistant resume
Whether you’re experienced in the legal world or making a resume for a legal assistant with no experience, you can’t discount the resume objective. This is going to be the most important part of any resume you make so take your time with it. It’s a short section of four sentences or less but it needs to highlight your top skills and most impressive achievements.
Numbers and action verbs come in handy for this section since you have limited words to use. Quantify the achievements you have and make sure they fit the needs of the employer who you want to be hired by. Think about relevant accomplishments you have and then hype yourself up. This is how you show you’re a great choice.
In addition to achievements, you can also give details about your education, skills, and work experience. Focus on the things that are most important to give the employer an introduction to you. The rest of the resume should hold up whatever you say here so it might be best to craft the resume objective last even though it’s the first thing a hiring manager will see.
Including work experience on a legal assistant resume
The next thing you want to work hard on is the section for professional experience. Look at your master resume and find previous roles that connect to what you’d do in this new role. You have limited space for this so make sure your focus is on the most relevant experience you have. That means you don’t have to include every single job you’ve ever had.
Modern resumes can have gaps. Leaving out things that aren’t important is fine. You just need to be prepared to explain that if you move on to the interview phase. So think about which positions you’ve had that match or are similar to the one you want and use most of your energy on those.
The basic work experience section is usually in reverse-chronological order. Start with your most recent position and then go backward. Include where you worked, what you did, and when you are there. After that, you can create a short bullet list underneath. Use this to describe your responsibilities and share what you have achieved.
The best way to add skills to a legal assistant resume
Legal assistant skills on a resume are the last thing we want to go over. This is another section that is going to be heavily looked at by a hiring manager. Every person is going to have a different set of legal assistant resume skills and they should be determined using the job advertisement.
Consider using a mixture of hard and soft skills to ensure you provide a well-rounded look at your abilities. Choose skills from the job ad whenever possible. Otherwise, add in skills you know are useful for legal assistants. A few of the options to get you started include the following:
· Document preparation
· Legal writing
· Legal procedures
· Trial preparation
· Document management
· Filing procedures
· Legal research
· Office procedures
· Legal knowledge
· Litigation support
· Discovery preparation
With the information above, you should be able to build a great resume for the position you want. However, to ensure the resume looks attractive, you might need another resource. CVMaker offers a suite of legal assistant resume templates that you can use. Choose one and apply it to your information to make an impact with your app.
Key takeaways on building professional legal assistant resumes
Now that you have tips, tricks, and legal assistant resumes examples, you should be ready to craft your own. If you want to make the process even easier, consider using a resume builder. Paired with a template, this makes the process so quick you can get done in minutes instead of hours. Good luck with your job search!
Final tips to create the best legal assistant resume:
You want an effective resume that shows you have a high level of professionalism if you desire a job as a legal assistant. We’ve shared numerous tips above but we have just a few more that you can utilize before you turn in your application complete with a gorgeous and insightful resume:
· First, make sure you’ve read over the entire resume once you’ve written it. It’s not uncommon to catch a typo or two and you want to make sure you clean those up. Use Grammarly if you want some extra help with errors.
· While you read through the resume, look at how formal or casual the writing comes across as. The best legal assistant resumes are going to be formal from top to bottom. Stay away from slang and jargon as well.
· There’s no reason you can’t be creative with your resume but don’t overdo it. Any more than two fonts or two colors might make it harder to read your resume. Keep things simple enough that anyone can read and understand the document. Make sure there’s a bit of white space.
· After the resume is complete and you’ve done all the needed editing, consider what format it should be in. Most people will find that PDF is best since it looks the same on any kind of display. This format ensures the resume looks the way you want on phones, computers, tablets, and more.
· The resume isn’t the only document you want to submit with an application. Make sure you’ve also spent time creating an outstanding cover letter. Both of these things should be attached when you apply.
Next steps?
You have all the details you need to write an amazing legal assistant resume. Are you having trouble wording things well or making sure all your sections flow? You don’t have to take on this entire process yourself. CVMaker has experts available to provide our Resume Writing Service. Let someone else take on the parts that are stressful and get a resume you feel good about turning in with your application.
FAQs
How should I write a resume for a legal assistant with no experience?
Writing a legal assistant resume when entry-level can be a bit different than creating one for an individual with lots of experience. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Many of the same tips and tricks we’ve mentioned will work well to ensure your resume stands out and gets noticed.
Whether you’re in paralegal studies or another type of school, use that to your advantage. You can list relevant coursework and talk about legal assistant duties for a resume that you can easily handle on your own. If you’ve worked in other industries, consider the ties to the legal world and make sure to highlight those.
Can I put paralegal on my resume?
Any legal assistant is expected to be capable of excellent communication. With that in mind, only list that you are a paralegal if you have gone through the process to be certified as one. Doing otherwise would be disingenuous and could have negative consequences in the future. Honesty is always the best policy.
However, if you are a paralegal, that’s a great addition to your legal assistant resume. Any company or firm is going to want to be aware of that. There’s no reason to leave it off your resume since it can be a huge selling point. Wear that descriptor with pride and it could help you get a great job.
What is the best objective for a legal resume?
The best objective for a legal assistant resume is going to be different from one job to the next. Think about what the employer is asking for and use that to weave an objective that makes you sound like the perfect candidate. No matter what you write, use action verbs and sell yourself. That’s what this resume section is all about.
In addition, an entry-level legal assistant resume is going to have a unique resume objective compared to one for someone with decades of experience. However, even someone with less experience can use things they know and are skilled with to show they deserve a chance. Use this short section to tell people who you are and what you can do.
What do law firms want to see on a resume?
Reading over the legal assistant description for a resume is a good way to see what a specific employer wants to know more about. However, some sections are expected on almost any resume so be certain to include them. These are contact information, a resume objective, skills, education, and work experience.
You can also add other bits of information that might distinguish you from other applicants. A list of the languages you speak or interests you have can be a good way to go here. A separate section for achievements or certifications can also be added. Just think about what’s relevant and likely to be received well by the employer.
What skills do legal assistants have?
Curious about what legal assistant skills to put on a resume? As with most parts of your resume, it all depends on the specific job you want in a certain firm. Some skills are likely to be more frequently used than others. Reading over the job description thoroughly will give you a good idea of where you should start.
At the same time, some skills are useful in almost all legal assistant positions. A few of these include organizational skills, writing skills, technical skills, and interpersonal skills. Other options to consider are teamwork, critical thinking, adaptability, multi-tasking, attention to detail, and an understanding of legal documentation and terminology.
How far back should a legal assistant resume go?
This can vary based on the specific job and what experience you have. However, most people will want to go back five to 10 years in terms of work experience. Make sure the positions you showcase have job duties that are identical or similar to the ones you’d be tasked with in the future. Always focus on relevant experience rather than jotting down jobs that do not show that you’d be a good choice for the new role.
While you create the work experience section for a legal assistant resume, make sure you add in achievements and accomplishments from past jobs you have held. Quantifying what you’ve done in the past makes it easier for a potential employer to envision you in the role. If you have additional relevant experience, add it if you have room. Otherwise, save it for your interview.
What should I include in a cover letter for a legal assistant position?
The most important thing for a cover letter is to make sure you focus on the specific role you want. You also want to put yourself in the shoes of the person who would be your employer. Make sure the cover letter is tailored to the practice areas of the firm and gives details about how your interests and skills make you a great candidate.
The cover letter shouldn’t simply go over the things you have in your resume. It should be used to provide additional information, such as what life experiences and work history you have that make you the right person for the job. Those without legal experience can also use the cover letter to be creative and tie in what you’ve done in the past with the job you desire.
How long is the average legal assistant resume?
The average legal assistant resume is going to be about one to two pages long. However, this can vary depending on your job history, skills, and other details that you want to share with a hiring manager. Someone who has decades of experience in the law industry is likely to want a longer resume than someone new to the field.
Going beyond two pages is typically not recommended for this position. Rather than making the resume longer – make sure all the shared information is relevant. Things that aren’t should be removed. You can always explain gaps or provide extra details when you end up in an interview. Focus on the bits that match the job description.
The last thing that will ensure you create a gorgeous legal assistant resume with an appropriate resume format is a template. At CVMaker, we make that process a breeze by providing several interesting legal assistant resume templates to choose from. Select the one you like, add your information, and you’ll have a professional document for your application.