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Paralegal Duties, Skills & Responsibilities: a Guide for Employers

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Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.

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When hiring Paralegals, it’s important to properly describe the job opening with the duties, skills and responsibilities of the role. We’ve compiled a guide to Paralegal Duties, Skills & Responsibilities using data from actual job postings on Indeed.

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Popular Paralegal Duties and Skills

Here are some commonly found skills and other specifications in job postings for Paralegals.

Paralegal

  • Definition : Skill or experience working as a paralegal.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 24.8% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Litigation

  • Definition : Skill or experience practicing litigation or supporting litigation practice.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 16.1% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Writing skills

  • Definition : Skills, knowledge, and experience with creating written content through any medium.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 11.7% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Legal drafting

  • Definition : Knowledge or experience drafting legal documents.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 11.5% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Organizational skills

  • Definition : Ability to organize workload, processes, or physical objects and spaces.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 11.3% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Administrative experience

  • Definition : Experience or skill performing administrative tasks such as answering phones, scheduling appointments, or maintaining records.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 7.6% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Filing

  • Definition : Experience ordering and maintaining documents according to a predetermined system.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 6.9% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Clerical experience

  • Definition : Experience or skill related to daily office tasks, such as answering phones, sending faxes, or filing documents.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 6% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Research

  • Definition : Experience or skill conducting research.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 4.9% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Contracts

  • Definition : Knowledge of or experience with drafting, interpreting, revising or otherwise working with contracts.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 3.4% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Westlaw

  • Definition : A software suite used for legal research and other litigation applications.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.6% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Proofreading

  • Definition : Experience reviewing written text for typographical consistency, grammar, and spelling.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.3% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Legal research

  • Definition : Experience with or knowledge of legal research, including knowledge of legal research services.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 2.2% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Lexis-Nexis

  • Definition : A software suite used for business, legal and market research.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.8% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Project management

  • Definition : Skills or experience related to project management. Project management includes planning, executing, and monitoring projects in order to meet requirements while controlling budget, scope, and timeline.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 4-5
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.4% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Interviewing

  • Definition : Experience or skill interviewing job candidates.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.4% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Transcription

  • Definition : Experience recording information from one document or medium to another.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.4% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

UCC law

  • Definition : Knowledge and experience working with the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) laws related to US commercial transactions.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 4-5
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 1.2% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Data entry

  • Definition : Experience or skill entering data into a database or computer software.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.9% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Document management systems

  • Definition : Software or systems used for electronic document modification, tracking, version control, and storage.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.8% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Document review

  • Definition : Knowledge and experience with legal document review.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.5% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Legal case management

  • Definition : Knowledge of or experience managing lifecycles of legal case documents, information, and services, with the goal of maximizing workflow effectiveness.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 2-3
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.5% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

iManage

  • Definition : A security-focused document management application for law, accounting, and financial services firms.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 3-4
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.5% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.

Phone etiquette

  • Definition : Experience practicing good manners when on the phone.
  • Years of experience most commonly required: 1-2
  • How common is it? This skill is found in 0.2% of Paralegal job postings on Indeed.
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    Indeed’s Employer Resource Library helps businesses grow and manage their workforce. With over 15,000 articles in 6 languages, we offer tactical advice, how-tos and best practices to help businesses hire and retain great employees.