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Attorney's assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Chad Smith,

Emily Allen-Hornblower

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical attorney's assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for attorney's assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.5% of attorney's assistant resumes contained law firm as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an attorney's assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 attorney's assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Law Firm

Here's how attorney's assistants use law firm:

Coordinated luncheons and daily meetings for the lawyers and their clients, as well as different events for the law firm.
Worked for McNair Law Firm as a runner and assistant for an attorney in the Environmental Law practice.

2. Litigation

Here's how attorney's assistants use litigation:

Organized and sorted litigation files and other legal documentation while also maintaining and updating files as necessary.
Prepared cases for litigation; conducted confidential investigations and interviews, prepared and gathered evidence.

3. Pleadings

Here's how attorney's assistants use pleadings:

Filed pleadings and correspondences and presented documents to courthouse personnel.
Handled the preparation, scheduling, and filing of Notices of Filing/Motion for various motions, petitions and miscellaneous pleadings.

4. Legal Research

Here's how attorney's assistants use legal research:

Assisted attorney with legal research, and attended court hearings to document major issues and developments and ensure adequate file documentation maintained
Conducted legal research and analyzed relevant cases.

5. Trial Preparation

Trial preparation is the practice of gathering sufficient raw material for a court case. This preparation is done to make the bases of a case stronger by bringing the facts to light in a way that will give the concerned law bodies a better comprehension of the entire scenario. The method for preparing for a case may differ depending upon its nature.

Here's how attorney's assistants use trial preparation:

Managed document production and trial preparation teams for several cases involving hundreds of plaintiffs and several defendants.
Prepare and assist attorney in trial preparation, depositions, hearings and other court matters.

6. Expense Reports

Here's how attorney's assistants use expense reports:

Maintain various scheduling and expense reports for our in house attorney.
Arranged accommodations for travel and prepare expense reports.

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7. Real Estate

Real estate is land that has buildings on it. This kind of property consists of permanent improvements either natural or man-made, which include, houses, fences, bridges, water trees, and minerals. There are 4 types of real estate namely; residential real estate, commercial real estate, industrial real estate, and vacant land.

Here's how attorney's assistants use real estate:

Coordinate and prepare closing documents involving the purchase, sale and refinance of commercial real estate transactions.
Obtain documents for real estate transactions, set up closings and meet with clients.

8. Schedule Appointments

Here's how attorney's assistants use schedule appointments:

Schedule appointments for the clients, take minutes when needed.
Contacted various clientele and co-workers to schedule appointments.

9. Court Hearings

Here's how attorney's assistants use court hearings:

Organize and file paperwork, assist attorney with setting up court hearing and contact other attorneys regarding client information.
Assisted the attorney as a Spanish interpreter for consultations, court hearings, and bankruptcy creditors meetings.

10. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how attorney's assistants use subpoenas:

Compile and review evidence for trial medical records and police reports, in addition to prepare and issued Subpoenas for service.
Drafted jury demands, discovery responses, subpoenas, and closing letters for the attorney's cases.

11. Conference Calls

Conference calls are call that involves three or more people who can speak at the same time. One of the persons connected may add the person to confer through the phone whose voice can be heard by all of those on the line. This can be done when the phone is used as a feature for a conference call that allows the initial caller to add more listeners or speakers on the same line without losing the first person he called. This is used to listen or communicate to different people at the same time that would save time, effort and avoid repeating the same discussion.

Here's how attorney's assistants use conference calls:

Coordinate meetings, conference calls, depositions and travel arrangements for attorneys and clients.
Translated legal documents and assisted in meetings and conference calls as translator.

12. Deposition Summaries

Here's how attorney's assistants use deposition summaries:

Transcribe medical and deposition summaries for the general liability department.
Maintained and organized expert witness library, conducted research of oppositions' expert witnesses, and accurate preparation of deposition summaries.

13. Discovery Responses

Discovery response is the response made by a person on trial once discoveries are made against them. Certain motions are filed against a person on trial, which may include a request for interrogations, request for production, etc, and they have to file a response within some time. The official response is filed in court and its copies can be distributed to the other parties.

Here's how attorney's assistants use discovery responses:

Interpreted legal documents; summarized discovery responses; reviewed, indexed, and summarized pleadings and correspondence produced by opposing parties.
Manage and work on discovery including investigation organization and preparing interrogatories, requests for production and discovery responses.

14. Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is the task of certain members of the community who work together to uphold the law by identifying, preventing, rehabilitating, or prosecuting others who break society's laws and norms. The phrase refers to the police, the judiciary, and the correctional system.

Here's how attorney's assistants use law enforcement:

Conducted accreditation assessments of other law enforcement agencies as a state certified assessor.
Served as liaison to defense firms, adjusters, airport vendors, law enforcement and other third parties.

15. Legal Issues

Here's how attorney's assistants use legal issues:

Negotiate with the District Attorney on a daily basis to help resolve our clients legal issues.
Demonstrated initiative to meet with potential clients to thoroughly explain all legal issues and contract conditions.

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What skills help Attorney's Assistants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on attorney's assistant resumes?

Chad Smith

Director of Legal Programs, Catholic University of America

Paralegal's skills that stand out in the current market:
-Experience with technology, online platforms, and digital/online research (Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law)
-Telework/telecommuting, e-discovery and cloud computing/services, and document creation and formatting
-Communication/writing skills, specifically, the ability to understand the law and communicate legal matters effectively for court, layman clients, and attorneys
-The ability to write effective legal documents that are clear, concise, and complete
-Organization, efficiency, time management, and case management

I definitely emphasize the requirement of computer skills, as I personally would not hire any paralegal who is not very competent and comfortable working digitally. Additionally, case management and the ability to juggle many cases at a time is extremely important. It definitely stands out when a paralegal has experience managing a large caseload and can produce quality legal pleadings in a very efficient manner.

What attorney's assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Emily Allen-Hornblower

Associate Professor of Classics, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

No question our economy has been hit hard, and the job market will be very competitive, for students in all courses of study but those who have solid training in the Humanities, along with the strong writing and communication skills that come with it, should do well. Good writers and critical thinkers are essential across the board, and those who have studied history, philosophy, oratory, and literature at its source (that is, the Classics) are well equipped to be competitive in any market.

Do you want to know more?

List of attorney's assistant skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for an attorney's assistant resume and required skills for an attorney's assistant to have include:

Law Firm
Litigation
Pleadings
Legal Research
Trial Preparation
Expense Reports
Real Estate
Schedule Appointments
Court Hearings
Subpoenas
Conference Calls
Deposition Summaries
Discovery Responses
Law Enforcement
Legal Issues
Notary

Administrative Tasks
Criminal Cases
Court Dates
Travel Arrangements
Probate
Interrogatories
PowerPoint
Legal Articles
Front Desk
Court Proceedings
Social Security
Family Law
Court Cases
Legal Correspondence
Police Reports
Court Appearances

Legal Memoranda
Civil Litigation
District Court
Criminal Law
Law Library
Client Appointments
Client Interviews
Attorney Review
Arbitration
Client Correspondence
Federal Courts
Summonses
Court Filings
Legal Assistants
QuickBooks
Place Telephone Calls

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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