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Law internship skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Leslie Heaphy Ph.D.,

Andrea Schneider

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical law internship skills. We ranked the top skills for law interns based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 13.2% of law internship resumes contained litigation as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a law internship needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 law internship skills for your resume and career

1. Litigation

Here's how law interns use litigation:

Assisted with the litigation of approximately 40 insurance defense litigation files regarding personal injury, general liability, and medical malpractice.
Performed legal research and drafted motions and memos to assist in preparation of litigation primarily in Foreclosure and Predatory Lending Defense.

2. Legal Issues

Here's how law interns use legal issues:

Conducted interviews and assisted clients with legal issues pertaining to health related immigration, permanency planning and social security matters.
Analyzed discrete legal issues relating to energy providers, customer disputes and local government interaction with public utilities.

3. 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 law interns use trial preparation:

Worked closely with supervising attorney on trial preparation and related filings and strategies.
Created trial preparation documents and assisted with general office duties as necessary.

4. Legal Memos

A legal memo (legal memorandum) is an informal record of a specific legal issue for helping the parties to remember specific points or for future reference. It's generally written by a law student, a paralegal, or a lawyer.

Here's how law interns use legal memos:

Drafted decisions in minor civil cases and explained legal memos regarding disagreements over statistical methods
Research and drafted legal memos concerning limited jurisdiction, discovery, and other real estate issues.

5. 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 law interns use real estate:

Conducted research on various legal topics from environmental and real estate issues to civil procedure and business organization.
Prepared and organized legal documentation for real estate closings and general legal matters.

6. Legal Intern

Legal intern is a law graduate who is certified to provide overseen representation to clients by permission of government agencies but their admission to a State bar is still pending. Legal internships help law students in deciding their individual area of interest from the plethora of options offered by legal education.

Here's how law interns use legal intern:

Worked as a legal intern in the City of Albany's Corporation Counsel and the Mayor's Office.
Consult with legal interns on environmental and societal issues facing their clients in the foster system.

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7. Intellectual Property

Intellectual properties refer to individuals' intangible or non-physical wealth, which results from their imaginations and intellect.

Here's how law interns use intellectual property:

Performed legal research and drafted memorandum on various intellectual property issues, including copyright and trademark.
Reviewed and summarized dozens of intellectual property agreements between Draper and research partners.

8. Law Firm

Here's how law interns use law firm:

Assisted in all aspects of law firm functions during an extended international internship, gaining valuable international experience
Participated in communication between the Law Firm and various insurance companies gathering information.

9. Interrogatories

Here's how law interns use interrogatories:

Prepared necessary documents which included emails, interrogatories and previous depositions in order to assist attorneys prepare for depositions.
Drafted summary judgment motions and answered interrogatories and production requests in medical malpractice cases.

10. 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 law interns use law enforcement:

Participated in an internship with the NKU Police Department and assisted law enforcement officers in daily activities of public safety
Received field observation of different law enforcement officers - Received hands-on experiences of real life scenarios in policing

11. Court Proceedings

Here's how law interns use court proceedings:

Participated in legal research and provided reports of activities after attending court proceedings with counsel.
Prepared deposition questions and attended depositions, witness preparation sessions, and court proceedings.

12. 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 law interns use subpoenas:

Observed investigations and wrote different court documents including subpoenas, court orders and affidavits
Filed commercial cases, developed affidavits and correspondence, and coordinated subpoenas delivery.

13. Family Law

Here's how law interns use family law:

Provided legal paperwork information to litigants regarding family law, civil harassment temporary restraining orders and name changes.
Represented low-income persons in family law and related matters arising out of situations involving domestic violence.

14. Legal Advice

Here's how law interns use legal advice:

Provided legal advice on alternate dispute resolutions; investigated accident sites, identified evidence and provided written analysis.
Aided in providing legal advice and services to low-income people in Connecticut who required legal services.

15. Juris

Here's how law interns use juris:

Billed time worked on files using Juris.
Research various aspects of criminal law; wrote inter-office memos defining the present juris prudence of issue researched.

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What skills help Law Interns find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on law internship resumes?

Leslie Heaphy Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Kent State University

-Online teaching experience
-Flexibility in teaching modalities
-Research and critical thinking continue to be important
-Digital technology
-Ability to ask good questions
-Writing skills
-Understanding facts

What law internship skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Andrea Schneider

Professor of Law, Marquette University

Law school graduates should focus on developing client interaction skills and dispute resolution skills, including active listening, understanding emotional intelligence, and non-defensive communication. The need for low-cost legal assistance, particularly in large urban areas, in foreclosure, eviction, unemployment, and bankruptcy will be significant. Volunteers with legal training will be needed to address unprecedented impacts on individuals in many areas of the law. They could also work on the software or technological skills that law school may not have provided but which will make them even more attractive to employers after the pandemic.

What type of skills will young law internships need?

Richard Meltz

Senior Advisor and Internship Manager Staff, The Ohio State University

For global affairs careers, many skill sets are sought. Language skills are valuable. All job seekers need basic computer skills. Word processing, spreadsheet and data analysis, excellent writing and communication skills are sought. Aside from these basic skills, the range of skills employers seek becomes more specialized. Computer mapping skills and the ability to analyze political, economic, social, and environmental issues with depth are sought. By numbers of jobs, the private sector is larger than the government sector. The understanding of how business and international trade works is useful.

What technical skills for a law internship stand out to employers?

Paula Smith

Assistant Dean for Career & Professional Development, Texas Tech University

Legal employers are seeking young lawyers with a good academic grasp of the law, excellent legal research and writing skills, advocacy abilities including negotiation, trial, and appellate exposure, and personal attributes of integrity, teamwork, diligence, resilience, and an expectation of success.

What soft skills should all law internships possess?

Jennifer Brobst

Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University

Two soft skills come to mind immediately: kindness and self-restraint. I have noticed that this generation of new attorneys is less accustomed to taking conflict in stride. What I mean is that in a social media world, one can overreact without facing the other person or simply walk away without responding to a text or post that seems confrontational or disrespectful. In person, there is usually no way to walk away without making the situation worse, so we get better and better at figuring out how to respond with kindness, humor, and patience. That is an excellent skill to have with clients who naturally feel stressed, or with overworked or overzealous opposing counsel or judges.

As to self-restraint, many ethics violations occur among attorneys who feel overwhelmed by their workload. Law school is the best place to learn how to figure out how to manage one's time, and to learn self-restraint -- i.e., when to stop and move on to the next task. This quality of self-restraint will not only help to make sure that new attorneys are reliable on behalf of their clients, but that they are happy with their job for the long-haul. There will always be more clients, but an attorney who knows their limits, but still gets the job done, will be glad to be an attorney throughout their career.

What hard/technical skills are most important for law internships?

Mike Gunter Ph.D.

Director, Holt International Affairs, Rollins College

Good writing will always be crucial. There are all types of audiences, of course, so you need to adjust accordingly. But even as technology changes, good writing will remain a valuable asset.

Do you want to know more?

List of law internship skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a law internship resume and required skills for a law internship to have include:

Litigation
Legal Issues
Trial Preparation
Legal Memos
Real Estate
Legal Intern
Intellectual Property
Law Firm
Interrogatories
Law Enforcement
Court Proceedings
Subpoenas
Family Law
Legal Advice
Juris
Employment Law
Administrative Tasks

Probate
Legal Services
Criminal Law
Civil Law
Criminal Cases
Legal Analysis
Social Security
Administrative Law
Court Hearings
Domestic Violence
Legal Memorandum
Arbitration
Demand Letters
Court Cases
Child Support
Staff Attorneys
Summary Judgment

LexisNexis
Family Court
International Law
Civil Litigation
Court Appearances
Legal Assistance
Legal Opinions
Management System
Administrative Hearings
Immigration Law
Court Dates
PowerPoint
District Court
Police Reports
Oral Arguments
Legal Briefs

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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