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Legal aide skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Shelly Grunsted,
Emily Allen-Hornblower
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical legal aide skills. We ranked the top skills for legal aides based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.0% of legal aide resumes contained legal aid as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a legal aide needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 legal aide skills for your resume and career

3. Litigation

Here's how legal aides use litigation:
  • Negotiated payments and settlements to avoid pending litigation.
  • Labor and employment litigation experience.

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8. Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pattern of violent, intimidating, or abusive behavior in any relationship committed by someone within the victim's circle - partner, ex-partner, parents, family, and friends, to gain or maintain power and control over the victim. This can be emotional, sexual, social, financial, economic, psychological, spiritual, and/or physical abuse.

Here's how legal aides use domestic violence:
  • Represented victims of domestic violence in protective order proceedings.
  • Researched Court of Appeals and Appellate Division cases for issues involving domestic violence and child abuse.

9. Probate

Here's how legal aides use probate:
  • Probate administration including drafting of probate related pleadings and preparation of probate petitions as well as assisting with trust administration.
  • Reviewed property record and probate documents for chain of title and initiated condemnation and demolition proceedings on substandard property.

10. Client Intake

Here's how legal aides use client intake:
  • Executed client intakes, scheduled appointments and maintained accurate and up-to-date, confidential client files.
  • Screen prospective clients, conduct client intake and interview clients.

11. Civil Litigation

Civil litigation is a legal process that is followed when a non-criminal legal dispute occurs between two parties. Such a legal process does not involve any criminal charges or penalties. The plaintiffs in such cases only seek compensation for the damages done by the defendants.

Here's how legal aides use civil litigation:
  • Practice focused on Foreclosure Defense/Real Estate Litigation//Bankruptcy/Civil Litigation.
  • Provided receptionist and administrative support assisting principles in pursuing civil litigation in mortgage foreclosure action on behalf of major financial institutions.

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 legal aides use subpoenas:
  • Prepared a memo regarding procedural requirements for post judgment discovery and subpoenas.
  • Processed answers and decision documents * Issued Subpoenas * Revised documents before sent to court

13. Consumer Complaints

Consumer Complaints are dissatisfactions expressed by customers for a product or service either directly to the organization or indirectly through a business bureau. Among the reasons for a complaint include product faulty, bad customer service, and long follow-ups on inquiries. Companies view consumer complaints as feedbacks to improve business performance.

Here's how legal aides use consumer complaints:
  • Negotiated consumer complaints with merchants and personally mediated disputes between consumers and businesses.
  • Conducted statistical analysis and investigated consumer complaints involving consumer fraud and government agencies.

14. Immigration Law

Immigration Law is a national law that governs an individual's rights into and exit of a country. It contains statutes and precedents that determine a person's length of stay, participation in commerce, and ability to move freely. Different countries have different immigration laws depending on the political and governmental climate.

Here's how legal aides use immigration law:
  • Worked with clients in the Michigan legal system, in need of free assistance in international and immigration law matters.
  • Provided Spanish language translations for clients and attorneys of the Family and Immigration Law.

15. Court Dates

Here's how legal aides use court dates:
  • Developed instructions and databases for chapter proceedings which includes sexual assault cases, investigations, and court dates.
  • Communicated with the Judge Chambers to arrange court dates for the clients.
top-skills

What skills help Legal Aides find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on legal aide resumes?

Shelly Grunsted

Executive Director - Center for Student Success, Director, First Fidelity Integrated Business Core Program (IBC), Associate Professor, The University of Oklahoma

Depending on the job, but some that stand out: experiential learning experience, leadership skills, communication skills, problem-solving/analytical, internship experience, and collaboration efforts/group-work

What legal aide skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Emily Allen-HornblowerEmily Allen-Hornblower LinkedIn profile

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.

What type of skills will young legal aides need?

Deirdre KellyDeirdre Kelly LinkedIn profile

Assistant Dean for Career Development, Western State College of Law

Young graduates will need the same traditional legal skills that they have always needed. Additionally, they will need to be resilient and creative to weather a more challenging and ever-evolving work environment. They will need to be very disciplined and able to work independently if they are working more remotely and have enough technical skills to navigate the virtual world. New graduates will need to think about how they build relationships with their co-workers and develop mentors, as well as develop clients and networks if the future means working remotely more and not as many in-person meetings.

List of legal aide skills to add to your resume

Legal aide skills

The most important skills for a legal aide resume and required skills for a legal aide to have include:

  • Legal Aid
  • Legal Services
  • Litigation
  • Legal Research
  • Legal Assistance
  • Legal Advice
  • Legal Issues
  • Domestic Violence
  • Probate
  • Client Intake
  • Civil Litigation
  • Subpoenas
  • Consumer Complaints
  • Immigration Law
  • Court Dates
  • Legal Articles
  • Real Estate
  • Pro Bono
  • Social Security
  • Legal Support
  • Scheduling Appointments
  • Front Desk
  • Pending Cases
  • Criminal Law
  • Family Law Cases
  • Court Hearings
  • Client Interviews
  • Legal Correspondence
  • Criminal Cases
  • Law Library
  • Office Equipment
  • Court Proceedings
  • Trial Preparation
  • Legal Cases
  • Telephone Calls
  • Interrogatories
  • Child Support
  • Government Agencies
  • District Court
  • Summonses
  • Ethics
  • Legal Procedures
  • Federal Courts
  • Legal Rights
  • Legal Representation
  • Arbitration

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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.