What does a legal clerk do?
A legal clerk is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to legal offices and organizations to ensure smooth legal business operations. Legal clerks sort and distribute documents to the appropriate personnel, update information on the database, schedule appointments, respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, and document meeting objectives. They may also coordinate with other offices and institutions to acquire files and research data according to the needs of the managing department. A legal clerk must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in monitoring business transactions and submitting reports timely and accurately.
Legal clerk responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real legal clerk resumes:
- Complete accounting and payroll functions.- gather and process client documents.- manage daily operations of office.
- Maintain and organize litigation materials; litigation management; process correspondence, and various clerical duties, including filing/copying/package assembly.
- Process civil, probate and small claims cases, issue writs, abstracts, summons, defaults and judgments.
- Assist or draft wills, power of attorney, revocable living trusts, probate, adoptions, ERISA and Medicaid eligibility.
- Serve subpoenas and notice and draft related affidavits.
- Conduct conference calls independently with clients to gather information to answer interrogatories.
- Communicate directly with clients/witnesses to complete interrogatories as a part of discovery in preparation for trial.
- Describe and input litigation material into system ensuring high-levels of accuracy and detail allowing for information to be quickly locate.
- Answer and propound discovery/mandatory disclosure/financial affidavits.
- Prepare PowerPoint presentations for use by expert witnesses and attorneys at trials.
- Draft legal documents; PowerPoint presentations.
- Research issues concerning contracts, torts, civil practice, property law, and ethics.
- Answer and propound discovery/mandatory disclosure/financial affidavits.
Legal clerk skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Legal Clerks are proficient in Litigation, Legal Correspondence, and Subpoenas. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Research skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Legal Clerks that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Litigation, 13%
Utilized several databases for queries and searches locating potential valuable information to assist in investigation for Litigation Agents and Paralegal.
- Legal Correspondence, 9%
Maintained legal correspondence files and directives.
- Subpoenas, 7%
Served subpoenas and notice and drafted related affidavits.
- Legal Research, 6%
Contributed to the collective office staff by drafting legal briefs based upon comprehensive legal research and analysis of discovery documents.
- Trial Preparation, 5%
Conducted on site trial preparation including assembly of exhibits, summarizing of depositions and assisting with witness preparation.
- Law Firm, 5%
Corresponded with expert witnesses, clients, partners, and Suffolk County judges inside a fast-paced New England law firm.
"litigation," "legal correspondence," and "subpoenas" are among the most common skills that legal clerks use at work. You can find even more legal clerk responsibilities below, including:
Computer skills. The most essential soft skill for a legal clerk to carry out their responsibilities is computer skills. This skill is important for the role because "paralegals need to be familiar with using computers for legal research and litigation support." Additionally, a legal clerk resume shows how their duties depend on computer skills: "input and access case information to and from personal computer using litigation support software to update and conduct legal research. "
Research skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling legal clerk duties is research skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "paralegals gather facts of the case and research information on relevant laws and regulations to prepare drafts of legal documents for attorneys and help them prepare for a case." According to a legal clerk resume, here's how legal clerks can utilize research skills in their job responsibilities: "performed legal research and drafted memorandums in cases related to personal injury maritime litigation. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for legal clerks to perform their duties. For an example of how legal clerk responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "paralegals must be able to document and present their research and related information to their supervising attorney." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a legal clerk: "prepare and edit litigation documents, correspondence, memoranda and various written communications. ".
Interpersonal skills. For certain legal clerk responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a legal clerk rely on this skill, as "paralegals spend most of their time working with clients and other professionals and must be able to develop good relationships." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what legal clerks do: "provided strong interpersonal skills to intense emotional situations with clients, process payments to trustees and perform legal research. "
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a legal clerk to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what legal clerks relies on this skill, since "paralegals may be responsible for many cases at one time." How this skill relates to legal clerk duties can be seen in an example from a legal clerk resume snippet: "reviewed and consolidated litigation files which helped improve organizational skills. "
The three companies that hire the most legal clerks are:
- PRA Group Careers4 legal clerks jobs
- Woodforest Financial Group Inc3 legal clerks jobs
- Synergy Services Corporation2 legal clerks jobs
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Compare different legal clerks
Legal clerk vs. Summer associate
Summer associates are law students hired seasonally by law firms. The aim is for future lawyers to be exposed to the practical aspects of a firm. Typically, this program lasts for nine weeks, beginning in May and running through July. Summer associates are expected to be friendly and kind to people, preserve company reputation, support other associates, and perform legal tasks appropriately.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between legal clerks and summer associate. For instance, legal clerk responsibilities require skills such as "legal correspondence," "court dates," "real estate," and "computer system." Whereas a summer associate is skilled in "first hand," "client facing," "team work," and "financial models." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Summer associates tend to make the most money working in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $86,415. In contrast, legal clerks make the biggest average salary, $39,441, in the professional industry.summer associates tend to reach higher levels of education than legal clerks. In fact, summer associates are 7.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Legal clerk vs. Real estate paralegal
A Real Estate Paralegal helps real estate lawyers with a variety of tasks, such as offering advice to clients, doing research, and preparing documents. They collaborate with landlords, housing managers, or other real estate personnel.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, legal clerk responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "legal correspondence," "trial preparation," "court dates," and "real estate." Meanwhile, a real estate paralegal has duties that require skills in areas such as "due diligence," "estoppel," "affidavits," and "real estate transactions." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Real estate paralegals earn a higher average salary than legal clerks. But real estate paralegals earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $72,649. Additionally, legal clerks earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $39,441 annually.real estate paralegals earn similar levels of education than legal clerks in general. They're 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for legal clerks in the next 3-5 years?
Sharon Sawyer
Program Coordinator of Justice Studies, Assistant Professor, University of Maine at Augusta
Legal clerk vs. Litigation assistant
Litigation assistants are professionals who provide administrative support as well as perform tasks such as filing legal documents, communicating with clients, and conducting legal research for law firms or legal departments. These assistants are required to draft and prepare a variety of court and legal documents that include expert witness designations, motions for preference, and complaints. They must receive many phone calls from clients they are handling as well as examining information about the cases they are working on. Litigation assistants must also work closely with bookkeepers to ensure that all invoices are paid.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from legal clerk resumes include skills like "computer system," "legal issues," "word processing," and "legal memos," whereas a litigation assistant is more likely to list skills in "phone calls," "discovery responses," "attorney review," and "proofreading. "
Litigation assistants earn the best pay in the construction industry, where they command an average salary of $63,516. Legal clerks earn the highest pay from the professional industry, with an average salary of $39,441.When it comes to education, litigation assistants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to legal clerks. In fact, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 4.9% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Legal clerk vs. Contractor-paralegal
A Contractor-Paralegal works for a law firm or corporate legal department for a specified amount of time, or for a specified task. They can be specialized in the entertainment industry or in providing services to healthcare companies and insurance providers.
Types of legal clerk
Updated January 8, 2025
