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Legal extern 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 legal extern skills. We ranked the top skills for legal externs based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.9% of legal extern resumes contained litigation as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a legal extern needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 legal extern skills for your resume and career

1. Litigation

Here's how legal externs use litigation:

Maintained case information in electronic litigation support/case management system including case status, scheduling of deadlines and other pertinent information.
Prepared case files and interviewed potential witnesses for litigation of temporary protective orders, custody modifications, and stalking cases.

2. 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 legal externs use legal intern:

Completed competitive legal internship, developing valuable hands-on experience resolving a range of legal issues.
Managed high school legal interns and delegated appropriate responsibilities based on their experience level.

3. Legal Issues

Here's how legal externs use legal issues:

Researched cases and drafted objective attorney memos and recommendations regarding specific legal issues involving First Amendment liberties to supervising attorneys.
Drafted complaints and formulated arguments for incorporation into briefs regarding legal issues related to selected civil matters.

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 legal externs use legal memos:

Drafted legal memos regarding various environmental rules and regulations, attended litigation related to land use, and observed client meetings
Prepared case-specific and general legal memos involving analysis of guardianship alternatives, power of attorney elections and adoption assistance subsidies.

5. Intellectual Property

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

Here's how legal externs use intellectual property:

Prepared a variety of intellectual property and human study contracts including confidentiality agreements, clinical agreements, and material transfer agreements.
Perform application and registration procedures for intellectual property rights, with particular emphasis in a broad range of solar mounting apparatuses.

6. Pre-Trial Motions

Pre-Trial Motions are those legal motions which are employed before the trial actually begins, often at hearings or outside of the courtroom. For example, a prosecutor or a defense attorney might file something called a "motion to dismiss", which is an attempt in getting the judge to consider dismissing the case in question before it can even get to trial.

Here's how legal externs use pre-trial motions:

Researched Chilean criminal law and drafted pre-trial motions and settlement negotiation documents in Spanish.
Reviewed federal agency hiring regulations and edited pre-trial motions for an employment discrimination case.

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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 legal externs use real estate:

Researched legal issues for a real estate development company ranging from foreign investment to contractual breach and statutory interpretation.
Collaborated with real estate lawyers and corporate real estate director and administrator to ensure documentation accuracy and integrity.

8. PowerPoint

Here's how legal externs use powerpoint:

Prepared a PowerPoint presentation on utilizing forensics in custody cases for a supervising attorney.
Created PowerPoint presentation used to train staff on managing copyright and trademark infringement risk.

9. 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 externs use subpoenas:

Prepared legal papers and correspondence, including motions and subpoenas utilizing legal terminology, procedures and documents.
Traveled to local government and private locations to file case-relevant materials and serve subpoenas.

10. Court Proceedings

Here's how legal externs use court proceedings:

Provided document review and client intakes in preparation for litigation and observed court proceedings regarding termination of Section 8 Housing.
Provided case analysis of court recordings to lawyers and recommended solutions to gaining information during court proceedings.

11. Interrogatories

Here's how legal externs use interrogatories:

Prepared various discovery items and reviewed documents for inclusion, including requests for evidence and information, interrogatories, and depositions.
Conducted initial client interviews and communicated with clients and other concerned parties regarding discovery, interrogatories and other pertinent issues.

12. Law Firm

Here's how legal externs use law firm:

Assisted large international commercial law firm by conducting extensive research, drafting legal arguments and document management for discovery.
Assisted clerical department of high-volume creditor law firm code court certifications, process payment arrangements and file legal stipulations.

13. Employment Law

Employment law іѕ the соllесtіоn of laws аnd rules that rеgulаtе thе rеlаtіоnѕhір bеtwееn employers and еmрlоуееѕ. It gоvеrnѕ whаt еmрlоуеrѕ саn еxресt from еmрlоуееѕ, whаt еmрlоуеrѕ саn ask of еmрlоуееѕ, and employees' rights аt wоrk. Employment law covers a wіdе range оf issues, frоm реnѕіоnѕ аnd retirement рlаnѕ to occupational safety аnd tо discrimination in thе workplace.

Here's how legal externs use employment law:

Conducted extensive research pertaining to employment law by compiling information regarding covenant non-competes, severance, and employee termination.
Assisted attorney with deposition, hearings and trial preparation in civil litigation practice primarily involving employment law matters.

14. Juris

Here's how legal externs use juris:

Work with Word, Microsoft Outlook and JURIS computer programs
Earned this position upon achieving a Juris Doctor and successfully sitting for the Bar Exam.

15. Family Law

Here's how legal externs use family law:

Prepared marital settlement agreements while working simultaneously with two customers under the supervision of the Family Law Facilitator staff.
Researched substantive issues within Unemployment Compensation Law and Family Law including Permanent and Temporary Restraining Orders and hearings.

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What skills help Legal Externs find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on legal extern 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 legal extern 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 legal externs 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 legal extern 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 legal externs 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.

Do you want to know more?

List of legal extern skills to add to your resume

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

Litigation
Legal Intern
Legal Issues
Legal Memos
Intellectual Property
Pre-Trial Motions
Real Estate
PowerPoint
Subpoenas
Court Proceedings
Interrogatories
Law Firm
Employment Law
Juris
Family Law
Social Security
Demand Letters

Legal Services
Criminal Law
Due Diligence
Administrative Tasks
Legal Memorandum
Domestic Violence
Non-Disclosure Agreements
Legal Advice
Arbitration
Criminal Cases
HIPAA
Legal Analysis
Administrative Law
Summary Judgment
Probate
Court Hearings
LexisNexis

District Court
Court Appearances
Settlement Agreements
Staff Attorneys
Desist Letters
Child Support
Civil Litigation
Administrative Hearings
Immigration Law
Police Reports
Family Court
Legal Assistance
Estate Planning
Oral Arguments
Pro Bono
Legal Research

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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