What does a legal research assistant do?
Legal research assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real legal research assistant resumes:
- Complete accounting and payroll functions.- gather and process client documents.- manage daily operations of office.
- Collect and organize customer information in response to subpoenas.
- Attend depositions and prepare interrogatories in personal injury and other tort cases.
- Assemble case information and draft specific interrogatories and requests for production of documents.
- Draft responses to commissioner complaints and subpoenas; explain mortgage-servicing issues to homeowners after conducting research; edit form letters.
- Answer and propound discovery/mandatory disclosure/financial affidavits.
- Assist with the preparation of complaints and summonses.
- Draft a wide variety of complex legal documents, including motions, affidavits, summonses, and wills.
- Answer and propound discovery/mandatory disclosure/financial affidavits.
Legal research assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Legal Research Assistants are proficient in Proofread, Contract Law, and Legal Issues. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Legal Research Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Proofread, 15%
Proofread, edit, and research various issues related to a forthcoming law review article submission focusing on animal law
- Contract Law, 8%
Researched, analyzed and summarized contract law issues pertaining to specific language used in contracts and their impact between multiple jurisdictions.
- Legal Issues, 8%
Research legal issues in various jurisdictions
- Legal Memoranda, 4%
Conducted investigations to identify mitigation factors and prepared legal memoranda.
- Legal Analysis, 3%
Draft complaints, prepare motions and review depositions for legal analysis.
- International Law, 3%
Researched international law and economic policy.
"proofread," "contract law," and "legal issues" are among the most common skills that legal research assistants use at work. You can find even more legal research assistant responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a legal research assistant to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "paralegals must be able to document and present their research and related information to their supervising attorney." Legal research assistants often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "acted as a liaison for other african women's human rights organizations in facilitating further communication and outreach. "
Computer skills. Another essential skill to perform legal research assistant duties is computer skills. Legal research assistants responsibilities require that "paralegals need to be familiar with using computers for legal research and litigation support." Legal research assistants also use computer skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "conducted legal research as directed by attorneys using traditional computer-based techniques. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for legal research assistants to perform their duties. For an example of how legal research assistant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "paralegals spend most of their time working with clients and other professionals and must be able to develop good relationships." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a legal research assistant: "provided strong interpersonal skills to intense emotional situations with clients, process payments to trustees and perform legal research. ".
Organizational skills. A big part of what legal research assistants do relies on "organizational skills." You can see how essential it is to legal research assistant responsibilities because "paralegals may be responsible for many cases at one time." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical legal research assistant tasks: "developed new filing and organizational practices to convert to state mandated electronic court filings. "
Research skills. Another common skill required for legal research assistant responsibilities is "research skills." This skill comes up in the duties of legal research assistants all the time, as "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." An excerpt from a real legal research assistant resume shows how this skill is central to what a legal research assistant does: "researched and summarized legal trends involving the fields of mediation and arbitration for use by professor kimberlee kovach in her academic writing"
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Compare different legal research assistants
Legal research assistant 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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a legal research assistant are more likely to require skills like "proofread," "contract law," "legal issues," and "lexis-nexis." On the other hand, a job as a real estate paralegal requires skills like "litigation," "due diligence," "probate," and "estoppel." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Real estate paralegals really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $72,649. Comparatively, legal research assistants tend to make the most money in the real estate industry with an average salary of $52,051.real estate paralegals tend to reach similar levels of education than legal research assistants. In fact, real estate paralegals are 4.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 14.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Legal research assistant 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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that legal research assistant responsibilities requires skills like "proofread," "contract law," "lexis-nexis," and "legal memoranda." But a contractor-paralegal might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "litigation," "discovery responses," "powerpoint," and "in-house counsel."
Contractor-paralegals earn a higher average salary than legal research assistants. But contractor-paralegals earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $79,049. Additionally, legal research assistants earn the highest salaries in the real estate with average pay of $52,051 annually.contractor-paralegals earn similar levels of education than legal research assistants in general. They're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 14.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Legal research assistant vs. Bankruptcy paralegal
A Bankruptcy Paralegal assists lawyers and their clients through the bankruptcy process. Their primary duties include collecting and reviewing paperwork for petitions, drafting pleadings, and preparing all documents required by the bankruptcy court.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a legal research assistant is likely to be skilled in "proofread," "contract law," "legal issues," and "lexis-nexis," while a typical bankruptcy paralegal is skilled in "litigation," "debtor," "credit reports," and "bankruptcy court."
When it comes to education, bankruptcy paralegals tend to earn similar degree levels compared to legal research assistants. In fact, they're 3.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 14.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Legal research assistant vs. Corporate paralegal
A Corporate Paralegal helps attorneys gather information and materials in preparation for different kinds of cases, hearings, or meetings. They also work in the legal departments of large corporations and for government agencies.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between legal research assistants and corporate paralegals, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a legal research assistant might have more use for skills like "proofread," "contract law," "lexis-nexis," and "legal memoranda." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of corporate paralegals require skills like "litigation," "corporate governance," "mergers," and "securities. "
Corporate paralegals enjoy the best pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $76,737. For comparison, legal research assistants earn the highest salary in the real estate industry.The average resume of corporate paralegals showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to legal research assistants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 12.7%.Types of legal research assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
