What does a litigation legal assistant do?
A litigation legal assistant is responsible for assisting operations by organizing documents, researching court files, and scheduling appointments for client consultation. Litigation legal assistants collect case evidence, interview witnesses, and write minutes of meetings for reference. They also coordinate with other organizations to confirm information for possible trials and verify the accuracy of every data. A litigation legal assistant must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in handling data management procedures under minimal supervision and strict adherence with deadlines.
Litigation legal assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real litigation legal assistant resumes:
- Manage and coordinate various aspects of major pharmaceutical litigation including budgeting, work scope plans, staffing and defense coordination.
- Prepare and review all discovery materials, including depositions, subpoenas, interrogatories, interviews.
- Prepare PowerPoint presentations for visual aids at trial and for inhouse presentations.
- Review and respond to interrogatories and discovery.
- Prepare answers to and draft interrogatories and document requests.
- Prepare defensive pleadings, motions and affidavits including discovery.
- Assist senior paralegals with drafting arbitration and litigation demands.
- Prepare affidavits and other legal documentation for partners, associates and paralegals.
- Prepare and serve deposition subpoenas for production of business records & subpoenas for personal appearance.
- Maintain full accountability for delivering comprehensive support to a partner-level attorney, with responsibility for overseeing the firm s asbestos litigation.
- Contract, gaming, construction defect, product and premises liability, employment, fraud, corporate, probate, entertainment.
- Oversee all aspects of conference planning for internal training programs, education legal in-service, and CLE training for member associations.
- Handle all CLE hours and GA bar fees as well as sworn in hearings for federal court and other jurisdiction courts.
- Conduct conflict checks, draft basic correspondence and perform notary responsibilities when necessary.
- Organize and create presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint.
Litigation legal assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Litigation Legal Assistants are proficient in Litigation, Law Firm, and Trial Preparation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Litigation Legal Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Litigation, 23%
Maintained full accountability for delivering comprehensive support to a partner-level attorney, with responsibility for overseeing the firm s asbestos litigation.
- Law Firm, 9%
Communicated in both written and verbal form with clients, insurance companies, law firms, courts, and medical facilities.
- Trial Preparation, 6%
Assisted with all aspects of trial preparation including document preparation, court filings, discovery of evidence and organizing pertinent documentation.
- Legal Research, 4%
Participated in document production, performed legal research, and facilitated litigation cases.
- Travel Arrangements, 4%
Composed correspondence, coordinated and scheduled depositions and legal conferences as well as travel arrangements for attorneys.
- Subpoenas, 4%
Prepared and reviewed all discovery materials, including depositions, subpoenas, interrogatories, interviews.
Common skills that a litigation legal assistant uses to do their job include "litigation," "law firm," and "trial preparation." You can find details on the most important litigation legal assistant responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a litigation legal 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." Litigation legal assistants often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "communicated daily with clients both directly, and indirectly through communication software systems, to apprise clients of status of litigation. "
Computer skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling litigation legal assistant duties is computer skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "paralegals need to be familiar with using computers for legal research and litigation support." According to a litigation legal assistant resume, here's how litigation legal assistants can utilize computer skills in their job responsibilities: "used online computer-based information systems such as lexisnexis and westlawnext for legal research. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of litigation legal assistants is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday litigation legal assistant duties, as "paralegals spend most of their time working with clients and other professionals and must be able to develop good relationships." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "secured interpersonal relationships with other firms/counsels to guarantee documents are executed prior to confirmed foreclosure sale dates. "
Organizational skills. A big part of what litigation legal assistants do relies on "organizational skills." You can see how essential it is to litigation legal 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 litigation legal assistant tasks: "trained, managed, and oversaw junior and entry-level legal assistants in accordance with organizational goals. "
Research skills. Another common skill required for litigation legal assistant responsibilities is "research skills." This skill comes up in the duties of litigation legal 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 litigation legal assistant resume shows how this skill is central to what a litigation legal assistant does: "conducted research on legal pleadings/exhibits with several court jurisdictions, immigration filings, electronic filing, trademark litigation. "
The three companies that hire the most litigation legal assistants are:
- Robert Half10 litigation legal assistants jobs
- Frontline Source Group8 litigation legal assistants jobs
- AppleOne Employment Services4 litigation legal assistants jobs
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Compare different litigation legal assistants
Litigation legal 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.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, litigation legal assistant responsibilities require skills like "proofreading," "administrative tasks," "dictation," and "excellent organizational." Meanwhile a typical contractor-paralegal has skills in areas such as "in-house counsel," "contract database," "due diligence," and "contract review." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Contractor-paralegals really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $79,049. Comparatively, litigation legal assistants tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $61,594.On average, contractor-paralegals reach similar levels of education than litigation legal assistants. Contractor-paralegals are 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Litigation legal 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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real litigation legal assistant resumes. While litigation legal assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "travel arrangements," "proofreading," "administrative tasks," and "litigation support," bankruptcy paralegals use skills like "debtor," "credit reports," "bankruptcy court," and "relief."
Bankruptcy paralegals earn similar levels of education than litigation legal assistants in general. They're 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for litigation legal assistants in the next 3-5 years?
Sharon Sawyer
Program Coordinator of Justice Studies, Assistant Professor, University of Maine at Augusta
Litigation legal assistant vs. Paralegal
Paralegals are law firm or legal department employees who work on cases with lawyers. They handle different activities, usually administrative or clerical, such as organizing and maintaining files, updating records, and managing correspondences, among others. Paralegals also handle different activities directly related to active cases being worked on by lawyers in the firm or department. They assist lawyers on cases by preparing materials needed for trials, conducting legal research, verifying trial facts, helping during interviews, getting statements from those involved in the case, and creating presentation materials. Paralegals should have knowledge of laws and should be familiar with landmark cases.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, litigation legal assistants are more likely to have skills like "proofreading," "administrative tasks," "dictation," and "excellent organizational." But a paralegal is more likely to have skills like "real estate closings," "due diligence," "legal issues," and "legal articles."
Paralegals make a very good living in the professional industry with an average annual salary of $55,416. On the other hand, litigation legal assistants are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $61,594.paralegals typically earn similar educational levels compared to litigation legal assistants. Specifically, they're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Litigation legal 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 litigation legal assistants and corporate paralegals, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a litigation legal assistant might have more use for skills like "law firm," "trial preparation," "travel arrangements," and "administrative tasks." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of corporate paralegals require skills like "corporate governance," "mergers," "securities," and "ucc. "
In general, corporate paralegals earn the most working in the finance industry, with an average salary of $76,737. The highest-paying industry for a litigation legal assistant is the professional industry.The average resume of corporate paralegals showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to litigation legal assistants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.7%.Types of litigation legal assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
