Participants of this internship may assist with the preparation of legal documents for different cases. They receive practical work experience and skill development opportunities. They will learn court procedures and various court operations, functions, and activities. Also, they schedule appointments and meetings and make arrangements for them. Furthermore, they retrieve files and assemble documents for use by court staff. Asides from that, they perform basic administrative, clerical, and office support duties. Additionally, they assist in file cleanup by reviewing documents for either filing, archiving, or destruction.

Applicants must possess time management, analytical, attention to detail, organization, and communication skills. You must be eager and willing to learn. You must be currently enrolled in paralegal schools. Besides that, you must be familiar with legal procedures and be proficient in Microsoft Office. Paralegal interns make an average salary of $42,383 per year, equivalent to $20 per hour. This ranges from $17,500 to $72,500.

What Does a Paralegal Internship Do

There are certain skills that many paralegal interns have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, computer skills and interpersonal skills.

How To Become a Paralegal Internship

If you're interested in becoming a paralegal internship, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 39.9% of paralegal interns have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.0% of paralegal interns have master's degrees. Even though some paralegal interns have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Paralegal Internship

Paralegal Internship Career Paths

Average Salary for a Paralegal Internship

Paralegal Interns in America make an average salary of $52,476 per year or $25 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $85,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $32,000 per year.
Average Paralegal Internship Salary
$52,476 Yearly
$25.23 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Paralegal Internship

There are several types of paralegal internship, including:

Paralegal

Role:

A paralegal is in charge of substantive legal work. Typically, they serve lawyers who are so busy building a case that they need help sorting out all of the legal work. That's where you come in.

Paralegals take pride in their responsibilities by administering their knowledge of the law and legal procedures. It can be a great thing to have a paralegal on the case because the law will determine what direction a lawyer may swing a case.

While you definitely need a working knowledge of what the law is, you really only need to obtain an associate's degree for this line of work. Sure, you could probably spend your entire life going through and memorizing every single law out there, but laws change all the time so chances are you're going to have to look it up anyway.

  • Average Salary: $49,943
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Legal Extern

Role:

Let's rip the Band-Aid off, shall we? As a legal extern, you're probably not going to get paid. But what you take away from these opportunities may prove more useful in the longterm. What you'll take away from a legal externship will be experience and academic credit. Which really is priceless, if you ask us.

You'll have experience right off the bat within a legal setting. This definitely will give you an edge against your other colleagues. A legal extern is very similar to an internship, but is usually much shorter. So while you're getting the experience, you don't have to commit to it for as long.

Since being a legal extern won't last very long, it's a good way to see if you even want to work in the legal industry. It'll give you a glimpse into everything you will be doing, like conducting client interviews, making a court appearance, and even some legal research and writing. Just think of it as a very in-depth glimpse into "a day in the life" of a legal profession.
  • Average Salary: $47,238
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Law Clerk

Role:

Imagine this. You grab a cup of coffee and head to the court. With enough coffee flowing through your veins, you're now ready to chat with the judge about legal questions, granting orders and even the construction of documents. Who are you? You're a law clerk and this is just the beginning of your day.

The rest of your day may be spent going through complaints, looking at petitions or motions, and even reading through pleadings so you can help develop a case. Then, you need to type up some judicial opinions, decisions, or citations. There's lots of work to do as a law clerk, so you need to be organized so you don't waste a single minute.

As a law clerk, you'll probably spend a lot of time with judges. You're there to provide assistance on legal determinations while also writing up research-based opinions that are relevant to the court. The best part of becoming a law clerk is that you don't have to wait very long to become one. You could be a student by day and a law clerk by night. Unless you have night classes, in which case it might be switched.

  • Average Salary: $55,916
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Paralegal Internship Jobs

Number Of Paralegal Internship Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California415$60,940
2Florida329$41,276
3New York177$68,135
4Texas177$47,831
5Georgia142$43,222
6Illinois137$54,952
7Massachusetts121$55,213
8Washington108$66,450
9Colorado94$51,180
10Pennsylvania92$58,374
11Virginia90$45,491
12New Jersey82$64,971
13Michigan72$51,231
14Minnesota72$48,895
15North Carolina62$51,670
16Maryland59$48,511
17Arizona57$48,885
18Missouri52$41,999
19Ohio51$46,342
20Tennessee49$43,305
21Oregon32$65,077
22Indiana30$38,546
23West Virginia29$53,480
24Wisconsin29$44,333
25Iowa28$45,061
26South Carolina28$36,495
27Arkansas26$39,251
28Kentucky21$47,400
29Connecticut20$61,757
30Utah20$53,953
31North Dakota20$44,183
32Mississippi20$46,020
33Alabama19$42,648
34Louisiana19$41,212
35Nebraska16$47,466
36Alaska14$59,198
37Wyoming13$40,921
38Nevada12$59,480
39Montana12$43,407
40Delaware11$56,866
41Kansas11$42,441
42Rhode Island9$54,531
43Idaho9$52,336
44New Mexico9$46,719
45Maine9$42,907
46Hawaii8$59,922
47New Hampshire7$60,009
48Vermont7$45,550
49Oklahoma6$41,491
50South Dakota5$47,806

Paralegal Internship Education

Paralegal Internship Majors

Paralegal Internship Degrees

Associate

45.5 %

Bachelors

39.9 %

Certificate

6.6 %

Top Colleges for Paralegal Internships

1. Winona State University

Winona, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,425

Enrollment

7,052

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Liberal Arts
Psychology
Communication
Criminal Justice

2. Minnesota State University - Moorhead

Moorhead, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,496

Enrollment

4,572

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Psychology
Criminal Justice
Communication
English

3. Texas Wesleyan University

Fort Worth, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$30,300

Enrollment

1,445

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Criminal Justice
Psychology
Communication
Political Science

4. Ball State University

Muncie, IN • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,896

Enrollment

15,529

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Liberal Arts
Psychology
Accounting
Criminal Justice
Communication

5. Post University

Waterbury, CT • Private

In-State Tuition

$16,610

Enrollment

9,017

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Accounting
Criminal Justice
Legal Support Services
Psychology

6. Northern Michigan University

Marquette, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,729

Enrollment

6,722

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Liberal Arts
Criminal Justice
Business
Psychology
English

7. Cedar Crest College

Allentown, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$39,216

Enrollment

1,303

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Criminal Justice
Psychology
Accounting
English

8. University of Cincinnati

Cincinnati, OH • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,000

Enrollment

25,973

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Criminal Justice
Business
Communication
Psychology
Law

9. Hamline University

Saint Paul, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$41,290

Enrollment

2,077

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Psychology
Legal Support Services
Legal Studies
Political Science

10. Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,788

Enrollment

11,008

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Criminal Justice
Business
Liberal Arts
Accounting
Marketing

Top Skills For a Paralegal Internship

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.7% of paralegal interns listed legal research on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and computer skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Paralegal Internship Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Paralegal Internship templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Paralegal Internship resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Paralegal Internship Resume
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Paralegal Internship Resume

Paralegal Internship Demographics

Paralegal Internship Gender Distribution

Female
Female
76%
Male
Male
24%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among paralegal interns, 76.0% of them are women, while 24.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among paralegal interns is White, which makes up 60.4% of all paralegal interns.

  • The most common foreign language among paralegal interns is Spanish at 54.5%.

Online Courses For Paralegal Internship That You May Like

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Top Paralegal Internship Employers

Most Common Employers For Paralegal Internship

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Paul Hastings$89,146$42.8610
2U.S. Department of Labor$63,658$30.609
3State Attorney's Office$62,907$30.248
4Social Security Administration$62,800$30.199
5U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission$56,710$27.2615
6San Francisco Public Defender's Office$54,474$26.1910
7The Legal Aid Society$52,145$25.0733
8Legal Aid Society of The Orange County$50,585$24.329
9Prairie State Legal Services$49,716$23.9010
10Bet Tzedek$46,540$22.3812