What Does a Paralegal Do?

In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take litigation assistant for example. On average, the litigation assistants annual salary is $3,940 higher than what paralegals make on average every year.

Even though paralegals and litigation assistants have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require litigation, legal research, and law firm in the day-to-day roles.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A paralegal responsibility is more likely to require skills like "affidavits," "real estate closings," "legal support," and "due diligence." Whereas a litigation assistant requires skills like "phone calls," "proofreading," "defense counsel," and "office equipment." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Litigation assistants really shine in the construction industry with an average salary of $63,516. Whereas paralegals tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $55,416.

The education levels that litigation assistants earn is a bit different than that of paralegals. In particular, litigation assistants are 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a paralegal. Additionally, they're 3.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the summer associate profession. Typically, this position earns a lower pay. In fact, they earn a $7,594 lower salary than paralegals per year.

While the salary may be different for these job positions, there is one similarity and that's a few of the skills needed to perform certain duties. We used info from lots of resumes to find that both paralegals and summer associates are known to have skills such as "litigation," "legal research," and "law firm. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that paralegal responsibilities requires skills like "discovery responses," "affidavits," "real estate closings," and "legal support." But a summer associate might use skills, such as, "first hand," "client facing," "team work," and "financial models."

On average, summer associates earn a lower salary than paralegals. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, summer associates earn the most pay in the professional industry with an average salary of $86,415. Whereas, paralegals have higher paychecks in the professional industry where they earn an average of $55,416.

On the topic of education, summer associates earn higher levels of education than paralegals. In general, they're 7.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is law internship. On an average scale, these workers bring in lower salaries than paralegals. In fact, they make a $10,549 lower salary per year.

By looking over several paralegals and law interns resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "litigation," "legal research," and "law firm." But beyond that the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from paralegal resumes include skills like "discovery responses," "affidavits," "real estate closings," and "legal support," whereas a law internship might be skilled in "legal memos," "real estate," "legal intern," and "intellectual property. "

Law interns typically study at similar levels compared with paralegals. For example, they're 2.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 12.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Now, we'll look at executive legal assistants, who generally average a higher pay when compared to paralegals annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $3,499 per year.

While both paralegals and executive legal assistants complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like litigation, legal research, and law firm, the two careers also vary in other skills.

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "discovery responses," "affidavits," "real estate closings," and "litigation support" are skills that have shown up on paralegals resumes. Additionally, executive legal assistant uses skills like expense reports, real estate, calendar management, and administrative tasks on their resumes.

In general, executive legal assistants make a higher salary in the telecommunication industry with an average of $64,232. The highest paralegal annual salary stems from the professional industry.

Executive legal assistants reach similar levels of education when compared to paralegals. The difference is that they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.