A legal assistant is a person who assists lawyers in delivering their services on time. Legal assistants need to be aware of the administrative and secretarial duties in a legal environment. The assistance that they provide to lawyers, is vital since lawyers need not bother about small tasks and thus they can concentrate on important researches and legal documents. If you are interested in this job profile, you may be looking for jobs. Whether you want to start your career or make a shift from your present job, you will need a resume. In this post we will be sharing a legal assistant resume sample that will help you draft a resume for this job profile.
A legal assistant resume with details about your abilities, proficiencies and work history will let the employers select you for interviews. So it is essential that you write the resume with utmost care and attention. If you are applying for an entry-level job, you must focus more on your skills and show how your abilities and areas of expertise can help lawyers in performing their jobs. On the other hand, if you are already doing a job, you must focus on your skills as well as your experience.
Sometimes it appears that having some experience will help in gaining attention of employers and getting jobs easily. But you must remember that many employers prefer candidates who are young, more focussed and ready to learn and adapt themselves according to the needs of the employers. Thus lawyers might prefer entry-level candidates who have higher energy level than their experienced counterparts.
Here follows a resume sample for the position of legal assistant.
Legal Assistant Resume Sample
Thomas Jones
62 Yates Drive, Texas
577-877-2021
Email: jonesthomas@example.com
Summary
A dynamic, highly-efficient legal assistant having an extensive experience of 10 years and possessing good knowledge of legal terminology, court procedures and government regulations. With strong ability to communicate complex information in an comprehensible and graspable form to clients, willing to work in an environment conducive for bettering myself, both personally and professionally.
Skills and Proficiencies
- Top-notch communication and inter-personal skills that also includes communicating by telephone, e-mails and videoconferencing system
- Strong writing skills that is required on a regular basis for drafting file memos and correspondence
- Ability to maintain paper and electronic files, calendars; to schedule meetings and track numerous deadlines;
- Ability to keep papers and files orderly and in a position easy to access
- Quick decision making skills
- Familiarity with office equipments such as photocopier and fax machines
- Ability to pay attention to subtleties that is extremely important for proofreading documents, calendaring deadlines
- Remarkable capability to get along with co-workers
- Excellent ability to perform research
- Certification with specialization in records management, business laws and legal terminology
Educational Qualifications
Texas Community College, Texas
Certified Legal Assistant (CLA), 2005
University of Texas, Texas
Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies, 2003
Technical Skills
- Word Processing
- Desktop Publishing
- Presentation
- Transcription
- Time and Billing
- CaseMap
Experience
Seward & Kissel, Texas
Legal Assistant
March 2006- present
Job Responsibilities:
- Performs legal research related to cases. Gathering client information, locating expert witnesses and tracking down case law are the important duties
- Updates electronic files
- Greets visitors and takes care of them, answers and directs phone calls
- Produces information by various methods that include transcribing, inputting, formatting, editing, copying etc
- Helps attorneys by saving their time- reads, reviews, verifies correspondence, legal documents and reports; collects and analyzes information
- Organizes conferences and meetings required for clients and attorneys respectively
- Keeps client and attorney information confidential
- Assists attorneys in revising, updating and rewriting legal contracts
- Checks stocks of office supplies and evaluates new products
- Schedules travels, conferences, videoconferences and teleconferences
- Manage calendars and provide attorneys with repeated reminders
- Responds to inquiries of clients
- Reads professional publication and discusses job related topics with attorneys
- Assists attorneys in preparation of legal documents, letters
- Maintains the follow-up processes on delegated assignments
Remember your resume might land you a desired job or it might not even get you counted for interview calls. Thus a good resume is to some extent, vital in shaping your career. Follow the above legal assistant resume sample and write your resume carefully and professionally.