Paralegal resume guide

What to emphasize

• Practice areas.
• Matter types and volume.
• Research and drafting examples at appropriate level.
• Systems (Clio, Relativity, etc.).

Skills to feature

Legal research · Drafting support · E-discovery · Case management · Filing · Client intake

Only list skills you can discuss. Use Lynt’s tailoring tool to mirror honest language from each job description, then verify structure with the ATS checker.

Common mistakes

• Unauthorized practice implications
• No practice area
• Confidential details

Example paralegal resume bullet points

Each of these follows the same shape: what you did, how you did it, and what changed as a result. Swap the specifics for your own; keep the structure.

• Managed document review for a commercial litigation matter spanning 80,000 documents, coordinating a four-person review team.
• Drafted and filed pleadings, motions and discovery responses across state and federal courts with no rejected filings.
• Built the case chronology that identified the contradiction relied on in a successful summary judgment motion.
• Maintained the docket for 40+ active matters, with zero missed deadlines across three years.
• Cut e-discovery vendor costs 26% by renegotiating hosting terms and culling custodians early.

ATS keywords for paralegal resumes

Parsers match plain strings, so spell acronyms out at least once. Only include a term if your experience backs it up.

• paralegal
• legal research
• document review
• e-discovery
• Relativity
• drafting pleadings
• docket management
• Bluebook citation
• trial preparation
• Westlaw
• LexisNexis
• case management

Action verbs that fit

Drafted · Filed · Researched · Reviewed · Cite-checked · Coordinated · Summarised · Docketed · Prepared · Organised

Certifications worth listing

Certified Paralegal (NALA CP)

The most widely recognised credential. Worth holding in competitive markets.

Notary public commission

Small but genuinely useful in transactional and small-firm settings.