Legal Assistant Sample Skills
Legal assistants are generally employed by law firms, legal service providers, or the government. These professionals are responsible for providing support to lawyers in various tasks such as carrying out research, drafting documents, preparing for hearings, and maintaining files. Legal assistants boost the efficiency of a law firm by ensuring the smooth running of office operations and effective case management.
To work as a legal assistant, an individual should be knowledgeable about the law, legal procedures, and the court system. Moreover, he/she should possess excellent oral and written communication skills, computer literacy, strong clerical skills, attention-to-detail, and multitasking skills.
An Associate’s degree or a Bachelor’s degree in law or paralegal certification is required to work as a legal assistant.
Legal Assistant Sample Skills
• Deeply familiar with the law, legal procedures and terminology, and the court system
• Capable of understanding and interpreting legal documents
• Documented success in performing legal research and investigating case facts
• Competent in analyzing and summarizing documents
• Skilled in preparing and proofreading legal documents
• Adept at handling transition documents such as wills, and contracts
• Particularly effective in providing support to attorneys during trial
• Profound ability to maintain law firm’s financial records, and track hours
• Strong ability to maintain the confidentiality of legal documents
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong secretarial and organizational skills
• Analytical thinker with great attention to detail
• Strong ability to handle multiple tasks at once
• Effectively able to work well independently as well as in a team
• Capable of working under pressure and meet deadlines
• Computer literacy and ability to utilize case management software
• Proficient in using Prolaw, Westlaw, and internet search engines for conducting legal research