Top 12 Law Office Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, standing out as a law office assistant means showing a sharp, relevant mix of skills on your resume. Emphasize the capabilities below and you’ll signal readiness for the pace, the precision, and the constant coordination legal work demands.

Law Office Assistant Skills

1. LexisNexis
2. Westlaw
3. Microsoft Office
4. Time Matters
5. Clio Manage
6. Legal Research
7. Document Drafting
8. E-filing
9. Case Management
10. Billing Software
11. Adobe Acrobat
12. Transcription

1. LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a comprehensive legal research platform offering case law, statutes, regulations, news, and analytics. It helps assistants support attorneys with fast, accurate research and well-cited documents.

Why It's Important

It centralizes authoritative sources and validation tools, so you can confirm good law, surface on-point authorities quickly, and keep case files current without guesswork.

How to Improve LexisNexis Skills

1. Know the toolkit: Explore caselaw libraries, statutes, practice guides, Shepard’s, and alerts. Learn where each shines.

2. Search with intent: Use Boolean connectors, segments, and filters. Save favorite searches and build alerts to catch updates automatically.

3. Leverage practice content: Tap forms, clauses, checklists, and practical guidance aligned to your firm’s areas.

4. Validate relentlessly: Shepardize authorities early and often to avoid citing overturned or weakened law.

5. Work inside Word/Outlook: Use available Microsoft 365 integrations to check citations and pull authorities while drafting.

6. Train regularly: Take vendor webinars and quick-tip sessions; new features roll out often.

How to Display LexisNexis Skills on Your Resume

2. Westlaw

Westlaw is a leading online research system with caselaw, statutes, regs, secondary sources, court rules, and litigation tools.

Why It's Important

It delivers current, well-indexed legal content plus citators, so research moves faster and filings land with confidence.

How to Improve Westlaw Skills

1. Train on the platform: Short vendor trainings pay off. Learn filters, field searching, and result refinement.

2. Use KeyCite: Shepardize’s counterpart on Westlaw. Verify validity, trace history, and find citing references instantly.

3. Dial in your searches: Combine natural language for speed with Boolean for precision; then narrow by jurisdiction, date, and document type.

4. Set alerts: Track new decisions, dockets, or changes in authorities relevant to your matters.

5. Adopt advanced features: If your firm has Westlaw Precision, lean on improved searching and analytics to spot patterns and key passages faster.

6. Save what you use: Bookmark go-to sources and build folders so repeat tasks are almost automatic.

How to Display Westlaw Skills on Your Resume

3. Microsoft Office

Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint form the backbone of daily legal work: drafting, formatting, tracking data, and coordinating schedules.

Why It's Important

Consistent formatting, reliable version control, crisp communication—Office ties it all together so the practice runs without friction.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Tune the Quick Access Toolbar: Pin your most-used commands in Word, Excel, and Outlook to shave seconds off every task.

2. Template everything: Build matter-specific templates for pleadings, letters, and checklists to keep quality high and style uniform.

3. Master shortcuts: Learn core shortcuts for navigation, formatting, and review; speed multiplies across a day of drafting.

4. Store smart: Use OneDrive or SharePoint for secure sharing, version history, and real-time coauthoring.

5. Automate the boring bits: Power Automate can trigger approvals, file moves, or reminders without manual elbow grease.

6. Add-ins that matter: Use legal add-ins for citation checking, compare, and table-of-authorities generation.

7. Keep learning: Short micro-courses and community tips help you discover hidden features you’ll use daily.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

4. Time Matters

Time Matters is law practice and case management software (part of PCLaw | Time Matters) that centralizes matters, calendars, documents, and time entries.

Why It's Important

It keeps deadlines visible, communications findable, and billing data accurate—so cases move forward and nothing slips past.

How to Improve Time Matters Skills

1. Customize your workspace: Configure dashboards, lists, and matter views to surface priorities and deadlines at a glance.

2. Build workflows: Automate routine steps—new matter intake, document assembly, notifications—so processes stay consistent.

3. Connect email: Link Outlook so messages and attachments file straight to the correct matter without manual drudgery.

4. Track time proactively: Use time-capture tools and review unbilled activities to boost accuracy and recoverables.

5. Train and refresh: Vendor trainings and user groups surface better ways to configure forms, templates, and reports.

6. Use mobile options: Log time and view essentials on the go with supported mobile tools from PCLaw | Time Matters.

How to Display Time Matters Skills on Your Resume

5. Clio Manage

Clio Manage is a cloud-based system for matters, documents, time, and billing, built for legal teams that need flexibility and speed.

Why It's Important

With centralized files, client portals, and integrated billing, assistants can move work forward quickly and keep clients in the loop.

How to Improve Clio Manage Skills

1. Automate routine tasks: Use document templates, workflows, and triggers to standardize repeatable steps.

2. Integrate your stack: Connect email, accounting, e-signature, and storage tools so information flows without retyping.

3. Customize fields and matter types: Capture the exact data your practice needs and report on it later.

4. Time-track everywhere: Run timers from desktop, mobile, and calendar entries to prevent leakage.

5. Go mobile: Manage tasks, calls, and documents from the app when you’re out of the office.

6. Use the client portal: Share documents and messages securely, cutting down on email chaos.

7. Invest in training: Short courses and webinars reveal shortcuts and underused features that save hours.

How to Display Clio Manage Skills on Your Resume

6. Legal Research

Legal research means finding and validating the authorities—cases, statutes, regulations, commentary—needed to advise clients and draft winning filings.

Why It's Important

Accurate research underpins every argument, every letter, every negotiation. When the law is right, the work stands taller.

How to Improve Legal Research Skills

1. Lock down fundamentals: Know court hierarchies, citation rules, and how to read a case properly.

2. Use premier databases: Work in Westlaw and LexisNexis, then branch to agency sites, state resources, and treatises.

3. Search with structure: Combine keywords, connectors, fields, and filters; iterate quickly and save what works.

4. Stay current: Set alerts by jurisdiction and topic so developments reach you, not the other way around.

5. Analyze and synthesize: Extract rules, map splits, and align facts to authority; don’t just collect—distill.

6. Organize findings: Use notebooks or research managers to tag, annotate, and retrieve sources fast.

7. Get feedback: Ask attorneys to review memos; refine approach based on what they cite and how they argue.

8. Practice constantly: Short research drills build speed and sharpen instincts.

How to Display Legal Research Skills on Your Resume

7. Document Drafting

Drafting means producing clear, accurate legal documents—pleadings, letters, motions, contracts—using the right language, structure, and citations.

Why It's Important

Precision reduces risk. Clarity speeds decisions. Good drafting keeps the court, clients, and colleagues on the same page.

How to Improve Document Drafting Skills

1. Clarify the purpose: Know the audience and outcome before you type a word.

2. Start from strong precedents: Use firm-approved templates and exemplars, then tailor to the facts and forum.

3. Prefer plain English: Short sentences, active voice, concrete verbs; jargon only where necessary.

4. Format like a pro: Follow local rules and style guides; automate TOCs, TOAs, and numbering.

5. Edit in layers: First structure, then clarity, then citations, then typos. Always a final read-aloud pass.

6. Seek review: A second set of eyes catches gaps and awkward phrasings you’ll miss.

7. Keep learning: Workshops, writing groups, and bar resources sharpen judgment and style.

8. Use drafting tech: Comparison, clause libraries, and citation tools reduce errors and rework.

How to Display Document Drafting Skills on Your Resume

8. E-filing

E-filing is the electronic submission of documents to courts and agencies, following strict technical and procedural rules.

Why It's Important

It speeds processing, reduces paper, and gives you timestamps and receipts that keep matters defensible and traceable.

How to Improve E-filing Skills

1. Master court rules: Each jurisdiction has its own formats, size limits, naming conventions, and timing quirks. Keep a living checklist.

2. Adopt a legal DMS: Use a document management system with versioning, profiles, and permissions to prevent mix-ups.

3. Automate prep: Use tools to standardize coversheets, captions, bookmarks, and PDF assembly.

4. Secure everything: Encrypt, use strong authentication, and redact properly—especially PII and sensitive exhibits.

5. Train and cross-train: Short refreshers for staff avoid last-minute scrambles when platforms or rules change.

6. Use e-signatures when allowed: Streamline approval and filing while keeping audit trails intact.

How to Display E-filing Skills on Your Resume

9. Case Management

Case management coordinates deadlines, documents, tasks, contacts, and communications across a matter’s lifecycle.

Why It's Important

It’s the difference between smooth momentum and missed deadlines. Good systems keep teams aligned and clients informed.

How to Improve Case Management Skills

1. Pick the right platform: Choose software that fits your practice areas, reporting needs, and integrations.

2. Standardize intake and workflows: Create checklists and templates so each matter starts and runs the same reliable way.

3. Train continuously: Teach new features and reinforce best practices; capture tips in a simple playbook.

4. Communicate clearly: Use client portals and team messaging to reduce email bloat and keep a record.

5. Delegate with visibility: Assign owners and due dates, then track status in dashboards so nothing gets lost.

6. Review and refine: Hold periodic audits of missed tasks, bottlenecks, and client feedback; adjust workflows accordingly.

How to Display Case Management Skills on Your Resume

10. Billing Software

Billing software tracks time, expenses, invoices, payments, and trust accounting so firms get paid accurately and on time.

Why It's Important

Clear, consistent billing builds client trust and strengthens a firm’s financial health—no small thing.

How to Improve Billing Software Skills

1. Integrate systems: Connect billing to case management and accounting so data flows cleanly end to end.

2. Automate time capture: Use passive timers, calendar capture, and activity prompts to reduce leakage.

3. Customize invoices: Tailor formats, narratives, LEDES exports, and tax rules to client requirements.

4. Offer client portals: Enable online payments, invoice access, and secure messages to cut delays.

5. Mind compliance: Follow trust accounting rules and billing standards; use built-in safeguards and approvals.

6. Prioritize security: Encrypt data, enforce MFA, and restrict roles; payments should meet strict security standards.

7. Report deeply: Use dashboards for WIP, realization, AR aging, and profitability; share summaries with stakeholders.

8. Work mobile: Log time and expenses on phones so entries happen when the work does.

How to Display Billing Software Skills on Your Resume

11. Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is the standard for creating, editing, securing, and optimizing PDFs—exactly what filings and exhibits require.

Why It's Important

Courts want clean, accessible, properly bookmarked PDFs. Acrobat makes that doable—consistently and securely.

How to Improve Adobe Acrobat Skills

1. Memorize key shortcuts: Navigation, comments, redact, and combine—speed matters with large files.

2. Use Advanced Search: Search across folders and multiple PDFs; index big sets for lightning-fast finds.

3. Secure and redact: Apply passwords, restrict permissions, and use true redaction (not black boxes) to remove sensitive data.

4. Automate with Actions: Batch-run OCR, optimize, watermark, and bookmark routines for consistent output.

5. Optimize for size and access: Compress thoughtfully, tag for accessibility, and add bookmarks for easy navigation.

6. Master comments and compare: Review with annotations and run document comparisons to spot subtle changes.

How to Display Adobe Acrobat Skills on Your Resume

12. Transcription

Transcription converts recorded speech—hearings, depositions, client calls—into accurate written records the team can search and cite.

Why It's Important

Clean transcripts aid case prep, preserve details, and support compliance. The written word anchors the work.

How to Improve Transcription Skills

1. Boost typing fundamentals: Practice for speed and accuracy; ergonomics help you last through long sessions.

2. Use the right tools: Consider Dragon Professional or Dragon Legal for voice recognition and Express Scribe for foot-pedal control.

3. Know the lingo: Build a running glossary of legal terms, names, and case-specific phrases.

4. Protect confidentiality: Follow firm policies, use secure storage, and scrub sensitive data per instructions.

5. Edit ruthlessly: Proofread with care, run spell and grammar checks, and verify names, cites, and dates.

6. Stay organized: Consistent file naming, folders by matter, and metadata tags make retrieval painless.

How to Display Transcription Skills on Your Resume