Top 12 Legal Clerk Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s crowded hiring landscape, the right skills on a resume don’t just look nice—they pull weight. A legal clerk who can point to sharp research, precise drafting, and airtight organization shows they’re ready to handle real pressure, real deadlines, and real responsibility.

Legal Clerk Skills

1. LexisNexis
2. Westlaw
3. PACER
4. Document Drafting
5. Case Management
6. E-filing
7. Legal Research
8. Proofreading
9. Microsoft Office
10. Time Management
11. Communication
12. Confidentiality

1. LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a legal research and analytics platform that aggregates case law, statutes, regulations, secondary sources, and practical guidance to help legal teams research faster and argue smarter.

Why It's Important

For a Legal Clerk, LexisNexis provides deep, current authority and tools for validation, letting you draft with confidence, verify citations, and surface controlling law without guesswork.

How to Improve LexisNexis Skills

Grow speed and accuracy by leaning into precision and repeatable workflows.

1. Search like you mean it: Use connectors (AND, OR, /s) and filters (jurisdiction, date, practice area). Start broad, then slice down.
2. Validate everything: Shepardize to confirm good law, note treatments, and spot hidden pitfalls.
3. Work from headnotes: Jump from a strong case to related authorities via headnotes and topic paths.
4. Personalize your space: Save searches, set alerts, and build folders with annotations so your research compiles itself over time.
5. Integrate your drafting: Use citation tools and copy-with-cite features to keep quotes exact and references clean.

Do this consistently and your research tightens, your drafts firm up, and your turnaround shrinks.

How to Display LexisNexis Skills on Your Resume

2. Westlaw

Westlaw is a comprehensive legal research platform offering case law, statutes, regulations, key number tools, and practical resources to support quick, reliable legal analysis.

Why It's Important

It gives a Legal Clerk fast access to authoritative sources and validation tools, improving drafting accuracy and case preparation while cutting down research time.

How to Improve Westlaw Skills

Dial in technique and let the platform do the heavy lifting.

1. KeyCite every time: Confirm precedent status, find citing references, and spot negative treatment early.
2. Use the Key Number System: Track issues across jurisdictions through consistent topic paths.
3. Quick Check and related authorities: Analyze drafts to uncover missed cases and strengthen support.
4. Refine results fast: Apply jurisdiction, court level, and date filters; toggle between relevance and most-cited views.
5. Leverage Practical Law: Pull checklists, practice notes, and model clauses to speed drafting and issue-spotting.
6. Save and alert: Store research trails, set up alerts on issues or cases, and build reusable folders.

How to Display Westlaw Skills on Your Resume

3. PACER

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) provides online access to federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy court dockets and filings. It’s the backbone for pulling federal case documents and tracking activity.

Why It's Important

For a Legal Clerk, PACER streamlines docket monitoring, document retrieval, and case history review—critical for filings, deadlines, and strategy support.

How to Improve PACER Skills

Work smarter, spend less, and keep your records straight.

1. Search with precision: Use case numbers, party names with court selection, and date ranges to avoid noisy results.
2. Control costs: Check History/Receipts before re-downloading; rely on docket reports and only open attachments you need.
3. Use the Case Locator: When court is unknown, search nationally, then pivot into the right docket.
4. Track with intent: Save key docket numbers, set office-wide naming conventions, and log client codes for billing.
5. Review entries carefully: Note entry numbers, sealed items, and links to attachments; keep a quick index for frequent filings.
6. Archive wisely: Download and store conformed copies, orders, and operative complaints in matter-centric folders.

How to Display PACER Skills on Your Resume

4. Document Drafting

Document drafting is the careful creation of legal pleadings, motions, correspondence, and agreements that are clear, complete, and compliant with rules and law.

Why It's Important

Strong drafting reduces risk, clarifies obligations, and drives cases forward. Sloppy drafting stalls momentum and invites confusion.

How to Improve Document Drafting Skills

Structure first, polish later, verify always.

1. Frame the purpose: Define the ask, the audience, and the rule or standard that governs.
2. Outline the logic: Use headings, short paragraphs, and signposts so readers never get lost.
3. Prefer plain English: Cut legalese. Define terms once. Keep sentences lean.
4. Build clause libraries: Maintain vetted language for recurring provisions and tailor as needed.
5. Check citations and quotes: Use a consistent citation style and verify every quotation and pinpoint.
6. Version control: Name files clearly, track changes, and lock the final.
7. Proof and validate: Read aloud, print for a cold read, and have a second set of eyes review critical filings.

How to Display Document Drafting Skills on Your Resume

5. Case Management

Case management means organizing matters end to end—deadlines, documents, tasks, and communications—so each case moves cleanly through its lifecycle.

Why It's Important

It protects deadlines, preserves records, and keeps the whole team aligned. Good systems prevent scramble mode.

How to Improve Case Management Skills

Bring order, then keep it relentlessly.

1. Matter-centric filing: One home for each case. Standard folders, uniform file names, no orphan documents.
2. Deadline discipline: Enter dates the day they appear. Add reminders, buffers, and owner assignments.
3. Checklists for repeat work: Intake, discovery, hearing prep—template them and reuse.
4. Task triage: Prioritize by urgency, court rules, and dependencies. Don’t let small blockers slow big items.
5. Clear communication trails: Summarize calls, log decisions, and file correspondence to the matter immediately.
6. Use the tools you have: Case management software, calendars, and shared dashboards only work if everyone follows the same playbook.

How to Display Case Management Skills on Your Resume

6. E-filing

E-filing is the electronic submission of court documents through designated portals, replacing paper and speeding acceptance, service, and docketing.

Why It's Important

It shortens turnaround, reduces errors, and provides instant confirmation—vital for time-sensitive filings.

How to Improve E-filing Skills

Precision before upload, verification after.

1. Know the local rules: Format, page limits, font, bookmarks, signature blocks, proposed orders—requirements vary by court.
2. Prepare clean PDFs: Text-searchable, OCR’d, properly rotated, with exhibits bookmarked and labeled.
3. Redact correctly: Use true redaction (not black boxes) and remove hidden metadata.
4. Name files clearly: Standardized naming (CaseNo_DocumentType_Date) helps everyone find the right document fast.
5. Check filing windows: Mind time zones and cutoff times. Leave buffer for portal slowdowns.
6. Confirm acceptance: Save submission receipts, notice of electronic filing, and conformed copies to the matter.

How to Display E-filing Skills on Your Resume

7. Legal Research

Legal research is the targeted hunt for authority—statutes, rules, and cases—that answers the question and supports the argument.

Why It's Important

It anchors drafting in real law, avoiding weak positions, outdated rules, or easily attacked citations.

How to Improve Legal Research Skills

Define the issue tightly, then map the law around it.

1. Clarify the question: Element by element. Jurisdiction, posture, standard of review—write it down first.
2. Start with secondary sources: Get oriented with treatises and practice guides, then pivot to primary law.
3. Use headnotes and topics: Jump between closely related cases quickly and systematically.
4. Refine with connectors and filters: Keep results relevant by cutting out noise early.
5. Validate and update: Run citators on everything; check for amendments and superseding authority.
6. Capture your trail: Save key cases, notes, and queries so you can rebuild or update the research later.

How to Display Legal Research Skills on Your Resume

8. Proofreading

Proofreading is the final pass—scrubbing typos, fixing formatting, checking cites, and ensuring the document says exactly what it should.

Why It's Important

Errors erode credibility. Clean documents win trust from courts, clients, and colleagues.

How to Improve Proofreading Skills

Slow down to speed up.

1. Change the view: Print it. Zoom in. Read aloud. New lens, new catches.
2. Run a style sheet: Track defined terms, capitalization choices, and recurring names for consistency.
3. Check every number: Dates, amounts, exhibit labels, paragraph cross-references—verify against the source.
4. Validate citations: Conform to your chosen style and confirm pin cites and quotations.
5. One layer at a time: First grammar, then citations, then formatting, then exhibits—don’t mix passes.
6. Fresh eyes: Where possible, a quick peer review catches what you gloss over.

How to Display Proofreading Skills on Your Resume

9. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (now commonly delivered as Microsoft 365) includes Word, Excel, Outlook, and more—the everyday toolkit for drafting, tracking, and communicating.

Why It's Important

It powers document creation, data handling, and email/calendar management—the daily nuts and bolts of legal work.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

Use the features most people ignore.

1. Word: Master styles, section breaks, automatic tables of contents, cross-references, and compare/merge. Save model templates.
2. Excel: Use tables, filters, formulas, and pivot tables to manage discovery logs, deadlines, and damages summaries.
3. Outlook: Build rules, use categories, set follow-up flags, and share calendars to keep workflows humming.
4. Reusable parts: Create Quick Parts and content controls for signature blocks, captions, and boilerplate.
5. Automation: Record small macros or use simple flows for repetitive renaming, formatting, and filing tasks.
6. Coauthoring: Store in shared locations, track changes cleanly, and lock finals when done.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

10. Time Management

Time management for a Legal Clerk is the art of balancing competing tasks—deadlines, filings, research, and coordination—without letting anything slip.

Why It's Important

It protects the calendar, reduces stress, and keeps attorneys and clients confident in the process.

How to Improve Time Management Skills

Plan with intent, then defend the plan.

1. Prioritize by impact and deadline: Tackle high-stakes, near-term items first. Park the rest.
2. Block your calendar: Reserve time for deep work, batch similar tasks, and leave cushions around hearings and filings.
3. Break work into steps: Small, named tasks move faster than vague, bulky ones.
4. Use timers and checkpoints: Short sprints keep momentum and make progress visible.
5. Review daily: End the day with a two-minute reset—what moved, what stalled, what’s first tomorrow.
6. Escalate early: If a blocker appears, raise it before it becomes a fire.

How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume

11. Communication

Communication for a Legal Clerk means crisp writing, careful listening, and timely coordination across clients, attorneys, courts, and vendors.

Why It's Important

Clear communication prevents mistakes, accelerates decisions, and keeps everyone rowing in the same direction.

How to Improve Communication Skills

Say what matters, when it matters, to the right people—no fluff.

1. Structure messages: Lead with the point, then give the facts, then state the ask. Strong subject lines help.
2. Active listening: Confirm understanding with quick summaries and next steps.
3. Mind tone and audience: Courts want formal clarity. Clients want plain talk and timelines.
4. Close the loop: Acknowledge receipt, confirm deadlines, and log outcomes to the matter file.
5. Use secure channels: Keep sensitive info off unapproved platforms; verify recipients before sending.
6. Document calls and meetings: Short notes now save long explanations later.

How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume

12. Confidentiality

Confidentiality is the duty to protect client information, case strategy, and sensitive records from disclosure—intentional or accidental.

Why It's Important

Trust is everything. Breaches harm clients, cases, and reputations—and can trigger discipline or sanctions.

How to Improve Confidentiality Skills

Treat sensitive data like it’s irreplaceable—because it is.

1. Access control: Limit who can see what. Lock screens. Use strong, unique passwords and multifactor authentication.
2. Secure handling: Encrypt storage where required, avoid unapproved devices, and shred or securely dispose of physical records.
3. Share carefully: Verify identities, double-check recipients, and send the minimum necessary information.
4. Metadata hygiene: Scrub metadata, remove tracked changes, and apply proper redactions.
5. Clean desk, clean inbox: No client papers left out, no sensitive info idling in shared printers or open conference rooms.
6. Stay trained: Refresh on policies, phishing red flags, and breach reporting procedures.

How to Display Confidentiality Skills on Your Resume