Top 12 Litigation Associate Skills to Put on Your Resume

In litigation, you don’t win attention by being generic. You do it by showing tools you actually master and habits that sharpen your judgment. Put skills on your resume that prove you can research fast, build airtight records, and present clean, persuasive work under pressure.

Litigation Associate Skills

1. LexisNexis
2. Westlaw
3. PACER
4. CaseMap
5. TimeMatters
6. Relativity (eDiscovery)
7. TrialDirector
8. Bluebook (Citation)
9. Clio Manage
10. Adobe Acrobat (PDF Management)
11. Excel (Data Analysis)
12. PowerPoint (Presentations)

1. LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a comprehensive legal research platform for case law, statutes, regulations, secondary sources, news, and practical guidance—core fuel for litigation prep and strategy.

Why It's Important

It consolidates precedent, analysis, and current awareness in one place, speeding up research, sharpening arguments, and reducing blind spots when you’re building or attacking a case.

How to Improve LexisNexis Skills

Make it work harder for you:

1. Customize your workspace: Pin practice-area sources, recent searches, and frequently used treatises to your home screen for faster starts.

2. Use advanced features: Tap into brief analysis, Shepherdizing/KeyCiting equivalents, Practical Guidance, and analytics to validate authority and find stronger precedent paths.

3. Query like a pro: Combine natural language for scoping with precise Boolean for narrowing; filter by jurisdiction, date, and procedural posture.

4. Save, annotate, and alert: Build shared folders, leave notes, and set update alerts for issues, cases, and statutes you track.

5. Ongoing training: Take vendor trainings and quick-tip sessions; new features roll out often and can quietly shave hours off a week.

6. Integrate your workflow: Where possible, connect research to your drafting and matter folders to avoid version chaos and duplicate effort.

Small tweaks multiply. Faster retrieval, tighter relevance, cleaner output.

How to Display LexisNexis Skills on Your Resume

2. Westlaw

Westlaw is a robust legal research platform providing primary law, secondary sources, KeyCite, and litigation-focused tools for building and vetting arguments.

Why It's Important

You gain reliable authority quickly, track treatment, and surface persuasive sources—critical when deadlines are sharp and opposing counsel is aggressive.

How to Improve Westlaw Skills

Work smarter inside the tool:

1. Start broad, narrow fast: Use natural language for scope, then pivot to terms and connectors, filters, and headnotes to isolate what matters.

2. Exploit KeyCite: Validate, find citing references, trace negative treatment, and mine related analytical sources.

3. Own your topics: Subscribe to topic alerts and docket updates for your jurisdictions and issues.

4. Harvest secondary sources: Use treatises and practice guides first to frame issues, then jump to curated primary law.

5. Save your paths: Store searches, create shared folders, annotate, and template common research strings.

6. Train continuously: Short training sessions on search techniques and updates pay off quickly.

The result: less noise, more needles.

How to Display Westlaw Skills on Your Resume

3. PACER

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is the federal system for accessing case dockets, filings, and opinions across appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.

Why It's Important

It’s the live wire for federal case intel—tracking parties, deadlines, filings, and orders without waiting for filtered updates.

How to Improve PACER Skills

Trim friction and costs:

1. Master search: Use case numbers, party names, and court-specific queries; filter by date and docket events to avoid wading through junk.

2. Set alerts: Leverage CM/ECF email notices and court RSS where available; build Outlook/Gmail rules so updates land in matter folders.

3. Use docket trackers: Consider services like PacerMonitor, DocketBird, or CourtDrive to automate monitoring and document retrieval.

4. Name and file consistently: Establish a strict naming convention and folder structure so your team can find the exact filing in seconds.

5. Control spend: Use free opinions, reuse documents when possible, and download strategically; audit monthly statements.

Less clicking. Fewer fees. Better awareness.

How to Display PACER Skills on Your Resume

4. CaseMap

CaseMap organizes case facts, issues, people, documents, and evidence in one structured database so your theory stays coherent and your references stay traceable.

Why It's Important

It turns sprawling evidence into an ordered map, helping you spot gaps, contradictions, and leverage points early—before deadlines trap you.

How to Improve CaseMap Skills

Make your case file truly navigable:

1. Standardize inputs: Define custom fields, fact types, issue tags, and roles so data stays uniform across matters.

2. Update relentlessly: Add facts and documents as they arrive; stale databases create false confidence.

3. Link everything: Tie each fact to a source and an issue; add credibility ratings and dates for timeline clarity.

4. Search and filter smart: Build saved views, filters, and reports for trial themes, damages, or affirmative defenses.

5. Integrate companions: If available, connect to tools like TimeMap/TextMap or your DMS for smoother flow.

6. Security first: Enforce permissions and backups; sensitive data deserves rigor.

7. Train and share: Short team demos on conventions prevent chaos later.

The discipline pays off at motion practice and trial.

How to Display CaseMap Skills on Your Resume

5. TimeMatters

Time Matters (often surfaced as TimeMatters in firm stacks) is legal practice management software covering matters, deadlines, calendars, documents, and billing—keeping cases moving and accountable.

Why It's Important

Structures your day, enforces deadlines, and centralizes communication so filings don’t slip and clients stay informed.

How to Improve TimeMatters Skills

Dial in the workflows:

1. Customize matter templates: Capture litigation-specific fields (court, judge, service rules, discovery phases) at intake.

2. Automate documents: Use merge fields and templates for standard pleadings, discovery shells, and letters to cut repetition.

3. Workflow rules: Build chains for scheduling orders, discovery cutoffs, and motion deadlines with reminders and tasks.

4. Mobility: Enable secure mobile access to calendars, contacts, and key docs for courthouse days.

5. Integrations: Connect email, DMS, and accounting where supported; reduce double entry.

6. Train and iterate: Quarterly tune-ups with the team to fix bottlenecks and update templates.

Consistency beats heroics when calendars get crowded.

How to Display TimeMatters Skills on Your Resume

6. Relativity (eDiscovery)

Relativity is a leading eDiscovery platform for ingesting, processing, reviewing, and producing massive volumes of ESI with analytics that tame the pile.

Why It's Important

It compresses review time, spots patterns, and helps you produce cleanly—controlling costs while surfacing the smoking emails with fewer keystrokes.

How to Improve Relativity (eDiscovery) Skills

Make review surgical, not sloggy:

1. Learn the search stack: Master fielded searches, dtSearch, saved searches, and persistent highlights for speed and precision.

2. Turn on analytics: Use email threading, near-duplicates, concept search, and predictive coding to prioritize what matters.

3. Batch and tag with intent: Define coding panels, tags, and QC checks; build batch sets that match your issue map.

4. Document your protocol: Create reviewer guides covering privilege calls, redactions, and escalation rules to keep consistency.

5. Audit and QA: Run spot-checks, sampling, and error reports; tighten as you go.

6. Keep current: New features appear often; short training sessions unlock big gains.

Good workflow design slashes costs and errors.

How to Display Relativity (eDiscovery) Skills on Your Resume

7. TrialDirector

TrialDirector helps teams organize exhibits and present them crisply at hearings and trial—impeachment-ready, video-synced, and quick on the draw.

Why It's Important

Presentation matters. Fast callouts, clean highlighting, and smooth transitions keep the factfinder with you and your theme unmistakable.

How to Improve TrialDirector Skills

Get courtroom-ready:

1. Rehearse with real sets: Load actual exhibits, build callout playlists, and run mock directs/crosses to stress-test flow.

2. Pre-tag everything: Label by exhibit number, witness, and issue; create hot docs and fallback alternates.

3. Sync video: Line up deposition video with transcripts for quick clip creation and impeachment on cue.

4. Redundancy plan: Backup laptops, duplicate project files, and offline copies; test courtroom hardware in advance.

5. Shortcuts and tools: Learn zoom, highlight, compare, and annotation keystrokes until they’re muscle memory.

When pressure spikes, preparation shows.

How to Display TrialDirector Skills on Your Resume

8. Bluebook (Citation)

The Bluebook is the core style manual for U.S. legal citation, directing how to cite cases, statutes, regulations, and secondary authorities in briefs, memos, and beyond.

Why It's Important

Precision in citation telegraphs credibility. Courts notice. Partners do too.

How to Improve Bluebook (Citation) Skills

Make accuracy habitual:

1. Know the latest edition: The 22nd edition is current—note changes in case and internet source rules.

2. Build a quick-reference: Keep a personal checklist for common sources you cite weekly.

3. Practice across sources: Briefs, orders, agency materials, legislative history—mix it up so rules stick.

4. Use proofreading passes: One for formatting, one for signals and pincites, one for italicization/capitalization.

5. Peer review: Swap cite checks; fresh eyes catch what you missed.

6. Leverage tools carefully: Citators and drafting tools help, but always confirm against the book.

Clean citations reduce friction for the reader and for you.

How to Display Bluebook (Citation) Skills on Your Resume

9. Clio Manage

Clio Manage is cloud-based practice management covering matters, calendars, tasks, documents, time, billing, and client communications—built for collaboration and accountability.

Why It's Important

It standardizes processes, enforces deadlines, and centralizes the record so teams move in lockstep and clients get prompt updates.

How to Improve Clio Manage Skills

Turn features into habits:

1. Task and workflow automation: Create matter templates with task lists keyed to litigation phases and jurisdictions.

2. Document organization: Use consistent foldering and naming conventions; connect to your DMS/cloud storage where appropriate.

3. Time capture discipline: Use timers, mobile entries, and calendar-to-time conversions to stop leakage.

4. Communication hubs: Keep messages, call logs, and key emails inside the matter; use secure client portals where available.

5. Integrations: Connect calendaring, email, e-sign, and accounting tools to kill duplicate entry.

6. Training and audits: Quarterly reviews of reports and workflows keep the system sharp.

The smoother the system, the steadier your practice.

How to Display Clio Manage Skills on Your Resume

10. Adobe Acrobat (PDF Management)

Adobe Acrobat handles creating, editing, combining, annotating, redacting, and securing PDFs—bread-and-butter tasks in modern litigation.

Why It's Important

Courts and clients live in PDFs. Clean bookmarks, reliable redactions, and sealed, signed documents prevent headaches and missteps.

How to Improve Adobe Acrobat (PDF Management) Skills

Make your PDFs courtroom-ready:

1. Organize fast: Merge, split, and reorder; build logical file names and consistent bookmark structures.

2. Comment and review: Use sticky notes, highlights, and shared reviews to streamline internal edits.

3. Navigation aids: Add tables of contents, bookmarks, and clickable references for long filings.

4. Security and redaction: Apply password protection, certificate signatures, and true text redactions—verify before producing.

5. Advanced search: Use full-document and multi-file searches with proximity and wildcard options.

6. Mobile continuity: Review and annotate on the go so bottlenecks don’t form.

Precision here prevents production disasters later.

How to Display Adobe Acrobat (PDF Management) Skills on Your Resume

11. Excel (Data Analysis)

Excel wrangles case data—damages models, call logs, production indexes, timelines—into sortable, analyzable, presentable shapes.

Why It's Important

It reveals patterns and anomalies, helps quantify claims or defenses, and supports exhibits that make complex facts land.

How to Improve Excel (Data Analysis) Skills

Level up the essentials:

1. Core functions: Nail INDEX/MATCH or XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, TEXT functions, and logical tests.

2. Pivot mastery: Summarize big datasets quickly; slice by party, custodian, date, or issue with slicers.

3. Data cleanup: Use Power Query to import, de-duplicate, transform, and normalize messy inputs.

4. Visualization: Build clear charts; keep labeling tight and colors minimal; highlight the takeaway, not the decoration.

5. Toolpak and stats: Use Data Analysis Toolpak for regressions, descriptives, and sampling when cases hinge on numbers.

6. Automation: Record macros or apply basic VBA to eliminate repetitive formatting and report-building.

7. Data validation: Lock inputs down with validations and protected sheets to prevent quiet errors.

Accuracy first, then speed.

How to Display Excel (Data Analysis) Skills on Your Resume

12. PowerPoint (Presentations)

PowerPoint shapes case narratives for court, mediation, and client briefings—turning dense records into digestible visuals.

Why It's Important

Clear slides guide attention. Strong sequencing and restrained design make evidence memorable without drowning the message.

How to Improve PowerPoint (Presentations) Skills

Say more with less:

1. Outline first: Build the story beats, then gather the exhibits that carry those beats.

2. Design for legibility: Big fonts, high contrast, generous whitespace; one idea per slide.

3. Use visuals with purpose: Timelines, charts, callouts—only where they sharpen the point.

4. Minimal text: Bullets short, verbs active, citations tidy; speaker carries nuance.

5. Embed and test: Videos, audio, and animations should be sparse and fully tested on courtroom hardware.

6. Rehearse: Practice transitions and exhibit jumps; have a no-internet contingency.

7. Accessibility checks: Alt text on images, color choices that work for color-blind viewers, and clean reading order.

Polish the essentials, drop the fluff, and the argument breathes.

How to Display PowerPoint (Presentations) Skills on Your Resume