Top 12 Paralegal Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the competitive field of law, standing out as a paralegal assistant means showing a sharp, practical mix of skills on your resume. This guide spotlights twelve core abilities that employers look for—and that help you move faster, think cleaner, and deliver work that holds up in the real world.

Paralegal Assistant Skills

1. LexisNexis
2. Westlaw
3. CaseMap
4. Time Matters
5. Concordance
6. PACER
7. E-filing
8. Bluebook (Citation)
9. Adobe Acrobat
10. Microsoft Office
11. Document Drafting
12. Legal Research

1. LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a legal research platform offering case law, statutes, secondary sources, and analytics that help paralegals research quickly and prepare files with confidence.

Why It's Important

It centralizes authoritative sources and validation tools, which speeds drafting, strengthens accuracy, and supports attorneys with reliable, current law.

How to Improve LexisNexis Skills

1. Refine search logic: Use Boolean operators, segments, and filters to zero in on relevant authority fast.
2. Set alerts: Track new cases, statutes, and news for your practice areas automatically.
3. Use analytics: Review judge, court, and motion trends to guide strategy and expectations.
4. Organize work: Save searches, create folders, annotate, and share—keep research reusable.
5. Keep learning: Take vendor trainings or firm-led sessions; new features roll out often.

How to Display LexisNexis Skills on Your Resume

2. Westlaw

Westlaw is an online legal research system with case law, statutes, regulations, treatises, and validation tools to support thorough, up-to-date research.

Why It's Important

It helps you find controlling authority, confirm validity, and build clean, cite-ready work product without guesswork.

How to Improve Westlaw Skills

1. Master Boolean and field searches: Combine connectors, proximity, and jurisdiction filters to target results.
2. Rely on KeyCite: Verify status, history, and citing references so nothing stale slips through.
3. Use practice area pages: Start with curated sources and tools tailored to your matter type.
4. Customize: Save favorites, create alerts, and use notes to streamline repeat tasks.
5. Train regularly: Short tutorials and internal lunch-and-learns keep skills sharp.

How to Display Westlaw Skills on Your Resume

3. CaseMap

CaseMap (including CaseMap Cloud) helps organize facts, issues, people, and documents so case theory and evidence stay aligned from intake to trial prep.

Why It's Important

It turns scattered information into a coherent, searchable structure. Patterns emerge. Gaps show. Collaboration improves.

How to Improve CaseMap Skills

1. Standardize data entry: Use templates, consistent fields, and naming to keep everything clean.
2. Use links: Tie facts to sources, witnesses, and issues so provenance is never in doubt.
3. Review routinely: Schedule check-ins to update facts, add evidence, and resolve conflicts.
4. Leverage integrations: Pull in research and documents to reduce manual copying.
5. Share smartly: Control permissions and use shared views for attorneys and experts.

How to Display CaseMap Skills on Your Resume

4. Time Matters

Time Matters is legal practice management software for calendars, tasks, contacts, documents, timekeeping, and billing—built to keep cases and deadlines under control.

Why It's Important

It centralizes day-to-day work. You track commitments precisely, reduce missed steps, and keep files moving.

How to Improve Time Matters Skills

1. Customize your workspace: Dashboards, saved searches, and views tailored to your role speed everything up.
2. Automate documents: Build templates and merge fields for repeat filings, letters, and forms.
3. Work the task queue: Use reminders, dependencies, and priorities so nothing slips.
4. Capture time: Log time as you go—desktop or mobile—to keep billing accurate.
5. Integrate: Connect email, calendar, and accounting to cut double entry.

How to Display TimeMatters Skills on Your Resume

5. Concordance

Concordance is a legacy eDiscovery and document review database used to load, search, tag, and produce large sets of case documents.

Why It's Important

Many firms still rely on it for efficient review and production. When data volume spikes, you need defensible organization and quick retrieval.

How to Improve Concordance Skills

1. Enforce uniform conventions: File naming, metadata fields, and coding standards reduce chaos.
2. Index and QC: Rebuild indexes when needed and audit samples to catch load errors early.
3. Design review workflows: Create folders, saved searches, and issue tags for consistent reviewer paths.
4. Optimize fields: Use custom fields and filters to surface what matters—fast.
5. Document procedures: Playbooks keep teams aligned and production consistent.

How to Display Concordance Skills on Your Resume

6. PACER

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) provides federal case and docket information from appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.

Why It's Important

It’s the source for filings, docket updates, and orders. With it, you can track cases accurately, pull documents quickly, and support attorneys with verified records.

How to Improve PACER Skills

1. Learn the structure: Understand court hierarchies and docket conventions to locate items faster.
2. Search deliberately: Use case numbers, party names, date ranges, and court filters to narrow results.
3. Bookmark frequently used courts: Save access points and routines to cut clicks.
4. Monitor costs: Download once, share internally, and track usage to avoid surprise fees.
5. Practice: Repetition matters—run daily pulls and status checks until it’s second nature.

How to Display Pacer Skills on Your Resume

7. E-filing

E-filing is the electronic submission of court documents through authorized systems, replacing trips to the clerk with digital, timestamped filings.

Why It's Important

It reduces delay, enforces deadline discipline, and provides immediate confirmation. Fewer rejects. Cleaner records.

How to Improve E-filing Skills

1. Master local rules: Every court has quirks—formats, size limits, division-specific rules.
2. Prepare clean PDFs: Use proper bookmarks, OCR, and naming conventions that mirror indexes.
3. Validate before sending: Check signatures, exhibits, page limits, and fee requirements.
4. Track receipts: Save acknowledgments and service confirmations to the file immediately.
5. Protect data: Redact sensitive information correctly and follow firm security protocols.

How to Display E-filing Skills on Your Resume

8. Bluebook (Citation)

The Bluebook sets the standard for legal citation in the United States. It governs how cases, statutes, regulations, secondary sources, and more should be cited and formatted.

Why It's Important

Proper citation ensures credibility, consistency, and compliance with court and publication requirements. Sloppy cites undermine the work.

How to Improve Bluebook (Citation) Skills

1. Learn the core rules: Focus on case names, reporters, signals, short forms, and parentheticals.
2. Build checklists: Create quick-reference sheets for your most common jurisdictions and sources.
3. Practice with real documents: Rework briefs and memos; fix signals, pincites, and abbreviations.
4. Standardize: Use style sheets for firm preferences that supplement Bluebook norms.
5. Self-audit: Spot-check entries against the rules until accuracy becomes habit.

How to Display Bluebook (Citation) Skills on Your Resume

9. Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat lets you create, edit, combine, secure, sign, and prepare PDF documents—the lifeblood of court filings and legal exchanges.

Why It's Important

Courts expect searchable, well-structured, secure PDFs. Acrobat makes that routine, not painful.

How to Improve Adobe Acrobat Skills

1. Edit and convert: Clean text, fix formatting, and convert between Word and PDF without breaking layouts.
2. Bates numbering: Stamp productions consistently and track ranges in a log.
3. Redaction: Use true redaction tools (not black boxes) and verify removal of hidden data.
4. Forms and e-sign: Build fillable forms and route signature workflows to move matters faster.
5. Comments and compare: Mark up drafts and run document comparisons to spot changes instantly.
6. Security: Apply passwords, restrict editing/printing, and document your settings for the file.

How to Display Adobe Acrobat Skills on Your Resume

10. Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive/SharePoint—anchors drafting, tracking, presenting, and communicating in most firms.

Why It's Important

It’s where documents get built, schedules get kept, and teams stay aligned. Mastery equals speed and fewer errors.

How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills

1. Word: Use Styles, Table of Contents, Table of Authorities, Quick Parts, and compare/track changes.
2. Excel: Manage case trackers, deadlines, and datasets with tables, formulas, validation, and pivots.
3. Outlook: Create rules, categories, shared calendars, and follow-up flags; file aggressively.
4. PowerPoint: Build sharp timelines, exhibit decks, and mediation summaries with clean templates.
5. OneDrive/SharePoint: Version control, permissions, and co-authoring keep files orderly.
6. Shortcuts and add-ins: Keyboard shortcuts and legal-friendly add-ins shave minutes from repetitive tasks.

How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume

11. Document Drafting

Document drafting covers preparing pleadings, motions, contracts, discovery, and correspondence using templates, authority, and attorney guidance—precise, clear, and compliant.

Why It's Important

Good drafts save attorney time, persuade courts, and protect clients. Bad ones cause delays, confusion, even sanctions.

How to Improve Document Drafting Skills

1. Start with purpose: Know the goal and audience, then shape structure and tone to match.
2. Outline first: Organize facts and law before writing; the flow gets cleaner instantly.
3. Support with authority: Cite controlling sources and keep them current and on-point.
4. Write plainly: Favor clarity over jargon; short sentences carry weight.
5. Quality control: Edit for accuracy, citations, defined terms, numbering, and exhibits. Always.
6. Template wisely: Update templates as rules change; don’t cut-and-paste errors forward.

How to Display Document Drafting Skills on Your Resume

12. Legal Research

Legal research is the work of finding, interpreting, and applying primary and secondary sources to guide strategy, drafting, and risk analysis.

Why It's Important

Sound research builds strong arguments and prevents costly missteps. It’s the backbone of persuasive, defensible work.

How to Improve Legal Research Skills

1. Know your sources: Distinguish binding authority from persuasive, and primary from secondary.
2. Plan the search: Define issues, jurisdictions, and key terms before you start clicking.
3. Use advanced techniques: Field limits, proximity connectors, citators, and filters keep results tight.
4. Validate everything: Check status and treatment; Shepardize/KeyCite before relying on a case.
5. Document the trail: Save queries, results, and notes so research is repeatable and auditable.
6. Stay current: Monitor changes in statutes, rules, and controlling decisions in your practice areas.

How to Display Legal Research Skills on Your Resume