Crafting a standout Paralegal resume is essential for landing your dream legal support role in a competitive field.
To guide you through the process, we’ve put together a comprehensive writing guide, complete with top-notch tips.
Check out our Paralegal resume example below for a practical application that’s sure to get you noticed.
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Paralegal Resume Example
This example Paralegal resume gives you a good idea of how your resume should look.
It’s clean, attractive, easy-to-read, and it clearly highlights the essential information to time-strapped recruiters.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create your own impressive Paralegal resume.
Paralegal resume structure & format
Resume structure
Crafting a resume that grabs attention requires clear structure.
Ensure your resume features the following:
- Contact details: Essential contact information.
- Resume summary: A snapshot of your skills aimed to catch the recruiter’s eye.
- Core skills: A bullet-point list highlighting skills crucial for Paralegal jobs.
- Work experience: A reverse chronological list of your professional roles.
- Education: Your academic and professional training details.
- Additional info: Optional details like extracurricular activities that might appeal to employers.
How to format your Paralegal resume
Effective formatting can transform your resume, making it stand out to employers while being straightforward to skim read.
Here are essential tips to help you format your winning resume.
- Resume length: Keep your resume short and sweet, ideally around 1 to 2 pages, as recruiters have loads to get through daily and not much time to read each one.
- Font & colour scheme: Use a simple font which is easy to read and avoid elaborate ones which might make reading difficult. Go for black-text-on-white background, but feel free to add a splash of colour in the design to help your resume stand out.
- Page layout: Divide the page into clearly visible sections using bold headings or borders, so that readers can quickly pinpoint the information they want.
- Break text up: Make use of bullet points and short paragraphs to breakup text, simplifying the info for busy recruiters to digest.
- Photos: Photos are not mandatory in Australia but you can add a small headshot to the top if you like.
Quick tip: Achieving a professional look for your resume can be difficult and time-consuming. If you want to create an attractive resume quickly, try our Resume Builder and use one of our eye-catching professional resume templates.
Contact Details
Ensuring that employers can identify and reach you is crucial, so while the contact details section might seem straightforward, it’s vital to perfect it.
Ensure you include these four key details prominently at the top of your resume, without taking up too much space:
- Your name and professional title: Such as IT Project Manager or Healthcare Assistant, tailored to reflect the positions you are applying for.
- Email address: Choose a professional email (e.g. hayley.j.benson@gmail.com) over one that may appear unprofessional or outdated, like crazy-hay-21@gmail.com.
- Phone number: List your mobile number to ensure you are easily contactable. Always triple-check for accuracy.
- Location: Mention the general region where you’re seeking employment, for example, Sydney, Melbourne.
Additionally, you may add these details if relevant:
- Webpage links: Link to a professional online profile such as LinkedIn or a personal portfolio, ensuring all content is professional and up-to-date.
- Photograph: Although not commonly required, a professional photograph may be beneficial if you’re in a creative industry. If included, it should be modest in size and professionally presented.
Avoid including personal information such as your date of birth, full address, or gender. These details do not assist in the hiring process and take up valuable space on your resume.
Paralegal Resume Summary
Your resume summary is a vital, brief paragraph at the beginning of your resume that serves as a quick introduction to your capabilities and alignment with the job. This section is essential for making a strong first impression.
Engage recruiters right off the bat and prompt them to continue reading your resume by implementing these effective strategies:
- Keep it short: Keep your resume summary succinct with 3 to 5 sentences. This allows hiring managers to grasp your key points rapidly, reserving more in-depth information for the work experience section.
- Tailor to target jobs: Enhance your resume’s impact by incorporating key skills and keywords from the job adverts you’re applying for, making it easier for recruiters to notice your relevance.
- Avoid using cliches: Steer clear of clichés such as “dynamic multitasker” or “goal-oriented individual” – they’re tired non-factual phrases that won’t make you stand out to employers.
Paralegal resume summary example
What to include in your Paralegal resume summary
- Summary of your experience: Provide a summary of your work history, including the types of roles you’ve held, the companies you’ve worked for, and the extent of your experience.
- Relevant skills: Tell employers you have the right skills for Paralegal roles by detailing your most relevant skills for the job.
- Qualifications: Ensure to briefly note any qualifications relevant to Paralegal roles, indicating your suitability for the position.
- Benefits of hiring you: Employers want to know what value you will bring them, whether it’s increasing their revenue or helping them to complete projects ahead of schedule.
Quick tip: Choose from hundreds of pre-written summaries across all industries, and add one to your resume with one-click in our Resume Builder. All written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset and style.
Core skills section
To catch the eye of recruiters, include a core skills section on your resume.
This should be a bullet-pointed list showcasing your most sought-after skills specific to Paralegal roles.
Limit each skill to four words to ensure they stand out clearly to busy hiring managers.
Skills for your Paralegal resume
Legal Research – Conducting thorough and efficient research into relevant case law, statutes, regulations, and legal articles to support legal proceedings and advice.
Litigation Preparation – Assisting in preparing legal documents such as briefs, pleadings, affidavits, and submissions for court proceedings.
Document Drafting – Crafting a variety of legal documents, including contracts, wills, deeds, and legal correspondence with precision and in accordance with legal standards.
Case Management – Managing case files by organising documents, maintaining detailed records, and tracking deadlines to ensure timely progress of legal matters.
Legal Compliance – Ensuring all practices, documents, and advice are compliant with current laws and regulations within the relevant jurisdiction.
E-discovery – Utilising electronic resources and databases to collect, process, and preserve electronic evidence for litigation purposes.
Client Interviewing – Conducting initial client interviews to ascertain the facts of a case, identify their needs, and gather pertinent information.
Regulatory Filing – Preparing and submitting required legal documents to government agencies and regulatory bodies in an accurate and timely manner.
Intellectual Property Management – Assisting with the application, registration, and protection of intellectual property rights, including trademarks and patents.
Transactional Procedures – Facilitating the completion of legal transactions by ensuring all necessary steps are taken and documents are in order, such as during property conveyancing or corporate acquisitions.
Quick tip: Our Resume Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your resume in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews and getting hired.
Work experience section
Use your work experience section to highlight the value you offer to employers.
Arrange your employment history in reverse chronological order, concentrating primarily on your experiences from the past 3-5 years.
Structuring your jobs
To ensure that recruiters can understand what you’ve done within each of your jobs, structure them the following way.
Outline
Kick each job off with a 1-2 sentence overview to build context for readers, including what your team/employer does, where you sit within the company and the purpose of the job.
Key responsibilities
Outline your primary duties in 5-8 bullet points, focusing on essential skills, tools, and expertise.
Ensure each point is succinct, indicating your interactions within the company and your contributions to its success.
Key achievements
Round up each role by listing 1-3 key achievements that had a big positive impact on the employer (like saving them money or completing a project ahead of schedule).
Wherever possible, quantify them using hard facts and figures to prove the value you delivered.
Example job for Paralegal resume
Outline
Work in the employment department of national law firm, Bretton & Sons, assisting attorneys with up to 100 personal and commercial cases per annum.
Key Responsibilities
- Analyse, review and organise privileged documents and data from materials produced during discovery and prepare court documentation and reports
- Prepare deposition and record subpoenas according to state and territory regulations and coordinate production of third-party records
- Assit with trial preparation including managing trial exhibits, preparing artifact labelling, and compiling reference files for the jury
- Cite-check and shepardise motion preparation in line with attorney requirements
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our Resume Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
In the lower part of your resume, add a section dedicated to education.
Present this information in a bullet-point format, concentrating on qualifications that are directly relevant to Paralegal jobs.
Candidates with extensive professional experience can limit this section to key details, whereas if you have little or no experience you should expand on your academic achievements to demonstrate relevant skills.
This section can include:
- University degrees
- Industry specific qualifications for Paralegal jobs
- Vocational education and training (VET) diplomas
- Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE)
Additional information (optional)
Consider placing an additional info section at the bottom of your resume for extracurricular details that might make you more attractive to employers.
This section can showcase hobbies, awards, publications, or a catalogue of technical skills.
Ensure anything you list here is relevant to your job or notably remarkable.
Refrain from mentioning generic hobbies such as watching TV or hanging out with friends, as they do not enhance your professional profile.
Writing a good Paralegal resume isn’t easy, but by following the steps above carefully you should be able to craft a resume which gets responses from recruiters and lands plenty of interviews.
Remember to proofread your resume once it’s finished and always tailor it slightly on every application to ensure you always look highly suitable for the job.
Good luck with your job search!