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Resume example

Paralegal resume example

Runs the process and documents that let lawyers do the legal part. Below is a complete paralegal resume, written the way one has to be written to survive a first screen, with every bullet explained underneath.

36
open right now
22
companies hiring right now
25%
of those openings are remote
Mostly in

London, DC, Hamilton

Hiring now
  • Carta7
  • Guidehouse3
  • Lyft3
  • Coinbase2
  • Rent the Runway2
  • The Boring Company2
  • Zipline2
  • Aledade1

Counted by Refolk from the public job boards of 1,745 companies, refreshed through the day. These are live openings, not a forecast, so the numbers move as roles are posted and filled.

Alex Moreno

Paralegal

alex.moreno@example.com · +1 555 0134 · Berlin · alexmoreno.example

Summary

Paralegal with eight years of experience. Managed 200 active matters, preparing filings with no missed deadlines over three years. Looking for a paralegal role with more ownership of Document management and the decisions around it.

Experience

Senior Paralegal, Northwind Systems

2022 - Present

  • Managed 200 active matters, preparing filings with no missed deadlines over three years.
  • Cut document turnaround 40% by rebuilding the template and version-control system.
  • Coordinated an e-discovery review of 400k documents across three vendors.

Paralegal, Meridian Labs

2018 - 2022

  • Owned the Legal research side of the work at a company with a four-person legal team, and documented it well enough to hand over cleanly.
  • Set the approach the team still uses for Filing procedures.

Skills

Document management · Legal research · Filing procedures · Contract administration · e-Discovery · Case management

Education

LLB Law, 2018

A sample, not a real person. The name, the employers, and the figures are invented to show the shape of a strong page - use the structure and put your own evidence in it.

How to read this paralegal resume example

The sample above is not a template to copy word for word - copied resumes read as copied. It is here to show the shape of a page that gets past a first screen: one column, standard headings, and bullets that end in an outcome rather than a duty. Matter volume and accuracy under deadline pressure.

  • Every bullet opens with a verb and carries a number. That is the pattern, not a coincidence.
  • The summary makes a claim and then supports it in the first bullet underneath.
  • Skills are named tools, not adjectives, and each one appears again in the experience section.
  • The earlier role is short. Recent work carries the weight of the page.

The numbers in a paralegal resume

The most common thing missing from a paralegal resume is a number. Not because the work had none, but because nobody wrote them down at the time. These are the measures a paralegal can usually reach for, and the example uses them.

  • Managed 200 active matters, preparing filings with no missed deadlines over three years.
  • Cut document turnaround 40% by rebuilding the template and version-control system.
  • Coordinated an e-discovery review of 400k documents across three vendors.

Before and after: rewriting a weak bullet

Most paralegal resumes are one edit away from being much stronger, and the edit is the same every time: replace the description of the job with the result of doing it. The pairs below are the same work, written twice.

  • Weak: "Responsible for document management and related tasks." Strong: "Managed 200 active matters, preparing filings with no missed deadlines over three years."
  • Weak: "Worked on legal research projects across the team." Strong: "Cut document turnaround 40% by rebuilding the template and version-control system."
  • Weak: "Helped improve processes and supported paralegal initiatives." Strong: "Coordinated an e-discovery review of 400k documents across three vendors."

Adapting the example to your own history

Work backwards from the posting. Find the two or three things it actually screens for, then make sure the top third of your page answers them. Everything below that is supporting evidence.

  • Reorder your bullets so the one closest to the posting comes first in each role.
  • Rewrite the summary for the specific job. It is the only part a human reliably reads.
  • Cut any skill you would not want to be asked about for ten minutes.
  • Keep Document management, Legal research, Filing procedures visible in context, not stranded in a list.

FAQ

Can I copy this paralegal resume example?
Copy the structure, not the sentences. The layout, the ordering, and the shape of the bullets all transfer. The content does not: a recruiter who reads twenty resumes for the same role notices identical phrasing quickly, and the numbers in this sample are illustrative rather than anyone's real history.
What if I do not have numbers like these?
Most people have more than they think. Look for volume, frequency, time, cost, error rate, or a before-and-after on anything you touched. Where the number genuinely does not exist, say what changed and who noticed - "the process that used to need a weekly meeting now does not" is a real outcome without a metric.
How long should a paralegal resume be?
One page up to about eight years of experience, two pages beyond it. This example is one page. Length signals scope, so a long page with small-scope bullets reads worse than a short one.
Will this format pass an applicant tracking system?
Yes. One column, real text, standard headings, and no graphics or tables is the format parsers handle reliably. Most parsing failures come from multi-column layouts, text inside images, and headings the parser does not recognise.
Should the example change for a more senior paralegal role?
The structure stays. What changes is the scope in the bullets: more ambiguity you resolved yourself, more decisions with a tradeoff, and more effect on work that was not directly yours. Matter volume and accuracy under deadline pressure.

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