Paralegal / Legal Assistant
Sample Resume & ATS Keywords
Legal recruiters search platform names — Relativity, Westlaw, Clio, iManage — alongside practice-area strings and certifications (NALA CP, ACEDS CEDS). Title variants matter: "Paralegal" and "Legal Assistant" are OR-searched together, and litigation vs corporate vocabulary are distinct sets. A strong paralegal resume names the platforms, the practice area, and the volume of work handled.
All sample resume content on this page is original and illustrative — fictional candidates, realistic numbers. Use it as a pattern, not a template to copy verbatim.
Sample Paralegal / Legal Assistant resume summary
What a parseable, keyword-complete professional summary looks like for this role:
Litigation Paralegal (NALA Certified Paralegal) with 6 years supporting commercial litigation teams from case intake through trial. Manages eDiscovery in RelativityOne (document review, productions, privilege logs), court filings via ECF/PACER, and deposition and trial preparation. Known for docket accuracy across 80+ active matters and audit-clean privilege work.
Sample achievement bullets that pass ATS screening
Each bullet follows the pattern recruiters and parsers reward: exact keywords, a specific action, and a quantified outcome.
- Managed eDiscovery on 15+ commercial litigation matters in RelativityOne: built review batches, ran productions to opposing counsel, and maintained privilege logs across 1.2M documents.
- Coordinated document review for a 40-reviewer team on a regulatory investigation, tracking throughput and QC rates that kept the rolling production schedule 100% on deadline.
- Maintained the litigation docket for 80+ active matters (state, federal, arbitration) with zero missed filing deadlines over four years, using CompuLaw rules-based calendaring.
- Drafted and e-filed pleadings, discovery requests, and subpoenas in federal and state courts (ECF/PACER), averaging 30+ filings per month.
- Prepared trial support for 6 jury trials: exhibit databases, witness binders, deposition designations, and real-time trial-team logistics.
- Summarized 200+ depositions and built a searchable testimony index in CaseMap that cut attorney preparation time for summary-judgment briefing by roughly a third.
- Cite-checked and Bluebooked appellate briefs (Westlaw, Lexis+) for a three-partner team with zero citation errors flagged by courts or opposing counsel.
ATS keyword bank for Paralegal / Legal Assistant resumes
From our 2026 research into recruiter sourcing behavior for this role. Recruiter and ATS searches match exact strings — carry the terms your real experience supports, in the wording the posting uses.
| Keyword group | Terms recruiters search |
|---|---|
| Titles | Paralegal · Legal Assistant · Litigation Paralegal / Litigation Support Specialist · Corporate Paralegal · eDiscovery Specialist · Law Clerk (Ontario) / Legal Executive (UK) |
| Core skills | legal research & writing · eDiscovery / document review & production · docketing / e-filing (PACER, ECF) · drafting pleadings & discovery requests · trial preparation / deposition summaries · cite-checking (Bluebook) |
| eDiscovery & litigation tools | Relativity / RelativityOne · Everlaw · DISCO · Nuix · Concordance / CaseMap · Exterro / Logikcull |
| Practice & research platforms | Westlaw · LexisNexis / Lexis+ · Clio · iManage / NetDocuments · MyCase / Smokeball · CLM tools (Ironclad, ContractPodAi) |
| Certifications | NALA CP (Certified Paralegal) · NALA ACP · NFPA CRP (PCCE) · NFPA RP (PACE) · ACEDS CEDS · NALS PP |
| Practice areas | litigation / civil procedure · corporate governance / entity management · M&A due diligence · real estate / estate planning / immigration · IP docketing (trademark/patent) · privilege logs / litigation holds |
Paralegal / Legal Assistant resume formatting: do this, not that
Do
- Name platforms exactly: RelativityOne, Everlaw, Westlaw, Lexis+, iManage, Clio.
- State your practice area (litigation, corporate, IP, immigration) — recruiters search it with the title.
- Carry both "Paralegal" and "Legal Assistant" once each; they're OR-searched.
- Write certifications precisely: NALA CP, ACP, NFPA CRP/RP, ACEDS CEDS.
- Quantify document volumes, matter counts, filing volumes, and deadline records.
Don't
- Don't claim eDiscovery expertise from running searches once — describe the workflow you owned.
- Don't leave court-system vocabulary out (ECF, PACER, e-filing) — it's screened for.
- Don't blur attorney work and paralegal work; overstating draws exactly the wrong attention.
- Don't write "detail-oriented" — show it with a zero-missed-deadlines or clean-audit record.
- Don't omit privilege and ethics vocabulary (privilege logs, litigation holds) where you've genuinely done the work.
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