Paralegal Job Description
Paralegals perform various duties and tasks that directly support lawyers or legal teams, including creating, maintaining, and organizing their files, conducting relevant research, and drafting documents. Paralegals help lawyers and legal teams to prepare for their presentations. They are called upon to do investigation and fact-finding, and to research the relevant laws, regulations, and articles that pertain to their cases.
Paralegals gather evidence and arrange legal documents for review and case preparation. They write and summarize reports, and draft correspondence and legal documents including contracts. They also gather affidavits and formal statements that might be used as evidence in court. Paralegals handle exhibits, take notes, and are responsible for the review of trial transcripts, interviews, and depositions. They also arrange meetings with relevant parties including clients and witnesses, lawyers, outside vendors. Paralegals keep track of and file legal documents including exhibits, briefs, and appeals with the court or with opposing counsel. Paralegals need a high school diploma or equivalent and training and certification as a paralegal.
Paralegal Job Description Template
Job Overview
Responsibilities for Paralegal
- Assist in the development of search term criteria and lists.
- Manage and oversee claims and litigation assigned to outside counsel.
- Review case related materials and identify potentially conflicting statements or areas requiring further investigation.
- Ability to organize and maintain discovery files, notice depositions, prepare deposition materials, exhibit summaries, and materials for experts.
- Corporate governance support, such as SEC reporting, board-of-directors management, and subsidiary management.
- Assist in issuing the necessary notifications to all parties.
- Prepare for presentations, meetings, and filings with government agencies.
- Adhere to firm policy re: time records and required overtime on assignments.
- Design and develop procedures for tracking, controlling, and manage case work.
- Ensure citations are complete and consistent with source material.
- Review and prepare responses to a variety of entities.
- Organize large amounts of material (both hard copy and electronic) generated by litigation. Maintain a master set of all documents, keep updated records and correspondence files, and prepare indices of document productions.
- Assist the Hearing Officer with incoming correspondence by perform an initial assessment of tasks to be completed.
Qualifications for Paralegal
- Bachelor's Degree in business, business administration, or political science and certification to work as a paralegal.
- Fluency with indexes, templating, file management, and document management systems.
- Work knowledge of formal documents including petitions and notices.
- Demonstrable critical thinking and problem-solving skills, ability to prioritize, and time management skills.
- Sound work ethic and commitment to confidentiality and attention to detail.
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Employers: How to Write Great Job Descriptions
- Be sure to mention requisite years of experience and educational requirements
- Tell job seekers what's unique about your company and job
- Ideal length is a few paragraphs or about 200 words
- Make sure to use appropriate paragraph breaks and bullet points so it’s easy on the eyes
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