What Does a Paralegal Do? Duties, Skills, and Work Environment
Inside the case files, court filings and research tasks that fill a paralegal's week, plus the credentials employers ask for and where pay data sits.
A paralegal prepares the work a lawyer signs: investigating the facts of a case, researching statutes and rules, drafting documents, obtaining affidavits, organizing trial exhibits, filing pleadings with court clerks, and calling clients and witnesses to schedule meetings (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-08-27).
Most of it happens at a desk in a law office, under an attorney who stays responsible for the legal advice. What you touch day to day depends on practice area and firm size (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What a Paralegal Does
You handle the substantive legwork of a case: investigating and gathering the facts, researching the laws and regulations that apply, drafting correspondence and legal documents, obtaining affidavits, assisting lawyers during trials, filing documents with courts, and contacting clients and witnesses to schedule meetings (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-08-27).
Most paralegal jobs sit in the legal services industry — private law firms of every size — with the rest spread across corporate legal departments, insurers, banks, courts and government agencies (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). The federal government is tracked separately in the wage data because its paralegal pay pattern differs from private practice (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025).
The title covers very different work depending on where you land. Duties vary by practice area, such as bankruptcy or intellectual property, and by firm size: small-firm paralegals often handle all aspects of a matter, while large-firm paralegals may specialize in one phase, such as witness preparation for deposition or trial (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Core Duties and Responsibilities
- Investigate the facts of a case and gather supporting records and statements.
- Research statutes, regulations and judicial decisions using Westlaw or LexisNexis.
- Draft and edit pleadings, motions, contracts, discovery requests and client letters.
- Prepare affidavits and obtain signatures and notarization where required.
- File pleadings and exhibits with court clerks, including e-filing through systems such as CM/ECF.
- Organize exhibits, witness binders and chronologies for trial.
- Code documents for discovery in a review platform and produce privilege logs.
- Call clients and witnesses to schedule meetings, depositions and signings.
- Docket court deadlines in practice management or calendaring software.
- Track exhibits and retrieve documents for attorneys during trial.
A Typical Day
8:30 AM — Docket and inbox. Check the court docket for new orders and confirm the week's filing deadlines.
9:00 AM — Drafting. Work through a discovery response or motion, pulling record citations and building the table of authorities for attorney review.
11:00 AM — The unplanned hour. A clerk rejects an e-filing for a formatting defect, or an attorney needs a deposition exhibit set assembled before a 2 PM call. Drafting stops; you fix and refile.
12:30 PM — Calls. Confirm appointments, chase a signed affidavit, schedule a records custodian.
1:30 PM — Document review. Code and tag documents in the review platform and log privileged items.
4:00 PM — Filing window. File the day's pleadings, serve copies, save conformed copies and update the docket.
Work Environment
- Primarily office-based, seated at a desk for most of the day on a computer and phone (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Most paralegals work full time, and the weeks before a filing or trial can run into evenings and weekends (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Travel is occasional rather than routine, usually to accompany attorneys to depositions, client meetings or trials (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Expect to shelve and carry file boxes and exhibit binders during trial prep, and to stand for stretches at a copier or in a document room.
- Noise stays low; courtrooms and litigation support areas are the loudest you usually get, but interruptions are constant.
- Many firms run hybrid schedules, though filing days, signings and trial weeks pull you on-site — confirm the pattern before you accept.
Skills and Qualifications
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Associate's degree in paralegal studies | Typical entry-level education for the occupation; about two years full time (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) |
| Certificate in paralegal studies | Common route if you already hold a degree in another field; a few months to a year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Bachelor's degree | Preferred by some employers; four years, often paired with a paralegal certificate (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| High school diploma plus experience | Some employers hire on this basis and train on the job (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Preparation level | ONET places paralegals in Job Zone Three, Medium Preparation Needed, with one or two years of training usually needed (ONET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor) |
| NALA Certified Paralegal (CP) | Three pathways: graduate a paralegal program; a bachelor's in any field plus one year of experience or 15 semester hours of substantive paralegal courses; or a high school diploma plus seven years of experience and 20 hours of continuing legal education within two years of applying. Pass the Knowledge Exam, then the Skills Exam (Credly, citing the National Association of Legal Assistants) |
| NFPA CRP | Passing the Paralegal CORE Competency Exam (PCCE) (National Federation of Paralegal Associations) |
| NFPA RP | Passing the Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam (PACE), for paralegals with comprehensive education plus years of practical experience (National Federation of Paralegal Associations) |
| Tools | Westlaw or LexisNexis, court e-filing such as CM/ECF, Adobe Acrobat for Bates and exhibit work, a document review platform, and docketing software |
Salary and Job Outlook
Pay is usually a salary, often with overtime eligibility and in some firms a billable-hour bonus; government roles run on published pay schedules. Figures change annually, so read the current tables yourself.
| Measure | Where to check it |
|---|---|
| Entry-level pay | Earnings for the lowest 10 percent of paralegals and legal assistants (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025) |
| Median pay | Median annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025) |
| Experienced pay | Earnings for the highest 10 percent (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025) |
| Federal government pay | A separate median annual wage is published for the federal government industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025) |
| Projected growth | Projected employment change, 2025–35 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) |
| Annual openings | Despite limited growth, openings are projected each year over the decade, largely from replacement needs (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025) |
State and metropolitan breakdowns are published alongside the national figures.
How to Get Started
- Enroll in an associate's degree in paralegal studies (about two years) or, if you already hold a degree, a paralegal studies certificate program (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Take an internship or clerk role in a law office, court clerk's office or corporate legal department. NFPA counts substantive paralegal experience as performing paralegal duties at least 80 percent of the time, verified by an employer letter on letterhead stating dates and hours (National Federation of Paralegal Associations).
- Get hands-on with Westlaw or LexisNexis, Adobe Acrobat, court e-filing and a docketing or document review platform before you interview.
- Apply to the National Association of Legal Assistants for the Certified Paralegal exam and pass the Knowledge Exam before the Skills Exam, or sit the NFPA Paralegal CORE Competency Exam for the CRP designation.
- Check your state bar association's rules on use of the title and any registration requirement.
- Apply by practice area — bankruptcy, intellectual property, personal injury — and attach writing samples such as a redacted motion or research memo.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a degree to become a paralegal?
Most entrants hold an associate's degree or a certificate in paralegal studies; some employers prefer a bachelor's degree, and others hire candidates with a high school diploma and relevant experience and train them on the job (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). O*NET classes the occupation as Job Zone Three, Medium Preparation Needed, with one or two years of training typical (O*NET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor).
What is the difference between a paralegal and a legal assistant?
Federal labor statistics count the two as a single occupation, so wage and outlook data cover both (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Employers use the titles differently: some reserve "paralegal" for substantive casework and "legal assistant" for administrative support, others use them interchangeably. Read the posted duty list rather than the title.
Is the Certified Paralegal credential worth getting?
Certification is voluntary, but it gives employers a standard measure of competence — the NALA Certified Paralegal program has existed since 1976 and requires passing a two-part exam (Credly, citing the National Association of Legal Assistants). Keeping it means renewing every five years with 50 hours of continuing legal education, including at least 5 hours of legal ethics. NFPA offers an alternative through the PCCE for CRP and the more advanced PACE for RP.
How much does the job vary between a small firm and a large firm?
At a small firm you may handle all aspects of a case from intake through trial; at a large firm you may work on one phase only, such as preparing witnesses for deposition (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The small-firm version gives broader exposure faster, the large-firm version depth in one specialty. Ask in the interview how many matters you would carry at once.
Will paralegal jobs still be there in ten years?
Projected employment change for 2025–35 is published in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and despite limited growth the Bureau of Labor Statistics still projects openings each year over the decade, mostly to replace workers who leave the field (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Check the current figures before committing to a program.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Paralegals and Legal Assistants : Occupational Outlook Handbook (2026-08-27)
- O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor) — 23-2011.00 - Paralegals and Legal Assistants