Top Five Paralegal Skills for 2024

While perhaps lagging behind many other industries, even the legal profession is beginning to evolve and make use of improvements in technology in order to meet the ever-growing demands of clients – demands that include lower costs but increased output.

Attorneys are now asking their paralegals, who they can bill out at a lower rate, to be more involved and take on more responsibility.  As such, the standard skill set for paralegals is growing beyond document review and client call screening.  More than ever, attorneys are asking their paralegals to play an essential role in developing and managing their case load.

If you are looking to set yourself apart as a paralegal, here are five skills you should know in 2024 – and for the foreseeable future.

1.     Strong Research Skills

Attorneys spend so much time managing clients, writing briefs, making court appearances, and developing the overall strategy of their cases, they often have little time to conduct the foundational research for their arguments. Enter the paralegal. Paralegals who can conduct legal research in popular legal databases like LexisNexis or Westlaw are worth their weight in gold.

2.     E-Discovery Expertise

As the bulk of business and communication moves to the cloud and digital storage spaces; discovery has had to adapt. Now, e-discovery is a common practice in litigation, with attorneys and experts asking for the production of native files. Thus, it is absolutely necessary for paralegals to understand the rules surrounding e-discovery and to be familiar with the top discovery platforms, like Relativity, to manage, review, and quickly locate important documents whenever they are needed.

3.     Technological Proficiency

Paralegals will be expected to be proficient with legal technology solutions beyond e-discovery tools and legal research databases. The most proficient paralegals also have a detailed understanding of whatever document management system their firm or attorney uses.  Beyond discovery, databases and document management, paralegals will do well to verse themselves in case management software, understand cybersecurity, and not forget fundamental office productivity software, like Microsoft Office and Adobe.

4.      Civil Rules and Procedure

You might think that attorneys have memorized all filing deadlines, local rules, and civil procedure when it comes to filing papers and timely service.  But you would be wrong.  That is why good paralegals dedicate so much time to memorizing civil procedure, rules of court, and local rules for the courts within their jurisdiction.  Attorneys rely heavily on their paralegals to know local rules and procedures when it comes to fonts, page limits, service dates, and overall calendaring of important deadlines.

5.      Extreme Attention to Detail

Attorneys often ask their paralegals to review pleadings and briefings, and to make sure legal citations are correctly made, and overall spelling and grammar are on point.  As a paralegal, you must develop a keen eye for detail to recognize spelling errors and ensure that all cases and legal authority are cited correctly.

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