Analyze our legal secretary resume sample and the added writing tips to assist you in writing each section. Make sure to use appropriate, concise, and clear language for readability and to differentiate yourself from the rest of the field. Our full guide, along with your best efforts, helps you finalize an optimized resume that describes your qualifications to land you the job you are pursuing.
Legal Secretary Resume Sample
Berkeley, CA 11111 • [email protected] • 555-555-1234
Summary
Conscientious legal secretary with 10 years of experience in case management support and legal organizational needs. Experience in corporate and public law office environments. Successful in managing schedules, tracking deadlines, maintaining complex docket systems, and coordinating depositions.
Skills
- Organized and efficient
- Proficient in word processing and drafting legal documents
- Effective oral and written communicator
- Strong reading and listening skills
- Highly developed critical-thinking skills
- Knowledgeable in laws, legal codes, and court procedures
- Customer service-oriented
Work Experience
Law Offices of Mark Tracy, San Jose, CA
- Organize and prioritize caseloads for 10 attorneys
- Edit, update, and forward finalized documents to clients
- Proofread letters, agreements, correspondence, and other documents for consistency and errors
- Maintain electronic and physical client files
- Liaison between clients, attorneys, and vendors
- Review, sort, and distribute incoming mail and send outgoing mail
- Record minutes for monthly group meetings
- Research payment statuses on invoices
Legal Secretary, May 2009 – March 2015
Office of the Alameda County Public Defender, Oakland, CA
- Aided seven attorneys with cases from assignment and appointment to trial preparation
- Prepared pleadings associated with cases and contacted District, Justice, and Supreme Courts
- Managed heavy calendaring and caseloads, including drafting motions, subpoenas, and complaints, trial preparation, client appointments, and court appearances
- Interfaced with experts and witnesses
- Paid invoices, contributed to office budget creation, and handled vouchers and travel
- Responded to emails and phone calls, scheduled meetings, and coordinated telephone, video, and web conferences
- Took minutes of various meetings
Junior Legal Secretary, May 2007 – April 2009
McCormick and Galvin, San Francisco, CA
- Assisted attorneys and support staff with team workload and project management
- Provided administrative support, such as preparing client invoices, generating timesheets, keeping files and records, ordered supplies, and processing mail and deliveries
- Composed attorney correspondence, including letters, reports, memoranda, bills, and notes
- Transcribed documents from audio and digital dictation
- Created and amended legal documents
- Coordinated travel arrangements, scheduled appointments, and maintained calendar
- Answered phone calls, greeted visitors, and communicated with clients and vendors
Education
City College, San Francisco, CA
Graduated summa cum laude
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Is This a Legal Secretary Resume? Let’s Check
Yes. The applicant shows that with every position, she has worked for an increasingly larger team, assisting seven attorneys in her second job and 10 in her most recent position. This lets hiring managers and recruiters know she has increased her level of work and responsibilities over time and could potentially handle high-volume situations in a legal office.
Certainly. The work history shows a thorough picture of handling many administrative tasks necessary for the position, from greeting guests, answering phones, and handling mail and deliveries to writing correspondence, sending out invoices, setting schedules, and meeting with various people.
Absolutely. While some legal secretaries hold no more than a high school diploma, most possess an associate’s degree or a post-secondary certificate in paralegal studies. The candidate not only has an associate’s degree, she also graduated with high honors. Recruiters and hiring managers should recognize she is highly qualified and has the right education and training needed.
Very well. In the skills section, the jobseeker lists soft skills, from communications to customer service skills, and practical knowledge required to do the job, such as drafting documents, word processing, and knowledge of legal terms and court procedures. The jobseeker’s tasks vary in each position and show aptitude in handling people relations, organizing important files and attorneys’ schedules, and creating and finalizing different types of office and legal communications.
Sure. Each position has no more than eight bullet points under each, and each bullet point begins with a strong action verb. The bullet points are easier to read than lengthy paragraphs so readers get the information they need quickly. The summary uses three sentences, but three bullet points are also acceptable. The resume is no longer than a page to keep it from being too long. The format is clear and the language precise, with sections separating the content to increase readability.