Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Also Called:

Legal Assistant,

Legal Clerk,

Paralegal,

Paralegal Specialist

What they do: Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action.

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Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system.
  • Prepare, edit, or review legal documents, including legislation, briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.
  • Investigate facts and law of cases and search pertinent sources, such as public records and internet sources, to determine causes of action and to prepare cases.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines.

Dependability

Integrity

Attention to Detail

Initiative

Stress Tolerance

Cooperation

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

See Related Jobs

Conventional

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Investigative

See Related Jobs

Enterprising

Knowledge

People who want to pursue this career have knowledge in these areas.

Safety and Government

  • Law and government

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Business

  • Administrative services

  • Customer service

Engineering and Technology

  • Computers and electronics

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Read and understand what is written

  • Communicate by speaking

Ideas and Logic

  • Notice when problems happen

  • Make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Writing things for co-workers or customers

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Work Values

Work values describe how your core beliefs align with those commonly needed for this career.

Relationships

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

Support

Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.

Working Conditions

Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research
  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move
  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Paralegals and Legal Assistants jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop