Organizational Skills
Attorneys are busy professionals. Between ongoing trials, piles of paperwork, and
daily meetings, their offices can easily become chaotic. Legal assistants with
exceptional organizational skills keep their bosses organized too. By completing tasks
such as overseeing calendars, managing projects, and handling paperwork, legal
assistants help law offices to run at top efficiency.
Writing Skills
Most lawyers rely on their legal assistants to draft everything from everyday emails to
professional legal documents. As a result, legal assistants must know how to
communicate effectively through writing, create documents according to accepted
formats and proofread. Strong spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and transcription skills
all prove to be useful.
Technical Skills
As experts in the law, attorneys often don’t have the time to stay up to date on the
latest technology. Therefore, legal assistants usually take care of a variety of tasks
ranging from creating presentations to running video conferencing sessions to
backing up files. Legal assistants with knowledge of Microsoft Office, legal software,
and document management systems have an advantage over their less tech-savvy
counterparts. In addition, legal assistants may wish to encourage ongoing
technological upgrades, so their offices remain competitive with other up–and–
coming firms.
Detail Oriented
In a trial, even a minor mistake could result in a lost case. And legal documents are no
less forgiving. It’s up to legal assistants to catch and correct the errors everyone else
may have missed. This includes everything from typos to double-booked meeting to
missing pieces of evidence. Accuracy, note-taking skills, and attention to detail are
necessary.
Interpersonal Skills
On a daily basis, legal assistants may interact with stressed-out attorneys, unhappy
clients, difficult members of the opposing counsel, and unwilling witness as well as
judges, coworkers, vendors, and more. These encounters may take place face to face,
over the phone, in a video conferences, or through email, text messaging or writing. A
top-notch legal assistant should be able to greet people graciously, provide
instruction, and diffuse tense situations. This involves listening, expressing ideas
clearly, interpreting non-verbal cues, negotiating, and being emphatic.
Understanding of Legal Terminology and Documentation
Full mastery of commonly-used is essential for any legal assistant. Words and phrases
like acquittal, habeas corpus, and subpoena must be second nature to them.
Furthermore, since the job requires regular reading, writing, and interpretation of
legal documents, they should be familiar with everything from trial briefs to living
wills.
Multi-Tasking
Law offices can be high-stress environments. Legal assistants may by working with
several different people on several different projects each day. Plus, many
assignments are finished under tight deadlines. Thus, legal assistants need to be able
to prioritize, delegate, and keep track of multiple workflows… all while staying calm
under pressure.
Adaptability
Sometimes things don’t go as planned. And often, legal assistants are the ones who
must quickly come up with solutions. Whether it’s dealing with double-booked
meetings or locating a hard-to-find expert witness, legal assistants discover clever
ways around roadblocks.
Critical Thinking
Since legal assistants are responsible for conducting research, strong analytical skills
are a necessity. They must know how to search for information, identify trustworthy
sources and distinguish relevant facts. Especially when working on a case or with an
attorney, they need to know when to intervene and when to step back. Ultimately, the
critical thinking skills of a talented legal assistant can be an amazing resource.
Teamwork
Legal assistants depend on many people and many people depend on them to get the
job done. This remains true regardless of the size of the office. To be successful, they
must view themselves not as a single person working in isolation but rather as a
contributing member of a larger team. And since legal assistants seldom are the star
of the show, they should be willing to accept their role as a supporting, albeit vitally
important, player.
Know how to conduct research as a Legal Assistant
Legal assistants spend significant time performing research for cases. They
must have good critical thinking and analytical skills to find important
information and facts. So, your ability to gather relevant research will aid you
in anticipating the needs of attorneys. Finally, know the field that you wish to
work in, study up on laws, and prepare for days spent scouring the internet
or with your nose in a book.