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24 Oct, 2020

Traits and Skills of a Successful Paralegal

Estate Lawyer

Successful paralegals share many common traits and skills that not only drew them to the profession but also aid in their success. In general, the Traits and Skills of a Successful Paralegal:

  • Are extremely organized and detail-oriented
  • Enjoy problem-solving and digging into complex issues
  • Work well independently with minimal direction
  • Have excellent communication skills, and the ability to “know their audience,” be it judges, attorneys, other paralegals, clients, insurance representatives, or law enforcement personnel
  • Possess superior writing skills and the ability to draft correspondence, legal documents, memorandums, and various legal forms 
  • Have a good understanding of legal terminology and the process of conducting legal research
  • Are accomplished in the use of technology applications that are common in law offices, including Word, WordPerfect, Excel, PowerPoint, litigation support software, and manual and electronic legal research technology
  • Are good listeners who have the ability to take orders and follow directions
  • Enjoy working with the public and have patience with clients who have continual questions about their case
  • Don’t mind working with relatively large amounts of paperwork on a continual basis
  • Understand the necessity of maintaining confidentiality
  • Conduct themselves in a professional manner
  • Usually have a “thick skin” when it comes to abrupt, short-tempered clients and co-workers under pressure with looming deadlines
  • Are able to anticipate an attorney’s needs and have the ability to solve problems without direct supervision
  • Usually have to perform a certain amount of clerical work along with the substantive legal duties that they find to be more challenging
  • Possess an ability to work well under pressure
  • Are willing to put in overtime, especially when preparing for a trial
  • Have a high level of reading comprehension, and the ability to extract the major points out of their reading quickly and accurately
  • Are seasoned multi-taskers who are capable of doing several things at once
  • Have great analytical ability
  • Are able to “go with the flow” and change their direction and priorities on a moment’s notice
  • Don’t need a great deal of encouragement or positive reinforcement to know that they are doing a good job
  • Are extremely precise, neat and careful, and don’t mind working for someone who is

Traits and Skills of a Successful Paralegal

Backgrounds that may be helpful to a paralegal include business, English, journalism, medical, statistics, economics, real estate, technology, and communications. Employers and recruiters look for paralegals with high academics, strong work or internship experience, and above all, an enthusiasm for law. Paralegal candidates with motivation and initiative and a good attitude are essential to the legal workforce. A good lawyer, like a business lawyer in Montana from Silverman Law Office, PLLC, will appreciate a hardworking paralegal at their practice. 

Tags: Estate Lawyer

What Our clients are saying

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Wendy Charlap

We came to this firm based because of the online reviews we read and were not disappointed. Peter and the staff were a pleasure to work with - Peter was friendly, knowledgeable and patient with all our questions and the office staff were extremely responsive and efficient with all the scheduling and follow up needed to get us ready for the signing. We also like that all documents are housed in a portal that is easily accessible. Thank you to Peter and the team for helping us cross 'update estate planning documents' off our list.

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Gwen Hinrichs

I can't tell you how satisfied I am with this law firm. They were competent and helped me with a very difficult situation. They got the job done in a timely fashion and I am so happy I found them. If you find yourself in a difficult and contentious probate situation I highly recommend this firm. There is just no way I could have had this positive outcome without them. I worked with 2 different lawyers prior to hiring them and neither of them could get the job done like Klenk. Daniella Horn was a pleasure to work with and highly competent.

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Jeff Bretz

Both Melissa and I thank Jackie and Daniella, and your firm for excellence in the handling of Mary's estate!!!

We look forward to working with you in the future on other family estate matters.

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Joseph Atencio

I've been through the process of creating and revising estate documents several times over the years and it's never been easier than it was with Peter Klenk. Always available and a master at explain arcane tax and legal issues in plain English for "dummies". I recommend the firm without reservation.

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Bill Cass

My wife and I were thoroughly satisfied. We had very clear explanations of complicated subjects.

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