Paralegals and Legal Assistants: where your skills can take you
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.
Usual study level (from US data): Cert IV or Diploma (TAFE; if you have experience, recognition of prior learning can shorten it)
Job names and descriptions on this page come from the US government's job list (O*NET). Some use American words, for example "elementary school" for primary school.
Three moves that use what a paralegals and legal assistant already knows
Ranked by how much of the job's skills and knowledge carries over. Each one says what the move usually costs in study.
Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
🧰 Your current job already uses looking after customers and clients, reading and understanding written work, listening properly and writing clearly.
🎓 No more study. Your current level of study is usually enough. The most common level in the US is some college, a certificate or an associate degree (76%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
Perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents. Prepare legal papers and correspondence, such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas. May also assist with legal research.
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
🧰 Your current job already uses looking after customers and clients, listening properly, writing clearly and explaining things out loud.
🎓 No more study. Your current level of study is usually enough. The most common level in the US is high school or less (53%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
Perform clerical duties for courts of law, municipalities, or governmental licensing agencies and bureaus. May prepare docket of cases to be called; secure information for judges and court; prepare draft agendas or bylaws for town or city council; answer official correspondence; keep fiscal records and accounts; issue licenses or permits; and record data, administer tests, or collect fees.
Correspondence Clerks
🧰 Your current job already uses looking after customers and clients, bringing people around to an idea, negotiating and writing clearly.
🎓 No more study. Your current level of study is usually enough. The most common level in the US is some college, a certificate or an associate degree (46%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
Compose letters or electronic correspondence in reply to requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit and other information, delinquent accounts, incorrect billings, or unsatisfactory services. Duties may include gathering data to formulate reply and preparing correspondence.
These are the three closest moves. The full list holds 24. Answer four quick questions — how much more study, which field, what you want more of, where you live — and the list fits you. Subscribers can plan any move.
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O*NET 30.3 — This service incorporates information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JobMatcha has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
ABS ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update — Australian occupation tags are derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update correspondence tables (ABS, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 4.0), bridged to U.S. occupations via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics SOC crosswalks (public domain). Only high-confidence (>= 0.8) one-to-one chains are shown; other mappings are withheld as 'Australian data unavailable'.
Australian pay and shortage lines: Jobs and Skills Australia.