Paralegal biography playbook
Practice area, software, and where you have worked.
What the reader is hiring this bio to do
Paralegal bios should communicate practice-area depth, software fluency, and the seniority of the responsibilities you carry. Hiring partners look for both substantive support and the discipline to handle pre-trial documentation independently.
Credibility signals to include
- Practice area (litigation, corporate, trusts and estates, immigration, IP).
- Years of experience and prior firms.
- Certification (NALA CP, NFPA PACE, state-specific).
- Case-management and e-discovery platforms (Relativity, Everlaw, iManage).
- Drafting and trial-prep responsibilities you genuinely own.
Avoid in this industry
- Confusing paralegal scope with attorney scope.
- Listing software you barely know.
- Omitting the practice area.
Structure
Preferred structure for the bio
A reliable order that performs in this field. Adjust to the venue.
- 1Name, current firm, practice area, seniority.
- 2Years of experience and what you take primary responsibility for.
- 3Software and process expertise.
- 4Certification and education.
- 5Professional service and contact.
Tone
How this industry's bios should sound
Crisp, declarative, third-person. A paralegal bio should sound like the cover memo of the case files they manage.
Lengths
Recommended lengths by venue
Openings
Opening formulas that work in this field
Open with practice area and firm.
Amelia Reilly is a senior litigation paralegal at Cravath, supporting the firm's antitrust group across discovery, trial preparation, and post-trial briefing.
Worked examples
One hundred words. Fifty words.
Amelia Reilly is a senior litigation paralegal at Cravath, supporting the firm's antitrust group across discovery, trial preparation, and post-trial briefing. She has been with the firm since 2015 and previously spent four years at Skadden's New York office. Amelia leads Relativity case-management workflows for two of the firm's largest active matters and trains incoming paralegals on the firm's e-discovery protocols. She holds an NALA Certified Paralegal credential and a BA in History from Fordham University. She volunteers with the New York City Bar's pro bono asylum program and sits on the Cravath paralegal mentorship committee.
Amelia Reilly is a senior litigation paralegal at Cravath (antitrust group). Discovery, trial preparation, post-trial briefing. Ten years at Cravath; previously Skadden. Relativity workflow lead and paralegal trainer. NALA Certified Paralegal. BA, Fordham. NYC Bar asylum pro bono.
Vocabulary
Words to reach for — and words to handle with care
Cross-references
Frameworks and voices this playbook pairs with
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