FlightWay / Careers / Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Law

Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Assist lawyers by investigating facts, preparing legal documents, or researching legal precedent.

Sector: Law
Preparation: Zone 3 — medium preparation needed
O*NET code: 23-2011.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Documenting/Recording Information

central to the job — rated 85/100 for importance.
Working with Computers

a major part of the work — rated 85/100 for importance.
Communicating with People Outside the Organization

a major part of the work — rated 84/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 83/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 83/100 for importance.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge

a major part of the work — rated 77/100 for importance.

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.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Writing

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Reading Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Speaking

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Law and Government

Needed at a high level (70/100), and rated 95/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a high level (70/100), and rated 86/100 for importance.
Administrative

Needed at expert level (77/100), and rated 79/100 for importance.
Computers and Electronics

Needed at a high level (60/100), and rated 73/100 for importance.

Abilities

Written Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Oral Expression

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Written Expression

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 3 — medium preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

Vocational training, an associate degree, or equivalent on-the-job experience.

Experience

One to two years of related experience is typical.

Training

Employers expect you to arrive with the core skill already.

What it pays

These are typical law compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Paralegals and Legal Assistants specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

BigLaw (Cravath Scale)

$215k – $500k+

Regional Law Firms

$90k – $160k

Solo & Small Practices

$55k – $100k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

Most of the day happens at a screen.From “Working with Computers”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Paralegals and Legal Assistants. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.