Paralegal CV Example (UK)

Solicitors and practice managers read a Paralegal CV for errors first and content second, because a paralegal who misses a typo on a CV will miss one on a claim form. They then look for the practice area, the matters you have run under supervision, the court procedure you know and the case management system the firm uses. A CV that names the Civil Procedure Rules, a Land Registry form and a fee-earner's caseload reads differently from one that lists office duties.

The Sample CV below is for a Paralegal with six years in civil litigation and residential conveyancing at two firms in the West of England, who has passed SQE1. Each bullet gives the type and volume of matters, what the paralegal owned and a result a supervising solicitor cares about: a deadline met, a bundle the barrister praised, a completion that happened on the day.

Tailor it to the practice area in the advert. Litigation wants disclosure, witness statements and trial bundles; conveyancing wants searches, exchange and completion; private client wants probate forms and estate accounts; family wants Form E and court applications. The US counterpart of this page is the paralegal resume example, written for American law firms on Letter paper. For a firm that prints and files on paper, the Civic template keeps the page plain.

Updated . The person and employers in this Sample CV are fictional. Written for applicants in the UK; the page for applicants in the US is the paralegal resume example.

Paralegal sample CV

Drawn at A4 proportions, the paper a UK CV is printed on.

Thomas Kellaway

Paralegal, Civil Litigation and Residential Conveyancing, SQE1 passed

Bristol, BS1thomas.kellaway@example.com07700 900347

Summary

Paralegal with six years in civil litigation and residential conveyancing at two Bristol and Bath firms, supporting three fee-earners on a combined caseload of about 90 matters. Prepared the trial bundles and witness statements for a four-day county court trial that settled on the second morning on terms the client accepted. Passed SQE1 in 2025 and is recording qualifying work experience towards admission as a solicitor.

Experience

Litigation Paralegal, Avon and Severn Solicitors LLP

– Present

Bristol

  • Support three litigation solicitors on about 60 live contract, property and debt matters in the county court and the High Court, keeping every limitation date and CPR deadline in the firm's diary system with no missed deadline in four years.
  • Prepared the disclosure list, witness statements and the 1,400-page trial bundle for a four-day county court trial, which settled on the second morning on terms the client accepted.
  • Draft letters before action, Part 36 offers, directions questionnaires and routine applications for solicitor review, and file them through CE-File and the county court online service.
  • Run the firm's debt recovery caseload of about 25 matters under supervision, from letter before claim to enforcement, recovering sums for clients without needing a hearing in most cases.
Conveyancing Paralegal, Kingswood Property Law

–

Bath

  • Ran the file for 20 to 25 residential sales and purchases a month under a licensed conveyancer, from searches and enquiries to exchange and completion.
  • Submitted Land Registry applications and SDLT returns for every completion within the firm's deadline, with no requisitions on the firm's audit sample in two years.
  • Set up the firm's standard enquiry checklist for leasehold flats, which cut the average number of additional enquiry rounds from three to one.

Education

LLB (Hons) Law, 2:1

West Mendip University, Bath

Dissertation on the Part 36 regime after the 2015 reforms; pro bono clinic volunteer for two years.

Skills

  • Civil Procedure Rules and court deadlines
  • Disclosure and trial bundles
  • Drafting letters before action and Part 36 offers
  • Witness statements
  • CE-File and county court online filing
  • Residential conveyancing
  • Land Registry and SDLT
  • Legal research (Westlaw UK, Lexis)
  • Proclaim and LEAP case management
  • Client care and file reviews under the SRA Code

Certifications

  • SQE1 passed, Solicitors Regulation Authority,
  • Paralegal member, CILEx,

Start yours from this example

Opens this sample in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details, then tailor it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

Use this example

How a UK CV differs

A UK Paralegal CV is written for solicitors, not attorneys, and for a profession regulated by the SRA and CILEx rather than a state bar. There is no ABA-approved certificate and no NALA exam; instead employers look for an LLB or a conversion course, the LPC or SQE stage you have reached, CILEx membership and the qualifying work experience you are recording. Practice areas are the UK ones, conveyancing, litigation, private client, family, employment, and the page uses UK court names, UK forms and UK spelling throughout.

For a paralegal in the UK

  1. Solicitors, fee-earners and the SRA

    Write solicitor, fee-earner and partner, never attorney or associate attorney. Name the regulator where it matters: file reviews under the SRA Code, anti-money-laundering checks, client account rules.

  2. Your route to qualification

    Say where you are: LLB, GDL or PGDL, LPC completed, SQE1 passed, SQE2 booked, CILEx Level 3 or Level 6. A firm hiring a paralegal is often also screening for a future trainee or solicitor apprentice.

  3. Qualifying work experience

    If your paralegal work is being signed off as qualifying work experience for the SQE, state it with the dates and the confirming solicitor's role. It changes how a firm sees a two-year paralegal post.

  4. Practice area and court

    County court, High Court, Family Court and the employment tribunal each have their own procedure. Name the court and the type of matter, and give caseload numbers, so a practice manager can place you against a fee-earner's needs.

  5. DBS and vetting

    Firms doing legal aid, family or private client work may ask for a DBS check. If you hold a current one, note it; a clean record is assumed otherwise and does not need stating.

Every CV in the UK

A4 paper
Set the page to A4, 210 by 297 millimetres. A Letter-sized PDF prints with odd margins on A4 and reads as imported from the US.
Two pages is normal
Most UK CVs run to two pages. One page suits a first job; three is rare and only for senior roles with a lot to show.
No photo, no date of birth
UK employers do not expect a photo, a date of birth, marital status or nationality on a CV, and most prefer not to see them.
Dates as DD/MM/YYYY
Day first where a full date appears, and month and year for each role: "Mar 2022 – Present". Never the US month-first order.
British English
Organise, programme, centre, licence, specialise. A CV in American spelling reads as written for somewhere else.
Town and postcode area, not a street address
A line such as "Manchester, M4" is enough. A full postal address, and the US-style "City, ST 12345" line, are not expected.

More on applying in the UK, with every CV example for it, on the UK page.

Templates for the paralegal CV

All templates

Every template exports on A4. The previews are drawn on Letter; the editor sets the page size when you export.

How the CV changes with experience

The same paralegal CV, written at three levels: a profile and three bullets for each.

Entry level

Zero to two years, or a first post in the title

Law graduate with a 2:1 LLB, a year in a university pro bono clinic and six months as a legal assistant in a high street firm. Accurate, discreet and quick to learn a case management system.

  • Opened files, ran anti-money-laundering checks and prepared client care letters for new conveyancing instructions.
  • Drafted witness statements and attendance notes for solicitor review in the pro bono clinic's housing cases.
  • Scanned and indexed closed files into the firm's document management system ahead of an SRA file review.

Mid level

Three to seven years, owns a process or a workload

Paralegal with four years in private client work, preparing probate applications, estate accounts and lasting powers of attorney for two solicitors.

  • Prepare probate applications and inheritance tax forms for 15 to 20 estates a month.
  • Draft lasting powers of attorney and register them with the Office of the Public Guardian.
  • Keep the estate accounts and distribution schedules the solicitors sign off before each payment.

Senior

Eight years or more, leads people, budgets or programmes

Senior Paralegal and team leader with thirteen years in commercial litigation, running the paralegal team on multi-party disputes and training new paralegals.

  • Lead a team of six paralegals supporting the commercial disputes department on matters worth up to £40 million.
  • Manage disclosure platforms and supplier budgets for large document reviews.
  • Train paralegals and trainee solicitors on bundling, e-filing and the firm's file review standards.

Skills to put on the paralegal CV

Hard skills

A named practice area
Firms hire paralegals for conveyancing, litigation, family or private client, and the shortlist is built from the practice area on the CV.
Civil Procedure Rules and court procedure
A paralegal who knows the CPR, the Practice Directions and the court's online services saves a solicitor from checking every step.
Drafting
Reliable first drafts of letters, statements and routine applications are what free fee-earners for chargeable work.
Bundles and disclosure
Litigation runs on bundles, and a paralegal who produces a paginated, indexed bundle on time is remembered by every barrister who used it.
Land Registry, SDLT and searches
Conveyancing is the largest paralegal market in the UK, and the forms and portals are checked at interview.
Case management software
Proclaim, LEAP, Clio and the firm's own systems appear in adverts, and experience with one shortens the first month.
Legal research
Westlaw UK and Lexis research on a point of procedure or a precedent is often the first task a new paralegal is given.

Soft skills

Accuracy
Errors in a court document or a completion statement have real consequences for the client and the firm's insurer.
Discretion
Paralegals see client money, medical records and privileged advice every day, and confidentiality is part of the SRA Code.
Working to court deadlines
Limitation dates and directions timetables do not move, and a calm paralegal keeps the fee-earner's diary safe.

Mistakes that cost paralegal interviews

  1. A typo anywhere on the page

    Precision is the job, and a CV with a stray apostrophe or a wrong court name is set aside before the content is read. Print it, read it aloud, and ask a colleague to read it once more.

  2. No practice area or caseload

    Paralegal on its own tells a practice manager nothing. Give the area, the number of fee-earners you support, the size of the caseload and the courts or portals you file in.

  3. American vocabulary

    Attorney, discovery, docketing and ABA-approved mark the CV as copied from a US template. Write solicitor, disclosure, court diary and LLB or LPC, and use the forms and court names the firm uses.

  4. Leaving out your qualification stage

    Whether you have passed SQE1, finished the LPC or hold CILEx membership is one of the first things a firm checks. Put it in the headline and again in a qualifications section with the year.

  5. Naming clients

    Never name a client or describe a matter in enough detail to identify it. Describe matters by type, value band and court instead, which also shows you understand confidentiality.

Questions about the paralegal CV

Do I need a law degree to be a paralegal in the UK?

No. Many paralegals hold an LLB or a conversion course, but firms also hire from CILEx qualifications, a paralegal apprenticeship or administrative experience inside a law firm. State the qualification you have and the stage you are at, and let the bullets show you can run a file.

How long should a Paralegal CV be?

Two sides of A4. A graduate with a clinic placement and one legal assistant role can fit one side; a senior paralegal with several practice areas may run to the end of the second.

Should I mention that I want a training contract?

Yes, briefly and honestly. Firms expect paralegals to be working towards qualification, and saying that you are recording qualifying work experience or preparing for SQE2 shows commitment rather than a plan to leave.

How do I write a Paralegal CV with no law firm experience?

Lead with your degree, the modules relevant to the practice area, any pro bono, clinic or mooting work, and administrative roles where accuracy and confidentiality mattered. Describe a piece of research or drafting you did and who it was for.

Should I list CILEx membership on a CV?

Yes, with the grade and the year. CILEx membership tells a firm you are regulated, that you keep CPD and that the Level 6 route to Chartered Legal Executive is open to you.

How do I tailor a Paralegal CV to a different practice area?

Move the matters and procedure closest to the advert into the first bullets, rename the headline to the area the firm wants and keep the rest short. Pasting the advert into Resume Master does this reordering in about two minutes; check the court names and forms yourself before sending.

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