Become a Legal Analyst

Legal analysts assist attorneys in all forms of legal practice. Under the supervision of an attorney, legal analysts may conduct client interviews, draft court documents, perform legal research, and assist in preparing cases for trial. If you are interested in pursuing a career in the law, you should consider pursuing a career as a legal analyst. Another type of legal analyst, with jobs often found in Wall Street financial firms, assists institutions in the legal aspects of doing financial deals (e.g., advising financial analysts about Dodd-Frank).

Steps

Obtaining an Education

  1. Complete a post-secondary degree. Most employers seeking to employ legal analysts expect that candidates will have either an associate’s degree or Bachelor of Arts degree. Prospective legal analysts, sometimes referred to as paralegals, may choose what type of degree to pursue based on their desired work setting.
    • Earn an associate’s degree in paralegal studies. An associate’s degree will meet the educational requirements for certain legal analyst positions. You should consider pursuing an associate’s degree if you are interested in working in a smaller city, in a small law practice or for some state governments. When evaluating a paralegal program you should check to see how long the program has been in existence, the number of students that graduated and obtained jobs, and determine what resources that the program offers.[1]
    • Earn a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree. If you are interested in working in a large or medium-sized city or in a large law firm, you should consider pursuing a Bachelor of Arts. You do not need to pursue a B.A. in paralegal studies but rather, you can choose whatever major interests you.
  2. Consider enrolling in an American Bar Association (ABA) approved paralegal education program. The ABA is a highly respected voluntary legal association that lawyers look to for guidance. In order for paralegal programs to receive ABA approval, they must follow ABA paralegal education guidelines.[2]. If you received your B.A. in an area other than paralegal studies, attending an ABA-approved program may increase your employment opportunities.
  3. Become a certified paralegal. Once you have completed your degree, consider becoming a certified paralegal. To become certified, you must pass a paralegal exam offered by a national certifying organization, such as the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), or through state bar associations. The certification demonstrates that you are certified to provide high-level paralegal services that are sought after by law firms.[3]

Increasing Your Marketability

  1. Develop strong writing skills. An important element of any law practice is persuasive and concise writing. As a paralegal you may be asked to draft court documents or write research memos for the attorneys. It is imperative that you can communicate complicated legal analyses in plain language. Before drafting any legal documents always consider the following:
    • Understand your objective before you start writing. Before you start drafting a document to a client or an attorney, clearly identify the purpose of the document and strategize on how to effectively communicate that purpose.
    • Prepare a brief outline. Before you start writing, quickly sketch out all of the items you need to include in the document and identify the critical information that you need to convey. Creating an outline streamlines the writing process and provides you a checklist of the topics you need to cover.
    • Write without concern for editing. When you first begin drafting your document, do not become overly concerned that every sentence is perfect. Instead, you should focus on the writing process and creating a rough draft.
    • Edit closely. Once you have a draft of your document, read it closely for grammar mistakes, sentence flow and structure. You should check to make sure that you are writing in a clear and concise manner.
    • Finalize your introduction and conclusion. Once the body of your argument has been drafted, go back and write the introduction and conclusion. In the introduction, focus on providing a roadmap for the reader that previews all of the items covered in the body of the document. In the conclusion, be sure that you clearly state your findings and any actions that the reader must take.[4]
  2. Improve your communication skills. Legal analysts are expected to communicate with clients, attorneys, court clerks and even opposing counsel. If you are employed, ask attorneys for the opportunity to sit in on client interviews so that you can observe how they ask questions, conduct themselves during interviews, and elicit information. If you are not yet employed, ask your school if there are internships or job shadowing opportunities that would allow you to develop these skills. Your communication skills are one of the first things an employer will notice about you and a critical part of your job as a legal analyst.[5]
  3. Become proficient in legal research and litigation software. A large part of any legal practice is legal research. Employers expect prospective legal analysts to be able to use online legal research databases, such as Westlaw and LexisNexis, as well as case management and trial software.[6] Ask your paralegal program director if they provide training in this software. Additionally, you can take part in free online training sessions provided by legal software companies.
  4. Choose a legal specialty. While it is not required that a paralegal specialize in a particular area of law, by choosing a specialty you could earn a higher salary and be more competitive in the market place.[7] Some of the most common areas of specialty for legal analysts are as follows:
    • Become a bankruptcy law specialist. As a legal analyst specializing in bankruptcy law you will be required to assist attorneys who represent those filing for bankruptcy or banks seeking recompense from delinquent borrowers. If you are interested in bankruptcy law, have good interpersonal skills and would like to work at a private law firm, bank or mortgage company than you should consider specializing in bankruptcy law.[8]
    • Become a family law specialist. Family law specialists may work for government agencies or private law firms that specialize in cases of divorce, custody hearings, adoption, and other areas involving domestic relations. As a specialist in family law, you may be asked to perform client interviews, obtain legal documents, draft legal documents and provide support for your client during a difficult time.[9]
    • Become a litigation specialist. Litigation specialists draft legal documents, manage litigation databases, perform legal research, manage client files, and help attorneys prepare for trial. This specialization requires that you be highly organized, be able to coordinate with a team of attorneys, and be able to manage both administrative and research oriented tasks.[10]
    • Become a real estate law specialist. With a real estate specialty, legal analysts may prepare and review contracts, obtain and review title documents, and track a case from beginning to closing on a property. If your interested in real estate and want to work for a private law firm, mortgage company, corporation or other business that handles real estate transactions then this may be a good specialty for you.[11]

Seeking Employment as a Legal Analyst

  1. Utilize online employment centers offered by paralegal associations. Some national paralegal associations offer online job search features that are targeted for legal analysts/paralegals. Employers pay to post job advertisements on these websites because they are targeting their job search to trained paralegals. National associations may provide job listings for positions throughout the United States.
  2. Search law firm website. If you live in a major metropolitan area and are interested in working for a large law firm, you should identify firms that match your specialization. You can look for law firms through local bar association websites or by performing an internet search with “law firm” your legal specialization and your desired city. Once you identify the law firm, search their websites for paralegal/legal analyst employment opportunities.
  3. Search online job websites. Large online job websites also post employment opportunities for legal analysts. If you perform an internet search for “paralegal or legal analyst employment opportunities” and the location where you want to work, your search should lead you to these websites.
  4. Utilize your schools career services program. If you graduated from a paralegal program, these programs may also be able to direct you to employment opportunities in the area. While enrolled in the program, ask career services personnel about internship possibilities, as well as permanent employment opportunities.

Becoming a Financial Legal Analyst

  1. Understand what this type of legal analyst does. A legal analyst in the financial world usually learns about the culture of a particular financial firm while assisting colleagues with their daily tasks. After an initial training period, you will often be placed with a specific department in order to learn about different jobs within that department.
    • In reality, this job is usually a type of internship. While you can gain valuable experience and can work towards a permanent position with a financial firm, this opportunity usually only lasts for two or three years. At the end of that period, depending on your level of success as a legal analyst, you may be offered a more full time position in an area of interest.
  2. Know who financial firms look to hire. Typically, Wall Street type financial firms look to hire Ivy League graduates with extremely strong academic credentials. These types of jobs are often given to people with connections within the financial firm they are applying to. In order to give yourself the best chance of being hired, you should have a strong academic resume and you should try and know people within the firm you are applying to.
  3. Consider using this job to move up in a financial firm. A lot of people use this type of job as a first step in getting hired full time with a financial firm. For example, at Goldman Sachs, at the end of your two year period as a legal analyst, you may be brought on for another year in that capacity, or you may be hired in a different department. Therefore, while this type of legal analyst position is often seen as a glorified internship, you should take it seriously as it may lead to something more in the future.

Tips

  • Be sure to carefully research any paralegal program that you may attend. You want to make sure that the program is well respected and you may want to consider attending an ABA-accredited program.
  • Take advantage of any training programs that your school offers such as trial preparation software training and legal research training. These skills will make you a more marketable candidate.

Related Articles

References

  1. ↑ http://paralegaltoday.com/issue_archive/online_only/new_paralegal.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/paralegals/ls_prlgs_2013_paralegal_guidelines.authcheckdam.pdf
  3. ↑ https://www.nala.org/certification/certified-paralegal-cp-program
  4. ↑ http://www.paralegal.edu/blog/bid/304323/9-Steps-to-Better-Writing-for-Paralegals-et-al
  5. ↑ http://www.paralegal.edu/blog/bid/213818/What-Makes-a-Great-Paralegal
  6. ↑ https://collegegrad.com/careers/paralegals-and-legal-assistants
  7. ↑ http://www.agilelaw.com/2015/01/paralegal-specialization/
  8. ↑ http://www.paralegaledu.org/bankruptcy/
  9. ↑ http://www.paralegaledu.org/family-law/
  10. ↑ http://www.paralegaledu.org/litigation/
  11. ↑ http://www.paralegaledu.org/real-estate/
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