Paralegals and Legal Assistants
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.
392,880 people do this job in the US. $62,890 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 71%
- 14%
- 15%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 15%. Today's estimate: 23%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 12 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare, edit, or review legal documents, including legislation, briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 27% | 2.5 h33 min to 1 work day | 30%Half by Feb 2027 | |
| Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 15% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Investigate facts and law of cases and search pertinent sources, such as public records and internet sources, to determine causes of action and to prepare cases.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 14% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | 25%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 13% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | 25%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Arbitrate disputes between parties and assist in the real estate closing process, such as by reviewing title searches.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Direct and coordinate law office activity, including delivery of subpoenas.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Meet with clients and other professionals to discuss details of cases.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Appraise and inventory real and personal property for estate planning.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 2% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| File pleadings with court clerks.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 1% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Keep and monitor legal volumes to ensure that the law library is up-to-date.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 0.1% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Call upon witnesses to testify at hearings.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 0.1% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 98%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants41% now, 54% by 2028
- Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers67% now, 93% by 2028
- Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners36% now, 79% by 2028
- Court, Municipal, and License Clerks51% now, 69% by 2028
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive39% now, 69% by 2028
- Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants47% now, 75% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).