What this occupation does
Paralegals and legal assistants research case law, draft and review legal documents, and support attorneys in the preparation of cases. The role spans contract review, deposition preparation, e-discovery, and procedural filing across litigation, corporate, and regulatory practice areas.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places paralegals and legal assistants in the high exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places paralegals in the high exposure gradient. Document review, contract analysis, and case-law research are technically feasible for current generative AI; client interaction and procedural-judgement tasks are exposed but contextually constrained.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 3411 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Displaceable: Prepare affidavits, legal correspondence and other documents for attorneys. Standard-form legal document preparation is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Changing: Investigate facts and law of cases and search pertinent sources, such as public records, to determine causes of action and prepare cases. Case-law research is AI-augmented; investigative judgement on which sources matter for which case remains human.
- Changing: File pleadings with court clerk. Filing procedure is AI-supported but jurisdiction-specific procedural judgement remains human.
- Displaceable: Gather and analyse research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents. Routine research aggregation is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Growing: Direct and coordinate law office activity, including delivery of subpoenas. Coordination grows in importance as AI handles more of the discrete research and drafting.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034 outlook for paralegals and legal assistants is faster than average (+6% projected change, +21k jobs). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: AI and big data, Analytical thinking, Technological literacy. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 finds paralegal tasks among the most-exposed knowledge work; the augmentation-prone components include client coordination and procedural-judgement work.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Lawyers
- Human Resources Specialists
- Insurance Underwriters
- Administrative Assistants
- Interpreters and Translators
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Legal industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2024-2034 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.