Paralegals and Legal Assistants
Legal Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 23-2011.00
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.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
High· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.293
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.39
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
Show 9 hidden tasks12 rated tasks · 10 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (83.3%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- 1 rated task is not in the O*NET 31.0 task list; its score is kept as published for O*NET 27.2.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
| Task (O*NET 20.1) | Claude.aiRaw / share % | APIRaw / share % |
|---|---|---|
Prepare legal documents, including briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.23-2011.00 | 0.042786.7 | —0 |
Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system.23-2011.00 | 0.00346.9 | —0 |
Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents.23-2011.00 | 0.00316.3 | 0.0062100.0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Prepare legal documents, including briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.O*NET Task ID 1634 | 1.0 |
Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system.O*NET Task ID 18491 | 1.0 |
Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents.O*NET Task ID 1636 | 0.5 |
Direct and coordinate law office activity, including delivery of subpoenas.O*NET Task ID 1639 | 0.5 |
Keep and monitor legal volumes to ensure that law library is up-to-date.O*NET Task ID 1641 | 0.5 |
Appraise and inventory real and personal property for estate planning.O*NET Task ID 1642 | 0.5 |
Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits.O*NET Task ID 18492 | 0.5 |
File pleadings with court clerk.O*NET Task ID 18494 | 0.5 |
Arbitrate disputes between parties and assist in the real estate closing process, such as by reviewing title searches.O*NET Task ID 18496 | 0.5 |
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.O*NET Task ID 21062 | 0.5 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (12)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents. | Core |
| Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system. | Core |
| Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits. | Core |
| Meet with clients and other professionals to discuss details of cases. | Core |
| 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. | Core |
| Prepare, edit, or review legal documents, including legislation, briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements. | Core |
| Call upon witnesses to testify at hearings. | Supplemental |
| Direct and coordinate law office activity, including delivery of subpoenas. | Supplemental |
| Keep and monitor legal volumes to ensure that the law library is up-to-date. | Supplemental |
| Appraise and inventory real and personal property for estate planning. | Supplemental |
| File pleadings with court clerks. | Supplemental |
| Arbitrate disputes between parties and assist in the real estate closing process, such as by reviewing title searches. | Supplemental |
0.00/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
Robot environment tiers (E0–E3)
E0 noneDetails
Rated not doable by robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated, even in a purpose-built setting
E1 purpose-built robot settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting built around the machine, such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line
E2 structured facilitiesDetails
Rated doable in a human work facility that an institution keeps to a working standard, such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port
E3 unstructured settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting that no institution keeps to a working standard, such as a private home or a construction site
Only tasks classified as physical are listed; other tasks have no tier in the source.
| Task (O*NET 29.3) | Robot environment tier |
|---|---|
| Keep and monitor legal volumes to ensure that law library is up-to-date. | E0 none |
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 405K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 404K
- Change (2025–35)
- -0.3%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $62,890
- Typical education needed for entry
- Associate's degree
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35111 | 법무 사무원 | Same scope | confirmed |
| 35112 | 특허 사무원 | Overlapping, not the same | confirmed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 3411Legal and Related Associate Professionals
The definition, tasks and examples below are the ILO's description of that unit group, not of this occupation.
Legal and related associate professionals perform support functions in courts of law or in law offices, provide services related to such legal matters as insurance contracts, the transferring of property and the granting of loans and other financial transactions or conduct investigations for clients.
Tasks
- (a) documenting court proceedings and judgements;
- (b) serving statements of claims, summonses, warrants, subpoenas and other court orders;
- (c) maintaining order in court and hearing rooms;
- (d) preparing legal documents including trial briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills and contracts and preparing, papers summarizing legal positions or setting out conditions of loans or insurance;
- (e) investigating facts, assembling evidence and researching relevant statutes, decisions and other legal documents to prepare cases;
- (f) advising clients on legal matters;
- (g) examining documentation such as mortgages, liens, judgements, easements, contracts and maps in order to verify properties’ legal descriptions and ownership;
- (h) preparing documents relating to transfer of real estate, stocks or other matters requiring formal registration;
- (i) investigating possible cases of theft of goods, money or information from business establishments and of other possible cases of unlawful behaviour by customers or employees;
- (j) investigating establishments or the circumstances and behaviour of persons on behalf of clients.
Example occupations
Bailiff · Conveyancing clerk · Court clerk · Judge’s clerk · Justice of the peace · Law clerk · Legal assistant · Paralegal · Private detective · Title searcher
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- legal assistantESCO 3411.7Same scope
Legal assistants work closely together with lawyers and legal representatives in the research and preparation of cases brought to courts. They assist in the paper work of cases and management of the administrative side of court affairs.
- legal administrative assistantESCO 3342.2Overlapping, not the same
Legal administrative assistants carry out the daily administrative activities of firms, offices of notaries public, and companies. They perform activities such as writing mails, phone-answering and typing/keyboarding. They combine these activities with specific knowledge and understanding of the procedures and codes managed in legal business affairs.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| M1612 | Assistant / Assistante de service juridique | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
| K1902 | Clerc de notaire | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 3612 | Asistentes jurídico-legales | Same scopeprovisional |
| 3711 | Profesionales de apoyo de servicios jurídicos y servicios similares | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 73112 | Assistenzkräfte in Rechtsanwaltskanzlei und Notariat - fachlich ausgerichtete Tätigkeiten | This occupation is narrower |
| 73113 | Assistenzkräfte in Rechtsanwaltskanzlei und Notariat - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Overlapping, not the same |
| 73183 | Berufe in Rechtsberatung, -sprechung und -ordnung (sonstige spezifische Tätigkeitsangabe) - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 259 | その他の一般事務従事者 | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
| 175 | 司法書士 | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Recent Changes Related to This Occupation
Summaries and relation labels are AI Changing Work's own; check any figures against the linked source.
Directly related Brookings (Oct 2024) lists law among the sectors with the greatest generative AI exposure, and counts "performing legal research and counsel" among the tasks current LLMs can do.
[Source: Brookings 2024 — Generative AI, the American worker]
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources