Paralegal screening questions: practice area, deadlines, discovery, systems and ethics
On this page
- Practice area first: litigation, transactional or specialty
- Deadlines and docketing: the most important questions
- Litigation: discovery, e-filing and trial prep
- Transactional: closings, entities and diligence
- Software and billable hours
- Ethics limits: two scenarios
- Certificates, certification and state rules
- Knockout checklist and scorecard
- Questions people ask
A paralegal screening call should establish which practice area the candidate knows in depth, what they did without an attorney standing over them, and how they kept deadlines from being missed. Ask about their caseload or deal volume, how deadlines got onto the calendar and who checked them, their part in discovery or closings, the software they used daily, their billable hours, and one time they stopped an error. Paralegals with real experience describe steps in order, name the court or agency systems they used, and know the difference between drafting and deciding. Inflated resumes say "managed cases from intake to trial."
This guide covers law firm and in-house paralegals. For legal secretaries and general assistants, the administrative assistant screening questions fit better. If you are recruiting the attorneys themselves, see attorney lateral screening questions.
Practice area first: litigation, transactional or specialty
Paralegal skills transfer less between practice areas than resumes suggest. Place the candidate before anything else.
| Practice area | What the work usually is | Facts to ask for | Common overstatement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial litigation | Docketing, discovery, document review management, deposition and trial prep, e-filing | Active matters, courts (state or federal), review platform, trials attended | "Trial experience" meaning they prepared binders for a case that settled |
| Personal injury or insurance defense | Medical records, demand packages, intake, settlement tracking, high caseloads | Caseload size, plaintiff or defense side, records requests handled | "Case management" for a caseload an attorney actually ran |
| Corporate or transactional | Entity formation and maintenance, closing checklists, due diligence, signature pages, state filings | Deal types and sizes, entity count maintained, jurisdictions | "M&A experience" from one deal as the third paralegal |
| Real estate | Title and survey review coordination, closing documents, recording, lender requirements | Commercial or residential, closings per month, title companies | Residential closing volume presented as commercial experience |
| Immigration | Petitions, forms, evidence packets, deadlines tied to status and filings | Visa types, employer or family side, case volume | "Prepared petitions" meaning filled forms from a questionnaire without review of evidence |
| IP, trusts and estates, family, bankruptcy, in-house | Specialized filings and deadlines in each area | Filing systems and the deadlines that matter in that area | General litigation claimed as specialty experience |
Deadlines and docketing: the most important questions
A missed deadline can end a client's case, so this section matters more than any other. Ask: "Walk me through what happened when a new court order or pleading came in. How did the deadline get on the calendar, and who checked it?"
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| Who calculated deadlines: you, a docketing department, or rules-based software? | "Our docketing team entered them in CompuLaw from the rules; I checked each one against the order and the local rules, and the attorney confirmed." | No second check. "I just put it in Outlook." |
| How did you handle a deadline that depended on how a document was served? | Knows that service method and court rules can change the count and checks the applicable rule. | Unaware that service or holidays affect counts. |
| Tell me about a deadline that was nearly missed. | What happened, how it was caught, and the process change afterwards. | "Never happened," at a busy litigation practice. |
| How many active matters were you supporting, for how many attorneys? | A number and a structure: "About 40 matters for two partners and three associates." | A firm-wide number. |
Worked example: check a docketing claim (invented scenario)
The candidate says: "I handled all the calendaring for the group."
- Ask: "An order dated the 3rd sets a response deadline of 21 days. What do you check before you enter the date?"
- Strong answer: whether it runs from the order date or from service, how the court counts days and weekends, holidays, whether the court has local rules or a judge's standing order, and a reminder schedule before the date.
- Weak answer: "The 24th."
You do not need to know the correct date. A careful paralegal lists the questions; a risky one gives a number.
Litigation: discovery, e-filing and trial prep
- "What was your part in the last document production?" Strong: collection coordination, loading into a review platform such as Relativity or Everlaw, coding or quality control, Bates numbering, privilege log support, production format checks. Red flag: "I sent the documents to opposing counsel."
- "Did you e-file in federal court through CM/ECF, or in state court systems?" Strong: names the systems and a filing problem they solved, like a rejected filing or a sealed document. Red flag: has never filed, for a role that files daily.
- "How did you prepare for a deposition?" Strong: exhibit sets, prior testimony summaries, logistics with the court reporter and videographer. Red flag: booked a room only.
- "Have you been in the courtroom for a trial or hearing? What did you do there?" Strong: managed exhibits, trial presentation software such as TrialDirector, witness scheduling. Red flag: "Trial experience" with no trial attended.
- "How did you summarize medical records or deposition transcripts?" Strong: a format, a length, what attorneys asked for. Red flag: no example.
Transactional: closings, entities and diligence
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| How did you run the closing checklist? | Owned the checklist, tracked each document's status and signatories, chased open items, organized signature pages and the closing set. | "The associate did the checklist; I printed." |
| How many entities did you maintain, and in how many states? | A number, the entity management system (such as Diligent or CSC's tools), annual reports and good standing certificates. | Unsure how annual filings were tracked. |
| What did you do in due diligence? | Set up the data room index, pulled lien, litigation and good standing searches, summarized contracts against a checklist. | Only uploaded documents. |
| Tell me about a closing that nearly slipped. | A missing consent, a wrong entity name, a late wire detail, and what they did. | No example. |
Software and billable hours
| Area | Question | Strong answer | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Document management | "iManage, NetDocuments or something else? How did you organize a matter?" | Folder or workspace conventions, version control, security on sensitive matters. | Saved to the desktop. |
| Practice management | "Clio, PracticePanther, Filevine, Litify? What did you set up?" | Matter templates, task workflows, intake forms. | User-level only, for a small firm that needs an admin. |
| Review platforms | "What could you do in Relativity or Everlaw without asking for help?" | Searches, batches, coding panels, productions. | Only coded documents in a set someone else built. |
| Legal research | "How did you use Westlaw or Lexis?" | Pulling cases, checking citations, finding forms and dockets. | Presents research as giving legal conclusions. |
| Billable hours | "What was your target, what did you usually bill, and what was non-billable?" | "Target 1,500; I billed around 1,450. Docketing and training were non-billable." | No idea, at a firm with targets. |
Ethics limits: two scenarios
Paralegals work under a lawyer's supervision, and lawyers are responsible for making sure nonlawyer assistants act consistently with the lawyer's professional obligations, as ABA Model Rule 5.3 describes. Two quick scenarios show whether the candidate knows where the line is.
- "A client calls and asks whether they should accept a settlement offer. The attorney is in court all day." Strong: does not give an opinion, takes details, tells the client the attorney will call, and makes sure the attorney knows about any response deadline. Red flag: "I'd tell them what I think the attorney would say."
- "You recognize a name on a new matter as someone the firm sued last year, on the other side." Strong: raises a possible conflict with the attorney or conflicts team before doing work. Red flag: assumes someone else checked.
Also ask how they handled confidential information in a lateral move: a strong candidate takes no client documents or forms from the old firm without permission.
Certificates, certification and state rules
| Resume says | What it usually means | Question to ask | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paralegal certificate | Completed an education program, sometimes ABA-approved | "Which program, and was it ABA-approved?" | Education verification |
| CP (Certified Paralegal) | Passed NALA's Knowledge and Skills exams; NALA's program handbook sets the education and continuing education requirements to sit, per NALA's certification page | "When did you earn it, and is it current?" | Ask NALA to confirm if required |
| RP (Registered Paralegal) | Passed NFPA's PACE exam, aimed at experienced paralegals, per NFPA's PACE page | "When did you pass PACE?" | Ask NFPA to confirm if required |
| California paralegal | Must meet education or experience criteria and complete continuing legal education under Business and Professions Code section 6450 | "Which qualification route do you meet, and are your CLE hours current?" | Declaration or records kept with the supervising attorney |
Titles like "legal document assistant" or state-licensed paraprofessional roles are separate from paralegal work under an attorney and carry their own rules. If the candidate holds one, ask what it allowed them to do and confirm the rules for the state. This is not legal advice.
Knockout checklist and scorecard
Must-ask on every paralegal screen
- Practice area and side (plaintiff, defense, company, lender).
- Matter load and number of attorneys supported.
- How deadlines were calculated, entered and checked.
- Discovery, filing or closing work done personally.
- Software used daily and at what depth.
- Billable target and actual hours.
- The two ethics scenarios; credentials as described, checked if required.
- Overtime expectations around trials or closings, on-site days, salary, notice period.
Knock out, or flag before submitting, if the practice area is different and the client needs someone productive in week one; if the candidate cannot describe how deadlines were checked; if they would give legal advice in the scenario; or if they describe taking forms or files from a previous firm.
| Area | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice area match | Different area | Adjacent area | Same area | Same area and side, similar matter types |
| Deadline discipline | No process | Enters dates others calculate | Calculates and double-checks | Designed or improved the docketing process |
| Independent work | Clerical tasks | Drafts with heavy review | Runs discovery or closings with attorney sign-off | Trains others, trusted with complex matters |
| Ethics judgment | Crosses the line | Unsure | Clear limits | Clear limits and protects deadlines while escalating |
| Logistics fit | Deal-breaker | Two open questions | One open question | All aligned |
Record the evidence as the candidate said it: "About 40 matters for two partners; I calculated deadlines and the docketing team double-checked in CompuLaw." Interview Signal attaches quotes like that to each score from the call. Confirm deadline reliability in a reference check with an attorney they supported.
Questions people ask
Is a paralegal certificate the same as being a certified paralegal?
No. A certificate usually means the person completed a paralegal education program. Certification, such as NALA's Certified Paralegal or NFPA's Registered Paralegal, means they passed an exam run by a professional association. Ask which one the candidate means.
Do paralegals need a license?
Most states do not license paralegals. California regulates who may call themselves a paralegal through Business and Professions Code section 6450, including education or experience requirements and continuing legal education, and some states have separate licensed roles that allow limited legal services. Confirm the rules for the state where the role is based.
How do I test legal knowledge if I am not a lawyer?
Ask process questions with sequential answers: how a deadline got calendared, how a production was prepared, how a closing checklist was run. A paralegal who did the work describes steps, systems and checks in order. You do not need to judge the legal substance.
Should I ask a paralegal about their billable hours?
Yes, for law firm roles. Ask what the annual or monthly target was, what they typically billed, and how much of their time was non-billable. It tells you how busy their practice was and whether the client's expectation is realistic for them.