Overview
1. Automation Risk
2. User Poll
3. Growth
4. Wages
5. Volume
Decription
Resources
Comments

Paralegals and Legal Assistants

AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
89%
risk level
POLLING
63%
Based on 232 votes
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
14.1%
by year 2032
WAGES
$59,200
or $28.46 per hour
Volume
345,240
as of 2022
SUMMARY
JOB SCORE
4.9/10

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Comments (6)

Automation risk

89% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): Occupations in this level have an extremely high likelihood of being automated in the near future. These jobs consist primarily of repetitive, predictable tasks with little need for human judgment.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

We haven't found any important qualities of this job that can't be easily automated

User poll

63% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 89% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Paralegals and Legal Assistants will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?






Sentiment

The following graph(s) are included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Paralegals and Legal Assistants' job openings is expected to rise 14.1% by 2032

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031
Updated projections are due 09-2023.

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2022, the median annual wage for 'Paralegals and Legal Assistants' was $59,200, or $28 per hour

'Paralegals and Legal Assistants' were paid 27.8% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $46,310

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2022 there were 345,240 people employed as 'Paralegals and Legal Assistants' within the United States.

This represents around 0.23% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 428 people are employed as 'Paralegals and Legal Assistants'.

Job description

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.

SOC Code: 23-2011.00

Resources

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Comments

Stephen Watkins (Highly likely) says
Considering how lawyers and law firms want to maximize profits, they will do whatever they can to minimize costs--including human wages--and enhance profits, and that will include removing workers and replacing them with tools which can do their jobs more effectively.
Mar 24, 2024 at 02:02 AM
Amanda (Low) says
Where I work in family law I have to take into account all scenarios of someone’s life and add everything up. There is so much critical thinking that needs to be done and no two cases are the same as no two people are the same. You cannot automate my job. You can make it easier with technology but you cannot plan for the crazy things that come up in people’s lives.

A robot cannot tell when a client or opposing counsel is lying to it. Also a lot of times we have to poke and prod into people’s lives and ask them questions they don’t want to answer or tell anyone. This type of questioning I don’t believe a robot would be able to know to poke deeper into someone’s life or question why. If someone said no to a question a robot would take that at face value and not pry deeper to get the truth. So I think that my job will be safe as long as there are still attorneys practicing law.
Nov 19, 2023 at 07:45 PM
Ivan (Moderate) says
AI could do a resume of a caselaw faster and more efficient than any paralegal. It could probably do a complete legal research, given the right parameters, in a matters of seconds.
Mar 21, 2023 at 03:40 AM
Anella Harmeyer (Low) says
The ability to analyze laws and precedents and apply them to court cases takes a high level of critical thinking skills.
Dec 16, 2022 at 03:42 PM
Gean M (Highly likely) says
With the launch of the GPT3 chat, it will no longer be necessary to have an army of paralegals to analyze the text of legal cases.
Dec 16, 2022 at 09:59 AM
Kris (Highly likely) says
I work in this field and have already witnessed automation taking over with e-filing. I agree it is being replaced by automation. There will always be a niche or exception in the work that will require human oversight. It's not a growing field! Risky and underpaid!
Jan 06, 2022 at 05:13 PM

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