Paralegal · cover letter
[Date]
Dear [Hiring Manager],
Last year I rebuilt our litigation docketing system, cutting missed filing deadlines from four in a quarter to zero across 90 active matters. I would like to bring that same reliability to the paralegal role at [Company].
I have spent six years supporting civil litigation teams, where my work centers on keeping cases organized and filings defensible. I draft pleadings, motions, and discovery responses for attorney review, and I manage e-filing through CM/ECF and state court portals. Attorneys I support tell me they can hand me a rough outline and trust that the final document comes back cite-checked and formatted to local rules.
Legal research is where I add the most quiet value. Using Westlaw and LexisNexis, I pull controlling authority, summarize holdings into short memos, and flag the cases that actually change strategy. During one product liability matter, my research surfaced a procedural defense that helped narrow the claims before deposition prep began.
I also handle the unglamorous backbone of a case: Bates-stamping production, building privilege logs, coordinating deposition scheduling, and maintaining a clean chronology so nothing slips. I hold NALA certification and keep current on e-discovery practice.
The docketing rebuild is the reason for the zero, and it took one uncomfortable month of double entry before anyone trusted it. You wrote that the practice is expanding its case volume this year, which is exactly the condition that system was built for.
Warm regards,
[Your Name]
[Phone]
[Email]