Paralegal & legal executive

What does a paralegal & legal executive do?

A paralegal or legal executive supports lawyers and legal teams with research, drafting, document handling and filings.

The work sits between the lawyer and the client or court. You prepare the material so the lawyer can give advice or argue a case.

You find this role in law firms, in-house legal teams at companies, and corporate service providers. Some work in public sector bodies. Law firm paralegals often back a litigation or corporate team. In-house executives cover contracts, company records and regulatory filings.

You work daily with lawyers, other paralegals, clients, court staff and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). In larger firms you also deal with IT, finance and records teams.

What the work involves

• Search LawNet and other sources for cases and statutes, then write short research notes with citations.
• Review and mark up contracts against a checklist or template, and list the issues for a lawyer.
• Prepare court documents, bundles and filing sets, and keep case files in order.
• File company changes and annual returns with ACRA, and update statutory registers and minutes.
• Sort, tag and index large sets of documents in a document management or e-discovery platform.
• Take client calls and emails, track deadlines, and update the matter timeline.

Pay in Singapore

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Skills a paralegal & legal executive needs

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Paralegal & legal executive job description

We are hiring a paralegal or legal executive to support our legal team in Singapore.

You will research the law, review and draft documents, prepare court and company filings, and keep matter files accurate. You will report to a lawyer or legal manager and work closely with clients and colleagues. Care with detail, clear writing and respect for confidentiality are essential.

Responsibilities

• Research Singapore case law and legislation on LawNet and summarise the findings for lawyers.
• Review contracts for key terms, risks and departures from standard positions, and report them.
• Draft and proofread letters, agreements, resolutions and other routine legal documents.
• Prepare bundles, affidavits and other court documents, and help with filing through the courts' electronic systems.
• Handle ACRA filings and maintain registers, minutes and corporate records for client companies.
• Organise and review documents in a document management or e-discovery system, including tagging for privilege.
• Track court dates, filing deadlines and matter milestones, and alert the team early to any risk of delay.
• Use approved legal AI tools for first drafts and summaries, and check every output against the source.
• Handle personal data and privileged material according to firm policy and the PDPA.
• Update clients on routine matters and refer legal questions to the supervising lawyer.

Requirements

• A diploma or degree in law, or a paralegal or legal studies qualification. Some employers also accept degrees in other fields.
• Typically 0 to 3 years in a law firm, legal department or corporate secretarial setting. Fresh graduates are often considered for junior posts.
• Working knowledge of LawNet and basic legal research methods.
• Good written English, careful proofreading and the ability to summarise complex material simply.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office and document management tools. Experience with BizFile+ or e-discovery software helps.
• Ability to handle confidential information and work to fixed deadlines.

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Paralegal & legal executive career path

Most paralegals start in support roles and take on more research, drafting and file ownership over time.

Some stay in legal support, while others move into compliance or qualify as lawyers.

1. Legal clerk or legal assistant

   Entry

   You file, copy, index and track documents, and help with basic drafting under close supervision.

2. Paralegal

   Mid

   You run parts of a matter yourself, including research, first-draft documents, filings and bundle preparation.

3. Senior paralegal or legal executive

   Senior

   You handle complex files with little supervision, review junior work and deal directly with clients and agencies.

4. Paralegal team lead or legal operations manager

   Lead

   You assign work, set file standards, choose tools and train the team, and report to partners or the general counsel.

The titles are ones commonly used in Singapore; employers may name the levels differently.

Related jobs and their pay

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Paralegal & legal executive interview questions

We wrote these questions from the skills this job needs. They are not an official question bank.

1. How do you research a question on Singapore contract law using LawNet?

   What a good answer covers

   • Restate the legal issue and the facts before you search
   • Use keywords, statute names and known case citations
   • Start with Court of Appeal and High Court decisions
   • Note the court, the year and the exact passage you rely on
   • Write a short memo that states the answer, the authorities and any gaps

2. How do you confirm that a case you plan to cite is still good law?

   What a good answer covers

   • Check whether it was appealed, overturned or distinguished
   • Read later cases that cite it and note how they treated it
   • Look for related legislation that may have changed the position
   • Record the date of your check in the research note
   • Tell the lawyer about any doubt

3. You are given a 30-page supply agreement for a first-pass review. What do you check?

   What a good answer covers

   • Parties, defined terms and the scope of the goods or services
   • Payment, liability, indemnity and termination clauses
   • Governing law and how disputes are resolved
   • Differences from the company's standard template or playbook
   • A clear issues list ranked by risk, with clause references

4. What steps are involved in filing a private company's annual return with ACRA?

   What a good answer covers

   • Confirm the financial year end and the filing timeline
   • Check that the AGM is held, or that the company is exempt or has dispensed with it
   • Gather the financial statements and the company's details
   • Lodge the return through BizFile+ and keep the acknowledgement
   • Update the registers and the company's compliance calendar

5. How would you record a change of director for a Singapore company?

   What a good answer covers

   • Obtain the board resolution and the new director's consent to act
   • Run identity and eligibility checks
   • Lodge the change with ACRA within the required time
   • Update the register of directors and other internal records
   • File the documents in the company's minute book

6. How do you prepare a bundle of documents for a court hearing?

   What a good answer covers

   • Follow the court's directions on format and content
   • Arrange documents in a logical order, usually by date or issue
   • Paginate and index them, and cross-check the references
   • Separate agreed documents from disputed ones
   • Have the lawyer check the final set before filing or service

7. You join a document review of 40,000 emails. How do you set it up and keep it accurate?

   What a good answer covers

   • Agree search terms, date ranges and custodians with the lawyer
   • Remove duplicates and group related emails
   • Use a clear coding guide for relevance, privilege and confidentiality
   • Sample-check reviewers' coding and fix inconsistencies
   • Keep an audit trail of the decisions made

8. How would you use a legal AI tool to summarise a long contract?

   What a good answer covers

   • Use only a tool the firm has approved for client data
   • Keep confidential material out of public chatbots
   • Check the summary against the clauses in the source
   • Verify every case or statute reference the tool produces
   • Tell the lawyer that AI was used and what you checked

1. A partner asks for research on an unfamiliar area of law by the end of the day. What do you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Ask what question needs answering and how the answer will be used
   • Start with practitioner texts, then cases and legislation
   • Send an interim update if the work will run late
   • Flag points you could not resolve
   • Deliver a short, cited note instead of a pile of cases

2. You notice that a document already sent to the other side has a wrong figure. What do you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Tell the supervising lawyer straight away
   • Confirm exactly what was sent, to whom and when
   • Leave contact with the other side to the lawyer
   • Prepare the correction for the lawyer to approve
   • Suggest a check that would prevent a repeat

3. A client phones and asks whether they will win their case. How do you respond?

   What a good answer covers

   • Explain politely that you cannot give legal advice
   • Take down the question and the client's details
   • Pass the message to the lawyer in charge quickly
   • Say when the client can expect a reply
   • Stay within your role and keep the call on record

1. Tell us about a time you handled several deadlines at once.

   What a good answer covers

   • Describe the tasks and who depended on each
   • Explain how you ranked them
   • Show how you told others about any risk to timing
   • State the result and what you would change

2. Describe a time you caught a mistake that others had missed.

   What a good answer covers

   • Say how you noticed it
   • Explain how you raised it with the right person
   • Describe the outcome
   • Mention any checklist or habit you changed afterwards

1. Client files contain NRIC numbers, addresses and medical records. How do you handle this data under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)?

   What a good answer covers

   • Use the data only for the matter it was collected for
   • Limit access to the team working on the file
   • Check email recipients and attachments before sending
   • Report any loss or wrong disclosure to your supervisor or the data protection officer at once
   • Follow the firm's rules on retention and disposal

2. Have you used the Singapore courts' electronic filing system? How would you file a document for a case?

   What a good answer covers

   • Confirm with the lawyer which document, which court and which deadline apply
   • Check the format, signatures and any required forms
   • Pay the filing fee through the system and keep the receipt
   • Check that the filing was accepted and save the notice
   • Update the matter diary with the next date

Sources