paralegal
Americannoun
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of paralegal
Explanation
A paralegal is a legal assistant. Paralegals don't have to go to law school, but they do have special training to help lawyers. The prefix para is used for something that is separate from the word it’s next to but still related to it. A paraprofessional, for example, helps other professionals, like teachers, but isn’t actually a teacher. Paralegals are not lawyers, but they assist lawyers by doing research, filing paperwork, gathering materials, and providing whatever else lawyers need to do their jobs. Without paralegals, the job of a lawyer would be a lot tougher.
Vocabulary lists containing paralegal
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para-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As of Friday last week that number has fallen to one, who is working with the three remaining investigators and one paralegal, according to former attorneys in the office.
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
Guerra, a paralegal in Dayton, Ohio, said her husband liked to use his phone to look up information about the movies they were watching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
June set up a paralegal service after she moved to LA.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
In the summer of 2020, I was working as a paralegal in Austin, Texas, remotely filling out asylum applications for migrants who were trapped in a dangerous limbo.
From Slate ● Jan. 15, 2026
We now had a paralegal on staff, so we brought her into the case.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
“Some occupations regularly cast as AI’s early victims are on a tear. America has 7% more software developers, 10% more radiologists and 21% more paralegals than three years ago.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Pirro recently revealed that she is getting help from military lawyers, because her office is short 90 prosecutors, as well as 60 investigators and paralegals.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2025
Bonta said much of the $5 million his office has spent to date was used to pay for in-house attorneys and paralegals, and that none has been spent on outside counsel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2025
He grabs a bottle of germicide, sprays it onto a rag, and wipes down the keyboard, mouse, and monitor plugs on one of the thin client computers we paralegals use for legal research.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2024
Many of the students already had advanced degrees or had worked as paralegals with prestigious law firms.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
