What is a case assistant or project assistant at a law firm?
A legal staff title on the same ladder as paralegals and legal assistants — but no source we checked gives either title an industry-wide definition.
One firm may use it for support work beneath the substantive legal work the ABA's paralegal definition describes; another may use it as its name for an entry paralegal seat.
The posting defines the job.
This page covers what the work involves, how recent graduates fit the hiring profile for it, and where the role leads.
What do case assistants and project assistants do?
Start with the labels, because our sources define none of them uniformly.
NALA treats “legal assistant” and “paralegal” as synonymous terms — it says state supreme court rules, statutes, ethics opinions and bar guidelines define them that way — yet many firms use “legal assistant” for a secretarial role, so usage varies by employer.
Case assistant and project assistant sit on the same shelf: no source we checked defines either title, so each employer's posting is the definition.
Two firms can run the same title as two different jobs.
The line these roles orbit is the American Bar Association's definition of a paralegal, adopted by the ABA House of Delegates at its February 2020 Midyear Meeting: a person qualified by education, training or work experience, employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity, who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.
Support-tier roles sit underneath that work — and where a firm draws the line between “support” and “substantive” is its own call.
The posting is the only reliable definition.
The best-sourced picture of the work above this tier is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' duty list for paralegals and legal assistants: investigating case facts, researching laws and regulations, gathering and organizing documents, drafting correspondence and documents such as contracts, obtaining affidavits, helping at trial with exhibits and notes, filing documents with courts and agencies, and scheduling interviews, meetings and depositions.
Whatever slice of that workflow a case assistant or project assistant owns, the occupation's skills list is the nearest read on what the work takes: BLS lists communication, detail orientation, interpersonal, organizational and research skills as the qualities that matter for paralegals and legal assistants.
On pay, read the data with care: our research found no BLS wage series for either title, and the occupational data lumps the track together — BLS combines paralegals and legal assistants into one occupation (SOC 23-2011), so its pay data cannot even separate paralegals from legal assistants.
The nearest benchmark for the support track is that combined series: a national median annual wage of $62,890 in May 2025, and $61,770 within legal services — the industry that employed 75% of paralegals and legal assistants in 2025.
Treat both figures as a benchmark for the track, not a posted salary for either title.
If you want the full picture of the role above this rung — the definition, day-to-day duties, credentials and where paralegals work — the paralegal career guide covers it in depth.
Why BigLaw hires recent grads into these roles
BigLaw — the large market firms — divides the work.
BLS notes that in small firms paralegals may work on all aspects of a case, while in larger firms they may work on a single phase, such as preparing witnesses for deposition or trial.
That phase-by-phase structure is where support seats like these fit: keeping documents, filings and calendars moving underneath specialist work.
The nearest published read on who gets hired is the occupation above these titles.
BLS lists the typical entry-level education for paralegals and legal assistants as an associate's degree, and describes the range employers actually hire from: some prefer a bachelor's degree, others consider candidates with a high school diploma and experience, and some hire people with no legal education at all and train them on the job.
A recent graduate with a bachelor's degree and no legal experience fits the profile that third group describes — and BLS says paralegal certification is not required, though some employers prefer or require it.
The occupation also turns over.
BLS counted 404,900 paralegal and legal assistant jobs in 2025 and projects little or no change in the total through 2035 — a net change of -1,100 jobs, 0%.
Zero growth is not zero hiring: BLS projects 40,800 openings a year on average over 2025–35, mostly to replace workers who change occupations or leave the labor force.
Three quarters of the jobs — 75% in 2025 — sat in legal services, the industry classification that covers law firms.
What the published research does not tell you matters too: there is no sourced figure for how many graduates large firms hire into these specific titles, how long people stay in them, or what the internal promotion rate looks like.
Firms define these roles themselves, so the honest source on any specific opening is that firm's own posting and careers page — not a general claim about “BigLaw” from anyone, this page included.
Is it a path to paralegal — or to law school?
If the goal is a paralegal title, know what the credentials count before you assume the experience banks automatically.
NFPA runs two credentialing exams — the Paralegal CORE Competency Exam (PCCE), aimed at early-career and entry-level paralegals, which earns the CRP designation, and the advanced PACE for experienced paralegals, which earns the RP.
NFPA says someone without substantive paralegal work experience is not eligible for either exam under its current criteria, and its definition of minimum work experience is specific: full-time employment doing paralegal duties at least 80% of the time, verified by employer letters stating the work would otherwise have been done by an attorney.
Duties that fall short of that definition — whatever the title on the posting — do not meet it.
NALA's Certified Paralegal (CP) has the education-first route.
Category 1 eligibility counts graduation from an ABA-approved paralegal program, an associate degree program, a post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate program, a bachelor's in paralegal studies, or a paralegal program of at least 60 semester hours with at least 15 semester hours of substantive legal courses — a route that needs no work experience.
Category 2 is a bachelor's degree in any field plus either one year of paralegal experience or at least 15 semester hours of substantive paralegal courses, so a graduate in another field can qualify through coursework instead of experience.
Category 3 is a high school diploma or equivalent plus five years of paralegal experience and at least 20 hours of substantive CLE completed within the two years before applying, with an attorney or employer attestation required.
One terminology trap while you plan: NALA distinguishes a certificate — completing a learning program — from certification, which validates mastery against a professional standard.
Finishing a paralegal course does not make you a certified paralegal; a qualifying one can make you eligible to sit for the exam.
Our paralegal certification guide compares the credentials in full.
As a law-school preview, the case for the role is the view.
The duties BLS lists for the occupation — gathering and organizing documents, filing with courts and agencies, scheduling depositions — are the workflow you would watch at working distance, day after day, before you commit to applying.
That decision has its own page: read paralegal before law school for the full version, and the paralegal career path for how the ladder climbs from here.
Credential criteria change
How to apply
Apply to the posting, not the title.
Because these labels are firm-specific, the duties line — not the words “case assistant” or “project assistant” — tells you what you are applying to: which practice group or department the seat supports, what documents and systems it touches, and who supervises it.
Read the education and experience lines before you spend time on the application; they are that employer's actual, current answer to “can I apply?”
Lead with what the role actually uses.
BLS's qualities list — communication, detail orientation, interpersonal, organizational and research skills — is a checklist for the resume: name the files you kept organized, the deadlines you tracked, the documents you produced, in whatever setting you did it.
And do not let a missing certificate stop you: certification is not required in the occupation BLS describes, though some employers prefer or require it, so it is the posting's requirements line — not the credential — that decides whether to apply.
Compare the rungs before you commit: the entry-level paralegal jobs page covers the first-rung titles side by side, including the search terms this one hides under.
When you are ready to see what is open, browse paralegal jobs on LawFirmHires.
Prepare for reliability questions in the interview: how you track competing deadlines, how you handle confidential material, when you escalate rather than improvise.
Confidentiality is a serious duty on this ladder — NALA's code, for instance, requires paralegals to protect client confidences (Canon 7) — so have a concrete example ready that shows your own discipline with sensitive information.
Career information, not legal advice. Credential rules and firm role definitions change — confirm current requirements with the credentialing body and the duties of any specific role with the employer's posting.