Top 12 Bankruptcy Paralegal Skills to Put on Your Resume
In bankruptcy law, a sharp resume that spotlights the right skills can tip decisions your way. Focused. Current. Practical. The 12 skills below show employers you can move a case from intake to discharge without drama.
Bankruptcy Paralegal Skills
- PACER
- ECF
- Westlaw
- LexisNexis
- BankruptcyPro
- Best Case
- Adobe Acrobat
- Microsoft Office
- Excel
- QuickBooks
- Time Matters
- CINcompass
1. PACER
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is the federal system for viewing dockets, filings, and orders across appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. It’s your window into what’s on the record—fast.
Why It's Important
It provides immediate, nationwide access to official filings and dockets, which means you can verify facts, track deadlines, pull orders, and monitor case activity without waiting on anyone.
How to Improve PACER Skills
Search with precision: Use advanced queries, party filters, date ranges, and case type selections to cut through noise.
Control costs: Open dockets once and save; download consolidated PDFs; lean on docket reports and document numbers to reduce repeat pulls.
Organize downloads: Standardize file names (court–case–doc#–title) and mirror the docket structure in your folders.
Set routines: Check dockets on a schedule tied to critical deadlines (341 meetings, objection windows, plan confirmation dates).
Use alerts and notes: Track judge-specific preferences and recent orders in a quick-reference sheet to speed later research.
How to Display PACER Skills on Your Resume
2. ECF
ECF (CM/ECF and NextGen CM/ECF) is the federal electronic filing system. It’s where petitions, schedules, motions, and proofs of claim are filed and served.
Why It's Important
Accurate, timely electronic filing keeps cases moving, prevents rejected filings, and ensures service and notice go out correctly.
How to Improve ECF Skills
Know your court’s rules: Each district has its own formatting, event codes, and timing quirks. Keep a mini checklist per court.
Prep perfectly: Validate PDFs (OCR, text-searchable, flattened signatures, page limits) and use correct captions, exhibits, and certificates of service.
Practice in training environments: If your court offers a training docket, use it to rehearse complex filings.
Master events: Learn the difference between motion vs. notice events, amended filings, and deficiency cures.
Track receipts: Save NEFs and payment receipts to a filing log for billing and proof of filing.
How to Display ECF Skills on Your Resume
3. Westlaw
Westlaw is a legal research platform with case law, statutes, treatises, forms, and analytical tools. For bankruptcy, it’s a go-to for recent opinions and procedural guidance.
Why It's Important
It keeps your research current and defensible, with tools to verify authority and mine issues the judge actually cares about.
How to Improve Westlaw Skills
Work the tools: Use KeyCite, the West Key Number System, and related cases to expand or narrow your search quickly.
Search smarter: Combine terms and connectors, filters (jurisdiction, date, court), and topic outlines to zero in.
Save and annotate: Build folders for recurring issues (means test, dischargeability, stay relief). Add notes and highlights for reuse.
Set alerts: Monitor new decisions for your judges and circuits so your templates stay fresh.
Leverage forms and practice guides: Pull sample language and checklists to jump-start drafts.
How to Display Westlaw Skills on Your Resume
4. LexisNexis
LexisNexis (including Lexis+) offers case law, statutes, practical guidance, and citator tools for fast, targeted bankruptcy research.
Why It's Important
It streamlines research and validation, helping you draft accurate filings and spot weaknesses before the other side does.
How to Improve LexisNexis Skills
Shepardize everything: Validate cases and pinpoint negative treatment before citing.
Query like a pro: Use segment searching, proximity connectors, and post-search filters to sharpen results.
Tap Practical Guidance: Get checklists, clauses, and practice notes tailored to bankruptcy tasks.
Build research trails: Save searches, annotate authorities, and create issue-specific folders for reuse.
Stay current: Set up topic and jurisdiction alerts so you never miss a key update.
How to Display LexisNexis Skills on Your Resume
5. BankruptcyPro
BankruptcyPro is case-prep software for assembling petitions, schedules, and forms with integrated calculations and data management.
Why It's Important
It accelerates intake-to-filing, reduces data entry errors, and helps maintain court-compliant forms.
How to Improve BankruptcyPro Skills
Standardize intake: Use structured questionnaires and required docs checklists to minimize missing data.
Clean data once: Enter core demographics, creditors, and assets in master records to feed all forms.
Customize templates: Tailor common motions, plans, and notices for your district and judges.
Audit before filing: Run internal validations, compare schedules to means test inputs, and reconcile totals.
Document management: Use consistent naming and version control. Lock final PDFs post-signature.
How to Display BankruptcyPro Skills on Your Resume
6. Best Case
Best Case (by Stretto) is widely used bankruptcy preparation software for Chapter 7, 11, and 13 filings, with forms, means test tools, and e-filing integrations.
Why It's Important
It tightens accuracy and speed—automatic calculations, up-to-date forms, and smoother ECF submissions.
How to Improve Best Case Skills
Master data flows: Use import tools for creditors and financials; reduce manual typing wherever possible.
Dial in district settings: Configure local forms, exemptions, and plan language to match your court’s practice.
Means test accuracy: Reconcile income sources, lookback periods, and allowable expenses with source docs.
Run pre-file checks: Clear validation warnings, confirm signatures, and verify all required declarations and exhibits.
Build a fix list: Track common rejection reasons and create a pre-filing checklist to eliminate repeats.
How to Display Best Case Skills on Your Resume
7. Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat manages PDFs—creating, editing, combining, redacting, Bates-stamping, and securing documents for court-ready filings.
Why It's Important
Courts want clean, searchable, properly secured PDFs. Acrobat gets you there without broken text, blown metadata, or sloppy exhibits.
How to Improve Adobe Acrobat Skills
Make it searchable: Run OCR and fix recognition errors. Flatten forms when needed.
Protect sensitive data: Redact correctly (not just highlight), apply passwords, and restrict editing when appropriate.
Automate: Use Actions for Bates numbering, headers/footers, and batch conversions.
Exhibit discipline: Combine files in order, bookmark exhibits, and label consistently.
Review fast: Comment, compare versions, and track changes efficiently with markups.
How to Display Adobe Acrobat Skills on Your Resume
8. Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office (now commonly bundled as Microsoft 365) includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote—daily tools for drafting, tracking, and communication.
Why It's Important
Legal work lives in documents, numbers, and deadlines. These apps knit it together—clean drafting, transparent data, and tight calendaring.
How to Improve Microsoft Office Skills
Templatize: Create style-driven Word templates for motions, notices, and affidavits to enforce consistency.
Keyboard fluency: Learn core shortcuts in Word, Excel, and Outlook to shave minutes from every task.
Excel depth: Use formulas, pivot tables, and data validation to track assets, claims, and deadlines.
Outlook control: Rules, categories, and shared calendars keep filings, hearings, and client follow-ups in sync.
Collaborate: Use OneDrive or SharePoint for version control and real-time edits. Track changes with discipline.
Automate: Quick Parts, mail merge, and simple flows can eliminate repetitive drudgery.
How to Display Microsoft Office Skills on Your Resume
9. Excel
Excel powers the spreadsheets behind schedules, claims registers, plan payments, and financial analyses.
Why It's Important
Bankruptcy turns on numbers. Excel helps you wrangle them—cleanly, repeatably, and with a clear audit trail.
How to Improve Excel Skills
Core functions: Get comfortable with
SUMIF,COUNTIF,IF,VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP,INDEX+MATCH, and date math.PivotTables: Summarize creditor classes, payment histories, and budget variances in seconds.
Data hygiene: Use Data Validation, Text to Columns, Trim/Clean, and conditional formatting for tidy, readable sheets.
Dashboards: Simple charts and slicers turn dense tables into quick briefings.
Macros (when needed): Automate repeat formatting, import routines, and report generation.
How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume
10. QuickBooks
QuickBooks tracks income, expenses, reconciliations, and reports—handy for reconstructing financial histories and preparing accurate schedules.
Why It's Important
Clean books yield cleaner bankruptcy filings. You’ll spot irregularities early and document the story behind the numbers.
How to Improve QuickBooks Skills
Tailor the chart of accounts: Map accounts to bankruptcy schedules and case types so reports export cleanly.
Reconcile relentlessly: Bank and credit card reconciliations monthly. Trust but verify every balance.
Class/location tracking: Separate matters, entities, or time periods for targeted reporting.
Automate inputs: Use bank feeds and receipt capture; reduce manual data entry and errors.
Custom reports: Build reports for assets, liabilities, income/expenses, and transfers that mirror schedules.
Leverage audit trails: Use the audit log to explain changes and ensure accuracy over time.
How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume
11. Time Matters
Time Matters is legal case and document management software that centralizes contacts, calendars, tasks, emails, and files.
Why It's Important
Bankruptcy cases are deadline-heavy. Centralized calendars, workflows, and document links lower the odds of a missed date or misplaced filing.
How to Improve Time Matters Skills
Custom matter types: Build bankruptcy-specific fields (means test flags, 341 dates, plan milestones) into your templates.
Automate documents: Use merge templates for standard letters, notices, and certificates of service.
Workflow tasks: Create task chains for intake, petition prep, plan confirmation, and discharge checkpoints.
Calendar discipline: Tie tasks to statutory deadlines with reminders and matter links.
Integrations: Connect email, scanning, and filing tools so comms and PDFs land in the right matter every time.
Train the team: Keep naming conventions and workflows consistent across users.
How to Display Time Matters Skills on Your Resume
12. CINcompass
CINcompass is cloud-based bankruptcy software for preparing, filing, and managing cases with built-in checklists and document tools.
Why It's Important
It streamlines case assembly, improves collaboration, and helps keep filings court-compliant from start to finish.
How to Improve CINcompass Skills
Template everything: Standardize petitions, plans, and recurring motions with firm-approved language.
Use workflows: Map intake-to-discharge steps with assigned tasks, due dates, and dependencies.
Data accuracy: Reuse client and creditor data across matters; validate numbers against source docs.
Leverage collaboration: Use internal notes, task assignments, and document sharing to keep teams aligned.
Review and refine: Track rejection reasons, update templates, and lock in process improvements.
How to Display CINcompass Skills on Your Resume
