---
title: "Will AI Replace Paralegals? (2026)"
description: "BLS rates paralegals' exposure to AI as high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (-0.3% projected)."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-paralegals"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Paralegals? (2026)

**Short answer:** The job is exposed and shrinking. BLS rates the exposure as high and projects employment to fall, so expect fewer roles and more AI in the ones that remain.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places paralegals in its high AI exposure category, above the middle of the pack: a substantial share of the work overlaps with what AI can do. BLS projects employment to fall by 0.3% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 40,800 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | High | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 11/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | -0.3% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 40,800 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $62,890 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High (this job) | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.7/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 3.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Documenting/recording information: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Time spent sitting: 4.8/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Working with computers: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Repeating the same tasks: 3.9/5 (O\*NET work context)

## O\*NET tasks

- Prepare affidavits or other documents, such as legal correspondence, and organize and maintain documents in paper or electronic filing system.
- Prepare, edit, or review legal documents, including legislation, briefs, pleadings, appeals, wills, contracts, and real estate closing statements.
- Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, and legal articles, codes, and documents.
- Prepare for trial by performing tasks such as organizing exhibits.
- Meet with clients and other professionals to discuss details of cases.
- Investigate facts and law of cases and search pertinent sources, such as public records and internet sources, to determine causes of action and to prepare cases.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace paralegals?**

The job is exposed and shrinking. BLS rates the exposure as high and projects employment to fall, so expect fewer roles and more AI in the ones that remain. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to fall by 0.3% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 40,800 openings a year.

**How exposed are paralegals to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Paralegals are in the high category, alongside 189 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a paralegal's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are documenting/recording information, time spent sitting and working with computers. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions and establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a paralegal a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, paralegals score 11 out of 100, higher than 4% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $62,890 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/paralegal.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology