Job Opportunities For Legal Secretaries

 Legal Secretaries, executive assistants, administrative assistants, and paralegals are all titles given to those whose daily tasks require them to efficiently run and control a law office. A lega secretary will be required to perform the daily tasks of typing, answering phones, filing, and scheduling and many of the other duties frequently assigned to an office secretary, but they will also be required to have skills and knowledge specific to the legal profession, and office that they may want to work in. 

With the advancement of technology, lega secretaries must have outstanding computer skills, and be practiced and proficient with creating spreadsheets, word processing, billing software, and conducting legal research.  Exceptional typing, dictation, and time management skills will be required.  They will also be required to be familiar with legal vocabulary and terminology, federal and state court filing regulations, and legal procedures. 

Their duties may also require them to assist with case research, communications between attorneys and experts, opposing counsel, clients, vendors, or other office staff members.  They will need to be able to prepare and type legal documents such as subpoenas, briefs, motions, discovery documents, or pleadings.  Creating spreadsheets, scheduling depositions, conducting site inspections, tracking filing deadlines, attending hearings and meetings will also be a responsibility of a paralegal. 

While a few lawyers like to offer on the job training for their specific law office, most of the law firms, corporate law offices, or government offices looking for lega secretaries will want some type of formal training.  Legal secretary programs are offered by technical and career schools, and many community colleges.  Most programs will take about two years to complete certification.  Upon certification, you may find that the demand for legal secretaries is still high.  In an attempt to lower legal costs, many law offices are creating job opportunities for legal secretaries to help with their case loads, instead of hiring higher paid lawyers. 

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