Depending on the law firm, "legal assistant" and "legal secretary" are sometimes interchangeable titles. Receptionists: Almost all law firms employ a legal receptionist.
They do legal research and draft pleadings, contracts, leases, and other court and legal documents. They help with trial preparation and can usually assist clients by answering many of their questions.
Off the top of my head, an associate attorney, in the context of a law firm, is a junior lawyer working for the firm, generally on a full-time salaried position, who does not own equity or have a significant management role, and is in the formal track to advance towards consideration for partnership.
These persons typically worked in specialties such as Bankruptcy, probate and estate planning, real estate, and civil litigation, where they organized documents, completed forms, and prepared cases for trial. In 1968 the American Bar Association (ABA) created the Special Committee on Lay Assistants for Lawyers.
“A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.”
Legal secretaries perform more administrative tasks than paralegals. They can be found preparing legal documents such as subpoenas, answering phones, using scheduling software to keep track of appointments and other secretarial duties.
Paralegals assist lawyers in preparing cases and complete administrative tasks. Law clerks support judges or lawyers by performing research. Paralegals work in law firms.
A paralegal is a highly-valued member of a legal team that has extensive knowledge of the law and legal matters, but is not a qualified lawyer. Paralegals undertake a wide variety of administrative and legal work.