what is the job of a secretary for a lawyer

by Ardella Carroll Sr. 5 min read

A legal secretary is a clerical-level worker with specialized training in law to support the work of lawyers and paralegals. Your main duties include preparing and distributing legal documents and correspondence, placing or taking phone calls, scheduling appointments, organizing case files and billing clients.

Legal Secretaries perform clerical duties to ensure efficient operation of the law office. They manage and communicate information, plan and schedule meetings, maintain calendars, and may take dictation or transcription. Consequently, a good understanding of grammar, punctuation, and spelling is important.

Full Answer

How to hire a legal secretary?

While a Legal Secretary performs some standard secretarial tasks, they spend most of their workday performing tasks specific to the field of law. Other duties and responsibilities of Legal Secretaries include: Preparing court statements and forms. Dictating Lawyers’ audio files …

What is the salary of a legal secretary?

A legal secretary is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to one or more lawyers. This varies from transcribing and proofreading legal documents, scheduling court …

How to become legal secretary?

What is a Legal Secretary. Legal Secretaries are responsible for providing secretarial and administrative support to Lawyers, Legal Executives and other types of fee-earning legal …

What are the duties of a legal secretary?

Legal secretaries are also referred to as administrative assistants. Generally, legal secretaries focus on a specific sector of law such as family law or real estate and work a typical weekly …

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What does a Secretary do for a law firm?

As the legal secretary, your principal goal is to support attorneys by performing a range of clerical duties including attending court proceedings, researching case information, scheduling meetings, and filing legal documents.

What are 3 duties of a Secretary?

Main responsibilities of the Secretary
  • Ensuring meetings are effectively organised and minuted. Liaising with the Chair to plan meetings. ...
  • Maintaining effective records and administration. ...
  • Upholding legal requirements. ...
  • Communication and correspondence.

What qualifications do I need to be a secretary?

You'll need:
  • administration skills.
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail.
  • the ability to work well with others.
  • excellent written communication skills.
  • the ability to work on your own.
  • to be flexible and open to change.
  • excellent verbal communication skills.
  • the ability to organise your time and workload.

What skills does a secretary need?

Organisational skills: a strong ability to be organised, keep a clear head and keep track of everything from deadlines to essential files. Professional communication skills: clear and friendly communication, along with a personable phone manner.

What is a legal secretary?

A legal secretary is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to one or more lawyers. This varies from transcribing and proofreading legal documents, scheduling court depositions, hearings, and meetings to filing and organizing important documents.

Where do legal secretaries work?

Legal secretaries may work in law firms and legal departments of private corporations.

What are the qualifications for a legal secretary?

Qualifications for Legal Secretary 1 3+ years' experience as a paralegal or legal secretary 2 Familiarity with legal documents and terminology 3 Working knowledge of litigation management software systems 4 Ability to type with a speed of at least 50 wpm with high accuracy 5 Proficiency with Microsoft Office programs 6 Able to effectively prioritize and meet deadlines 7 Able to work as a team with attorneys and other colleagues 8 Demonstrate a courteous and professional demeanor 9 Superior written and oral communication skills

How to write a job description?

Employers: How to Write Great Job Descriptions 1 Be sure to mention requisite years of experience and educational requirements 2 Tell job seekers what's unique about your company and job 3 Ideal length is a few paragraphs or about 200 words 4 Make sure to use appropriate paragraph breaks and bullet points so it’s easy on the eyes.

What is a Legal Secretary

Legal Secretaries are responsible for providing secretarial and administrative support to Lawyers, Legal Executives and other types of fee-earning legal professionals within law firms, Barristers’ chambers and in-house legal teams. They are essential in ensuring that the workplace runs in the most efficient way possible.

What Does a Legal Secretary Do?

Legal Secretary duties and responsibilities can vary depending on factors such as the practice area you work in or the size of the team you support. However, day-to-day tasks are likely to include the following:

How to Become a Legal Secretary

If you are at the start of your legal career and wondering how to become a Legal Secretary, you may be pleased to learn that there are no specific entry requirements that must be met before you can start applying for Legal Secretary jobs.

How Much Do Legal Secretaries Earn?

What is the average salary for Legal Secretary jobs? Findings from our 2021 Audience Insight Report indicate that Legal Secretaries are paid an average of £28,235 per year.

Legal Secretary Career Prospects

Becoming a Legal Secretary can be a springboard to many different career paths, both inside and outside the legal profession.

Legal Secretary Jobs on TotallyLegal

A career as a Legal Secretary is an excellent steppingstone into the legal profession which does not require qualifying as a Legal Executive or Solicitor. However, it is still a demanding and fast-paced job that requires excellent organisation, communication, and administrative skills.

What is a legal secretary?

Legal Secretary Job Description. A legal secretary is an administrative assistant trained exclusively in the field of law. Through a comprehensive and specialized training program, legal secretaries are proficient at handling all administrative duties within a law office or legal department setting.

What do legal secretaries need to know?

Legal secretaries must have excellent phone and computer skills and must be able to effectively perform a number of routine tasks at a moments notice: Maintain calendars and schedules for a number of attorneys. Develop and maintain a comprehensive and organized billing system.

How to become a legal secretary?

Legal secretaries must have excellent phone and computer skills and must be able to effectively perform a number of routine tasks at a moments notice: 1 Maintain calendars and schedules for a number of attorneys 2 Develop and maintain a comprehensive and organized billing system 3 Ensure all billable hours are accurately recorded 4 Understand the basics of a number of court documents, such as summons and subpoenas make travel arrangements 5 Arrange for the filing of court documents

What is a legal assistant?

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.

What is the difference between a legal assistant and a legal secretary?

A key difference in the role of legal assistants/paralegals and legal secretaries is that legal assistants/paralegals perform substantive legal work. Substantive legal work requires a depth of legal understanding and knowledge of procedural law. It is work that attorneys would have to perform themselves in the absence of their paralegals. According to the NFPA, substantive legal work requires the following: recognition, evaluation, organization, analysis, and communication of relevant facts and legal concepts.

What is substantive legal work?

According to the NFPA, substantive legal work requires the following: recognition, evaluation, organization, analysis, and communication of relevant facts and legal concepts. Such work requires education and training.

What are the duties of a legal secretary?

LEGAL SECRETARY JOB DESCRIPTION 1 prepare and manage correspondence 2 prepare and process standard legal documents including subpoenas, contracts, summonses, appeals, warrants and motions 3 organize and coordinate legal meetings including client interviews, hearings and depositions 4 maintain schedules and calendars including court diaries 5 take, type and distribute minutes of meetings and interviews 6 prepare forms including accident reports, courtroom requests and client applications 7 proofread and edit legal documents 8 set up and maintain databases and files 9 document and maintain case details 10 handle incoming mail and calls 11 communicate verbally and in writing to answer inquiries and provide information 12 organize delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses and court officials 13 conduct research and collate information relevant to cases 14 arrange hearing dates 15 file motions 16 follow up on pending court cases 17 maintain law libraries 18 assist with billing 19 implement and maintain office systems

What are the skills required for a legal secretary?

Employers have identified the following key skills for a successful legal secretary: 1 Attention to detail and accuracy to produce error-free, quality documentation 2 sound computer skills including good typing speed and proficiency in a variety of computer applications 3 organizational skills including efficient prioritizing, scheduling, multi-tasking and time management to meet deadlines 4 verbal and written communication skills - the ability to express oneself clearly and concisely and strong writing skills including good grammar, spelling and language skills 5 excellent research, data collection and data management skills

Where do legal secretaries work?

Legal secretaries are employed in law offices, financial companies and government offices . The position may vary from office to office but the key duties of a legal secretary remain standard.

What are the qualifications for a legal secretary?

Most legal offices and law firms deal with multiple clients simultaneously, a Legal Secretaries must be able to multitask. A successful Legal Secretary candidate will have various prerequisite skills and qualifications that include: 1 Familiarity with legal terminology and documentation 2 Proficiency in word processing software including MS Office 3 Excellent oral and written communication skills 4 Ability to work with a team of Lawyers and others in the organisation 5 The ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines 6 Attention to detail 7 A professional and courteous manner 8 Ability to type quickly and accurately

What is a good job description?

A great job description starts with a compelling summary of the position and its role within your company. Your summary should provide an overview of your company and expectations for the position. Outline the types of activities and responsibilities required for the job so jobseekers can determine if they are qualified, or if the job is a good fit.

What is the most important part of a job description?

The responsibilities and duties section is the most important part of the job description. Here you should outline the functions this position will perform on a regular basis, how the job functions within the organization and who the employee reports to.

What is a good job title?

A great job title typically includes a general term, level of experience and any special requirements. The general term will optimise your job title to show up in a general search for jobs of the same nature. The level of experience will help you attract the most qualified applicants by outlining the amount of responsibility and prior knowledge required. And if your position is specialised, consider including the specialisation in the job title as well. But avoid using internal titles, abbreviations or acronyms to make sure people understand what your job posting is before clicking.

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What Is A Legal Secretary?

What Do Legal Secretaries do?

  • Legal secretaries perform several essential tasks. These involve producing legal documents, completing legal forms, typing professional correspondence from dictation, liaising with clients and responding to enquiries. They can take time-consuming tasks off lawyers’ hands, from basic jobs such as filing or photocopying to more complex tasks such as ...
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Skills/Qualifications Needed

  • To work in this position, you must have: 1. An understanding of the law and legal procedures 2. Administrative skills or experience 3. A fast and accurate typing speed 4. Audio typing skills 5. The ability to produce legal documents, forms and professional correspondence 6. Computer literacy, including an understanding of Microsoft Office 7. Familiarity with office procedures 8. …
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Career Progression

  • There’s plenty of opportunity for career advancement for legal secretaries. The more experience you gain, the higher the salary you can achieve. Through experience or study, you can even progress on to becoming a paralegal or legal executive. You can contact the National Association of Licensed Paralegals or the Chartered Institute of Legal Executivesfor further information.
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Where Do Legal Secretaries Work?

  • It’s not just law firms and barristers’ chambers that rely on the skills and services of good legal secretaries. They have great scope to choose a working environment that best suits them. Some of the places where you will find a legal secretary are: 1. Law firms 2. Barristers’ chambers 3. Law courts 4. Legal departments in large corporations and organisations 5. Licenced conveyancers 6…
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