How to Become a Legal Secretary

The legal profession is led by lawyers, professionals that help settle legal issues or disputes for individuals, businesses, or government agencies. But, they are only part of a team that also includes paralegals, legal assistants, legal secretaries, and other support workers. Legal secretaries are in demand, individuals that typically have some formal schooling beyond high school, such as completing a legal secretary training program to obtain a certificate or finishing an associate degree to prepare them for work in the field. Legal secretary work can be rewarding, a career that can be launched when you complete your training.

Job Overview

Legal secretaries perform administrative duties by preparing, maintaining and distributing documents, forms, and related collateral. Secretaries support the legal team by responding to summonses, answering complaints, and preparing legal papers. These individuals may work closely with legal assistants to perform research.

Secretaries receive and place phone calls, greet clients, make and schedule appointments, draft and type office memorandums, and organize legal libraries. These individuals mail, fax or arrange for the delivery of legal documents, complete a variety of forms, and prepare and distribute invoices.

Skills and Abilities

Secretaries typically complete a secretarial program leading to a certificate of completion or an associate degree. Some legal secretaries complete an undergraduate degree or take courses to help prepare them in the legal profession.

Legal secretaries should possess a number of abilities including multi-tasking, writing comprehension, oral skills, speech clarity, and deductive reasoning. These individuals should be organized, flexible, and work well with a team. They must be adept at working with computers and other information processing systems.

Education and Development

The secretarial schools of times past are typically now part of business schools today. Even so, there are schools that are programs offered by colleges and universities alike that can prepare individuals for a legal secretary career.

Through the UCLA Extension Legal Secretary Training Program, individuals can learn what it takes to become a legal secretary. Such coursework includes basic civil litigation, legal terminology, state and federal court systems, calendaring, law library organization, settlement and arbitration procedures, and court filings. 

Students should look for a program that prepares them to receive certification from NALS, the association for legal professionals. Sitting for and passing an exam can open doors of employment for legal secretary candidates.

Pay Rates

As of 2012, the average salary for legal secretaries was $42,170 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pay for secretaries in the 10th percentile was $26,200 per year as of 2012.

For secretaries in the 25th percentile, the average salary was $32,700. The median salary came in at $42,200. For those in the 75th percentile, the average salary was $54,600 per year. Those in the 90th percentile earned $67,800 per year on average.

Average pay for all secretaries was highest in Washington, DC, where these professionals earned $69,500 per year according to the BLS. Among the states, New York came in at $53,800 per year followed by Delaware at $51,000, Alaska at $49,200, Colorado at $49,100, and California at $48,700. At the bottom of pay spectrum was South Dakota where secretaries could expect to earn $27,100 per year on average followed by Kentucky at $30,500, and Arkansas at $30,700.

Career Forecast

The BLS has forecast below average growth for legal secretaries through 2020, but average growth for all secretaries for that same 10-year period. The best prospects for growth will be among medical secretaries as the nation transitions to national healthcare coverage. Thus, legal secretaries with an interest in medical may find the field meeting their professional needs.

Author Information
Neal Davis is a professional blogger that shares legal advice on divorce and family law situations. He writes for Campo Blumenfeld LLP Attorneys At Law, a divorce and family law firm in Milwaukee.