Legal Secretary Career Guide and Counseling

Question: How much should a legal secretary make per month? Say it is just the legal secretary and the attorney, no other people running the law firm. How much should that secretary make per month? She does all the work, handles all the cases, deals with the attorney's b.s. and drama, how much is that secretary worth being paid per month?

Answer: $5,000 per month in California. $60K per year. For an experienced legal secretary. Seeing as how you have to have experience to BE a legal secretary, that would be a given. If someone is willing to train you, then expect to earn a lot less until you know how to create pleadings, propound discovery, and understand law and motion procedures, court filings, electronic filing, calendaring, and the different rules of court for federal, state, and appellate courts. In a large law firm, salaries for senior litigation secretaries can range to $75K or higher.

Question: How much should a legal secretary make per hour? I am a legal secretary at a firm in Denver. I think I deserve to be paid more. I have 6 months experience. Can you give me an idea?

Answer: your legal? like you went to school for this? wow nice. well you should get more then 15 an hour. since you are davoting your time to this company and you are helping them out every minute of the day. im an administrative assistant and make 9.25 an hour and i have over a year of experience. do you think thats fare? i dont.

Question: Where do i start to become a legal secretary? I'd like to be a paralegal or a legal secretary while going to law school. Is there a National Legal Secretary board, or is it state-wide? Is there any schooling involved?

Answer: www.nala.org is the website for the National Association of Legal Assistants, and it will have a lot of resources and information. Look at colleges around you for a Legal Assisting or Paralegal Certificate program. You can usually complete the program in a year.

Question: How much does a legal secretary make an hour in Naples Florida? What about in Atlanta Georgia? Also, do i have to go to collage to become a legal secretary?

Answer: The average is 35,000 - 40,000. & yes, you should probably pursue COLLEGE.

Question: How many people still confuse a paralegal with a legal secretary? They are very different you know. A legal secretary is just a secretary with some legal oriented office management training. A paralegal is someone who can do everything a lawyer can except represent people in court and give legal advice. I know, because I've been trained and worked as both. Is this clear or do people out there still not understand the difference? to raven sunn: au contraire mon frere, paralegals ARE allowed to help people, they just can't give legal advice. They also cannot represent people in court.

Answer: i once looked in to becoming a paralegal and they are not permitted to help people, i think most of you should know that a paralegal most of the time knows more then a lawyer does a paralegal is the one who goes out and does most of all the research for the lawyer.

Question: What is the difference between a legal secretary and a paralegal? As far as typical duties, training, pay, etc. Are there things a paralegal does but a legal secretary doesn't??

Answer: Paralegal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralegal Legal Secretary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_secretary

Question: What is the average salary of a Legal Secretary with 16 years experience? I am a Legal Secretary in Chicago with 16 years of experience, mainly in the Corporate Transactional sector. I need to know if my salary is competitive or what is the going rate for my years of experience and the going rate for a lawfirm with 42 lawyers. Thank you.

Answer: Dear XX, The average salary for a legal Secretary with 16 years experience would be $60,000 per annum.

Question: Are you a legal secretary, if so can you offer me career advice? I have been a PA for 2.5 years within the media but would really like to move into the legal industry. This is for many reasons including salary, benefits and security of job. Did you undertake any formal training such as ILEX or the 'Legal Secretaries Diploma' from the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PA's. Which of these would you recommend, and would you advise going to classes over distance learning? Any other advice regarding becoming a secretary or PA within a law firm would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: I would like to give you some positive advice. From my experience, the Diploma course offered by the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is really good and you will learn the legal knowledge and skills you need to gain employment as a Legal PA. Their qualification is well recognised in the legal profession. They run an evening class in London which is popular and their tutors are very good, from what I've read of their testimonials. If you would rather study from home then that's a good option to as you will be able to take your time. Its depends on your situation as to what would be best for you. Although there have been many redundancies in the big law firms, please do not let this put you off. This is due to them making sensible cut backs which they probably could have done with doing before. Hopefully the hype and doom and gloomers of this economic downturn will calm down enough for it to recover in the next year. The legal profession is an important part of our society and Legal Secretaries will always be needed to help Solicitors. From reading articles and forums, I have noticed that people are changing their career to work in the legal profession as they see it as a safer field to be in. My friend works in a recruitment agency and she said that there is still a high demand for Legal Secretaries even though there are few other jobs available. If you want to be a Legal PA then go for it! A positive and determined attitude is what is needed to help you achieve your goal. I suggest you contact the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs and have a chat to them. They are friendly and helpful.

Question: How much money does a legal secretary make in Canada? I am studying to be a legal secretary with an administrative assistant degree as well. I'm wondering how much money I will make when I get out to the work force. I've checked out websites that tell you this info... just wondering what actual people have to say about it.

Answer: The average salary for a legal secretary in New Brunswick, Canada varies around 15 to 30 Canadian dollars depending on the company and experience

Question: How do I become a Legal Secretary in Australia? What is the average salary for a Legal secretary in Australia - are there different levels? Is it a satisfying career to have?

Answer: After you finish high school you need to do either a paralegal or a legal assistant/law clerk training course. Personally IMO paralegal is the best way to do - more variety in the work, working with lawyers and not JUST doing the typing, and often you can work with the clients as well. The pay for a paralegal is usually better than the legal secretary.

Question: Is there any professionals out there that can give advice to a Legal Secretary new to the Legal area of work? I've been in office Admin for about 5 years and just accepted a job with a Divorce Attorney as a Legal Secretary. This is my first job in the Legal Business. Just looking for advice from anyone with expierence.

Answer: Other than what the second poster said, here is information about what a legal secretary does: A legal secretary does the following: 1. Transcribes tapes that are dictated by the attorney (or take shorthand while listening to what the attorney is dictating, depends on the firm) - and prepares them in whatever format the attorney wants (correspondence, motion, memos, etc.); 2. Reviews all incoming correspondence and bills for receipt & review of the correspondence (for the attorney); 3. Calendars deadlines - motions, court appearances, due dates (including ticklers - 1 week, 2 weeks before due date); 4. Inputs billing into the proper program (for the attorney's billable hours); 5. Makes copies; 6. Prepares documents to go to court; 7. Answers the phones - and takes messages if the attorney doesn't want to be bothered; 8. Files documents into the proper place (pleadings, correspondence, discovery); 9. Verifies that all documents are in the proper place when the attorney has an appearance; 10. Schedules depositions (the court reporter) and confirms depositions and/or other appearances before the attorney goes. 11. Has everything ready for the attorney's next day appearance (part of 9 and 10). Good luck with your new job!

Question: What are the best recruitment agencies to use to get a role as a legal secretary in London? I would like to temp as a legal secretary in london - any suggestions of good recruitment agencies. For example have you used Ryder Reid, JM Legal, Law-choice, lawson-clark?

Answer: It is beneficial to look on jobsites such as www.simplylawjobs.com, www.simplyofficejobs.co.uk and www.lawandmore.co.uk to find temping positions. Lots of different agencies post their vacancies on them and there is a wide variety of choice. If you would like help with finding work then contact the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs.

Question: How would you decorate a cake for someone who is graduating from college as a legal secretary? My niece is graduating and we have no idea how her cake should look. She is graduating with an Associates degree in Business Information Systems: Legal, or in layman's terms, Legal Secretary. Any helpful ideas?

Answer: In one area of the cake a graduation hat, in another area law books, and/or something of an authority figure because lets face it, legal secretaries know more about the lawyers schedule then they do, so you could use a calendar or a to do list. If you did a to do list you could write fun things on that like: 8:00 am - I get coffee before the boss does 8:30 am - okay I will get the boss a cup of coffee Stuff like that would be fun.

Question: What do you need to become a legal secretary? I'm still in High School and interested in becoming a legal secretary but i don't know what i need to do......is a 2- year community college enough?

Answer: Average pay.....two years college is fine.....my wife did that.....OK benefits and pay..not great....recommend you aim higher for something you like to do.

Question: Do i need a particular course to be a legal secretary? DON'T answer if you have no knowledge of legal careers. Is there anything in particular a legal secretary needs like a certain course or is it just typing skills/word processing skills and a general legal knowledge...I know there is a ILEX course but do all legal secretaries have to have that?

Answer: i have been a legal secretary for 3 years now and i didnt have any experience before. i was workin in pizza hut and applied for a legal secretary job and i got it. next thing i know im working in a solicitors doing conveyancing and probate, a year later i was doing litigation and personal injury and now i work in a criminal solicitors (defence solicitors). i did have a good typing speed and did a very short typing exam at college whilst doing my GCSE maths again, and i had 10 GCSE's A-C so that may have helped. but they generally like it if you have a good typing speed, computer knowledge and are confident on phones and polite. good luck!

Question: How much should a Legal Secretary earn in Dublin? Anyone knows how much does a full-time Legal Secretary earn in Dublin, say after 1 yr in the position? Thanks

Answer: I think you can earn anything from €25,000 to €35,000 depending on your experience.