Secretary Legal Jobs

Expand Your Legal Secretary Career

Whether you are looking for personal injury legal secretary jobs, legal secretary paralegal jobs, or junior legal secretary jobs, there are several things you need to consider in order to grow your legal secretarial career.

Skills and Qualifications in Needed by Legal Secretaries

In order to be considered for a job as a legal secretary, there are skills and knowledge you have to master. In addition to being proficient in basic secretarial skills, you should also be able to demonstrate that you are knowledgeable about matters relating to the practice of law and other industry-specific topics. A company specializing in personal injuries, for instance, would most probably want to hire someone with not only exemplary secretarial skills but also experience in the personal injury litigation area.

What are some of the common administrative duties a legal secretary is required to do? Here are some of them:

• Audio typing or copy typing
• Keeping track of appointments or key dates
• Answering or making telephone calls
• Arranging or booking counsel for court attendances
• Preparation of correspondence and legal materials such as subpoenas, summonses, and complaints

Assisting with legal research and reviewing legal journals are also some of the things that may be included in a legal secretary's job description. Additionally, she or he is sometimes called upon to teach new lawyers about the intricacies involved in the creation or preparation of documents that need to be submitted to court.

Also, while it's true that tasks traditionally done by secretaries still come with the job, it's also true that nowadays they perform a smaller number of clerical duties. Instead, they are increasingly being regarded as not just secretaries but as communication and information managers.

According to the 2008-09 edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the US Department of Labour's Bureau of Labour Statistics, occupations for secretaries and administrative assistants are expected to be among those with the biggest number of new jobs.

The high demand for these types of jobs isn't just in the USA; browse the web sites of overseas recruitment agencies and you will see listings for positions in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Australia, and elsewhere in the world.

The variety of the types of companies to apply to is diverse. Depending on your skills and experience, you may consider looking for legal secretarial jobs in law enforcement agencies, insurance companies, law courts, and of course, law firms.

Salaries are dependent upon experience, skills, and level of responsibility. Someone who has yet to establish his or her reputation in the industry may earn between 10,000 to 14,000 in the UK, for example, while those with more experience and a specialized skills working at big law firms may receive about 25,000 annually.

In the United States, the average earnings of legal secretaries in May 2006 were approximately 38,000, with a number of them breaking the 58,000 mark.

With the prestige and high salaries that come with the position, as well as the opportunity to move higher up on the career ladder, it's no wonder that secretary legal jobs are highly sought after among professionals.