So, you’re interested in becoming a Legal Office Professional…
check out your future career!
Academy College can help you achieve your goals through our Legal Office Assistant Certificate program.
What’s the job all about?
A legal office assistant has both legal and business training which serves as the basis for providing a wide range of support services in a legal setting s including law offices, corporate legal departments, and government offices. Depending on the size of the office, a legal office assistant’s responsibilities may be limited to one type of activity to managing a small office. In effect a legal office assistant is a jack of all trades.
In smaller offices, a legal office assistant may assume any or all the secretarial responsibilities of handling office correspondence, memos, and reports; preparing basic legal documents; creating and maintaining client files; organizing and maintaining paper and electronic records; planning and scheduling meetings; answering telephones; greeting office visitors and clients; plus a variety of other administrative tasks. In some offices, a legal office assistant may also assume bookkeeping and billing duties.
In larger or specialized practices, a legal office assistant may perform only one task. For example, this can run the gamut from performing legal transcription, transcribing information recorded in court or dictated in law office to a text format, to preparing filings for the U.S. Patent Office. The more specialized tasks require additional training which may be provided by the employer.
The role of the legal office assistant is an ever expanding one. Tasks that were once performed solely by attorneys may be delegated to paralegals and experienced legal office assistants. Consequently in some legal offices, an experienced legal office assistant may be assigned such tasks as doing preliminary manual or computerized legal research, drafting documents, managing litigation documents, and reviewing and monitoring pending legislation.
What type of skills do I need to be successful in my career?
- Written and oral communication skills
- Computer proficiency
- Keyboarding skills
- Technical aptitude
- Research skills
- Recall and memorization ability
- Customer service skills
- Knowledge for learning
What’s the job market like?
The job market for paralegals and legal assistants is expected to have a higher than average employment growth. For secretaries and administrative assistants the job growth is expected to increase at the same rate as for other occupations but it anticipated to be higher for legal and others secretaries in specialized fields. While the demand for discretionary legal services declines during recessions, legal offices often try to contain costs by shifting some duties to non-lawyers. Such shifts should also increase the demand for legal office assistants. Employment opportunities are the best for applicants with extensive computer skills and those with the ability to perform a variety of office tasks.
What type of earnings should I expect?
Wages legal assistants vary greatly. Salaries depend on education, training, experience, the type and size of employer, and the geographic location of the job. In May 2008, full-time wage-and-salary legal assistants earned $46,120. The middle 50 percent earned between $36,080 and $59,310. The top 10 percent earned more than $73,450, and the bottom 10 percent earned less than $29,260.
In May 2010, the annual mean wage for legal secretaries in the legal services industry was $43,390. The average mean wage for legal secretaries in the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Bloomington metro area was $47,270.
Based 2008 data, the median annual wage for paralegals in the legal service industry was $44,480 and $46,120 for all industries. Generally higher wages are paid by larger law firms and those in large metropolitan areas for legal secretaries, paralegals and legal assistants.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, [accessed November 10, 2011] [http://www.bls.gov/oco/].
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