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Legal Secretary Job Description
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Legal secretaries perform secretarial jobs for lawyers. Sometimes the duties of legal secretaries and legal assistants overlap and lawyers refer to their legal secretaries as legal assistants. But legal secretaries mainly perform administrative jobs in helping lawyers. Legal assistants perform mainly legal work and additionally administrative work. Experienced legal secretaries may take up paralegal certification
Legal Secretary Job Duties
Legal secretaries work in an office set up. They are employed with lawyers, law firms, legal departments of corporate houses, schools, real estate firms and hospitals. They are the faces of law firms and act as main contact points. They perform secretarial jobs and have to:
1) Perform routine works such as answering the phone and taking down important details of the phone conversation if required.
2) Fax and phone clients or witnesses.
3) Type office memos.
4) Set appointments and schedule meetings for the lawyer. Confirm the same with the lawyer.
5) Check all the emails and mails.
6) Perform stenographic job and take down minutes of a meeting.
7) Maintain files.
8) Transcribe recorded conversations and dictations.
9) Unlike legal assistants they may not prepare legal documents but many lawyers expect them to have sound legal knowledge to prepare affidavits, appeals, subpoenas, summons and accident reports.
10) Collect health history and employment status of the clients.
11) Processing data on a computer.
12) Legal secretaries are never expected to offer any legal advice to clients.
Legal Secretary Knowledge and Skills
1) Good knowledge of secretarial responsibilities.
2) Superb listening skills.
3) Good knowledge of grammar and composition.
4) Fast short hand and typing skills.
5) Excellent telephone etiquette.
6) Good research ability.
7) Be computer savvy.
Legal Secretary Educational Qualification and Experience
1) Certificate or associate degree in administrative assistance is the minimum requirement.
2) Legal secretary certificate program is the additional qualification which is tailored for the job. The certification training takes four to six months. The main emphasis of this certification is imparting education on research skills in the legal field.
3) With experience, legal secretaries are encouraged to perform court related activities.
4) Lawyers encourage legal secretaries to get certified by National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) to contribute fully in legal activities, except offering legal advice.
Legal Secretary Salary and Benefits
1) According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the median wages of legal secretaries was $41,640 in May 2008.
2) With experience and legal assistant certification, their salaries may increase.
3) Legal Secretaries get benefits as set by their employers.
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