Legal Secretary (General)
Career Area: Clerical and Administrative
Occupation Group: Administrative Assistants
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Legal Secretary (General) earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $36,378
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $41,437
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Provides secretarial work that requires specialized knowledge of legal terminology and procedures. Prepares documents such as subpoenas or summonses and assists with legal research. Works with supervision from an attorney or paralegal.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 118 | -20.2% |
| Nationwide | 10146 | -20.9% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Legal Secretary (General) is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.
- Organizational Skills: Experience with a systematic process of structuring, integrating, co-ordinating task goals, and activities to resources in order to attain objectives.
- Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.
- Typing: Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, cell phone, or calculator.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Legal Support: Working experience of Legal Support, which is the ability to file papers appropriately, take dictation, set up meetings and help prepare presentations.
- Administrative Support: Working experience providing various kinds of administrative support and services to people and groups in business operations. These include mailing, scanning, maintaining an electronic and hard copy filing system, performing data entry, managing calendars, etcetera.
- Legal Documentation: Working experience of Legal Documentation. Documentation is material that provides official information or evidence or that serves as a record.
- Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.
- Litigation: Working experience of Litigation. Litigation is the term used to describe proceedings initiated between two opposing parties to enforce or defend a legal right. Litigation is typically settled by agreement between the parties, but may also be heard and decided by a jury or judge in court.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Legal Secretary (General) that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Legal Terminology:
- General Office Duties: The common duties performed in a typical office. These may include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters, screening solicitors, and other administrative tasks.
- Calendar Management: Experience managing the schedules or calendars associated with one or more projects.
- Taking Messages: Working experience Taking Messages. There is an art in taking phone messages. Phone message should be accurate and detailed, at the same time, allowing the owner to spend little or no time in deciphering the note.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 48% |
| 3 to 5 years | 48% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Legal Secretary
- Legal Receptionist
- Legal Secretary/Receptionist
- Legal Office Assistant
- Law Firm Administrator
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