Hiring Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

What do legal secretaries and administrative assistants do?

• Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
• Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
• Prepare and distribute invoices to bill clients or pay account expenses.
• Prepare, proofread, or process legal documents, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, or pretrial agreements.
• Make photocopies of correspondence, documents, and other printed matter.
• Assist attorneys in collecting information such as employment, medical, and other records.

Core tasks, O*NET OnLine, 43-6012.00.

What does it take to become one?

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

O*NET Job Zone 3, SVP (6.0 to < 7.0). O*NET OnLine.

Employers commonly list experience with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat for this role.

What do legal secretaries and administrative assistants get paid?

BLS OEWS, May 2025 publishes a wage for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in 89 of the metro areas we publish data for. The median ranges from $36,360 to $87,270 a year depending on the metro, with a midpoint of $49,560. This is what employers pay, place of work, not a single national figure and not what any one person takes home.

BLS OEWS, BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 43-6012.

What does hiring one cost?

The same as any role: tier, not location or salary, sets the fee. Across all six tiers the published range is $6,240 to $54,340 per search. For scale, the highest median any metro we publish data for pays legal secretaries and administrative assistants is $87,270 a year, place of work (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A contingency firm hiring at that level would bill roughly $17,454 to $26,181 on the first year salary alone, 20 to 30%.

Frequently asked

How fast can a legal secretary search fill?

Typically 23 to 35 days, and typically 2 to 3x faster than a contingency search, per our recruiting partner's published figures. Both are typical rather than guaranteed.

What if the hire does not work out?

A 45-day replacement guarantee, at 50% off a repeat search for the same role.