Legal secretaries handle administrative tasks while paralegals handle legal work such as research and analysis. Paralegals are supervised by attorneys and may require more experience and education. Both jobs require good communication and computer skills. Paralegals earn more but have more responsibilities. The terms legal assistant and legal administrative assistant may also be used.
While the responsibilities, as well as many of the roles, in legal secretary and paralegal jobs can vary greatly depending on the exact jurisdiction or geographic area, the main difference between the positions is the level of administrative work. Typically, a paralegal and a legal secretary handle different aspects of legal cases. While legal secretaries generally perform most of the administrative tasks, such as typing final drafts of documents, paralegals may write the first draft, as well as conduct research and analysis of legal cases.
These employees are also at different job levels. In most cases, a paralegal is directly supervised by an attorney and usually performs actual legal work. A legal secretary may be supervised by a paralegal and only prepares or edits legal documents.
In some areas, a paralegal is required to have a year or two of experience as a legal secretary. He or she may need a certificate or diploma whereas a secretary may not need this for the job. Basically, a legal secretary is considered a specialized type of administrative assistant, while a paralegal handles some of the lower-level job duties of an attorney. Although paralegals often perform the same tasks as a lawyer, they are always considered non-lawyers; there are usually limits to the extent of legal duties that person may be responsible for completing.
Secretaries and paralegals may interview clients, depending on the size of a law firm. These jobs also require good communication skills and the ability to treat clients professionally. Both types of legal jobs also require up-to-date computer skills, and an interest in the law is highly desirable in both jobs.
Especially in large law firms, there is usually one paralegal for a group of legal secretaries. Salaries for the two jobs are often quite different. Paralegals usually earn a little more money, but they also have increased responsibilities.
In general, paralegals are expected to work more independently and with more experience and legal knowledge than legal secretaries. Sometimes, due to changing or overlapping duties in some countries or regions, as well as the term legal assistant being mistakenly used, the two positions can be confused. Legal assistants are the same as legal assistants, not secretaries. Clerks specializing in law may be called legal administrative assistants.
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