I've been working as a legal secretary for over 20 years and as far as my work is concerned, I believe it's one of the best secretarial positions one can hope for. The legal secretary salary is decent and there is always demand for the legal secretaries. I advanced to become a paralegal after being a legal secretary for two years. My salary has since then, increased by 20%, although I never took a paralegal course. Two years of work experience as a legal secretary helped me immensely and I was promoted to this job by my senior lawyer.
Lawyers and professionals in law field have plethora of responsibilities and duties to handle. A day in the life of a successful lawyer is filled with hectic schedules and meetings. Since an individual can't handle every possible detail and multitask every possible work, he/she needs skilled people who can manage various important facets related to his/her work.
Every lawyer has to, at some stage of his career, hire legal secretaries that can assist them for works pertaining to their field. In the recent years, when the law field has gained recognition to be one of the most reputed and successful careers in the US, the need of law secretaries have also risen.
Being a legal secretary, though may not demand knowledge like law graduates still, legal secretaries are supposed to have good knowledge about government and legal procedures. How much is the legal secretary salary range? This article details its readers about the parameters that have impact in determining law secretary salary.
Legal Secretary Average Salary
There is a general misconception that paralegal salary range is exactly similar to that of legal secretary salary range. The fact is that, although paralegals or lawyer assistants share some of the same duties, they may not earn equal and their educational qualifications may differ drastically.
While legal secretaries need not have extensive degrees in law subjects, paralegals have bachelor's or associates degree in paralegal studies. In the initial years, the legal secretary salary, like for various other salary ranges for jobs, is less and they can make around US $30,000 annually. Dominantly, the salary of a legal secretary depends on following factors:
* Work Experience
* Educational Qualifications
* Type of Employer
* Size of Employer
* Geographic Location
With excellent administrative skills, legal secretaries can command very good salaries and can work with top law firms. Lawyers of big firms generally want people who can manage their accounts and also prepare legal documents pertaining to their finances.
Generally, the smaller a firm is, lesser would be the legal secretary salary. Salaries in the initial years is expected to be very less. After some years of work experience, one can work with larger firms were there are various career opportunities. Bigger firms provide health benefit insurance covers, 401(k) match and annual bonuses.
The legal secretaries having work experience of more than a year and less than four years can earn any where between US $30,000 to US $45,000. The legal secretaries having work experience between five to nine years earn a salary of about US $38,000 to US $54,000. With 20 or more years of work experience, the legal secretaries can earn anywhere between US $36,000 to US $60,000.
You may read more on:
* Legal Secretary Job Description
* Paralegal Job Description
The legal secretary salary range as we can see, averages near about US $50,000 and with increase in the work experience, one can increase his earning potential. Completing certificate programs in legal secretary works, can help an individual to increase the scope of better employment opportunities and consequently, higher legal secretary salary ranges.
By Kundan Pandey
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