Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Also called: Accredited Legal Secretary, Certified Legal Secretary Specialist, Confidential Secretary, Law Firm Administrator, Law Office Assistant, Law Secretary, Legal Administrative Assistant (Legal Admin Assistant), Legal Administrator (Legal Admin)
Perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents.
What legal secretaries and administrative assistants do
Typical tasks
- 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.
- Complete various forms, such as accident reports, trial and courtroom requests, and applications for clients.
- Receive and place telephone calls.
- Schedule and make appointments.
- Draft and type office memos.
- Submit articles and information from searches to attorneys for review and approval for use.
- Make travel arrangements for attorneys.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants salary
The median annual wage for legal secretaries and administrative assistants is $55,570 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $36,500 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $91,730. The mean annual wage is $60,620.
The mean hourly wage of $29.00 is 4.0× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $55,570 → in 3 years $58,000 → in 5 years $59,700 → in 10 years $64,000 (10-year range $55,100–$74,400). The model assumes pay growth of +1.4% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
Skills, education and requirements for Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 3 — medium preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★☆☆☆ Fairly easy (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become legal secretaries and administrative assistants
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as legal secretaries and administrative assistants
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.