Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CES
Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents. Prepare legal papers and correspondence, such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas. May also assist with legal research.
Also called: Legal Administrative Assistant (Legal Admin Assistant), Legal Office Support Assistant, Legal Practice Assistant, Legal Secretary, Confidential Secretary, Legal Administrator (Legal Admin), Legal Coordinator, Legal Management Assistant.
O*NET 43-6012.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $55,570
- Middle half earn $44,450 to $71,970. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 48% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- 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.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
- Active Listening4.0 / 5
- Writing3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.8 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
- Monitoring3.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Administrative4.5 / 5
- English Language4.4 / 5
- Law and Government4.2 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
- Computers and Electronics3.9 / 5
- Administration and Management3.2 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic7
- Investigative32
- Artistic9
- Social36
- Enterprising57
- Conventional95
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- legal administrative assistant · DE Anwaltssekretär/Anwaltssekretärin · FR auxiliaire juridique
- legal assistant · DE Rechtsanwaltsfachangestellte/Rechtsanwaltsfachangestellter · FR assistant de cabinet juridique/assistante de cabinet juridique
- secretary · DE Sekretär/Sekretärin · FR secrétaire
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Legal secretaries (4212)30,700 employed
- Legal associate professionals (3520)57,300 employed
- Personal assistants and other secretaries (4215)133,700 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €50,992 |
| Austria | €46,986 |
| Germany | €44,473 |
| Netherlands | €42,448 |
| Ireland | €41,613 |
| Sweden | €41,155 |
| Italy | €34,882 |
| France | €34,816 |
| Spain | €29,757 |
| Portugal | €18,080 |
| Poland | €12,108 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.01. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-6012).
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