For the past few years, the demand for legal secretaries has been steadily increasing. The rising need for legal services has been one of the factors driving this demand, as well as the swelling size of legal departments within corporations. With large companies deciding to handle many legal issues in-house, and legal firms growing to satisfy the public need for services, legal secretary positions have become increasingly critical throughout the legal field.
In addition to the leverage gained by increased demand for legal secretary services, it’s also true that the job description for the position has expanded significantly in the past few years. Many legal secretaries now are tasked with researching relevant data to be used for litigation and are also needed to serve as assistants on significant cases. This is in addition to all the traditional tasks of legal secretary such as managing lawyer schedules, maintaining client communications, and organizing legal documents.
All this bodes well if you happen to be a legal secretary, and the time is approaching when you will be given a performance review, with a possible salary increase resulting. To be sure that you are equitably compensated when the time comes, keep all these considerations in mind, as well as some of the points offered below.
Trending Salaries for the Legal Secretary
Trending salaries for the position of legal secretaries have been very advantageous over the past few years, and salaries are continuing to rise. Law firms in this country have been averaging an increase of between 2% and 3% in the compensation of legal secretaries during that time, and these figures have still not leveled off.
Particularly for those legal secretaries who have had at least three years of experience in the field, the trend has been for significant increases at law firms which are at least mid-sized. Salary ranges for legal secretaries in this position can be as much as $50,000 to $65,000 annually, and in some cases even higher.
The Experience Factor
As you might assume from the salary discussion above, secretaries with at least three years of experience are in high demand from legal firms today. Legal secretaries with as much as six years of experience might even expect to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $65,000 annually, and possibly more, if employment is with a large-sized law firm.
The number of years of experience that legal secretary has is one of the decisive factors in determining salary range because the experience is crucial to the profession. There’s a substantial difference between the secretary who perfectly complements a lawyer and anticipates legal requirements and the secretary who is unclear about a procedure or even needs instruction on the job. If you happen to be a veteran of the legal scene, your legal secretarial skills may be worth as much as $75,000 a year to a large-sized legal firm.
Legal Secretary Job Skills
The ideal legal secretary combines a high level of experience with the skill set desired by busy attorneys who need specific and timely support. Some of the skills most sought after in a legal secretary are in the areas of e-discovery, commercial real estate, intellectual property, and formal litigation.
The job skills of legal secretaries these days are becoming an amalgam of legal secretary and paralegal skills, and are usually intended to provide more streamlined and efficient support to the firm’s attorneys. It almost goes without saying that robust interpersonal skills are a fundamental requirement of the job, as are skills such as writing and correspondence.
Bilingual skills are a definite advantage as well since, in so many locations, there are multiple ethnic groups. There are also many soft skills which can be extremely beneficial for the active legal secretary, such as resourcefulness, ambition and drive, and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.
Not to be overlooked are the essential secretarial skills with computer software, such as with spreadsheets, word processors, and in some cases, even PowerPoint presentations.
Putting it all Together
It will be very much in your best interests to carefully review some of the points above to determine your actual value as a legal secretary. You should take into account all those skills you possess, your level of experience, the size of your legal firm, and what local market conditions are. All these factors can have an impact on how you are valued at this point in your career.
When discussing salary with your employer, you should be well prepared to justify what you feel your actual value is, and that will make it more likely that you end up successfully negotiating an appropriate salary. Use some of the skills that you know you have as secretary to present yourself professionally and adequately.
Be prepared to give and take on several points, and to stand firm on those that are most important to you. If you’ve been a legal secretary with a law firm for a while, and they appreciate your contributions to the company, chances are your negotiating skills will be able to bring about a conclusion which is agreeable for both you and your employer.