How To Become An Executive Legal Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an executive legal assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a legal executive assistant, you will work in a law firm to support the attorney on legal cases. You are to provide legal and traditional administrative support. To do this, you will legally research every case efficiently and gather information in an organized manner before presenting it to the attorney. As earlier stated, you must provide administrative support to the attorney and also the legal team. This support includes setting up meetings, organizing a schedule, and arranging travel plans.

Based on the information you have either by interview or research, you are in charge of issuing legal reports to ensure affected parties are fully aware. You are also responsible for tracking and organizing case documents to ensure their efficiency and accessibility. As a legal executive assistant, you must manage and monitor all of the legal firm databases to ensure accountability and reference purposes.

To qualify for this role, some basic skills you need include strong organizational skills, research skills, legal knowledge, and experience in project management. An average of $49,500 is what an executive Legal Assistant earns yearly. Successful executive Legal assistants possess a bachelor's degree in Law or other related fields.

ScoreExecutive Legal AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,442

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.0

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.40%

Asian 5.37%

Black or African American 8.20%

Hispanic or Latino 21.35%

Unknown 4.71%

White 59.96%

Gender

female 91.33%

male 8.67%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an executive legal assistant

Explore executive legal assistant education requirements

Most common executive legal assistant degrees

Bachelor's

52.3 %

Associate

26.6 %

Master's

6.0 %

Start to develop specific executive legal assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
PowerPoint	10.80%
Expense Reports	8.98%
Litigation	8.81%
Law Firm	6.61%
Real Estate	4.78%

Complete relevant executive legal assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New executive legal assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an executive legal assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real executive legal assistant resumes.

Gain additional executive legal assistant certifications

Executive legal assistant certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific executive legal assistant certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for executive legal assistants include Certified Paralegal/Certified Legal Assistant (CP/CLA) and Professional Legal Secretary (PLS).

More About Certifications

Research executive legal assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage transactions involving the sale or purchase of publicly trade securities, both equity and debt instruments.
Manage litigation discovery process, including coordinating electronic and tangible document production, as well as litigation record hold obligations.
Provide administrative support to attorneys with mergers and acquisitions and due diligence procedures.
Prepare legal documents, assist clients with their legal needs, notary, general office duties

Get executive legal assistant experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become an executive legal assistant. The most common roles before becoming an executive legal assistant include legal assistant, legal secretary team lead and executive assistant.

Prepare your executive legal assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your executive legal assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an executive legal assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable executive legal assistant resume templates

Build a professional executive legal assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your executive legal assistant resume.