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The differences between executive legal assistants and assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become an executive legal assistant, becoming an assistant takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an executive legal assistant has an average salary of $53,442, which is higher than the $37,363 average annual salary of an assistant.
The top three skills for an executive legal assistant include powerpoint, expense reports and litigation. The most important skills for an assistant are patients, customer service, and patient care.
| Executive Legal Assistant | Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $53,442 | $37,363 |
| Hourly rate | $25.69 | $17.96 |
| Growth rate | 14% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 72,148 | 557,900 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 46 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
An Executive Legal Assistant provides comprehensive support to lawyers and legal offices. They start as entry-level assistants before specializing in a field after a few years with experience; litigation, criminal law, family law, international law. Their duties include performing legal research by gathering case information for presentation, writing legal reports based on research and interviews, scheduling meetings, organizing travel arrangements, and organizing documentation for easy accessibility. An Executive Legal Assistant must be well organized, analytical research skills, and experience in case management. They typically spend long work hours spent in libraries and offices, requiring occasional travel.
An assistant intern is responsible for facilitating administrative and clerical tasks as assigned by the management. Assistant interns' duties include keeping records of meetings, receiving calls and handling customer inquiries, assisting on writing reports and data entry processing, cooperating and providing support for business events, and adhering to company policies and regulatory procedures. Successful assistant interns must have excellent time-management, multi-tasking, and communication skills. They must be a team player and fast-learner to handle various tasks in the corporate industry.
Executive legal assistants and assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Executive Legal Assistant | Assistant | |
| Average salary | $53,442 | $37,363 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $75,000 | Between $16,000 And $82,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | PayPal | Latham & Watkins |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Education |
There are a few differences between an executive legal assistant and an assistant in terms of educational background:
| Executive Legal Assistant | Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between executive legal assistants' and assistants' demographics:
| Executive Legal Assistant | Assistant | |
| Average age | 46 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 8.7% Female, 91.3% | Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 5.4% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 6% |