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Executive legal assistant vs executive secretary

The differences between executive legal assistants and executive secretaries 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 executive secretary takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an executive legal assistant has an average salary of $53,442, which is higher than the $46,594 average annual salary of an executive secretary.

The top three skills for an executive legal assistant include powerpoint, expense reports and litigation. The most important skills for an executive secretary are office procedures, payroll, and word processing.

Executive legal assistant vs executive secretary overview

Executive Legal AssistantExecutive Secretary
Yearly salary$53,442$46,594
Hourly rate$25.69$22.40
Growth rate14%-8%
Number of jobs72,148103,802
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age4649
Years of experience124

What does an executive legal assistant do?

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.

What does an executive secretary do?

The primary role of executive secretaries is to provide clerical support to an executive or a high-level administrator. They are the ones who conduct the different administrative support tasks for executives which include managing the calendar of executives, answering phone calls, conducting research and sorting important files, preparing and proofreading monthly reports and industry documents that are relevant to the role of executives, and performing some bookkeeping activities such as invoice creation and office inventory tracking.

Executive legal assistant vs executive secretary salary

Executive legal assistants and executive secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.

Executive Legal AssistantExecutive Secretary
Average salary$53,442$46,594
Salary rangeBetween $37,000 And $75,000Between $31,000 And $69,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANew York, NY
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew York
Best paying companyPayPalInfosysPublicService
Best paying industryTelecommunicationGovernment

Differences between executive legal assistant and executive secretary education

There are a few differences between an executive legal assistant and an executive secretary in terms of educational background:

Executive Legal AssistantExecutive Secretary
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaWestern Carolina University

Executive legal assistant vs executive secretary demographics

Here are the differences between executive legal assistants' and executive secretaries' demographics:

Executive Legal AssistantExecutive Secretary
Average age4649
Gender ratioMale, 8.7% Female, 91.3%Male, 7.7% Female, 92.3%
Race ratioBlack 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, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage9%10%

Differences between executive legal assistant and executive secretary duties and responsibilities

Executive legal assistant example 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
  • Complete & record minutes of meetings, using a variety of shorthand, or machine transcription.
  • Provide notary assistance as requested.
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Executive secretary example responsibilities.

  • Manage specific projects from start to finish as required by the SVP.
  • Manage high volume of requests and correspondence from executives and colleagues, pharmaceutical representatives, patients and outside physicians.
  • Assist in daily typing of correspondence to agencies regarding Medicare and Medicaid contracts.
  • Maintain all the student records in PowerSchool and generate report cards with accuracy.
  • Maintain all departmental information, including transcription of meeting minutes and all audit and payroll documentation.
  • Input miss time punch and vacation/sick time in KRONOS for employees.
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Executive legal assistant vs executive secretary skills

Common executive legal assistant skills
  • PowerPoint, 11%
  • Expense Reports, 9%
  • Litigation, 9%
  • Law Firm, 7%
  • Real Estate, 5%
  • Calendar Management, 4%
Common executive secretary skills
  • Office Procedures, 9%
  • Payroll, 9%
  • Word Processing, 8%
  • PowerPoint, 8%
  • Financial Statements, 6%
  • Scheduling Appointments, 5%