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What does an executive legal secretary do?

Updated January 8, 2025
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Executive legal secretary responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real executive legal secretary resumes:

  • Manage a team of five to prepare over 100 UCC-1 forms to meet a 48 hour deadline.
  • Prepare daily transcription from dictation.
  • Send out discovery (interrogatories, requests for production, etc . )
  • Log heavy volume of summonses and complaints to prepare for express delivery.
  • Prepare, file and/or serve complaints, motions, briefs, orders, answers, pleadings and subpoenas.
  • Develop legal pleadings for court and prepare eviction notices, probate documents, and property titles for clients.
  • Transcribe stenography dictation and Dictaphone documentation.
  • Set up PowerPoint and arrange training materials/presentations.
  • Create detailed PowerPoint presentations for executives of educational division of oil and gas company.
  • Prepare legal documents including pleadings, discovery documents, interrogatories, affidavits, subpoenas and legal memoranda.
  • Conduct research and prepare discovery documents for insurance litigation pertaining to large corporate clients such as automotive manufacturers.
  • Type and format arbitration briefs, collective bargaining agreements, litigation documents, discovery documents, and correspondence.
  • Key support for attorney specializing in insurance defense litigation, personal injury, commercial litigation and workers' compensation.
  • Answer and propound discovery/mandatory disclosure/financial affidavits.
  • Prepare correspondence and Dictaphone transcriptions.

Executive legal secretary skills and personality traits

We calculated that 10% of Executive Legal Secretaries are proficient in Litigation, Law Firm, and Travel Arrangements. They’re also known for soft skills such as Writing skills, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.

We break down the percentage of Executive Legal Secretaries that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Litigation, 10%

    Performed administrative/secretarial duties for the Managing Counsel of the Litigation Section, Manager of Litigation Support, and Senior Counsel.

  • Law Firm, 9%

    Provided executive level administrative support to managing attorney of Chicago-based law firm.

  • Travel Arrangements, 9%

    Managed document production, correspondence and filing; prepared billing time-entry; coordinated travel arrangements and meeting schedules.

  • Proofread, 9%

    Supported one partner and two associate attorneys; typed, revised and proofread agreements, general correspondence, reports, etc.

  • Expense Reports, 7%

    Provide assistance with booking extensive domestic and international travel and submission of complex expense reports.

  • Dictation, 6%

    Prepared daily transcription from dictation.

"litigation," "law firm," and "travel arrangements" are among the most common skills that executive legal secretaries use at work. You can find even more executive legal secretary responsibilities below, including:

Writing skills. One of the key soft skills for an executive legal secretary to have is writing skills. You can see how this relates to what executive legal secretaries do because "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." Additionally, an executive legal secretary resume shows how executive legal secretaries use writing skills: "answer incoming calls, making outbound calls scheduling appointments responding back to e-mails writing cover letter to attorney/clients"

Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform executive legal secretary duties is interpersonal skills. Executive legal secretaries responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Executive legal secretaries also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided strong interpersonal skills to intense emotional situations with clients, process payments to trustees and perform legal research. "

Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of executive legal secretaries is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday executive legal secretary duties, as "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "created powerpoint seminar presentations and organizational charts. "

All executive legal secretary skills

The three companies that hire the most executive legal secretarys are:

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Compare different executive legal secretaries

Executive legal secretary vs. District court administrator

A Paralegal/Office Manager is responsible for distributing cases to paralegals and assuring their timely completion, as well as supervising the services provided by them. They train paralegals on statutes, recorded judicial decisions, and other legal articles or documents.

If we compare the average executive legal secretary annual salary with that of a district court administrator, we find that district court administrators typically earn a $13,199 higher salary than executive legal secretaries make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both executive legal secretary and district court administrator positions are skilled in legal research, court appearances, and district court.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, executive legal secretary responsibilities require skills like "litigation," "law firm," "travel arrangements," and "proofread." Meanwhile a typical district court administrator has skills in areas such as "court operations," "police reports," "court administration," and "administrative capacity." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

District court administrators tend to reach higher levels of education than executive legal secretaries. In fact, district court administrators are 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 12.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Executive legal secretary vs. Paralegal/office manager

A legal clerk is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to legal offices and organizations to ensure smooth legal business operations. Legal clerks sort and distribute documents to the appropriate personnel, update information on the database, schedule appointments, respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, and document meeting objectives. They may also coordinate with other offices and institutions to acquire files and research data according to the needs of the managing department. A legal clerk must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in monitoring business transactions and submitting reports timely and accurately.

A career as a paralegal/office manager brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of an executive legal secretary. In fact, paralegal/office managers salary is $12,501 higher than the salary of executive legal secretaries per year.A few skills overlap for executive legal secretaries and paralegal/office managers. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "litigation," "law firm," and "travel arrangements. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that executive legal secretary responsibilities requires skills like "proofread," "expense reports," "dictation," and "transcription." But a paralegal/office manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "discovery responses," "payroll," "real estate closings," and "bank accounts."

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Paralegal/office managers tend to reach similar levels of education than executive legal secretaries. In fact, they're 2.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 12.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Executive legal secretary vs. Legal clerk

Secretaries are employees who are responsible for many of the administrative needs of the office. They are usually assigned to executives or to a specific department. They manage schedules and appointments, often handling the calendar in the office. They are also responsible for keeping files organized, whether physical or digital copies. During office meetings, secretaries are in charge of documenting the minutes of the meeting and highlighting the action steps that need to be taken. They may also be assigned to check on concerned departments who need to present deliverables in the next office meeting.

An average legal clerk eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of executive legal secretaries. The difference in salaries amounts to legal clerks earning a $8,736 lower average salary than executive legal secretaries.By looking over several executive legal secretaries and legal clerks resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "litigation," "law firm," and "travel arrangements." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from executive legal secretary resumes include skills like "proofread," "expense reports," "dictation," and "transcription," whereas a legal clerk is more likely to list skills in "court dates," "real estate," "computer system," and "legal issues. "

Legal clerks earn the highest salary when working in the professional industry, where they receive an average salary of $39,441. Comparatively, executive legal secretaries have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $63,619.Most legal clerks achieve a similar degree level compared to executive legal secretaries. For example, they're 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 11.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Executive legal secretary vs. Secretary

Secretaries average a lower salary than the annual salary of executive legal secretaries. The difference is about $7,446 per year.While their salaries may vary, executive legal secretaries and secretaries both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "travel arrangements," "expense reports," and "telephone calls. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. An executive legal secretary uses "litigation," "law firm," "proofread," and "dictation." Secretaries are more likely to have duties that require skills in "customer service," "payroll," "meeting minutes," and "financial statements. "The government industry tends to pay the highest salaries for secretaries, with average annual pay of $46,574. Comparatively, the highest executive legal secretary annual salary comes from the professional industry.secretaries reach similar levels of education compared to executive legal secretaries, in general. The difference is that they're 0.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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