How to hire a legal administrator

How to hire a legal administrator, step by step

Here's a step-by-step legal administrator hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a legal administrator job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new legal administrator
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a legal administrator do?

Post a legal administrator job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a legal administrator, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect legal administrator also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of legal administrators.

   Type of Legal Administrator	Description	Hourly rate
   Legal Administrator	Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers, including maintaining and organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting documents.	$15-31
   Real Estate Paralegal	A Real Estate Paralegal helps real estate lawyers with a variety of tasks, such as offering advice to clients, doing research, and preparing documents. They collaborate with landlords, housing managers, or other real estate personnel.	$23-45
   Contractor-Paralegal	A Contractor-Paralegal works for a law firm or corporate legal department for a specified amount of time, or for a specified task. They can be specialized in the entertainment industry or in providing services to healthcare companies and insurance providers.	$17-47

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Veterans
   • Litigation
   • PowerPoint
   • Law Firm
   • Legal Research
   • Management System
   • Data Entry
   • In-House Counsel
   • Life Insurance
   • Subpoenas
   • Social Security
   • Office Equipment
   • Travel Arrangements
   • Expense Reports

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Prepare and distribute payroll manage daily office operations and equipment and maintain supplies for office to run effectively.
   • Provide information regarding the rules and regulations of the DMV.
   • Proofread legal applications to ensure that all information have been properly submit.
   • Prepare probate and estate documents, accounting statements, and estate tax returns.
   • Determine adequacy and propriety of surety bonds to protect the assets of the beneficiary.
   • Determine a person's eligibility to possess firearms or explosives in accordance with federal law.

   More legal administrator duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your legal administrator job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A legal administrator salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, legal administrators' average salary in indiana is 47% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level legal administrators earn 50% less than senior-level legal administrators.
   • Certifications. A legal administrator with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a legal administrator's salary.

   Average legal administrator salary

   $47,198yearly

   $22.69 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level legal administrator salary

   $33,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average legal administrator salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$64,026	$31
   2	New York	$60,770	$29
   3	Massachusetts	$59,050	$28
   4	Colorado	$56,915	$27
   5	California	$54,939	$26
   6	Virginia	$53,785	$26
   7	Pennsylvania	$53,584	$26
   8	Texas	$52,611	$25
   9	Alaska	$51,790	$25
   10	Nevada	$51,507	$25
   11	Connecticut	$51,409	$25
   12	Washington	$51,264	$25
   13	Oregon	$50,034	$24
   14	West Virginia	$49,406	$24
   15	Minnesota	$47,406	$23
   16	Maryland	$46,672	$22
   17	Utah	$45,715	$22
   18	Illinois	$43,761	$21
   19	Idaho	$42,874	$21
   20	Georgia	$41,109	$20

   Average legal administrator salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Ropes & Gray	$89,548	$43.05	10
   2	AARP	$87,159	$41.90
   3	FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies	$78,122	$37.56	4
   4	Calpine	$73,720	$35.44	3
   5	Envestnet	$73,085	$35.14	2
   6	Merck	$66,473	$31.96	1
   7	DLA Piper	$63,380	$30.47	23
   8	Wabtec Corporation	$60,821	$29.24
   9	Aditi Consulting	$57,372	$27.58
   10	WestRock	$57,102	$27.45	1
   11	GPAC	$56,969	$27.39
   12	Sanmina	$55,930	$26.89	4
   13	City and County of Denver Government	$55,417	$26.64	5
   14	Washington State University	$55,012	$26.45	2
   15	Wizards of the Coast	$54,836	$26.36
   16	King County	$54,671	$26.28	4
   17	Social Security Administration	$54,266	$26.09
   18	Roetzel & Andress	$52,854	$25.41
   19	Abt Associates	$52,508	$25.24
   20	Optimum Nutrition	$52,464	$25.22

4. Writing a legal administrator job description

   A job description for a legal administrator role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a legal administrator job description:

   Legal administrator job description example

   Legal Administrator - US Consular
   
   About the team:
   The US consular teams provide consular and substantive US immigration assistance matters either as stand-alone services or part of a larger immigration application process. This team's approach is designed to maximise efficiencies, ensure ownership of work and to empower team members to design work practices to meet the expectations of their clients.
   
   About the role:The Legal Administrator will assist in case processing (reviewing and preparing forms, support letters and Firm correspondence) and assist in the maintenance of case files within the team. They will also help maintain cases of their own under supervision.
   
   Other key responsibilities will include:
   Support Consultants/Senior Consultants with more complex cases if necessary Perform intake of cases once assigned and ensure case is correctly set up on Connect (in-house system) Advise assignees on consular procedures Prepare initial draft communication to clients as directed by Consultants/Senior Consultants/AssociatesFile applications with government agency Maintain client contact information Update case management system in real time Keeps Associate aware of the progress of matters to manage expectations, and informs of conflicting priorities/requesting assistance as problems arise / informing of current capacity Takes on additional projects as required
   
   About you:
   Ideally you will have previous administrative experience and be highly organised.
   
   Also required:
   Able to follow the instructions of senior members of staff Develops strong working relationships with team members and gains their confidence through displaying professionalism and efficiency in all communications Able to plan workload often with conflicting deadlines, able to meet deadlines and priorities for own work, taking into account delivery expectations and agreed client service standards Proven ability to generate clear, well-organised written work and able to effectively express oneself verbally in an articulate and polished manner Strong listening skills Accurate work style; focus on details
   
   Fragomen in Sheffield:
   
   Our Sheffield office is based in the city centre with the added bonus of free on-site parking, as well as several public transport links close by. The office has approximately 270 people working collaboratively and creating a dynamic, positive environment with over 20 different languages being spoken.
   
   The Firm has recently transitioned to a hybrid working model, which incorporates a blend of in-person attendance as well as working from home - our aim being to fully leverage our remote working technology and provide a balance for our people in the way that they work.
   
   Whether in the office or working remotely, we are proud of our team spirit and we like to reflect this in the way that we work and everything we do. Our Responsible Business Strategy (RBS) prioritises Fragomen's social responsibility through one cross-cutting theme and five focus areas. These focus areas include: Wellbeing, Diversity and Inclusion, Charity & Pro bono work, Social and Environmental & Sustainability. The RBS initiative offers great opportunities for everyone at Fragomen to get involved and help steer a variety of initiatives and activities at the Firm. These range from social events and activities, to regular wellbeing newsletters and diversity discussions.
   Fragomen is committed to promoting diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity for all employees and applicants, regardless of race, ethnicity, heritage, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find legal administrators for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your legal administrator job on Zippia to find and recruit legal administrator candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with legal administrator candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new legal administrator

   Once you've decided on a perfect legal administrator candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new legal administrator. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a legal administrator?