How to hire a legal assistant

How to hire a legal assistant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step legal assistant 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 assistant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new legal assistant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a legal assistant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the legal assistant you need to hire. Certain legal assistant roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   A legal assistant's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, legal assistants from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of legal assistants.

   Type of Legal Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Legal Assistant	Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers, including maintaining and organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting documents.	$14-27
   Law Clerk	Law clerks are employees in a legal firm who handle clerical tasks for the office. They handle the office's official phone lines, answering incoming calls, and making outgoing calls... Show more	$12-54
   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

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Litigation
   • Legal Correspondence
   • Discovery Responses
   • Legal Research
   • Law Firm
   • Subpoenas
   • Trial Preparation
   • Scheduling Appointments
   • Affidavits
   • Travel Arrangements
   • Real Estate Closings
   • PowerPoint
   • Word Processing
   • Administrative Tasks

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Complete accounting and payroll functions.- gather and process client documents.- manage daily operations of office.
   • Manage document production with various internal departments for response to DCAA investigations and third party subpoenas.
   • Assist patent attorneys by managing invention disclosure documentation and relate correspondence with outside counsel and USPTO.
   • Relocate temporarily to Chicago, Illinois to facilitate and manage electronic discovery exchange in preparation for arbitration.
   • Perform administrative tasks for managing partner and trial attorney at a medical malpractice litigation firm including daily transcription and stenography.
   • Gather and prepare documents for binders/notebooks for depositions, arbitration, hearings/trial; manage incoming document production mostly for litigation purposes.

   More legal assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your legal assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A legal assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a legal assistant in Kentucky may be lower than in California, and an entry-level legal assistant usually earns less than a senior-level legal assistant. Additionally, a legal assistant with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average legal assistant salary

   $42,387yearly

   $20.38 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level legal assistant salary

   $30,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 15, 2026

   Average legal assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$56,896	$27
   2	California	$52,809	$25
   3	Colorado	$49,333	$24
   4	New York	$48,473	$23
   5	Washington	$47,901	$23
   6	Massachusetts	$47,166	$23
   7	Nevada	$46,834	$23
   8	Illinois	$45,938	$22
   9	Hawaii	$45,615	$22
   10	Minnesota	$43,845	$21
   11	Maryland	$43,167	$21
   12	Pennsylvania	$43,122	$21
   13	Virginia	$42,245	$20
   14	Oregon	$41,869	$20
   15	Michigan	$41,787	$20
   16	Texas	$41,018	$20
   17	Arizona	$40,958	$20
   18	Georgia	$38,164	$18
   19	Maine	$38,122	$18
   20	Louisiana	$38,005	$18

   Average legal assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey Pc	$102,456	$49.26	4
   2	Buckley King	$87,336	$41.99
   3	Brennan Manna Diamond	$81,633	$39.25
   4	Fraser Trebilcock	$71,818	$34.53
   5	Winget	$68,276	$32.83
   6	HCL Technologies	$67,394	$32.40
   7	Greenblum & Bernstein, P.l.c.	$64,249	$30.89
   8	Lindabury McCormick	$63,921	$30.73
   9	Shearman & Sterling	$63,682	$30.62
   10	Hoffmann & Baron	$62,933	$30.26
   11	Williams Parker	$62,389	$29.99
   12	Davis Graham & Stubbs	$61,673	$29.65
   13	Evans Dixon	$61,366	$29.50	1
   14	Eaton & Van Winkle	$61,243	$29.44
   15	Strauss Troy	$61,109	$29.38
   16	Kirkland & Ellis	$60,841	$29.25	7
   17	Earthjustice	$60,606	$29.14
   18	Irving Isd	$60,111	$28.90
   19	Baptist Health Care	$60,055	$28.87
   20	Mintz	$59,647	$28.68	2

4. Writing a legal assistant job description

   A good legal assistant job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a legal assistant job description:

   Legal assistant job description example

   Mid-Level Corporate Paralegal/Legal Assistant- Corporate Matters, Public Company Reporting, Stock Transfer Assistance, Communications and Board Assistance, Legal Department, Event and Administrative Assistance
   (Currently hybrid: remote two days and in office three days per week)
   
   A position has become available for a mid-level Corporate Paralegal / Legal Assistant with Cantor Fitzgerald, Newmark Group, Inc. and BGC Partners, Inc. This diverse position reports to our Corporate Secretary and Chief Counsel for Securities and Corporate Governance. The right candidate will foster a teamwork mentality, have excellent communication skills, be a problem solver and be willing to take ownership of the job. Flexibility, excellent organization, responsiveness, humor and grit are key in our fast-paced organization.
   
   Responsibilities
   Assist with preparation of SEC filings (including 10K; 10Q; 8K; proxy; Section 16 filings; registration statements) and related processes Maintain public company minute books, stock transfer records, and miscellaneous corporate governance documents Assist with Company's annual Code of Ethics certification process, ESG disclosures and similar matters Assist with electronic and physical legal filing systems Assistance with the coordination of scheduling and preparation for meetings of the board of directors and its committees Review and process invoices; work with vendors and internal accounts payable department to manage timely payments Draft correspondence to and liaise with Company's stock transfer agent and assist with stock transfer administration and records Assist with creation of Powerpoint presentations, speeches, bios and communications Document review, drafting and preparing contracts, assistance with M&A and other corporate transactions Some administrative assistance with phones, calendar, communications, documents, travel, meals, expenses for attorneys and board and meeting coordination Assistance with special events, social activities, morale boosting and charity events, newsletter and departmental activities and special projects and some personal matters Ad hoc support to the corporate legal group, including processing of nondisclosure agreements, legal entity formation and maintenance, mergers and acquisitions transactions, data rooms and other corporate matters
   
   Qualifications
   Bachelor's degree and/or paralegal certification Strong organizational, interpersonal, communication and writing skills Computer literacy and proficiency (MS Word, Excel, Outlook, Visio, Powerpoint and Adobe). Diligent, Worvika, Section 16 filing software and similar is useful and may be required Ability to communicate with senior executives, directors and employees at every level Team-oriented mindset and strong work ethic Ability to multitask and demonstrate flexibility and initiative under deadline pressure Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment and discretion
   Sense of humor, creativity and adventure required
   In-house legal assistant experience a plus
   
   Success Factors- These factors often work at our fast-paced firm:
   Flexible, Problem Solver, Grit Helpful, Congenial, Personable, Positive Unpretentious, Approachable, Respectful, Teamwork Mentality Accountable, Takes Ownership, Corrects Mistakes Organized, Timely, Confidential, Responsive Humor, Adventure, Joy

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right legal assistant for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit legal assistants, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   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 assistant

   Once you've selected the best legal assistant candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the 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.

   To prepare for the new legal assistant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

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.)

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How much does it cost to hire a legal assistant?