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The differences between legal assistants and law clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a law clerk has an average salary of $55,916, which is higher than the $42,387 average annual salary of a legal assistant.
The top three skills for a legal assistant include litigation, legal correspondence and discovery responses. The most important skills for a law clerk are litigation, legal issues, and legal memos.
| Legal Assistant | Law Clerk | |
| Yearly salary | $42,387 | $55,916 |
| Hourly rate | $20.38 | $26.88 |
| Growth rate | 14% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 9,560 | 75,014 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 46 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 12 | - |
Legal assistants are responsible for doing most of the administrative or clerical needs of a lawyer. They support lawyers by preparing documents for hearings or trials, conducting research for legal cases, organizing files and records, managing schedules, manning phone lines, communicating with legal clients, documenting meeting minutes, and setting up appointments. It is important for legal assistants to have a basic knowledge of laws and the judiciary system so that they can provide better support to lawyers. They should also be detail-oriented, organized, and excellent communicators.
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. They also field office correspondence, often receiving incoming mail and distributing them to their addressees. They manage office documents and ensure that they are correctly filed and labeled in their respective storage bins. Law clerks help make office life more comfortable because they make sure that the office is running well. They also manage appointments and office calendars.
Legal assistants and law clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Assistant | Law Clerk | |
| Average salary | $42,387 | $55,916 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $58,000 | Between $27,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | Roberts Markel Weinberg Butler Hailey Pc | Hughes Hubbard & Reed |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Professional |
There are a few differences between a legal assistant and a law clerk in terms of educational background:
| Legal Assistant | Law Clerk | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Legal Support Services | Law |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between legal assistants' and law clerks' demographics:
| Legal Assistant | Law Clerk | |
| Average age | 46 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.4% Female, 82.6% | Male, 52.5% Female, 47.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 5.4% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 8.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 10.3% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 13% |