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Legal consultant vs assistant counsel

The differences between legal consultants and assistant counsels can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a legal consultant and an assistant counsel. Additionally, a legal consultant has an average salary of $75,024, which is higher than the $61,229 average annual salary of an assistant counsel.

The top three skills for a legal consultant include litigation, regulatory compliance and legal research. The most important skills for an assistant counsel are litigation, legal issues, and legal advice.

Legal consultant vs assistant counsel overview

Legal ConsultantAssistant Counsel
Yearly salary$75,024$61,229
Hourly rate$36.07$29.44
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs16,1188,574
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

What does a legal consultant do?

A legal consultant uses legal practice knowledge to enhance a law company's efficiency and profitability. Besides advising on the right solutions for customer productivity, marketing and development strategies, legal consultants also actively manage risks by consulting on program and legal-related issues. They help the parent law firm meet its objectives by analyzing problems and developing solutions. Other than negotiating, drafting, and reviewing legal documents, legal consultants also conduct legal research and analyze the right securities, insurance, and retirement plans.

What does an assistant counsel do?

Assistant counsels are legal professionals who research and analyze various laws so they can apply them to the different legal issues that arose in a corporation. These counsels must develop an agency-wide client privacy policy and manage responses to all matters involving subpoenas and warrants. They advise other departments for legal claims related to the right of privacy and publicity as well as defamation. Assistant counsels are also required to act as labor attorneys for employees facing internal discrimination suits while dealing with FMLA, ERISA, and HIPAA issues.

Legal consultant vs assistant counsel salary

Legal consultants and assistant counsels have different pay scales, as shown below.

Legal ConsultantAssistant Counsel
Average salary$75,024$61,229
Salary rangeBetween $40,000 And $139,000Between $36,000 And $103,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCWashington, DC
Highest paying stateNew YorkNew York
Best paying companyAlston & BirdBaltimore City Public Schools
Best paying industryProfessionalGovernment

Differences between legal consultant and assistant counsel education

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

Legal ConsultantAssistant Counsel
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorLawLaw
Most common collegeStanford UniversityDuke University

Legal consultant vs assistant counsel demographics

Here are the differences between legal consultants' and assistant counsels' demographics:

Legal ConsultantAssistant Counsel
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 49.0% Female, 51.0%Male, 42.3% Female, 57.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between legal consultant and assistant counsel duties and responsibilities

Legal consultant example responsibilities.

  • Manage day-to-day legal affairs of NYSE list airline.
  • Experience includes analysis and advice regarding claims relate to exotic securities agreements.
  • Represent individual and institutional clients in all aspects of commercial and residential real estate acquisition, financing and leasing and foreclosure.
  • Audit key financial and claim-relate regulatory processes including Medicare fraud.
  • Conduct discovery: documents productions, interrogatories, witness depositions.
  • Demonstrate expertise in preparing documents and discovery responses relate to interrogatories, request for admissions, and request for production.

Assistant counsel example responsibilities.

  • Manage outside counsel relate to mortgage fraud recovery litigation, including cost management, litigation strategy and settlement terms.
  • Assist in liaising with insurance authorities, responding to regulatory inquiries and managing relationship with region from legal and business perspective.
  • Sell, consult and demonstrate office automation and conveyance software technology.
  • Respond to lawsuits, subpoenas, as well as draft any need legal documents.
  • Assist in drafting subpoenas, search warrants and preservation letters for social media content and mobile devices.
  • Design, develop, and implement cost-effectively litigation strategies in order to secure convictions and facilitate preferential sentencing negotiations.
  • Show more

Legal consultant vs assistant counsel skills

Common legal consultant skills
  • Litigation, 16%
  • Regulatory Compliance, 9%
  • Legal Research, 8%
  • Financial Statements, 5%
  • Client Relationships, 5%
  • Legal Issues, 5%
Common assistant counsel skills
  • Litigation, 14%
  • Legal Issues, 11%
  • Legal Advice, 10%
  • Legal Research, 6%
  • Intellectual Property, 5%
  • Mental Health, 4%