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The differences between legal investigators and legal externs 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 investigator and a legal extern. Additionally, a legal investigator has an average salary of $72,914, which is higher than the $47,238 average annual salary of a legal extern.
The top three skills for a legal investigator include investigative reports, litigation and legal investigations. The most important skills for a legal extern are litigation, legal intern, and legal issues.
| Legal Investigator | Legal Extern | |
| Yearly salary | $72,914 | $47,238 |
| Hourly rate | $35.05 | $22.71 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 9,582 | 10,986 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Legal investigators are professionals tasked with providing research, investigative services, and surveillance to the public, insurance companies, financial institutions, law firms, banks, and even local law enforcement agencies. They use methods and tools to uncover facts about financial, personal, and legal matters. This type of investigator must pay attention to analyzing details and evidence, but it will be difficult to know to begin. There is no need for formal education to be a legal investigator, one must take a legal investigator certificate course.
Legal externs are law students who took the opportunity to do on-the-job training at a law firm. Instead of monetary compensation, they receive academic credits. Legal externs primarily engage in job shadowing. They are usually assigned mentors in the law firm, and they would shadow their mentors in their daily routines. Legal externs are exposed to the actual work done by lawyers. Legal externs are involved in cases, providing insights while building a solid case for their client, giving advice to clients, and representing clients under the supervision of the actual lawyers in the firm. They are usually not given administrative or clerical tasks since they are expected to do more tasks directly related to being a lawyer.
Legal investigators and legal externs have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Investigator | Legal Extern | |
| Average salary | $72,914 | $47,238 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $117,000 | Between $23,000 And $93,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Jones Day |
| Best paying industry | - | Professional |
There are a few differences between a legal investigator and a legal extern in terms of educational background:
| Legal Investigator | Legal Extern | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Law |
| Most common college | University of Richmond | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between legal investigators' and legal externs' demographics:
| Legal Investigator | Legal Extern | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.0% Female, 34.0% | Male, 46.0% Female, 54.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |