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The differences between legal receptionists and receptionist secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a legal receptionist and a receptionist secretary. Additionally, a legal receptionist has an average salary of $32,592, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a legal receptionist include law firm, paralegals and litigation. The most important skills for a receptionist secretary are patients, data entry, and phone calls.
| Legal Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $32,592 | $29,343 |
| Hourly rate | $15.67 | $14.11 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 23,699 | 61,892 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
In law firms, a legal receptionist serves the clients' first point of contact. They are primarily in charge of greeting and professionally interacting with clients, identifying their needs, answering questions, and escorting visitors to offices. They must also perform clerical tasks such as handling calls and correspondence, arranging appointments, confirming schedules, maintaining records, managing the flow and deliveries of mails and other forms of documentation, and assisting attorneys as needed. Furthermore, a legal receptionist must manage the law firm's facilities, such as the lobby and meeting offices.
A receptionist secretary is responsible for providing the best customer service, as well as attending to the needs of existing and potential clients. Duties of a receptionist secretary include managing customer's inquiries and forwarding important calls to the appropriate department, performing administrative and clerical tasks, escalating high-level of client's concerns to the management, keeping the reception area clean, monitoring office supplies and request stocks as needed, and maintaining an organized record of meetings and events. A receptionist secretary must have strong communication and multi-tasking skills to handle workloads of daily operations.
Legal receptionists and receptionist secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average salary | $32,592 | $29,343 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $42,000 | Between $24,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Lake Oswego, OR |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Washington |
| Best paying company | Winget | Illinois Institute of Technology |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Government |
There are a few differences between a legal receptionist and a receptionist secretary in terms of educational background:
| Legal Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Most common major | Legal Support Services | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between legal receptionists' and receptionist secretaries' demographics:
| Legal Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 6.0% Female, 94.0% | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 23.9% Asian, 5.7% White, 54.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |