Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between legal secretaries and assistant secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a legal secretary, becoming an assistant secretary takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an assistant secretary has an average salary of $107,366, which is higher than the $41,725 average annual salary of a legal secretary.
The top three skills for a legal secretary include litigation, legal correspondence and dictation. The most important skills for an assistant secretary are telephone calls, payroll, and scheduling appointments.
| Legal Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $41,725 | $107,366 |
| Hourly rate | $20.06 | $51.62 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 13,182 | 52,165 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 54 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
Legal secretaries are employees in a law firm who are responsible for many administrative tasks. They handle the tasks such as filing and keeping records, ensuring that all documents are stored properly, and update contact information data and other essential office databases. They must also be knowledgeable on the law because they are, at times, assigned to draw up legal documents such as motions and subpoenas, conduct legal research, and write up other important office memoranda. Legal secretaries should be organized, trustworthy, and level-headed.
An assistant secretary is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of various departments and management personnel and ensure the efficiency of business functions. Assistant secretaries usually assist in business communications, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, reaching out to existing clients to schedule appointments, welcoming guests on the office, and routing calls to the appropriate department. They also handle data entry procedures, updating customer information on the database, as well as creating reports on business and financial transactions.
Legal secretaries and assistant secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average salary | $41,725 | $107,366 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $60,000 | Between $38,000 And $302,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Kane Russell Coleman Logan | Elanco |
| Best paying industry | Professional | - |
There are a few differences between a legal secretary and an assistant secretary in terms of educational background:
| Legal Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Bentley University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between legal secretaries' and assistant secretaries' demographics:
| Legal Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average age | 54 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.2% Female, 94.8% | Male, 21.7% Female, 78.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 2.7% White, 71.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 15% | 6% |