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The differences between legal secretaries and executive secretaries 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 secretary and an executive secretary. Additionally, an executive secretary has an average salary of $46,594, 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 executive secretary are office procedures, payroll, and word processing.
| Legal Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $41,725 | $46,594 |
| Hourly rate | $20.06 | $22.40 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 13,182 | 103,802 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 54 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
The primary role of executive secretaries is to provide clerical support to an executive or a high-level administrator. They are the ones who conduct the different administrative support tasks for executives which include managing the calendar of executives, answering phone calls, conducting research and sorting important files, preparing and proofreading monthly reports and industry documents that are relevant to the role of executives, and performing some bookkeeping activities such as invoice creation and office inventory tracking.
Legal secretaries and executive secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Average salary | $41,725 | $46,594 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $60,000 | Between $31,000 And $69,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | Kane Russell Coleman Logan | InfosysPublicService |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Government |
There are a few differences between a legal secretary and an executive secretary in terms of educational background:
| Legal Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Bentley University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between legal secretaries' and executive secretaries' demographics:
| Legal Secretary | Executive Secretary | |
| Average age | 54 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.2% Female, 94.8% | Male, 7.7% Female, 92.3% |
| 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, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 15% | 10% |