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The differences between legal secretaries and senior legal 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 a senior legal secretary. Additionally, a senior legal secretary has an average salary of $60,027, 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 a senior legal secretary are litigation, travel arrangements, and discovery responses.
| Legal Secretary | Senior Legal Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $41,725 | $60,027 |
| Hourly rate | $20.06 | $28.86 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 13,182 | 11,223 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Average age | 54 | 54 |
| 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.
As a senior legal secretary, you have to look after the complex documents of the company and help in the legal filing of these documents within the deadlines. You also need to have great excel skills as there is often a need to create spreadsheets. Typing in legal documents is one of the most necessary skills of a senior legal secretary.
You also need to create great PowerPoint presentations to educate the people in your department. Moreover, you also need to search for warrants and case reports, analyze the data, and communicate with the respective attorneys regarding the contact information.
Legal secretaries and senior legal secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Secretary | Senior Legal Secretary | |
| Average salary | $41,725 | $60,027 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $60,000 | Between $37,000 And $95,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Kane Russell Coleman Logan | Ernst & Young |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a legal secretary and a senior legal secretary in terms of educational background:
| Legal Secretary | Senior Legal Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Bentley University | Bentley University |
Here are the differences between legal secretaries' and senior legal secretaries' demographics:
| Legal Secretary | Senior Legal Secretary | |
| Average age | 54 | 54 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.2% Female, 94.8% | Male, 7.8% Female, 92.2% |
| 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, 7.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 2.7% White, 71.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 15% | 15% |