Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between paralegals and legal secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a paralegal, becoming a legal secretary takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a paralegal has an average salary of $49,943, which is higher than the $41,725 average annual salary of a legal secretary.
The top three skills for a paralegal include litigation, legal research and law firm. The most important skills for a legal secretary are litigation, legal correspondence, and dictation.
| Paralegal | Legal Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $49,943 | $41,725 |
| Hourly rate | $24.01 | $20.06 |
| Growth rate | 14% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 5,177 | 13,182 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Average age | 46 | 54 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 4 |
Paralegals are law firm or legal department employees who work on cases with lawyers. They handle different activities, usually administrative or clerical, such as organizing and maintaining files, updating records, and managing correspondences, among others. Paralegals also handle different activities directly related to active cases being worked on by lawyers in the firm or department. They assist lawyers on cases by preparing materials needed for trials, conducting legal research, verifying trial facts, helping during interviews, getting statements from those involved in the case, and creating presentation materials. Paralegals should have knowledge of laws and should be familiar with landmark cases.
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.
Paralegals and legal secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Paralegal | Legal Secretary | |
| Average salary | $49,943 | $41,725 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $70,000 | Between $28,000 And $60,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Arnall Golden Gregory | Kane Russell Coleman Logan |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Professional |
There are a few differences between a paralegal and a legal secretary in terms of educational background:
| Paralegal | Legal Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Most common major | Legal Support Services | Business |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Bentley University |
Here are the differences between paralegals' and legal secretaries' demographics:
| Paralegal | Legal Secretary | |
| Average age | 46 | 54 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 22.4% Female, 77.6% | Male, 5.2% Female, 94.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 20.2% Asian, 5.7% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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 | 9% | 15% |