If you are fascinated by and want to work in the legal field, but do not want to be involved in the actual technicalities of the law, then perhaps becoming a legal assistant is the best way. As a senior legal assistant, you will serve the purpose of undertaking broader tasks at a law firm.
Some of the duties and responsibilities that you will be performing in this capacity are investigating case facts to ensure all relevant information is correct, organizing and compiling information, developing written statements, securing affidavits, supporting attorneys during trials, drafting legal arguments for trials, maintaining financial records, and managing other law office staff. Essential skills required include interpersonal, attention to detail, communication, and teamwork.
A high school diploma or a GED may suffice for the educational requirements for this position. However, having a diploma or a certification as a legal assistant, along with work experience of over three years, would prove advantageous. The average hourly pay for this position is $28.25, which amounts to an average of $58,763 annually. This career is also projected to grow and create new opportunities across the United States in the near future.
How to Become a Senior Legal Assistant
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior legal assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.58 an hour? That's $51,125 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 39,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Legal Assistant Do
There are certain skills that many senior legal assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, computer skills and research skills.
How To Become a Senior Legal Assistant
If you're interested in becoming a senior legal assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 54.9% of senior legal assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.1% of senior legal assistants have master's degrees. Even though most senior legal assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior legal assistant. When we researched the most common majors for a senior legal assistant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior legal assistant resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior legal assistant. In fact, many senior legal assistant jobs require experience in a role such as legal assistant. Meanwhile, many senior legal assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as legal secretary or paralegal.
Senior Legal Assistant Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of senior paralegal you might progress to a role such as paralegal/office manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title business office manager.
Average Salary for a Senior Legal Assistant
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Senior Legal Assistants
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
4. Texas Wesleyan University
Fort Worth, TX • Private
5. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
6. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
7. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. Hamline University
Saint Paul, MN • Private
9. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
10. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Legal Assistant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.2% of senior legal assistants listed legal documents on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and computer skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Legal Assistant Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Senior Legal Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Senior Legal Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Senior Legal Assistant Demographics
Senior Legal Assistant Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among senior legal assistants, 83.9% of them are women, while 16.1% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among senior legal assistants is White, which makes up 64.9% of all senior legal assistants.
- The most common foreign language among senior legal assistants is Spanish at 58.5%.
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Best States For a Senior Legal Assistant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior legal assistant. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, New York, California, and Connecticut. Senior legal assistants make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $59,332. Whereas in New York and California, they would average $57,456 and $56,629, respectively. While senior legal assistants would only make an average of $54,855 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$68,245
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$57,456
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$59,332
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Legal Assistant Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Legal Assistant Employers
Most Common Employers For Senior Legal Assistant
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chadbourne & Parke | $106,514 | $51.21 | 8 |
| 2 | Skadden | $98,238 | $47.23 | 11 |
| 3 | Holland & Knight | $95,561 | $45.94 | 16 |
| 4 | Norton Rose Fulbright | $94,791 | $45.57 | 6 |
| 5 | Crowell & Moring | $86,013 | $41.35 | 5 |
| 6 | Arnold & Porter | $82,504 | $39.67 | 13 |
| 7 | Citi | $69,292 | $33.31 | 5 |
| 8 | Fidelity Investments | $62,084 | $29.85 | 6 |
| 9 | Eli Lilly and Company | $59,141 | $28.43 | 5 |
| 10 | Arent Fox | $57,646 | $27.71 | 6 |
Senior Legal Assistant Videos
