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Senior legal secretary skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted expert

Allison White

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical senior legal secretary skills. We ranked the top skills for senior legal secretaries based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 11.8% of senior legal secretary resumes contained litigation as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a senior legal secretary needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 senior legal secretary skills for your resume and career

1. Litigation

Here's how senior legal secretaries use litigation:

Extracted confidential employee personnel documents, primarily for provision to outside counsel for litigation purposes, from numerous Human Resource databases.
Provided litigation support to other attorneys and paralegals on an as-needed basis.

2. Travel Arrangements

Here's how senior legal secretaries use travel arrangements:

Coordinated international travel arrangements and processed expense reimbursement documentation.
Provide administrative support to senior level attorneys, including scheduling travel arrangements, event planning and daily calendar maintenance.

3. Discovery Responses

Discovery response is the response made by a person on trial once discoveries are made against them. Certain motions are filed against a person on trial, which may include a request for interrogations, request for production, etc, and they have to file a response within some time. The official response is filed in court and its copies can be distributed to the other parties.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use discovery responses:

Assist with trial preparation; Summarize discovery responses and draft standard discovery motions; Conduct preliminary legal research as necessary.
Prepared discovery responses, pleadings, including Arbitration, Mediation and Trial Briefs, and drafting motions.

4. Subpoenas

Subpoenas are formal and legal documents issued mostly by a court or some other government agency that demands the presence of the person the document is addressed to, to show up at court. Subpoenas are issued to individuals whom the court wants to appear either as a witness in a particular case in order to testify or to provide any evidence such as an object or a document.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use subpoenas:

Coordinated law office activity; including delivery of subpoenas.
Prepared Notices of Motion, Notices of Filing, Subpoenas, Requests for Discovery and correspondence for attorneys.

5. Legal Research

Here's how senior legal secretaries use legal research:

Conduct legal research relating to pleading and motion preparation, draft notices to set, to continue, deposition.
Performed legal research on potential client development issues relating to trade and other export issues.

6. Management System

A management system is a set of policies, processes, and procedures taken by an organization or a business to ensure it can fulfill its tasks and achieve its objectives. A management system makes sure that the company excels financially and improves the user experience. The management system also takes care of the worker's and employees' needs and manages their workload and oversees their performance. Apart from interior matters of the company, a management system also deals with exterior matters like legislations, tax matters, and law issues.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use management system:

Scanned documents for uploading into Time Matters document management system.
Scanned and filed documents using Electronic Case Management System for Federal and State Court agencies.

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7. Office Procedures

Office procedures are the protocols and standards which define how the staff works together. The office procedures can be a set of rules and regulations which guide the employees and help them run the office operations smoothly. Paperwork, customer interaction, taking messages, handling calls in and out all fall under the office procedures.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use office procedures:

Performed office procedures in everyday running of legal office for two workers' compensation attorneys
Familiarized new attorneys with general office procedures.

8. Law Firm

Here's how senior legal secretaries use law firm:

Review invoices from outside law firms submitted electronically for approval.
Worked with various outside law firms with patent prosecution action due dates, outstanding actions to be completed.

9. Administrative Tasks

Here's how senior legal secretaries use administrative tasks:

Assisted attorneys with scheduling, invoicing and other administrative tasks using Interaction.
Managed all administrative tasks for attorneys.

10. Word Processing

Here's how senior legal secretaries use word processing:

Provided supervision and administrative support for word processing system used by large corporate law department.
Served as a Sr. Legal Secretary to a Bankruptcy Managing Partner and three Bankruptcy Associates and Assistant to Word Processing Director.

11. Expense Reports

Here's how senior legal secretaries use expense reports:

Coordinated and organized all personal, professional and travel itineraries, and expense reports for attorneys and paralegals.
Prepare expense reports, timekeeping and other general day-to-day operations.

12. Dictation

Here's how senior legal secretaries use dictation:

Prepared complex legal pleadings and correspondences; transcribed dictation of attorneys including deposition reports and discovery informational reports.
Created and prepared legal documents and correspondence after dictation.

13. Trial Preparation

Trial preparation is the practice of gathering sufficient raw material for a court case. This preparation is done to make the bases of a case stronger by bringing the facts to light in a way that will give the concerned law bodies a better comprehension of the entire scenario. The method for preparing for a case may differ depending upon its nature.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use trial preparation:

Assist in accomplishing case research and trial preparation; assembled, compiled, and tabulated information.
Assisted partner and team with trial preparation.

14. Telephone Calls

Telephone calls are a communication means through which a caller is connected to the called party. The call is done through a telecommunications device called a telephone. The caller can use a landline, mobile phone, or satellite phone to make the call.

Here's how senior legal secretaries use telephone calls:

Answered and screened telephone calls, provided necessary information and efficiently handled received information.
Screen telephone calls and handle matters according to knowledge or transfer to appropriate person with substantial knowledge.

15. Insurance Defense

Here's how senior legal secretaries use insurance defense:

Provided executive administrative support to partner in medical malpractice insurance defense firm.
Prepared correspondence and various pleadings for filing with NJ Courts with focus in life, health and disability insurance defense.

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What skills help Senior Legal Secretaries find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on senior legal secretary resumes?

Allison White

Associate Professor, Ohio University

Knowledge of spreadsheets software such as MS Excel is a commonly sought-after skill. Employers want word processing and spreadsheet skills but often say they want high school graduates and pay accordingly. These skills aren't always taught in high school. Those in the field should seek these skills. Additionally, medical and legal assistants have highly sought after. Terminology courses for these specialized areas are sometimes offered at the vocational schools but are usually offered at the post-secondary level.

Do you want to know more?

List of senior legal secretary skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a senior legal secretary resume and required skills for a senior legal secretary to have include:

Litigation
Travel Arrangements
Discovery Responses
Subpoenas
Legal Research
Management System
Office Procedures
Law Firm
Administrative Tasks
Word Processing
Expense Reports
Dictation
Trial Preparation
Telephone Calls
Insurance Defense
Proofread
Real Estate

Routine Correspondence
Court Reporters
Attorney Calendar
Secretarial Support
Arbitration
Client Billing
PowerPoint
Conference Calls
Federal Courts
Interrogatories
District Court
Civil Litigation
Litigation Support
Employment Law
Legal Correspondence
Legal Pleadings
Notary

Due Dates
Court Dates
Summonses
Dictaphone
Court Filings
Office Equipment
Malpractice
Scheduling Appointments
Estate Planning
Court Appearances
Commercial Litigation
Probate
Billing Statements
ECF
CLE

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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