All About Legal Secretary Training Programs

A legal secretary or legal assistant plays a crucial role in every law office as they perform the following tasks:

• Prepare legal documents such as summonses, complaints, requests for discovery and subpoenas for attorneys and their clients
• Handle traditional secretarial duties such as typing their lawyers' correspondence
• Set up appointments
• Bill clients
• Manage and retrieve files
• Do word processing
• Make travel arrangements for lawyers and paralegals
• Review legal journals and assist with legal research, such as verifying quotes and citations in legal briefs
• Be in charge of filing legal documents in court before a due date dictated by the rules of civil procedure

Legal secretary certification is voluntary but highly recommended because many employers require it. Legal secretaries or law office managers who have completed an approved paralegal training course or have one year of legal experience can take an exam to become an Accredited Legal Secretary (ALS).

The National Association of Legal Secretaries (NALS) also offers an advanced certification for legal support professionals called Professional Legal Secretary (PLS).

Legal Secretaries International confers the Certified Legal Secretary Specialist (CLSS) title in specialized areas such as civil trial, real estate, probate, and business law to those who have five years of law-related experience and pass an examination.

Salaries for legal secretaries, like paralegal and legal assistant salaries, vary. Your salary may depend on education, training, experience, the type and size of employer, and where you work. In general, legal secretaries who work for large law firms or in big cities earn the most. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, legal secretaries earned an average of $41,500 in 2010, but the top 10 percent earned more than $64,380.

But remember: your salary and job opportunities will improve with additional legal secretary training.