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... the change ...
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... and starting day
What is a Legal Secretary?
Legal secretaries, also called administrative assistants, legal
assistants or executive assistants, perform the daily clerical
functions required for the efficient operation of a legal office
... beyond the usual filing, typing, dictation and phone answering
duties of the secretary, legal secretaries possess specialized
skills unique to the legal profession ... they sometimes start
out as legal receptionists before moving into a secretarial role
... experienced secretaries are often promoted to senior secretarial
positions or paralegal positions within the law firm or organization
Legal Secretary Job Duties
Legal secretaries prepare correspondence and type legal documents,
including pleadings, motions, briefs, discovery documents and
subpoenas ... they maintain complex docket systems to track the
myriad of legal filing deadlines; create spreadsheets; index
and update pleadings and discovery binders; schedule depositions,
site inspections, hearings, closings and meetings ... legal secretaries
also draft correspondence and routine legal documents such as
deposition notices and legal invoices ... they also assist with
legal research and communicate with attorneys, experts, opposing
counsel, vendors and other staff
Legal Secretary Skills
Familiarity with legal terminology, state and federal court filing
rules, basic legal procedure and law office protocol is important
for the legal secretary ... in addition to excellent typing and
dictation skills, legal secretaries must be extremely deadline-oriented
since missing a filing deadline can result in a default judgment
(automatically losing a case) ... as office and legal processes
become more automated, legal secretaries must possess excellent
computer skills and be proficient with word processing, spreadsheet,
legal research, presentation and time and billing software ...
in addition to core legal secretarial skills, successful secretaries
also possess all or most of these eight work traits: Reliable
. Self Starting . Efficient . Discrete . Flexible . Tactful .
Pleasant . Patient |
