The Complete Guide to Becoming A Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant

Chapter 1: What Does a Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant Actually Do?

Let's get one thing straight before you read another word: being a legal secretary and administrative assistant is not like being a receptionist, and it's not like being a paralegal either. It sits somewhere between the two - and if you're trying to picture it, you need to start with what actually happens on a Tuesday morning at 9:15 AM, not with a list of "duties and responsibilities" that could apply to any office job on earth.

Here's the real opening scene. You're seated at your desk, which is almost certainly in a shared workspace. Not a private office - that's for the attorneys who bill $400 an hour. You have a computer, a dual monitor setup if you're lucky, and a phone system that's probably more complicated than it needs to be. You've already checked and responded to your email once this morning - there were 17 new messages since you left yesterday at 5:30 PM, because law firms do not respect a five o'clock boundary. Half of those emails were from attorneys who sent their requests yesterday, one is from a court clerk asking about a filing you did last week, and two are opposing counsel's office trying to schedule a deposition.

This is what the job actually is: you manage the administrative chaos that allows attorneys to focus on the law. You are the person who knows where the file is, when the deadline hits,