All careersBusiness & finance

Legal Secretary

$55,570
median / year
$36,500 – $91,730
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Prepare legal documents, manage case files and schedules, and support lawyers with correspondence and filings.

You may also see this posted as: Legal Administrative Assistant (Legal Admin Assistant), Legal Office Support Assistant, Legal Practice Assistant, Confidential Secretary, Legal Administrator (Legal Admin), Legal Coordinator.

Where you work

Law firms and legal departments

The hours

Regular weekday business hours

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
  • Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
  • Prepare and distribute invoices to bill clients or pay account expenses.
  • Prepare, proofread, or process legal documents, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, or pretrial agreements.
  • Make photocopies of correspondence, documents, and other printed matter.

Good fit if you like…

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

Enterprising

leading, persuading, selling, or turning an idea into action

Social

helping, teaching, caring for, or supporting other people

O*NET job zone 3 of 5

Medium preparation—often vocational training, an associate degree, or substantial experience—is usually needed.

Work styles that matter most

Attention to DetailDependabilityIntegrityCooperation

Software that shows up in the work

Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft WordAdobe Acrobat

By the numbers

May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$55,570
per year
Hourly median
$26.72
per hour
What most earn
$36,500–$91,730
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~19,600
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
-5.8%
Declining
Working in the U.S.
156,280
people, nationwide

Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.

“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.

BLS estimates 0.5% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.

What it pays in your state

Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.

BLS state wage tables

How you get in

Typical starting education

High school / no degree

Training path: On-the-job training, paid.

Related work experience: None.

On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training.

License or certification

No license required to start in most places.

You can earn while you train. This field has a genuinely paid pathway in — an apprenticeship, a paid academy, or employer-funded training — so you draw a paycheck instead of taking on debt to learn it.

Check the path where you live

Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.

What it takes

Legal terminologyDocument prepOrganizationTyping accuracy

The honest take

Administrative backbone of a law office — stable work, though legal software is slowly reducing the need.

Standard Occupational Classification 43-6012. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.