I am very interested in working at a law firm as a legal secretary, but my question is how much do they make a year compares to an administrative assistant? I also want to know do legal secretaries make more than administrative assistants, and how much do legal assistants make at a law firm? Are legal assistants the same as legal secretaries? I just want to know since I would like to work at a law firm as a legal secretary.
129025
-$35,000-$40,000 a year including bonuses for Legal assistants aka Paralegals. However, it depends on what firm you go for. \n-No, legal assistants are not the same as legal secretaries. Although, they have similar job functions, except the legal assistant is more involved in researching.
574198
Lawguru.com.  You can submit your question and lawyers will answer them, not unlike this forum.  The difference is that it will be answered by attorneys in your state and in the correct area of law.  Much of the advice you receive he is from people who have no clue about the law.
449787
That depends on where in the country he/she is practicing, what area of law he/she is practicing in, and whether he/she is in private or public practice.  Starting salaries can range from $30,000 to $100,000 depending on a multitude of factors.
648427
If you go into a law career, you're going to have to learn to spell and write clearly.  Well, clearly for a lawyer, anyways.  Full, complete, and correct sentences.\n\nWith a law degree, you can work in a law firm, for the government, for large businesses, or in politics.\n\nHope this helps.
400203
You can take advanced typing classes. Many legal secretaries type 100 wpm. Many associate degree colleges offer the legal secretary course. There is no minimum degree required to obtain a legal secretary job as the attorneys are usually satisfied if a person can do the job, regardless of degrees. You should at least, however, take the secretarial legal individual courses.\n\nIf you are going to spend two years in college preparing for your career, you may want to consider a paralegal course, which pays more money.
214791
Yes, some businesses retain lawyers for a fixed amount per month, it's called putting the atty on retainer.  In my experience, retainer agreements are most common where there is an established relationship -- where the company has been working for the atty for a while, so the atty can figure roughly how much work the client needs per month, and there is established trust between both sides.  But that doesn't mean it couldn't work with an atty you haven't worked with before, you'd just need some of the basics agreed upon beforehand.\n\nThere is no set amount or set approach; areas of negotiation are, (i) the amount of the fee, (ii) how many hours maximum will the atty be required to put in per month (it wouldn't be fair for him or her to get $500 and then be expected to give you 20 hours of work), and (ii) if you don't use the atty or use the atty minimally in a given month, do you get a credit against next month's retainer?\n\nLet me add something that I'm sure will rub some of my colleagues the wrong way, although I think there is growing acceptance of this idea....  Legal services for small companies are largely becoming commoditized.  There are a lot (I don't know if too many, but a lot) of lawyers now, and information (which in the end, is one of the few things a lawyer really has to offer) is just so widely available to everyone over the internet.  What this means is, there will probably more acceptance to your proposition than there would have been, say, 10-15 years ago.
248251
Recently a niche has opened in the medical industry for nurses with legal training and lawyers with nursing training. It's a unique combination and should be investigated. There is also a need for nurses with administrative training. I would recommend checking into both to further professional development.
371685
If you're that tight on money, then you may qualify for your local legal services. Legal Services are a group of lawyers that will provide you legal assistance in some civil situations, but only if you make less than a certain amount of money. Basically the government pays these attorneys to represent people who would otherwise not be able to afford legal services on their own. You should check it out.
133997
If you attend a law school on a full-time basis, it should take you 3 years to finish the academic requirements for your Juris Doctorate (JD).\n\nThe pay depends considerably on the field of law that you choose. Top-tier law firms hire the best and brightest of law school graduates at very high salaries - smaller firms pay far less - mom and pop shops pay even less - as do public defenders and state attorneys offices - non-profit organizations and public interest groups can pay almost nothing. Then there are corporations - most major corporations have in-house legal divisions that work with outside counsel to help a company with its day-to-day operations and assist with lawsuits.\n\nThink VERY carefully before you decide to attend law school. You can EASILY accumulate more than $100,000 in debt in those three years - and you'll need a very well paying job to retire that kind of loan. If you're not at the top of your class, you won't be starting out making a ton of money, although the opportunity might well present itself once you've become established.\n\nFor most attorneys, the practice of law is extremely time-consuming, especially in the early years, when you're first starting out.\n\nNever choose a profession because it seems like a good way to "make a lot of money." Choose a profession because it's something you'd like to think you can enjoy doing for the rest of your life.\n\nP.S.: Assuming that it takes you a standard 4 years to finish your undergraduate degree (though that seems to be less and less common these days), it will take you at least 7 years to complete the requirements for a JD. Once you have completed law school, you must study for, and pass your state's bar exam - most law school graduates complete the bar exam preparation during the summer immediately following the completion of law school coursework.\n\nAlso keep in mind that law school admission is highly competitive at most schools (particularly the good ones!), and graduate study (MBA, etc.) is sometimes considered a strong plus for a law school applicant. If you were to elect this route, you would have to add at least another 2 years of schooling to earn a masters, or some other advanced credential.
474407
There is a scale for teaching assistants and as you are newly qualified you will be a level 1 assistant but the actual salary will be dependent on how many hours you do. Contact your LEA and they should be able to tell you the salary for full time level 1 TA which should help you.
424465
I worked at a bank for 6 weeks and one day they called me in and just said "You're Fired."  That's all they said.  So I threw a fit and I went to the owner of the bank and told them that legally they had to give me a reason or I would contact a lawyer.  They couldn't come up with a reason so needless to say I worked for that bank for 4 more years until I quit to have my baby.  They have to give you a legit reason for firing you or you tell them you're getting a lawyer.
333985
I completed pre-law, however even though I am not an attorney I do work in the legal field.  It seems to me that a lot of attorneys that don't have a booming business, only a few do.  I think it depends on who you know, your connections.  It helps to know judges.
18381
No, it doesn't bother me, although it is convenient if they post a range.  Usually only government listings do that.  I think there is enough variety in the marketplace, not only in what is expected of a given position, but what the employer will "settle for" once he sees who applies for a position.  The more we have set expectations for a given job title, the more trouble is created when a job does not fit the assumptions.  I am a "legal secretary," and there is a large body of assumptions about what that is, what I should know, and what I should expect to be paid.  But a law firm might be huge, with lots of benefits and support staff to do a lot of the routine tasks for me, or it might be a one-lawyer office, where I am expected to do everything, even water the plants.  If there was a "standard" salary, or even range, for such work, they would end up having to use different definitions, or put roman numerals after the title: become more rigid and beaurocratic than they already are.  Let's leave room for a prospective employer and employee to work it out for themselves.
201727
It depends on where you live.  I was a paralegal for 21 years and in Arkansas (where I live) you don't get much better than a really good legal secretary gets.  I live in a University town and there are too many law students willing to work for low pay so the attorneys around here don't pay much for paralegals.  I'm old enough to have been lucky to only have to  pass a state test (after being a legal secretary several years) and become a paralegal in Arkansas--that has changed now and you must attend a paralegal program.
271235
There is no "most"  every area is different.\n\nfor example in alot of small town rual areas there is no defence attorneys on staff.  Various lawyers in that area are required to take on cases for "free" as part of thier bar members in that area.\n\nIn other places both the DA and the defense attorneys start at somewhere around 30,000 to 40000 a year.\nAnd in general for alot of attorneys, such as bankrutpcy and some other civil attorneys, alot make less than 100,000 a year.\n\nBut the real issue with a public defender there is no funds for expert witness, to have evidence reviewed, to hire speical labs and the such.
257730
Married to an attorney - and was one of his assistants for a while.  It's VERY stressful working for a successful defense attorney (especially one that handles everything from deeds to murders)  My husband has 5 assistants and they are always working their butts off. They have to stay late most of the evenings.  They make pretty decent money, actually, they are the highest paid in the town.  He starts them out at about $11 an hour - the woman that has been with him for about 20 yrs makes about $19.  So, it really depends on who you work for and what your duties are.  I really didn't like the work myself, so I quit.  The girls complain that they work their butts off, but they love the money. (and know that they will not find that at the other attorney offices)  The work is usually pretty mundane - TONS of paper and computer work.  Lots of typing - lots of phone calls, many from strange, unhappy people.  I wasn't fond of the job, but you may be... it takes a certain person to like that kind of work.  And, legal assistants are very important to the attorney.  Hubby could not live without them.
68343
It is worth it if it is something you know you really, really want to do. I do not have a lot of money so i am funding my law school entirely through loans. Once you've made such a huge financial committment there really is no turning back. TO be honest, i am not that fond of law school. It is difficult, competitive, and sometimes very dry. However, i still want to be a lawyer and so i am sticking with it. Its not always fun, but if you really want to practice law it is worth the time and effort and even the money. good luck!