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Legal Secretary

​What does a legal secretary do?

Knowing the answer to 'What does a legal secretary do?' can help you understand why they're crucial to the company's legal team. Legal secretaries are administrative assistants who support lawyers, solicitors and barristers by carrying out essential administrative tasks within the firm. The exact nature of their work depends on what type of law they work in within the organisation. For instance, working as a legal assistant in a conveyancing practice differs greatly from working as a legal assistant in a criminal law practice.Some of the typical responsibilities of a legal secretary include:

  • Producing legal documents 

  • Providing secretarial support to lawyers

  • Answering telephone calls, transferring calls and taking messages

  • Keeping accurate records of meetings and appointments

  • Organising travel arrangements for lawyers

  • Arranging meetings and managing lawyers' diaries

  • Attending court and meeting clients

  • Closing, archiving and storing files

  • Assisting in the preparation of court documents

As a legal secretary, your role is primarily to support the lawyers working in the firm by carrying out administrative tasks. Experienced legal secretaries have good knowledge of the law and in particular legal procedures, but legal secretaries can't give legal advice. If you're looking for a role within a law firm that combines administrative duties with more technical legal work, you can consider becoming a paralegal.