DAC Recruitment hires Legal Secretaries for Irish and International Law firms on a weekly basis. Interestingly, Ireland and the UK has seen a shortage of legal secretaries in the past 12-18 months. Partners in a law firm will freely admit that legal secretaries are the glue that hold their firms together and are an integral part of the daily running of the firm.
But what do legal secretaries do?
Generally, the duties of a Legal Secretary fall under five main categories. They are as follows:
- General administration duties: filing, photocopying, booking meetings, scheduling diaries, answering phone calls, typing letters
- Court Administration: Preparation of court documents and briefs, liaising with counsel as required, drafting subpoenas and summonses
- File Management: Opening and setting up of files
- Invoice Management: Tracking billable hours and sending out client invoices
- Researching: assisting with research and investigations
The following skill requirements for a legal secretarial role are as follows:
- Excellent typing skills (at least 60WPM)
- Dictaphone typing skills
- Great organisational and time management skills
- Meticulous attention to detail
- Strong IT and systems skills – spreadsheets, case management systems, presentations
- Good communication skills – able to speak fluently and coherently in a professional setting
What’s a typical day in the life of a legal secretary?
DAC Recruitment spoke to a Legal Secretary who was recently placed into a Law Firm and he describes a day in his role as follows:
“It’s important to highlight that working as a legal secretary is distinctly different from working as a secretary in another industry, due to the complexities of casework and unique aspects of the legal sector. My day can range from undertaking administrative duties to working on a brief or helping a solicitor researching a case for a client. One day is never the same, and more frequently than not I am working directly on the law-based aspects of the job. It’s this work that keeps me motivated to do my job.”
Salaries and Benefits:
Generally entry level Legal Secretary salaries start at around 25k and up to 60k for Senior Legal Secretaries. Law firms are notorious for offering their employees an extensive range of generous benefits and career progression opportunities. With the shortage of good legal secretaries right now, there is no better time to look for a new job.
David Danagher BL deals with legal secretarial roles in DAC Recruitment. He can be contacted on (083) 3962899 or by email at [email protected]
