Employers
Approximately 154,200 legal secretaries are employed in the United States. The majority of legal secretaries work for law offices or law firms. Some government agencies on the state and national level also employ legal secretaries. More law firms and offices are located in Washington, D.C., and in larger metropolitan areas, so these regions offer more opportunities. However, most law offices and firms are now online. The Internet enables workers to send information easily from the law office to the courtroom, so offices are not forced to be located close to the courts. Legal secretaries are in demand anywhere lawyers practice.
Starting Out
Many legal secretaries get their first job through the career services offices of their college or vocational school. Still other legal secretaries start by working part time, gaining experience toward a first full-time position. Some begin as a floater, a secretary who is not assigned to any particular lawyer, but fills in for absent secretaries and handles overflow. Working as a floater exposes you to a wide variety of legal practices—useful when deciding which area you want to specialize in. Don't forget to contact local law offices in your area to let them know you are available; often direct contact now can lead to a job later. Professional associations can also provide resources to aspiring legal secretaries. NALS…the association for legal professionals offers job listings on its Web site, https://careers.nals.org.
- Airport Security Personnel
- Arbitrators
- Bail Bondsmen
- Bailiffs
- Bankruptcy Lawyers
- Biotechnology Patent Lawyers
- Bodyguards
- Border Patrol Agents
- Bounty Hunters
- Citizenship Reclamation Specialists
- Civil Litigation Lawyers
- Contract Administrators
- Corporate Lawyers
- Corrections Officers
- Court Interpreters and Translators
- Court Reporters
- Crime Analysts
- Criminal Lawyers
- Deputy U.S. Marshals
- Detectives
- Elder Law Attorneys
- Emergency Services Dispatchers
- Environmental Lawyers
- Family Lawyers
- FBI Agents
- Forensic Experts
- Forensic Meteorologists
- Fraud Examiners, Investigators, and Analysts
- Genetic Genealogists
- Hedge Fund Lawyers
- Intellectual Property Lawyers
- Judges
- Law Librarians
- Lawyers
- Legal Nurse Consultants
- Legal Operations Specialists
- Litigation Support/eDiscovery Analysts
- Mergers and Acquisitions Attorneys
- Mutual Fund Lawyers
- Paralegals
- Parole Officers
- Patent Agents
- Patent Lawyers
- Police Officers
- Polygraph Examiners
- Process Servers
- Public Interest Lawyers
- Real Estate Lawyers
- Secret Service Special Agents
- Security Consultants
- Security Guards
- Space Lawyers
- Tax Attorneys
