Recent advancements in technology used by law firms have blurred the lines between legal assistants/paralegals and legal secretaries.  What were once two separate and distinct positions now overlap, and both jobs have changed significantly.

Traditionally, the terms legal assistant and paralegal were used interchangeably, with both referring to a nonlawyer legal support staff member who, after education and training, performed substantive legal tasks.  Legal assistants generally have an advanced understanding of the law and legal proceedings and routinely perform tasks such as researching cases, preparing discovery, interviewing people involved in cases, preparing case summaries, and general case management.   These tasks are generally performed independently and are billed to the client.  A legal secretary, on the other hand, performs clerical and administrative tasks under the supervision of an attorney or a paralegal.  Historically, the legal secretary’s tasks commonly include word processing, dictation, handling incoming and outgoing mail, court filings, and answering an attorney’s telephone. These tasks are not billed to the client.  While serving very different functions and having distinct job requirements and responsibilities, legal assistants/paralegals and legal secretaries work very closely together and often rely on each other to play instrumental roles in providing support to attorneys and to the practice of law.

Read Full Article