Is there a really a difference between legal secretary and legal Assistant? Is one more prestigious than the other?

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In my experience they are in two seperate “tracks”. A legal secretary does admin work. A legal assistant, while probably doing some admin work, is essentially a junior paralegal. Nothing wrong with admin work it’s just different from the legal (/billable) work that a paralegal or aspiring paralegal should be aiming for.

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I also like the substantive work but I don’t want to be micromanaged on my time. I hope to go in house one day

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It's interchangeable.

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Law firms changed it a few years ago in place of the word secretary. Problem was not every firm used same terminology. Some firms used legal assistant, administrative assistant, executive assistant, and so on. Not everyone has same skill sets and it is no longer required that you know all functions. Legal assistants can mean they have an hourly rate OR it is how they bill out OT for those f/k/a secretary. Clients were upset at paying overtime for staff but if you do it as legal assistant, hides that it is actually OT.

On the bill OT shows up under expenses. When billed as timekeeper it shows up with description of time. Some clients don't mind paying 1k an hour for an attorney but consider OT your cost of doing business.

secretaries don't like to be called secretaries anymore. They prefer to be called legal assistants. It's the same thing.

Depending upon the firm, legal secretaries do much more than "some admin work." There are many who are paralegals, as well.

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