How much does a junior legal secretary earn?

Mar 11, 2023

Written By Lawrence Topley

A junior legal secretary's average salary in the UK is £20,998 as per Indeed. However, this can differ depending on location. For example, a junior legal secretary in London earns an average of £27,081. Furthermore, since these salaries all represent junior roles, you could expect your salary to rise with time and experience in the job.

What is a Junior Legal Secretary?

The role of a legal secretary is to perform tasks which aid the day to day running of a law firm. Some tasks include: collecting, delivering and filing documents, arranging meetings with clients, and taking phone calls for the firm. In fact their role does not differ dramatically to a secretary in any other industry such as education or healthcare.

A junior legal secretary can expect to perform mostly administrative roles as opposed to legal ones, which require a higher level of responsibility. By working to support the organisational function of the office, junior legal secretaries learn the foundations of the role. This is reflected in the salary increase from junior to senior as your responsibilities increase.

How much does a junior legal secretary earn?

A junior legal secretary on average earns £20,998, however, this can increase depending on location. For example a junior legal secretary in London earns an average of £27,081, to account for the high cost of living in the capital.

Furthermore, as you progress, your salary will increase. Once you become a legal secretary, the average salary rises to £22,430, with an average of £33,327 in London. If you continue this progression to a senior legal secretary, then you would again see a large increase in your salary, with the average at £26,022, and £42,140. For reference the average paralegal salary is £23,919 in the UK, and £29,792 in London.

These figures show that time and experience in the profession lead to salary increases.

What do I need to become a Junior Legal Secretary?

Due to the nature of the job, legal secretaries are required to perform many roles around the office. As a result, there are no set qualification requirements such as a degree or a certain level of experience to enter the role. Commonly, legal secretaries complete college courses or legal apprenticeships on their route into the role. However, you'll need to show how these gave the skills required to perform the job.

This will primarily include: a high level of IT competency, great interpersonal skills, organisation, good attention to detail and teamwork. One of the most valued attributes of a legal secretary is their ability to type. Thus, completing a touch typing course would increase the chances of gaining a role as a junior legal secretary.

One important thing to take into account here, is that the qualifications to enter the role will not leave you in large amounts of debt, such as completing a university degree.Therefore, this may be a great role for you if you want a career in law but don't want to attend university.

How Does A Legal Secretary Differ From a Paralegal?

Whilst both roles include assisting solicitors in the firm, the overall tasks of both are very different. A paralegal’s role is to research and assist a solicitor on whatever matter they are working on, and to provide information to help with their case. They need specialised legal knowledge in order to understand what research to undertake and how it might impact a case.

On the other hand, a junior legal secretary performs more general tasks for solicitors, such as filing documents or arranging meetings with their clients. Secretaries work to ensure the day-to-day running of the firm is efficient: they are concerned with the entirety of the firm, not just the solicitors they are assisting.

Do I need any legal knowledge to become a Junior Legal Secretary?

Legal knowledge is not a strict requirement of any junior legal secretary role, as your responsibilities often begin with administration. However, it remains a very valuable asset, and all level secretaries will need to know and understand some legal terminology in order to progress to a senior level.

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