Legal Secretary

Education :
While there are no academic requirements for this field, taking a 2-year associate's degree program or a 1-to-2 semester certificate program in legal secretary skills will help you prepare for the complexities of legal practice. Most legal secretary programs cover law office practices, keyboarding, computers, word processing, legal terminology and law.

Certification:
Legal Secretary certification is voluntary, but highly recommended because many employers require it. Legal secretaries or law office managers who have completed an approved paralegal training course or have one year's experience can take an exam to become an Accredited Legal Secretary (ALS).

The National Association of Legal Secretaries (NALS) also offers an advanced certification for legal support professionals called Professional Legal Secretary (PLS). Legal Secretaries International confers the Certified Legal Secretary Specialist (CLSS) title in specialized areas such as civil trial, real estate, probate, and business law to those who have five years of law-related experience and pass an examination.

Salary:
Salaries for legal secretaries, like paralegal and legal assistant salaries, vary. Your salary may depend on education, training, experience, the type and size of employer, and where you work. In general, legal secretaries who work for large law firms or in big cities earn the most. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, legal secretaries earned $39,860 in 2008, but the top 10 percent earned more than $62,000.