How can a legal assistant prevent backlogs and priority conflicts in you law firm? Find out how they keep your law office running smoothly so attorneys can focus on practicing law.
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If you share a legal administrative assistant with two or more lawyers, he probably stays pretty busy. In 2024 legal assistants are key to managing the complexities of communication within a law firm, especially when dealing with instructions from multiple lawyers and requests from staff. Using project management tools they can streamline workflows and team collaboration. This digital approach allows for managing administrative and clerical tasks so paralegals and lawyers can focus on substantive legal work and deliver to clients. So let’s dive in and find out more about legal assistants and how they can help lawyers.
What is a Legal Assistant
A legal assistant is part of the support staff of a law firm, providing administrative and clerical support to lawyers and other legal professionals. Their main job is to keep the law office running smoothly so attorneys can focus on practicing law and delivering to clients. Legal assistants work with paralegals and other support staff to prepare legal documents, research legal issues and manage files. They also schedule appointments, answer phones and maintain office records. By doing these tasks legal assistants keep the law firm efficient and productive.
Paralegal vs Legal Assistant
Paralegals and legal assistants both work in law offices but they are very different in terms of responsibilities and scope of work. Paralegals focus more on substantive legal work such as research, drafting, interviewing witnesses and preparing case materials for attorneys.
Legal assistants on the other hand handle administrative work like client billing, filing, scheduling and customer service support.
Both roles require knowledge of legal terminology and procedures but paralegals need higher education and training, often associate or bachelor’s degrees and are more hands on in the technical aspect of legal work.
It’s also the level of work. Paralegals do more specialized legal work and legal assistants keep the office running.
Education and Certification
There is no education requirement to become a legal assistant but many law firms prefer candidates with a post secondary certificate or associates degree in legal studies or a related field. Some employers may also require certification such as the Accredited Legal Professional (ALP) or Certified Legal Professional (CLP/PLS) designations offered by the National Association for Legal Support Professionals. Many legal assistants also choose to take continuing education and training to stay current on the latest legal procedures and terminology. This commitment to ongoing learning ensures they stay proficient in their role and can adapt to the changing legal landscape.
The Legal Assistant: How They Can Help a Lawyer
In 2025 legal assistants are still doing the administrative heavy lifting and increasing efficiency in law firms. Here are some of the ways they are helping lawyers:
Digital Task Management and Communication
Using project management software to take instructions from multiple lawyers and requests from other staff. These tools allow real time updates, task prioritization and team communication. This digital way of working means legal assistants can manage administrative and clerical tasks and paralegals and lawyers can focus on the legal work and client service.
Automated E-Filing Management
Using AI powered legal software to manage e-filing more effectively. These systems automatically categorize and route incoming e-filings to the correct case folder, flag for review and set reminders. This means electronically filed pleadings are processed, reviewed and added to both digital and physical files when needed.
Integrated Case Management Systems
Using case management systems that integrate emails, appointments, tasks and legal documents. These platforms allow easy categorization and tagging of all case information. With a few clicks assistants can generate a report of all outstanding items for a specific case, eg Smith v Jones, and save hours of time on information retrieval and organization.
Other Duties
Legal assistants do lots of other things to support attorneys and keep the law firm running. Here are some other things a legal assistant does:
- Answer client calls, emails and greet clients
- Schedule appointments, meetings and court dates for attorneys and clients
- Do basic legal research and draft legal documents
- Process client billing and accounting
- File and manage documents and case files
- Prepare case summaries and depositions, interrogatories and testimony
- Transcribe, proof and file documents by deadline
- Assist in trial prep by organizing evidence and supporting docs
- Manage attorneys’ calendars and travel
- Draft correspondence and routine documents
- Help with Public Records Act and discovery requests
- Coordinate depositions, mediations and other legal proceedings
- Prepare court materials – briefs, exhibits, etc.
These allow attorneys to focus on higher level legal work and run the law firm efficiently.
Skills of The Legal Assistant
Legal assistants have many important skills to support attorneys and the law firm. Here are some of the key skills:
- Organization: Manage deadlines, court filings and client communications in a fast paced environment.
- Attention to detail: Accuracy in documents, contracts and correspondence to maintain the integrity of the legal process.
- Communication: Client, court and colleague communication – verbal and written.
- Legal research and writing: Research in law libraries and online databases and draft legal documents.
- Legal knowledge: Familiarity with legal terms and documents – trial briefs to subpoenas.
- Technical skills: Proficiency in legal software, case management systems and e-filing.
- Critical thinking and problem solving: Analyze information, find sources and assist with trial prep.
- Flexibility: Adapt to changes and find solutions to unexpected problems.
- Time management: Prioritize tasks, meet deadlines and handle multiple projects at once.
- Interpersonal skills: Build and maintain professional relationships with clients, attorneys and other staff.
These skills together allow legal assistants to support attorneys and the law firm as a whole.
Opportunities for Growth and Development
Law firms can provide opportunities for growth and development for legal assistants by offering training and continuing education. This can be workshops on legal procedures, software training and leadership development. Law firms can also provide opportunities for advancement – promote legal assistants to paralegal positions or specialize in a particular area of law. By investing in the growth and development of their legal assistants law firms can increase job satisfaction, reduce turnover and productivity. This benefits the legal assistant and the law firm as a whole.
