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Paralegals and Legal Assistants vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Paralegals and Legal Assistants and Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Paralegals and Legal Assistants Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$61,010
$54,140
Employment · BLS OEWS
367,220
154,540
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
13th pct
70th pct

At a glance

Dimension Paralegals and Legal Assistants Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
Median pay $61,010 $54,140
Employment 367,220 154,540
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.2%) Declining (-5.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 39,300 19,600
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 13th pct High · 70th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 76th pct · 39% of tasks 93rd pct · 55% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (51.9%) Automation-leaning (64.4%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Law and Government, English Language, Administrative, Writing, Written Comprehension, Computers and Electronics, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Written Expression, Near Vision, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Customer and Personal Service, Speaking, Problem Sensitivity, Administration and Management, Critical Thinking, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Active Learning, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Category Flexibility, Coordination, Selective Attention, Fluency of Ideas, Far Vision, Originality.

Specific to Paralegals and Legal Assistants

  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Persuasion
  • Negotiation
  • Memorization

Specific to Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

  • Public Safety and Security
  • Communications and Media
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Education and Training
  • Personnel and Human Resources

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Document management software , Accounting software , Data base user interface and query software , Project management software , Video conferencing software , Information retrieval or search software , Analytical or scientific software , Cloud-based data access and sharing software .

Specific to Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Specific to Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Paralegals and Legal Assistants or Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Paralegals and Legal Assistants vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/paralegals-and-legal-assistants-vs-legal-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Paralegals and Legal Assistants vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/paralegals-and-legal-assistants-vs-legal-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-paralegals-and-legal-assistants-vs-legal-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants,
  title  = {Paralegals and Legal Assistants vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/paralegals-and-legal-assistants-vs-legal-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.