# Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

> Perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents. Prepare legal papers and correspondence, such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas. May also assist with legal research.

- **SOC code:** 43-6012.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-43-6012-00
- **Also known as:** Legal Administrative Assistant (Legal Admin Assistant), Legal Office Support Assistant, Legal Practice Assistant, Legal Secretary, Confidential Secretary, Legal Administrator (Legal Admin), Legal Coordinator, Legal Management Assistant
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
- Prepare and distribute invoices to bill clients or pay account expenses.
- Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
- Prepare, proofread, or process legal documents, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, or pretrial agreements.
- Make photocopies of correspondence, documents, and other printed matter.
- Assist attorneys in collecting information such as employment, medical, and other records.
- Complete various forms, such as accident reports, trial and courtroom requests, and applications for clients.
- Receive and place telephone calls.
- Schedule and make appointments.
- Submit articles and information from searches to attorneys for review and approval for use.
- Make travel arrangements for attorneys.
- Draft and type office memos.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Administrative _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Law and Government _(knowledge)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Computers and Electronics _(knowledge)_
- Writing _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology)_
- Intuit QuickBooks _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Visio _(hot technology)_
- A1-Law
- AbacusNext HotDocs
- Aderant CompuLaw

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 83rd percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 75th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 95th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 70th percentile (High) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 97th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -5.8% growth (Declining); 19.6k annual openings; 156.3k → 147.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $54,140; 154,540 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 64% automation, 19% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Prepare and process legal documents and papers, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, and pretrial agreements. _(1.1% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Schedule and make appointments. _(0.7% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me prepare and process legal documents and papers, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, and pretrial agreements.
- Help me schedule and make appointments.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-43-6012-00_