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What is the best training for becoming a hirable legal secretary? What types of ongoing training or certifications are necessary to be an effective legal secretary?

What do non-traditional career paths look like?

Host said: What is the best training for becoming a hirable legal secretary? What types of ongoing training or certifications are necessary to be an effective legal secretary?

What do non-traditional career paths look like?

My advice is to stay out of this industry. I will never understand why this profession has a reputation for good pay. I think it's because secretaries in other fields get paid much less. Office jobs in the legal industry do pay more than office jobs in other industries, but that doesn't mean it's good pay. Also the fact that the pay might be considered decent because a college degree isn't required.

Also, entry level pay will be pretty low. If you go to school to earn a degree instead, if you attend school full time and go continuously, you'll have your degree done in less time - a lot less time- than it would take for you to have enough secretarial experience to get paid a somewhat "decent" salary. Consider this: I quite my job in Orange County in '05 making 55K. The going rate for secretaries with my experience was $60K (you have to change jobs every few years to stay up with the going rate because your raises won't); I kept the job longer than I should have because I knew I was leaving. Accountants fresh out of college were starting at roughly $48K a year. That's a little less, but keep in mind that's ENTRY LEVEL! I worked in the building of a large accounting firm and befriended a "kid" who was 6 years out of college and making $68K. He was due for a promotion to the next level that year and expected a $10K - $15K salary increase. Attorneys are the worst people to work fore. Never was I so unhappy as when I worked as a legal secretary. Here's a link to some legal secretary surveys on Vault.com. I know very few legal secretaries who like what they do.

www.vault.com/nr/surveys/occsurveydetail.jsp?response_id=18842&function_id=146&occ_name=Law

AMEN, SISTER.

dh in Roseville, California said: Attorneys are the worst people to work fore. Never was I so unhappy as when I worked as a legal secretary.

On the flip side, there are terrible secretaries out there too. I can only imagine what it must be like for an attorney stuck with an angry, man-hating secretary.

Host said: What is the best training for becoming a hirable legal secretary?

While I hold a college degree, I think my most marketable "asset" is the ability to take steno and transcribe it accurately.

Marie in East Meadow, New York said: On the flip side, there are terrible secretaries out there too. I can only imagine what it must be like for an attorney stuck with an angry, man-hating secretary.

I'm sure that's true-I've heard plenty of stories about backstabbing secretaries and high schoolish cliques in law firms. Fortunately for me, that wasn't my experience. I was lucky enough to work with some very nice secretaries who were intelligent and knew what they were doing. They remained pleasant despite the hostile environment created by the attys and handled themselves professionally regardless of how they were treated. I'm glad I left the field. I had nothing to gain otherwise.

It is a completely unrewarding line of work, especially at these large business litigation firms.

Stay away unless you want to live your life without doing meaningful work.

And yes, attorneys are terrible to work for. And I have worked for a few.

I was married to one. So marriage is no better than being an employee with an attorney!

lawyers treat paralegals even worse and pay them less. I left years ago and don't regret it one bit.

I won't even date a lawyer - let alone interview with one. I always heard and therefore thought legal secretaries were better treated.I guess I was wrong. After reading several discussions between legals secretaries and paralegals I am convinced my failure as a paralegal had more to do with other conditions, not my work performance or ethics.

I totally agree that cliques exist in law firms. I've been at the same law firm for 9 years and have not felt accepted yet. If one person doesn't like you, they pass around some made up story (most of the time due to jealousy) and bring about animosity from others you hardly know.

Legal - you are right on target. Read through some of my stuff (mary in tampa). I worked for one firm eight years. There was a Queen of the Clique. To keep it simple, it was worse than high school.

The industry pays well in NYC $85-$120,000 but the people working it are immature. There definitely are cliques and they brag about how much technical experience they have. They will tattletale on those they feel are not educated well in computers and will work hard to make sure that they get fired. There are rats in the office watching every move. It's definitely not the greatest place to work in. I've been in the industry for over 20 years and am shocked at how it's become. Competition within the office is fierce and if you're not up to speed on technology and are not an "butt kisser", you're out of the game. There's definitely favoritism as well. The vacation is great and the pay is great but the environment has to change. Some attorneys are bullies and don't have the guts to confront the secretary and tell them that they need to get up to speed, instead they run like whusses to Administration and get the person in trouble. It was really sad watching hard working secretaries getting canned by this in the past. Having left the industry because of the recession, I am contemplating leaving it all together and plan on changing careers after hearing how great employees get treated in other fields. The law firm I worked for was not bad but the staff was vicious. I've heard the same from other law firms as well.

dh in Roseville, California said: My advice is to stay out of this industry. I will never understand why this profession has a reputation for good pay. I think it's because secretaries in other fields get paid much less. Office jobs in the legal industry do pay more than office jobs in other industries, but that doesn't mean it's good pay. Also the fact that the pay might be considered decent because a college degree isn't required.

Also, entry level pay will be pretty low. If you go to school to earn a degree instead, if you attend school full time and go continuously, you'll have your degree done in less time - a lot less time- than it would take for you to have enough secretarial experience to get paid a somewhat "decent" salary. Consider this: I quite my job in Orange County in '05 making 55K. The going rate for secretaries with my experience was $60K (you have to change jobs every few years to stay up with the going rate because your raises won't); I kept the job longer than I should have because I knew I was leaving. Accountants fresh out of college were starting at roughly $48K a year. That's a little less, but keep in mind that's ENTRY LEVEL! I worked in the building of a large accounting firm and befriended a "kid" who was 6 years out of college and making $68K. He was due for a promotion to the next level that year and expected a $10K - $15K salary increase. Attorneys are the worst people to work fore. Never was I so unhappy as when I worked as a legal secretary. Here's a link to some legal secretary surveys on Vault.com. I know very few legal secretaries who like what they do.

www.vault.com/nr/surveys/occsurveydetail.jsp?response_id=18842&function_id=146&occ_name=Law

You are exactly right! What an unrewarding, crap career. You can't even call it a career. Turnover is unbelievable, and if you don't kiss lawyers' butts you will be fired on some trumped-up charge. You can't even get a job these days. Run away quickly!

Stay away from Vernis & Bowling of FL and GA.

This is the worst kind of job! Yes, the salary hooks you in, but baby, it's battle pay from day one. The sheer amount of nit picky work to be done and the amount of knowledge you better have will wear you down. Then personalities of these freaks -- many of which are alcoholics and drug addicts! You will be fired for the smallest thing -- if they want to get rid of you, you will be gone. You have no rights. You will work hard long hours, and they prefer that you have no personal life, and you might never get a decent raise. You might get a year end bonus -- but that depends on other factors besides your performance, like, how's their personal life going. Any human error you make will be blown out of proportion, even if they caused it in the first place. Lawyers will act like you are to blame for just anything that goes wrong in the office. If they catch you -- just once -- catching your breath, they think you are lazy and will pile on any old rotten task to "keep you busy". And in my experience, paralegals are treated even worse and their pay is even more precarious. Get into sales! Get into health care! Run away from this crap!