Career Explorer Office and admin
Changing shape
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.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 9% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -5.2% by 2035, expected to shrink.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $55,570
- Job growth to 2035
- -5.2%
- Openings a year
- 18,100
- People doing it (2025)
- 158,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Prepare documentation for contracts, applications, or permits
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Operate office equipment
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Process shipments or mail
- Record information about legal matters
- Prepare legal or regulatory documents
What the work looks like
- Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
- Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
- Prepare and distribute invoices to bill clients or pay account expenses.
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as firms increase the use of computer software, enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, to automate routine back-office functions, such as document preparation.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Library assistants, clericalChanging shape, Index 12, -6.4%
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistantsGrows with AI, Index 16, +4.8%
- Tax preparersGrows with AI, Index 14, +4.7%
- Court, municipal, and license clerksChanging shape, Index 13, +3.4%
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.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.