Legal executive assistants are highly skilled professionals who perform a wide range of tasks for lawyers and other legal professionals. Legal assistants can work in any industry or sector, from law firms to corporate offices. They are often responsible for managing relationships between lawyers and clients as well as preparing reports, presentations, and correspondence.
An legal executive assistant to a lawyer is a person who provides assistance
In essence an legal executive assistant is someone who provides administrative support to an executive or manager within an organization. The scope of this job can vary wildly depending on the industry and size of the organization but generally involves providing day-to-day administrative tasks for their manager such as scheduling meetings, arranging travel arrangements, and making sure their boss has all the information they need at hand when required (e.g., briefing notes).
What should you consider before applying for the job of a legal executive assistant?
Before you apply, consider the following:
- What experience and qualifications do you have?
- How big is the organization? Do they need someone with a specific set of skills or are they flexible about whom they hire.
- Where will this job be based (in an office in New York City or out of state)? Does that matter to you, and if so, how much?
- What type of work will you do day-to-day as a legal executive assistant? If there are many different tasks involved, does one interest you more than another (e.g., drafting documents versus scheduling meetings). Do all these tasks appeal equally to your interests and abilities.
What are some of the responsibilities of a Legal Executive Assistant?
An executive assistant to a lawyer is a person who provides assistance, including secretarial and other services, to the lawyer. The legal executive assistant generally assists with court appearances and meetings with clients, witnesses and experts.
Some of the responsibilities that can be expected from this type of position include:
- Maintaining practice records
- Organizing files for clients’ cases
- Preparing correspondence for lawyers in their firm or law office
Taking charge of general tasks like screening calls and emails as well as making travel arrangements and preparing itineraries.
- Screening calls and emails
- Making travel arrangements
- Preparing itineraries
- Organizing events, conferences, and meetings
Maintaining daily calendars, schedule meetings and manage appointments
As a legal assistant, you will be responsible for keeping track of the daily calendars and schedules of your clients. This is an essential part of the job and can be challenging at times. You’ll need to make sure that everyone’s schedule is up to date and accurate in order to avoid any confusion or frustration on the part of clients. In addition to maintaining daily calendars, you will also be required to schedule meetings with clients and other parties involved in each case.
As a legal executive assistant, you’re expected to manage appointments effectively and this means more than just setting them up! It’s important that all parties involved know where they are supposed to be at what time so there are no delays or interruptions during meetings or interviews. Keeping track of these appointments can also help determine which ones have been completed so that no one forgets about an important meeting with your boss or client!
Coordinating meetings with key personnel and clients
- Organizing meetings with key personnel and clients. You will be responsible for organizing meetings with clients, partners, and other stakeholders to discuss legal matters, as well as coordinating meetings between senior management, vendors or suppliers, and legal teams. Your role also includes setting up one-on-one appointments between the firm’s key personnel and outside counsel.
- Organizing internal staff meetings: You must work closely with all levels of management while organizing internal staff meetings to discuss important projects or initiatives within the company’s legal department.
- Meeting with external counsel: In some cases, you may be asked to meet with an external attorney on behalf of your employer’s organization as part of your duties as a legal executive assistant; such situations may include mediations or arbitration proceedings that require attendance by both sides for them to reach an agreement on how best resolve their dispute through legal means (such as mediation).
- Drafting letters, memorandums, presentations, proposals and reports on behalf of the attorney.
- The following are a few examples of the tasks that you may be required to perform:
- Drafting letters, memorandums, presentations, proposals, and reports on behalf of the attorney.
- Reviewing correspondence from clients/customers/stakeholders and determining who should be contacted based on their respective titles/positions in each instance; writing emails or letters (depending on whether it is a personal or business communication), using appropriate language for each scenario; making sure that all parties are kept apprised of any changes or updates regarding the case at hand.
- Preparing responses to legal documents filed by opposing counsels in court cases (e.g., motions) when required by your employer’s instructions; organizing documents according to relevance so they can be sent directly into court, if necessary, without requiring further input from the attorney who prepared them originally (elderly people often do not have time for this).
Managing privileged attorney-client communications
As a legal executive assistant, you’ll be responsible for managing privileged attorney-client communications. This means that you’ll need to know what privileged information is and how to maintain confidentiality of it.
Privileged information refers to any communication between an attorney and client that isn’t publically available or discoverable in court proceedings. A privilege log is a document that lists all of these communications by date, type of communication (phone call, email), participants in the conversation and subject matter discussed. You will also keep track of where each piece of privileged information came from: whether it was sent through electronic communication or orally conveyed in person by a client or his/her representative(s).
If you fail to maintain your privilege logs properly, there could be consequences ranging from fines up through disbarment depending on how serious your breach was found to be after an investigation by legal authorities has been completed (and possibly appealed). If someone else finds out about this sensitive material through no fault but yours whether accidental or deliberate, then both parties involved could face similar consequences as well.
Sorting and organizing confidential documents and files
Sorting and organizing confidential documents and files are an important part of the job of a legal executive assistant. You should have the skill to sort, file and retrieve documents efficiently. It’s a skill that you can learn with practice, but it might be more difficult if you don’t have a systematic way of sorting things out in your head.
Supportive staff plays an essential role in the success of any organization
The legal industry is fast-paced and requires a lot of communication and organization. As a legal executive assistant, you will be responsible for supporting attorneys by organizing their workloads, communicating with clients, and solving problems.
To provide excellent support services, it’s important that you have good listening skills as well as the ability to solve problems creatively. It’s also important that you can work well with other people because being a team player is essential in this position.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that the job of a legal executive assistant is very important to the success of any law firm. The ability to handle multiple tasks at once and work well under pressure is essential for this position. In addition, the knowledge of relevant laws and regulations will be very useful in your career.
