A quarterly newletter by the Boston Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators
The position of legal secretary is fast becoming one of the most difficult to fill. As any legal administrator who’s searched for a qualified secretary knows, the demand for these professionals often outstrips the available supply – an imbalance that’s likely to become more acute in the future.
The shortage of legal secretaries is due primarily to a set of demographic and career-satisfaction trends. Many veterans with decades of experience are retiring from the profession. At the other end of the spectrum, fewer young people are entering the secretarial profession in general and legal secretarial programs in particular. In addition, technology has taken over many aspects of the position, making it less varied and challenging. At some firms, for example, legal secretaries are treated primarily as document production clerks, and they are not given the opportunity to use their skills in a more complex or interesting capacity. As a result, talented individuals who might have been attracted to the profession in the past are instead pursuing careers with greater challenges and more opportunities for professional advancement.
But legal secretaries still have an important function on the legal service team, providing critical support to attorneys and paralegals and interfacing with clients, representatives of the courts or legal service vendors. Firms that understand this are trying to make the secretary role more sophisticated, in order to attract and retain capable, skilled individuals. The following strategies can help administrators retain their firms’ legal secretaries and improve the long-term job satisfaction of these indispensable staff members.
According to the Robert Half Legal Salary Guide, starting salaries for legal secretaries are on the rise. Firms striving for high retention levels may need to adjust the salaries, raises and performance-based bonuses they offer secretaries with tenure as well as new hires.
Salaries for legal secretaries can vary depending on geographic region and area of legal specialization – for example, professionals with experience in such high growth specialties as corporate real estate transactions and litigation matters typically command higher compensation. To ensure that their firms are paying competitive wages to legal secretaries, administrators should consult sources such as the Robert Half Legal 2007 Salary Guide, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook and legal trade publications when determining salary levels.
Work-life balance is an important concern for legal secretaries, just as it is for attorneys, paralegals and legal administrators. Many law offices now provide flexible work hours and other popular alternative scheduling options for their secretarial staff in an effort to boost retention. Other desirable perks include additional vacation days, reimbursement for expenses related to ongoing professional education, and flexible spending accounts for healthcare or childcare expenses.
Although compensation is a significant factor in overall job satisfaction, some may be surprised to learn it is actually not the chief work-related issue among most professionals. In response to a survey commissioned by Robert Half Legal, 42 percent of respondents said “challenging assignments” provide the greatest job satisfaction for legal professionals at their law firm or legal department. Compensation ranked second, with a 22 percent response.
As I mentioned earlier, lack of challenge and variety in assignments is one of the reasons legal secretaries seek career changes, a trend that is borne out by this survey. To address this issue head on, it’s important for firms to create a long-term career track for their legal secretaries, with increasing levels of responsibility, more challenging duties and multiple opportunities for advancement. Otherwise, legal secretaries will feel underutilized, and rather than stagnating professionally, they will seek more interesting work elsewhere.
Secretaries should be regarded as an integral part of the legal service team. Because they interact frequently with clients in the course of completing case filings, legal documents and agreements, secretaries are well positioned to act as the primary point of contact or liaison for many clients. In this capacity, they can serve more of a client service role rather than simply a clerical one. This enables them to use a diverse array of abilities, including verbal and written communication skills, legal expertise and technical competencies, which makes their work more varied and fulfilling.
The secretarial position can be made more challenging and sophisticated in other ways as well. For example, legal secretaries can assume some of the tasks once handled mainly by paralegals, such as the preparation of motions and pleadings, document filing and case research. Their job description can also encompass the scheduling of team and client meetings and court appearances, time billing and case management. Secretaries with strong communication and word processing skills might take on the responsibility of editing and formatting a firm’s online employee newsletter.
Legal secretaries who feel valued and appreciated will be more likely to remain with a law office over the long term. Even something as simple as publicly acknowledging a secretary’s contributions serves as a powerful motivational tool. Similarly, complimentary remarks from clients, coworkers or supervising attorneys should be shared with the secretary, preferably in front of the rest of the team.
Rewards for outstanding service don’t have to be lavish to be meaningful. Extra time off, a gift certificate or gift basket or even prominent mention in the employee newsletter or on the company intranet will build good will and demonstrate to secretaries that they are regarded as vital staff members.
Given the diminished pool of qualified candidates, law firms must redouble their efforts to retain their secretaries – or risk losing them to competitors. By utilizing some of the strategies I outline here, administrators can help their firms hold on to their secretaries and attract the best candidates when it’s time to replace or augment existing staff. Legal secretaries are an intrinsic part of the client service team – when treated and compensated accordingly, their commitment to their firms will only grow stronger.
by Charles Volkert, Esq. is executive director of Robert Half Legal®, a legal staffing service specializing in the placement of legal professionals with law firms and corporate legal departments. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Robert Half Legal has offices in major cities throughout the United States and Canada.