XAll compensation data shown are gross, national 10th to 90th percentile ranges. Pay can vary greatly by location. To view local data, take the PayScale survey.
XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).
)
$22,252 - $53,778
Country: United States | Currency: USD | Updated: 8 Feb 2012 | Individuals Reporting: 4,197
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Assist lawyers by researching legal precedent, investigating facts, or preparing legal documents. Conduct research to support a legal proceeding, to formulate a defense, or to initiate legal action.
Legal assistants contribute to the practice of law by lending their expertise to the myriad tasks facing just about any legal proceeding. Without legal assistants, the overwhelming amount of research, preparation and day-to-day management that a legal case requires would all have to be done by the attorneys themselves. This would not only result in ratcheting up the stress in an attorney's already stressful workday, it would also make any kind of legal action prohibitively expensive for most private citizens and many companies. For those reasons, legal assistant careers can be found all over the world, in every practice area. Beyond working to assist lawyers, legal assistant careers may also be found with insurance companies or other businesses that may need legal services but not necessarily a licensed attorney. Since experience is such an important learning tool, legal assistant careers offer plenty of growth over the years - the Legal Assistant Salary by Experience chart shows that over 20 years of work, the median legal assistant salary grows steadily, with a significant jump in earning potential after several years of experience. Of course, experience takes time to build. PayScale's legal assistant salary data will help you research other factors that may kick your salary into high gear.
Legal Assistant Salary Data
As with the Average Salary of a Lawyer, legal assistant salaries are largely dependent on area of practice. Measuring Legal Assistant Salaries by Practice Area, we can see that a legal assistant salary is higher working in corporate, business, mergers & acquisitions. From this, you might think that working for a corporation would be a good way to boost a legal assistant's salary. However, comparing Legal Assistant Salary by Employer Type shows that hospitals - places where legal and ethical issues are closely monitored - also pay competitive legal assistant salaries. There's a reason the phrase "fancy big-city lawyer" gets tossed around - legal salaries are high in the Big Apple, and legal assistant salaries are no exception; the Legal Assistant Salary by City chart puts New York City at the top of the list. Before you start humming the "Law and Order" theme, though, remember to factor in the Cost of Living in New York.
For more on this topic, check out the salary reports on Paralegal Salaries.
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