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Legal Support Specialists Job Overview

Legal support specialists perform duties for attorneys. The term legal support specialists covers a wide variety of work from filing documents to performing legal research. Legal support specialists work in occupations such as paralegal, legal transcriptionists, legal secretaries and other occupations. Some legal support workers mainly perform administrative duties while others such as paralegals are involved with actual legal work.

Legal Support Specialists Schools and Degrees

Community colleges, technical centers and private careers schools provide legal secretarial programs that take one to two years to complete.

Bachelor's and associate degree programs usually combine paralegal training with courses in other subjects. A small number of schools offer a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in paralegal studies.

The National Association of Legal Assistants provides the Advanced Paralegal certification and the Certified Paralegal credential. The American Alliance of Paralegals, Inc., and the National Federation of Paralegal Association also provide credentials.

Job Requirements

Completing a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association can improve the chances of getting a job. Regarding the various types of legal support specialist positions, some employers prefer applicants who have some formal training.

Nature of Work

• Prepare trial materials and identify judicial decisions and laws that are relevant to cases
• Arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, court officials and witnesses
• Prepare documents and perform research
• Take care of information processing and storage

Legal Support Specialists Jobs and Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a 22% employment growth from 2006 to 2016 for paralegal and legal assistants. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has forecasted a 12% employment growth from 2006 to 2016 for legal secretaries.

The major employers of legal support specialists are shown below:

• Law firms
• Legal support services
• Insurance carriers
• Government agencies
• Corporations

Job Numbers and Growth

The official count of legal support specialists in 2008 was 48,000. Workers have recently faced a low level of unemployment. The unemployment rate for employees? About 3% recently.

Area Job Conditions

You'll see a lot of legal support specialists in Washington (District of Columbia), Jefferson City (Missouri), and Olympia (Washington), and comparatively fewer in Salt Lake City (Utah), Charlotte (North Carolina), and Bridgeport (Connecticut).

Wages for Workers are highest in San Jose (California), Camden (New Jersey), and San Diego (California), and lowest in Kalamazoo (Michigan), South Bend (Indiana), and Durham (North Carolina).

Training and Education

Employees normally have moderate-term on-the-job training before landing a job. Degrees are held by 38% of current legal support specialists. Post-secondary schooling was enough for 39% of workers. Education topped out at high school for 23% of employees. Recommended schools are shown in the column to the right; request information from them to help you decide which if any could help you with this career.

Part-Time Work and Self-Employment

Part-time work suffices for 14% of legal support specialists. Workers working on their own make up 14% of the total.

Legal Support Specialists by Metropolitan Area (city and its surroundings)

In the table below, a Job Density near 0% means the area has an average number of people in this occupation, for its population. A higher or lower Job Density (e.g., +22% or -45%) tells you there are that many more or fewer workers of that type there than in the average US metro area. So, the higher the number, the more common the occupation.

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin