Legal Administrative Assistant vs Medical Administrative Assistant (letters, employees, credit)
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Does anyone know the differences of a legal administrative assistant and medical administrative assistant? I would like to mainly know which makes more money, which is easier and less stressful, which is faster to go to school for, which has more jobs that hire more easily, and the duties of each. Thx!
The amount of money you make is typically based on experience and location.
I've held both titles. Both are easy but can be stressful, don't require additional schooling but do encourage industry knowledge.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to put the jobs into a bucket and say, "This is the list of tasks you'll be doing in this job," because each company is different. I worked for one law firm that had me ONLY being a pure secretary - answering phones, setting up meetings, transcribing memos and letters from the attorneys to clients, time & expense reports. And yet another law firm also had me handle the company library, invoicing to clients, act as a notary when clients signed documents, and create basic estate documents for clients who didn't need anything fancy or customized.
In my healthcare secretarial position I did not have prior experience in that industry but had plenty of general career experience that convinced them to hire me. In that job I did just about everything - weekly reports, presentations, scheduling meetings, as well as general secretarial stuff. Nothing was clinical in nature and so it was just like any other admin job, except with a lot of healthcare jargon that I was unfamiliar with initially.
Both can be stressful in their own ways but as long as you are detailed oriented so that you don't miss anything, you can do well. No special schooling required. Pay will vary depending on experience and location. Admins in NYC and DC make more than they do in Atlanta or Minneapolis. In NYC I made almost six figures (when combining salary, bonuses, free healthcare and free lunch), but down south I make half of that (AND pay for my healthcare and lunches).
In my area you will not get your foot in the door without previous experience or recent schooling in the field. I have general admin aide experience and can not get my foot in the door for general admin aide jobs. Your mileage may vary. If you are lucky enough to have a non profit trade school and can get a grant that would be your least expensive option.
If you want non-stressful, steer clear of the legal field. If you are in any type of a litigation firm, your time is not your own. Mandatory late nights, weekend work, holiday work (usually without any extra pay) are the norm.
If you want non-stressful, steer clear of the legal field. If you are in any type of a litigation firm, your time is not your own. Mandatory late nights, weekend work, holiday work (usually without any extra pay) are the norm.
Not true at all. Most firms pay for overtime, weekends and holidays, and they are cutting back on overtime for their employees. My assistant works 8:30 to 4:30 and the other legal assistants work pretty much the same with the occasional need for overtime assistance. There is no such thing as "mandatory" late nights, if an assistant cannot stay, there are others who can cover for her/him. Granted, it is a high stress field but if you know what you are doing, enjoy the work and work with good people, you feel well compensated with the demands of the field.
Legal administrative duties are almost always done by certified paralegals. To become a paralegal one needs an AS from an ABA accredited college, and to pass a certification exam, or a BS plus a 6 month training program, and pass certification. It can be hard to gain entry into the field, a first job may pay practically nothing, but once someone has a couple years of experience pay goes way up, and can get into the six figures for a supervising paralegal in a large firm. The median income is around 45-50K after a few years experience.
Legal administrative duties are almost always done by certified paralegals.
Not always. In every law firm for which I've worked in both NYC and NC, there were admins who handled the day-to-day things, and the paralegals who did the secondary legal work that the lawyers assigned to them. Two separate titles.
If the OP is interested in being a paralegal, that's completely different from a legal administrative assistant. But she didn't say that she wants to be a paralegal.
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