Secretarial work requires knowing communication guidelines, working well with others, and understanding the way a department or executive works. Legal secretaries take those skills one step further. They specialize in legal language and documentation. Legal secretaries earn a higher salary than non-specialized secretaries. Their job is often of a sensitive and confidential nature. Their duties includes:

• preparing legal papers and correspondences such as summonses, complaints, motions, and subpoenas;
• typing, formatting, editing, revising, proofreading, and printing legal documents and letters;
• performing legal research, often using on-line sources;
• reviewing law journals and legal publications to identify court decisions relevant to a client's case.