Legal assistants perform many tasks to support lawyers, including maintaining and organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting documents. Some may also assist with preparing for closings, hearings, trials, corporate meetings, and real estate transactions by reviewing documents for accuracy and completeness.
There are many pros and cons to working as a legal assistant. On the one hand, you may have the opportunity to work with some of the best attorneys in the country and learn a great deal about the law.
On the other hand, you may be required to do mundane tasks that are not particularly interesting. In this blog post, we will take a look at 19 pros and cons of being a legal assistant!
Pros of Legal Assistant
- One of the main pros of being a legal assistant is that you will have the opportunity to learn a great deal about the law. If you are interested in becoming an attorney yourself, working as a legal assistant is a great way to get your foot in the door. You will also gain valuable experience working with clients and understanding their needs.
- Another pro of being a legal assistant is that you will typically work in a professional environment. This means that you will likely have access to resources and amenities that you would not have if you were working in another type of job. For example, many legal assistants have access to law libraries and other research materials.
- You can choose to specialize in a particular area of law, such as family law or criminal law. Many legal assistants specialize in a particular area of law, such as bankruptcy, estate planning, or family law. Some work in real estate, assisting clients with purchase contracts and mortgages. Others work for banks and insurance companies, drafting policies and handling claims.
- In the same way that medical professionals are recession proof, there will always be a need for good legal assistants to help people with their various needs. Legal documents and support in difficult times is something everyone seeks out when it’s needed most- whether you’re going through divorce or dealing with an injury claim!
- Employment of legal assistants is projected to grow 14 percent from 2021 to 2021, much faster than the average for all occupations. The demand for paralegals and legal assistants will increase as the need for qualified workers rises in law firms, corporate legal departments, and government agencies.
- The minimum educational requirement to be a legal assistant is usually just one or two years of college, and there are many schools that offer certificates. However lawyers typically prefer candidates who have received their degree from an ABA-approved institution because these programs provide more training than other types do.
- Justice is the concept of moral rightness based on law. As a legal assistant, you’ll be helping to uphold the law and ensure that justice is served. This is a very important job, and you can take pride in knowing that you’re making a difference in your community.
- You learn a lot about the law. Even if you don’t want to become a lawyer yourself, working as a legal assistant gives you a great overview of how the law works and how it affects people’s lives. You get to see the inner workings of the legal system. If you’re interested in how cases are tried and won, being a legal assistant is a great way to see that process up close.
- You develop strong research and writing skills. Legal assistants spend a lot of their time researching cases and writing reports, so it’s no surprise that they develop strong research and writing skills.
- You get to work with some of the smartest people around. Lawyers are notoriously intelligent, and as a legal assistant, you get to work with them on a daily basis. This gives you the opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in the legal profession.
Cons of Legal Assistant
- One of the main cons of being a legal assistant is that the work can be very repetitive and mundane. If you are not interested in the law, working as a legal assistant may not be the right fit for you. Additionally, many legal assistants are required to do a lot of administrative work, such as scheduling appointments and filing documents.
- Another con of being a legal assistant is that the hours can be long and irregular. Many legal assistants work more than 40 hours per week, and it is not uncommon for them to work evenings and weekends. This can make it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- You have to be very detail-oriented to be a good legal assistant. This means that you have to be able to remember lots of small details and keep track of many different things at once. It can be difficult to do this if you are not already good at focusing on multiple things at once.
- You might have to work with people who are difficult or unpleasant. This can include co-workers, clients, or witnesses. This can be stressful and frustrating, and it can make the job difficult to tolerate.
- Another con is that you might have to travel for work. This might include going to court hearings or meeting with clients in different locations. This can be stressful and time-consuming, and it can make it difficult to balance work with your personal life.
- Workload can also create resentment among legal assistant; they’re expected handle tough cases that may take longer than usual due timeline complications while still meeting tight deadlines set forth in court orders
- Lawyers put high expectations on legal assistants, expecting them to do research and discover new needs for the cases. Lawyers also make sure that all of their requests are met with a quick turnaround time so they can continue working through hearings or trials without interruption from administrative tasks like searching out precedents in other court records which could take hours depending upon where you live. This means some legal assistants might have late night/early morning schedules fittingly entitled “researching.”
- Legal assistants, often seen as the backroom workers of law firms and legal teams often go unnoticed for their invaluable work. They organize case files which provide lawyers with materials needed to make sense in courtrooms-work that no one else can do quite like them! Despite this importance legal assistants don’t have much recognition despite being vital members on any given team.
- The big problem with being a legal assistant is that it’s stressful. Whether you work for an attorney or not, there will always be deadlines and tasks assigned to complete by your boss—and they need things done yesterday! Not meeting any of these demands can lead into bigger problems like losing cases in court which would reflect badly on both yourself as well as them.