Paralegals as Law Office Administrators and Senior Legal Assistants

As law practices expand their use of paralegals, paralegals are assuming the supervisory roles as law office administrators and senior legal assistants.

Law Office Administration The American Bar Association's Special Committee on Legal Assistants set forth a variety of tasks that can be performed by law office administrators and managers. The tasks include designing, developing and planning new procedures, techniques, services, processes, and applications in the office; planning, supervising, and assisting in the installation and maintenance of relatively complex office equipment; and planning productions, operations of services for the efficient use of manpower materials, money, and equipment in the office.


Managing a firm can be time-consuming and expensive for lawyers to handle on their own, so law office management and administration is a career opportunity for experienced nonlawyer personnel. Many of the large corporate law firms in the country are now utilizing persons with management and legal experience as administrators.

Many of the smaller law firms are using office managers to assist the managing partners. Some paralegal training programs offer courses in law office management. Students would become familiar with management concepts, types of law practices, and various systems used in the office. Students would learn about time keeping and billing procedures; legal fees; personnel administration of the non- lawyer staff; special administration systems, such as filing, billing, and purchasing, computer technology, and word-processing equipment; and effective use of legal secretaries, case aides, and paralegals.

At the present time, a law office administrator can be referred to by several different titles: office administrator, business manager, office manager, or legal administrator. A law office administrator reports directly to the managing partners of the law firm. He/she also meets with administration committees in the law firm. In his/her reports with these lawyers he/she would be required to provide specific financial and management information. He/she may also prepare budgets and allocate monies for equipment and supplies.

The law office administrator has the responsibility and the authority in personnel matters involving the nonlawyer staff. This may include interviewing, hiring, and firing; training; writing performance evaluations; assigning work; allocating equipment; and disciplining employees. In some firms he/she may be in charge of devising filing systems and developing a training manual for the nonlawyer staff.

Senior Legal Assistants The need for senior legal assistants has grown along with the paralegal profession in order to develop policies concerning control, delegation of work, coordination of work flow, and career advancement for paralegals. Becoming a senior legal assistant is a major career step for a paralegal. Promotion to senior legal assistant is usually done from within a paralegal staff, based on the criteria that the paralegal must have excellent performance reviews while working at least three years at the firm and be a college graduate.

These professionals are responsible for overseeing the work of other paralegals in the firm. This is usually done on a departmental basis.

For example, a senior legal assistant in the real estate department would only supervise the work of the other paralegals in his/her department. Specific job duties for senior legal assistants include delegating work, ensuring that the work is distributed equally and fairly, handling personnel related problems in the department, writing appraisals of the other paralegals, and supervising the hiring of paralegals when needed.

This would also include directing the specialized training needed when a new paralegal joins the staff. Senior legal assistants may work as paralegals only 50 percent of the time. Their managerial responsibilities and work on special projects, such as setting up billing systems, would take up the remainder of their time at the office.