Skills
Legal Secretary Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in legal secretaries, and how to build and show them.
What skills do legal secretaries need?
Legal Secretaries need technical skills such as legal document formatting, court e-filing, and docketing, plus people skills like accuracy and discretion. They also use tools such as Microsoft Word and Court e-filing systems.
Technical (hard) skills
- Legal document formatting
- Court e-filing
- Docketing
- Legal terminology
- Billing software
- Typing
People (soft) skills
- Accuracy
- Discretion
- Organization
- Composure
Tools, equipment and technology
- Microsoft Word
- Court e-filing systems
- Docketing software
- Practice management software
- Billing software
- PDF tools
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how legal secretaries put their skills to work:
- How to calendar a court deadline correctly
- How to e-file a document with the court
- How to prepare exhibits for a hearing
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Legal document formatting” and “Court e-filing.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “accuracy,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as ALS near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our legal secretary glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Legal Secretary training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.