The changing role of legal PAs

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs (ILSPA) has published its thoughts on the changing role of legal assistants, revealing PAs are now required to have more involvement with senior management tasks.

As part of the annual Career Legal review of the legal market, 2018’s review also discovered that PAs in big-city law firms are taking care of clients, making decisions on behalf of their boss, managing projects and having a hand in business development.

Evolving companies are now much more likely to offer their PAs the opportunity to take on more responsibility and be team players or executive assistants.

One of the ILSPAs’ aims is to encourage professional development, so that legal secretaries and PAs are continually developing their skills to be the best they can be at their jobs. The company believe PAs need to be aware of any changes which are taking place in the industry and adapt accordingly.

Elsewhere, salaries continue to look promising for PAs, with many earning between £22,000 to £65,000 annually. The lower end of the bracket is usually earnt by someone new to the role, while PAs to an MD will likely make the higher end of the salary bracket.

Career Legal has found that there has been a slightly higher salary increase for legal PAs in the past year, due to administrative tasks being passed on to those at a more junior level and PAs taking on more responsibility.