Legal ✦ Secretarial ✦ Dedicated
Legal
secretary
Documents prepared from your precedents, forms populated, files organised, diaries and limitation dates tracked, correspondence drafted for review — the secretarial function, done properly, at a third of the cost.
Looking for this kind of work yourself? Apply at staffingsolutions.ph — this page is written for businesses hiring.
$14/hrFrom, + GST · full-time
Up to 70%Vs. a local hire
Precedent-drivenYour templates, your style
~2 wksBrief → first day
Fee earners are doing secretarial work because secretaries got expensive
Legal secretarial work has not disappeared — the secretaries have. Firms cut the ratio, and the work migrated to solicitors and paralegals who bill at several times the rate. So a lawyer formats a document, populates a court form and files an email.
At $400 an hour, formatting a deed is the most expensive typing in the country.
An offshore legal secretary restores the ratio at a cost that makes sense. The precision requirement is real, which is why we screen hard on it — but the work is precedent-driven and checkable, which is exactly what makes it travel.
What they prepare
- Document preparation — Letters, agreements and deeds prepared from your precedent bank, formatted to your house style, with fields populated from the file.
- Court and tribunal forms — Forms populated accurately from file information, ready for your solicitor to check and sign.
- File management — Electronic files structured to your convention, correspondence filed, documents named consistently so anyone can find anything.
- Diary and limitation dates — Court dates, limitation periods and undertakings diarised with escalating reminders.
- Correspondence drafting — Routine correspondence drafted from your precedents for review — never sent unreviewed.
- Briefing and bundle preparation — Briefs to counsel and court bundles assembled, indexed and paginated.
- Billing support — Time entries chased and processed, disbursements recorded, draft bills prepared for the fee earner's review.
The practice-of-law line
This is the boundary that matters most in a firm. Preparation, formatting and administration travel. Legal advice, judgement and anything signed do not.
- Legal adviceNo advice to a client, ever, in any form. This is unqualified practice and it is not a grey area.
- Signing and filingDocuments are prepared for a solicitor to review, sign and file.
- Client advice on processChasing documents and confirming appointments is fine. Explaining legal process or options is not.
- Trust account transactionsNo offshore team member touches trust accounting or holds authority over trust funds.
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Questions
Frequently asked
Do they know Australian legal documents and forms?
We screen for genuine Australian or US legal support experience on these roles, and there is a real pool of it. What they will not arrive knowing is your firm's precedents and house style, which is what the first fortnight is for — give them your precedent bank and a marked-up example.
How do we manage conflicts and confidentiality?
NDA and confidentiality agreement before day one, access limited to the matters they work on, and every action attributed in your practice management system. Conflict checking stays a firm process — they populate it, your solicitors clear it.
Can they contact clients?
For administrative purposes — chasing documents, confirming appointments, acknowledging correspondence — with a firm email address and your knowledge. Anything substantive goes to the fee earner.
How much does it cost?
From $14/hr + GST full-time — up to 70% less than a local hire, with no placement fee. Run your numbers →
Full-time, part-time or fewer hours?
Forty hours a week is our standard engagement and twenty is common. Below that we look at fifteen, ten or even five hours to get a role started, priced accordingly — a smaller engagement costs a little more per hour because the recruiting and management effort is the same. Plenty of clients begin at ten hours and grow the role once they see what comes off their desk.
Is there a minimum term?
Three months, then month to month. It's the same runway you'd give a new local hire to learn your systems, your clients and your standards — and the team members who get a fair run are the ones who stay for years. There are no exit penalties at any point, and if the issue is the person rather than the role, the first-week refund and free replacement cover that separately.
How do you handle confidentiality?
The same way you'd treat any remote team member. Every placement signs an NDA and a confidentiality clause before day one, and they work inside your systems — your email, your CRM, your file storage — so you control what they can see and can revoke access instantly. No client data is stored on our side.