Legal Receptionist Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the job description of a legal receptionist, to increase your knowledge of the duties, tasks, and responsibilities that they perform.

What Does a Legal Receptionist Do?

The legal receptionist, who may also be called legal office clerk, or general office clerk, is an important part of the administration of a law office.

The legal receptionist job description entails providing clerical support to teams of legal administrative staff and attorneys.

In some law firms, the receptionist reports to the office manage, and is responsible for pleasantly and professionally greeting all visitors and clients, third parties, and vendors.

With the knowledge of the attorney’s calendars, the receptionist provides appropriate answers to inquiries from the public.

The role of the legal receptionist may also include carrying out tasks such as operating a six line telephone switchboard to respond to, separate, and correctly route all incoming calls; and ensuring that the firm’s phone directory is updated.

Receptionists working in law firms should be security conscious as several people visit the office daily.

They should be aware of the firm’s policies and procedures relating to security, such as issuance of temporary access cards to visitors to the office, as well as tracking them.

Their work also involves a lot of contact with people of diverse backgrounds.

To be successful on the job, which involves dealing with the several people who visit the office daily, the receptionist should have a positive attitude to work and should relate with clients and visitors cordially.

He/she should understand that the way they attend to clients and visitors can leave a lasting impression on the clients, and can have a huge impact on the firm in terms of patronage.

Legal Receptionist Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The sample job description below shows a list of specific duties, tasks, and responsibilities that an individual working as a receptionist in a law firm may be expected to carry out.

• Responsible for answering switchboard phones, routing calls to appropriate offices, and taking down messages.
• Greet visitors and clients as they walk into the office.
• Provide assistance in sorting incoming mails, as well as in processing outgoing mails.
• Responsible for keeping record of appearances in court, and for scheduling meetings.
• Keep calendars and record of supplies inventory for the office.
• Create various forms for effective correspondence, and perform data entry and general administrative tasks, such as scanning and filing of documents.
• Organize catering; book rooms, taxis, and couriers.
• May serve refreshments at meetings.
• Provide support to paralegals, the office manager, and other staff, for the smooth operation of the office.

Legal Receptionist Job Description for Resume

A resume can be produced for seeking the position of legal receptionist by using the information in the job description example above.

The activities shown above can be adapted in making the professional experience section of the resume to show that you have the competence to do the job.

Legal Receptionist Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

A legal receptionist will be more effective and productive on the job by developing the following skills, abilities, and other qualities that are usually required by the majority of employers when hiring:

• Possession of two or more years working experience in a high volume law office.
• Possession of a Paralegal Certificate approved by ABA or willingness to undergo the program.
• Ability to perform receptionist and administrative functions, such as greeting visitors to the office, answering telephone calls, and taking down messages.
• Strong orientation for quality customer service delivery, and pleasant attitude on phone.
• Possession of strong ability to give attention to detail, perform multiple tasks together, and work effectively with other members in a team setting.
• Outstanding organizational skills to effectively process and carry out items on calendar.
• Knowledge of mail room procedures and mail processing techniques.
• Proficient using diverse computer databases for data entry; adept at working with Microsoft Word and Excel packages.
• Ability to type 40 plus words per minute.

Legal Receptionist Resources

To help in making you a better legal receptionist and taking your career to the top, here are useful resources you can access:

Professional Organizations

Useful Blogs

Helpful Books