Not Very Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Legal Secs & Admin Asst.:
28.5%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Low
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Med
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
Low
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
Most data sources align, with only minor variation. This is a well-supported result.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forLegal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
$55,570 median salary•18,100 annual openings•SOC Code: 43-6012.00
Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants are less resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 7 sources.
This career is labeled "Not Very Resilient" because so many of the core daily tasks, like drafting correspondence, summarizing documents, organizing files, and scheduling, are exactly what AI tools are already doing well and being widely adopted to handle. Legal professionals are using AI for these tasks at rapidly growing rates, which means the traditional workload of a legal secretary is shrinking or shifting rather than staying the same.
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This career is labeled "Not Very Resilient" because so many of the core daily tasks, like drafting correspondence, summarizing documents, organizing files, and scheduling, are exactly what AI tools are already doing well and being widely adopted to handle. Legal professionals are using AI for these tasks at rapidly growing rates, which means the traditional workload of a legal secretary is shrinking or shifting rather than staying the same.
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View analysisChat with CoachLatest newsMore career infoAnalysisChatNewsMoreAnalysis of Current AI Resilience
Legal Secs & Admin Asst.
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Legal Secs & Admin Asst. jobs?
If you're worried about AI taking over legal admin jobs, here's the honest picture: AI is showing up fast, but mostly as a helper — not a replacement. The 2026 Legal Industry Report from 8am, highlighted by the American Bar Association [1], found that 69% of legal professionals now personally use generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude for work — more than double the year before. Most of what they use it for overlaps directly with legal secretary tasks: drafting correspondence (58%), conducting general research (58%), brainstorming (54%), and summarizing documents (47%).
The Association of Legal Administrators [2] is even training support staff to apply AI to "real-world administrative tasks like summarizing notes, drafting communications and organizing internal documentation" — framing it as augmentation, not replacement. Scheduling, invoicing, and memo-drafting bots are already common, while more human-judgment tasks (like helping attorneys collect sensitive medical or employment records) still lean on people.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Legal Secs & Admin Asst.?
Adoption is moving quickly. According to the North Carolina Bar Association [3], solo and small firms report very high AI adoption (71% of solo practitioners and 75% of small firms), though more than half of solo and small firms report having no AI policy (57% of solos and 55% of small firms) — meaning firms are eager but cautious about confidentiality. The Thomson Reuters Institute's 2026 report [4] describes AI as a "capacity-builder" that helps overworked legal teams handle staffing shortages.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [5] projects overall secretary and administrative assistant employment to decline about 2% from 2025 to 2035, but still expects roughly 314,400 openings each year as workers retire or move on. And Robert Half's 2026 legal hiring outlook [6] shows employers now prize people who can "blend legal expertise with the ability to work effectively with modern legal technology" — so building AI skills is the clearest way to stay valuable.
Sources
Will AI replace Legal Secs & Admin Asst.?
In part. We think AI will eventually automate a real share of this work, but the transition will be gradual and will open doors for people who adapt early.
Our 28.5% AI Resilience Score reflects how much of this role sits squarely in AI's wheelhouse: drafting correspondence, scheduling, summarizing documents, organizing records. These tasks are already being handled by generative AI tools that 69% of legal professionals now use personally [1]. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about a 2% employment decline through 2035, though it still expects roughly 314,400 openings per year as workers retire or move on [5]. That means the field is shrinking slowly, not collapsing overnight.
What stays human for now is judgment under pressure: handling sensitive client information, reading a room, knowing when an attorney needs something before they ask. Those moments matter in legal settings where trust and confidentiality are everything [3].
The clearest path forward is treating AI as a skill to build, not a threat to wait out. Employers are already looking for people who can blend legal knowledge with modern technology [6]. Legal admin experience translates well into paralegal roles, legal operations, and compliance work. The job as it exists today will change significantly. Your career does not have to.
Sources
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Latest AI news for Legal Secs & Admin Asst.
These articles highlight the dual impact of AI on careers for legal secretaries and administrative assistants. While AI poses a threat to job security in clerical roles, it also presents opportunities for those who adapt. For instance, the Finance Yahoo article notes that administrative assistants are finding ways to leverage AI tools to enhance productivity amid declining job numbers. Additionally, research shows that women in these roles face significant risks, emphasizing the need for resilience and continuous skill development to thrive in an evolving job market.
📈 Interactive Data Briefing: Projected AI and IT Employment
www.arkansasbusiness.com • 9/19/2026
AI is projected to drive job growth in computer and mathematical occupations while reducing demand for some office and administrative...
A grim job outlook meets a scrappy workforce as administrative assistants harness AI
finance.yahoo.com • 7/2/2026
With their numbers already in decline, secretaries and administrative assistants face another growing threat: artificial intelligence tools...
U.S. starting to see heavy job losses in roles exposed to AI
www.detroitnews.com • 5/16/2026
Several occupations saw heavy job losses for a second year in 2025, led by customer service representatives and certain types of secretaries...
More than 48,000 New Mexico jobs highly vulnerable to AI disruption
www.bizjournals.com • 3/29/2026
Research reveals which workers lack the skills and resources to adapt as AI reshapes the job market, with women disproportionately at risk.
AI poses bigger threat in jobs with more women, study finds
www.cbsnews.com • 1/29/2026
Workers in clerical and administrative roles could have the most trouble adapting to the impact of AI on jobs, new research shows.
More Career Info
Career: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
They help lawyers by organizing files, scheduling meetings, and handling important paperwork to keep everything running smoothly.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$55,570
Jobs (2025)
157,600
Growth (2025-35)
-5.2%
Annual Openings
18,100
Education
High school diploma or equivalent
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Attend legal meetings, such as client interviews, hearings, or depositions, and take notes.
2
Make photocopies of correspondence, documents, and other printed matter.
3
Assist attorneys in collecting information such as employment, medical, and other records.
4
Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
5
Receive and place telephone calls.
6
Prepare, proofread, or process legal documents, such as summonses, subpoenas, complaints, appeals, motions, or pretrial agreements.
7
Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
