Legal Jobs Key Terms

Learn more about job titles within law offices and the courtroom

By Michelle Cramer

A career in the legal field can be very promising. It is an ideal career choice for someone who likes challenges and prefers new and exciting daily occurrences, rather than the mundane repetitiveness of some desk jobs. Legal jobs encompass those within a law firm as well as jobs within local, state and federal courthouses. If a career in the legal field interests you, the following job descriptions will help you decide where to focus your efforts.

Attorney

An attorney, or lawyer, is the most obvious legal position. It requires at least three years of law school after obtaining a bachelor's degree, passing of the bar exam within your state and continuing legal education (CLE) credits each year. Attorneys can cover a broad spectrum of case types, or focus on one particular law field, such as personal injury, family law, bankruptcy, medical negligence and many others.
Try: PayScale offers more information about the duties of a lawyer.

Court clerk

A court clerk handles the clerical and financial aspects of cases once a petitioner (or the plaintiff) submits the first pleading and filing fee. Court clerks are the first contact for questions about how to file a case or for docket information on a case already within the court system.
Try: Visit the National Center for State Courts website for more details about the court clerk position.

Judge

Judges, sometimes called magistrates, administer the law in a court case on city, county, state and federal levels. They oversee case proceedings, maintaining order and compliance within the courtroom. Judges determine what the next legal step should be in a case and, in trials without a jury, decide the winning party and judgment details at the conclusion of a case. They have several years of experience as attorneys before becoming judges.
Try: Learn more about the important position of a judge from Career Planner and State University.

Professional legal secretary (PLS)

A professional legal secretary (PLS) is also known as paralegal. Paralegals and legal assistants (those without the PLS certification) perform many of the medial tasks in a law firm, such as general communication with the clients, drafting pleadings and correspondence and additional clerical duties.
Try: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a thorough explanation of what a PLS does.

Runner

Runners, as most law offices call them, are exactly that. These individuals run errands for the law firm, such as taking court pleadings to the courthouse, making copies of court documents, picking up office supplies and even picking up lunch orders for office staff. Additionally, many runners are responsible for helping legal assistants with their clerical duties, such as filing documents or answering the telephone. Unlike other legal employees, runners typically receive an hourly wage.
Try: Career Depot provides the job description for a filing clerk, which is very similar to that of a runner, but with more specific clerical tasks.

Court reporter

Court reporters must make verbatim records of all in-court proceedings, such as trials and important out-of-court proceedings, like depositions. They have training on a typing machine system that uses shorthand to make sure that they miss nothing in regard to the verbal exchange between parties.
Try: Visit State University for details on this particular job. For more key jobs within the legal field, visit the National Center for State Courts' database of court job descriptions, which includes court reporter.