---
title: "Will AI Replace Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants?"
description: "BLS rates legal secretaries and administrative assistants' exposure to AI as very high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-legal-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants? (2026)

**Short answer:** This is one of the most exposed jobs, and BLS projects it to shrink. Exposure is not a forecast of job loss on its own, but here the two point the same way.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places legal secretaries and administrative assistants in its very high AI exposure category, among the occupations most exposed to current AI. BLS projects employment to fall by 5.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 18,100 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Very high | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 17/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | -5.2% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 18,100 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $55,570 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high (this job) | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Face-to-face discussions: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Making decisions and solving problems: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Dealing with the public: 3.6/5 (O\*NET work context)

## What AI reaches first

- Processing information: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Performing administrative activities: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Repeating the same tasks: 4.2/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Documenting/recording information: 4.0/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## O\*NET tasks

- Mail, fax, or arrange for delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
- Make photocopies of correspondence, documents, and other printed matter.
- Receive and place telephone calls.
- Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
- Schedule and make appointments.
- Draft and type office memos.

## Related careers less exposed to AI than legal secretaries and administrative assistants

- [Postal Service Mail Sorter, Processor, and Processing Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-sorter-processor-and-processing-machine-operator): BLS exposure Low, median $58,470; [Will AI replace postal service mail sorters?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-postal-service-mail-sorters)
- [Postal Service Mail Carrier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-carrier): BLS exposure Moderate, median $60,550; [Will AI replace postal service mail carriers?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-postal-service-mail-carriers)
- [Weigher, Measurer, Checker, and Sampler, Recordkeeping](https://nuecareer.com/careers/weigher-measurer-checker-and-sampler-recordkeeping): BLS exposure Moderate, median $46,380
- [Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shipping-receiving-and-inventory-clerk): BLS exposure High, median $45,260; [Will AI replace shipping clerks?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-shipping-clerks)
- [Postal Service Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-clerk): BLS exposure High, median $62,130
- [New Accounts Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/new-accounts-clerk): BLS exposure High, median $47,670

## FAQ

**Will AI replace legal secretaries and administrative assistants?**

This is one of the most exposed jobs, and BLS projects it to shrink. Exposure is not a forecast of job loss on its own, but here the two point the same way. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to fall by 5.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 18,100 openings a year.

**How exposed are legal secretaries and administrative assistants to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants are in the very high category, alongside 198 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a legal secretary and administrative assistant's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are processing information, performing administrative activities and repeating the same tasks. The parts that hold up best are establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships, face-to-face discussions and making decisions and solving problems. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a legal secretary and administrative assistant a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, legal secretaries and administrative assistants score 17 out of 100, higher than 9% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $55,570 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

**What careers similar to legal secretaries and administrative assistants are less exposed to AI?**

Postal Service Mail Sorter, Processor, and Processing Machine Operator (low exposure, $58,470 median), Postal Service Mail Carrier (moderate exposure, $60,550 median), Weigher, Measurer, Checker, and Sampler, Recordkeeping (moderate exposure, $46,380 median), Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk (high exposure, $45,260 median). Each is in a lower BLS exposure category than legal secretaries and administrative assistants, and most are listed by O\*NET as related to the work.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/legal-secretary-and-administrative-assistant.

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This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology