Hiring guide: legal support
Hiring a legal secretary, legal assistant or paralegal in 2026
By Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully. Updated .
The short answer
In regional firms outside London, legal secretaries typically earn £24,000 to £33,000 in 2026, legal and conveyancing assistants £23,500 to £30,000, and support paralegals £24,500 to £34,000. The UK median is around £26,000 for legal secretaries and £28,000 for paralegals, and London pays more, with legal secretaries averaging around £36,000. A 20% agency fee on a £28,000 legal secretary is £5,600; a Sourcefully flat fee is £3,000 plus VAT.
Support roles are where most law firms do most of their hiring, and where pay has moved fastest. Rising minimum wage and competition from other sectors have pushed entry pay up, and adverts priced at last year's rates now attract very few experienced applicants.
The figures below are typical ranges for regional firms outside London, with national and London reference points.
Salaries in 2026
Legal support roles, regional firms
| Role | Typical range 2026 | What moves pay |
|---|---|---|
| Legal receptionist | £23,500 to £27,000 | File opening, ID checks and diary work push towards the top |
| Legal secretary | £24,000 to £33,000 | Practice area, number of fee earners supported and document complexity |
| Legal or conveyancing assistant | £23,500 to £30,000 | Running your own files moves the role into paralegal pay |
| Paralegal (support) | £24,500 to £34,000 | Practice area first, then file ownership |
| Legal cashier | £28,000 to £38,000 | Scale of client account and SRA Accounts Rules responsibility |
Legal secretaries by level, regional firms
| Level | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Junior, up to 2 years | £24,000 to £27,000 |
| Mid-level, conveyancing, private client, family or litigation | £27,000 to £30,500 |
| Senior or specialist, supporting several fee earners | £30,000 to £33,000 |
National reference points
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| UK median, legal secretary (ONS ASHE) | around £26,000 |
| UK median, paralegal (ONS ASHE) | around £28,000 |
| London average, legal secretary (Indeed, July 2026) | £36,363 |
Support and paralegal bands are typical ranges for regional firms outside London. For reference, ONS earnings data puts the UK median at around £26,000 for legal secretaries and £28,000 for paralegals. London pays more: Indeed reports an average of £36,363 for London legal secretaries (July 2026).
In many regional markets there is a ceiling of around £30,000 for non-fee-earning secretaries. Past that, firms expect billing, file ownership or direct client work. If the role carries those, see the guide to fee-earning paralegals.
What it costs to hire
Compared with a typical agency fee of 20% of first-year salary, Sourcefully's flat fees are set by salary band and paid when your hire starts. For roles from £45,000, £500 is due when the search starts and deducted from the fee. Fees are plus VAT.
| Role | Salary | Agency at 20% | Sourcefully flat fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal receptionist | £25,000 | £5,000 | £3,000 |
| Legal secretary | £28,000 | £5,600 | £3,000 |
| Support paralegal | £27,000 | £5,400 | £3,000 |
Hiring several roles a year? The Embedded Talent Partner retainer is £2,750 a month plus £1,000 per start. It covers up to three live roles at a time, with adverts under your own brand. Use the Recruitment Cost Audit to see which option works out cheaper for your volume.
What the support market is like
Advertising below the range is the most common reason a support role stalls. A legal secretary role advertised at £25,000 to £27,000 in a regional city now attracts few experienced applicants.
Watch for salary compression. New starters can now join on close to what your loyal, experienced support staff earn, and they notice. Budget for the new hire and for the conversation it may prompt with your existing team.
The secretary role is also changing. Digital dictation, document automation and AI drafting tools mean many firms now hire legal assistants who combine secretarial work with file support, and price the role accordingly.
What to look for when you screen
- Practice area experience. A conveyancing secretary and a litigation secretary have very different skill sets.
- How many fee earners they supported, and at what level.
- Case management and document systems they have used.
- Accuracy and speed with dictation and document production. Test it.
- Client contact: phone, reception and correspondence.
- Their ambitions. Some want a stable long-term role, others a route to paralegal or qualification. Both are fine, but know which you are hiring.
How to make your role stand out
- Put the salary in the advert.
- Say how many fee earners the role supports.
- Offer hybrid working where the role allows it.
- Show a progression route, even an informal one.
More hiring guides
- Residential conveyancing
- Private client
- Corporate and commercial
- Family
- Employment
- Fee-earning paralegals
See also the law firm salary guide 2026, how much legal recruitment costs and all hiring guides.
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Frequently asked questions
What does a legal secretary earn in 2026?
Outside London, most legal secretary roles pay £24,000 to £33,000, around a UK median of £26,000. Juniors start around £24,000 to £27,000, experienced secretaries in conveyancing, private client, family or litigation earn £27,000 to £30,500, and senior secretaries supporting several fee earners reach £33,000. London averages around £36,000.
What is the difference between a legal secretary and a legal assistant?
A legal secretary mainly produces documents and manages diaries and correspondence for fee earners. A legal assistant usually adds file support: chasing, preparing bundles, simple drafting and client updates. Many firms now combine the two.
When does a support paralegal become a fee earner?
When their time is recorded against client matters, they have a billing or contribution target, or their work appears on client bills. Once that happens, the market expects fee earner pay.
How much does it cost to recruit a legal secretary?
A typical agency fee of 20% on a £28,000 legal secretary is £5,600. Sourcefully charges a flat £3,000 plus VAT for roles under £30,000, paid when your hire starts.
About the author
Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully
Ben has 15 years in recruitment, including internal recruitment at Reed and The Edwin Group. He founded RecQuest, a South Coast legal recruitment business, in 2025 and partnered with 45 law firms, making nearly a placement a week. He now runs Sourcefully, offering law firms embedded recruitment and fixed-fee hiring.