Legal assistant screening questions: calendaring, filings, billing and the title trap
On this page
- Which seat is this: legal assistant, legal secretary or paralegal?
- The title rule in California
- Knockout questions
- Calendaring and deadline questions
- Filing, formatting and document questions
- Billing and time entry
- Confidentiality and ethics scenarios
- Credentials
- How legal assistant resumes overstate the work
- Knockout checklist and scorecard
- Legal cautions
- Questions people ask
Legal assistant screening questions should pin down whom the candidate supported (how many attorneys, at what level, in which practice), how they kept calendars and court deadlines, what they filed and formatted themselves, and how they handled billing entries and confidential information. In some states the title itself carries legal requirements, so check the title before you post the job or submit a candidate.
This page is for the administrative and attorney-support role. If the job is substantive legal work under supervision, such as drafting discovery, summarizing depositions or preparing closing sets, use paralegal screening questions, which covers practice areas, discovery and paralegal certifications in depth. For support roles outside law firms, see administrative assistant screening questions.
Which seat is this: legal assistant, legal secretary or paralegal?
| What the client calls it | What the job usually is | Ask the client |
|---|---|---|
| Legal secretary or legal administrative assistant | Calendars, correspondence, formatting, filings, expense reports, time entry, phones | "How many attorneys, and what share of the day is calendaring and filing?" |
| Legal assistant | Anywhere from secretarial support to near-paralegal work, depending on the firm | "Will this person draft anything substantive, or format and file what attorneys draft?" |
| Litigation legal assistant | Court calendaring, e-filing, service, exhibit preparation, trial binders | "Which courts, and does the firm use a rules-based calendaring system?" |
| Transactional legal assistant | Document versions, signature pages, closing logistics, entity filings | "Which deal types, and who manages the closing checklist?" |
The title rule in California
As of October 2026, not legal advice. California Business and Professions Code section 6454 says the terms "paralegal", "legal assistant", "attorney assistant", "freelance paralegal", "independent paralegal" and "contract paralegal" are synonymous for that chapter. A person working under any of those titles falls under section 6450, which sets qualification routes (education or supervised experience) and continuing legal education every two years, including legal ethics hours. Confirm the firm's approach with its counsel.
In practice, a California firm hiring for a purely administrative role often posts it as legal secretary or legal administrative assistant. If the client insists on "legal assistant" in California, ask the candidate which section 6450 qualification route they meet and whether their continuing education is current, the same as you would for a paralegal. Outside California, check the state where the job is located for any title rules, and note that titles like "legal document assistant" or state-licensed paraprofessional roles carry their own rules.
Knockout questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| The role supports [number] attorneys in [practice]. How many did you support last, and at what level? | A number, the levels (partner, associate), and the practice. | "The whole department," with no named attorneys or matters. |
| The office is in person [days], hours [hours], with some late filings. Does that work? | Yes, with a realistic view of late days before deadlines. | Hard stop at 5 p.m. for a litigation group that files at the deadline. |
| The firm uses [document management, time and billing, e-filing] tools. Which have you used? | Names the systems and what they did in each. | "All the usual ones." |
| The salary range is [range]. Does that fit? | Yes, or a number. Ask expectations, not salary history. | None, if within range. |
Calendaring and deadline questions
Missed deadlines are the most expensive mistake a legal assistant can make, so spend the most time here.
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"An order comes in setting a hearing and a briefing schedule. Walk me through what you do with it."
- Strong answer: saves it to the matter, enters the hearing and each deadline (opposition, reply) with reminders, uses the firm's calendaring rules or software, has a second person or the attorney confirm, and emails the team.
- Red flags: puts it on the attorney's calendar only, with no reminders and no check.
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"Who calculated deadlines from court rules at your last firm, you or a docketing department?"
- Strong answer: an honest split: "Docketing calculated, I entered and tracked" or "I calculated from the local rules and the attorney confirmed."
- Red flags: claims to calculate deadlines but cannot describe how service method or court holidays change them.
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"Tell me about a deadline that nearly slipped. What happened and what did you change?"
- Strong answer: a specific case, told without blame, and a process change afterward.
- Red flags: "Never happened," from someone supporting several litigators.
Filing, formatting and document questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| Which courts have you e-filed in, and what goes wrong most often? | Names the courts and systems and specific problems: file size limits, PDF format rules, wrong event codes, missing exhibits, and how they fixed them. | Has only watched someone else file. |
| An attorney sends a brief at 4:30 p.m. due at midnight. What do you do before filing? | Checks formatting against the court's rules, tables of contents and authorities, exhibits and bookmarks, signature blocks, proof of service, and gets final sign-off. | Files whatever arrives without a check. |
| How do you handle versions when three people are editing a document? | Uses the document management system's versioning, runs comparisons for redlines, and names files consistently. | Emails attachments back and forth with "final_final". |
| Do you take dictation or transcribe audio? | An honest answer, and what they used. | Claims heavy dictation experience, then cannot name the workflow. |
Billing and time entry
Many legal assistants enter attorneys' time, prepare prebills and track expenses. Ask how it worked.
- "Did you enter time for attorneys, or review their entries?" Strong: describes the system, the task codes the clients required, and catching block-billed or vague entries before bills went out.
- "What did you do with a prebill?" Strong: checks entries against the matter, flags write-offs for the attorney, and never edits time without the attorney's approval.
- "Did you have your own billable target?" Some firms bill assistant time. Get the number and whether they met it; it tells you how the last firm used them.
Confidentiality and ethics scenarios
Lawyers are responsible for making sure their nonlawyer assistants act consistently with the lawyer's obligations, as ABA Model Rule 5.3 describes, and those obligations include confidentiality under Model Rule 1.6. States adopt their own versions. The paralegal page covers the settlement advice and conflict scenarios; these three fit an assistant's day.
- "You email a draft to the wrong person outside the firm." Strong: tells the attorney immediately, does not try to quietly fix it, follows the firm's procedure. Red flag: hopes nobody notices.
- "A friend asks you about a case your firm is handling that is in the news." Strong: says nothing about the matter. Red flag: shares "only what's public" plus a bit more.
- "A caller says they are the client's spouse and asks for a status update." Strong: confirms nothing without the attorney's authorization. Red flag: gives the update because the caller knows details.
Credentials
No license is required for a legal assistant role outside the title rules above. Some candidates hold a paralegal certificate or certification (covered on the paralegal page) or a credential for legal support staff from NALS, the association for legal professionals. Credential names have changed over time, so ask for the exact credential and the year, and confirm with the issuer if the client requires it.
How legal assistant resumes overstate the work
- "Paralegal duties" that turn out to be formatting and filing what the paralegal drafted.
- "Managed calendars" when a docketing department calculated every deadline. Fine, but say so to the client.
- "Supported the litigation group" of twenty attorneys, when they worked for two.
- Software lists copied from the job description. Ask what they did in each tool last week.
Knockout checklist and scorecard
Pass or fail
- Supported a comparable number and level of attorneys in a related practice.
- Can work the schedule, including late filing days.
- In California: meets the section 6450 route if the title is legal assistant.
- Salary expectation within range.
Scored 0 to 2 each (10 possible)
- Calendaring: a described system with a second check.
- Filing: has filed personally in relevant courts and fixed real problems.
- Formatting and versions: specific habits.
- Billing: knows the time entry and prebill process.
- Confidentiality: correct instincts on all three scenarios.
A 20-minute formatting exercise (clean up a pleading with a table of authorities, or compare two versions) is a fair final check if every candidate gets the same one. Check one attorney reference with the reference check template, and ask salary expectations rather than history; see salary expectation questions.
Legal cautions
Avoid questions about age, family plans or childcare when discussing late nights; describe the schedule and ask whether they can meet it. Criminal history questions are restricted in many places; see ban-the-box interview questions. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a legal assistant and a paralegal?
Firms use the titles differently. In many firms a legal assistant (or legal secretary) handles calendaring, filings, formatting, correspondence and billing for one or more attorneys, while a paralegal does substantive legal work such as drafting discovery and summarizing records. Ask what the role actually does rather than relying on the title.
Does California treat legal assistant as the same title as paralegal?
Yes. California Business and Professions Code section 6454 says the terms paralegal, legal assistant, attorney assistant and several others are synonymous for that chapter, so a person called a legal assistant there falls under the paralegal qualification and continuing education rules in section 6450. Firms that want an administrative role often use a title such as legal secretary. Confirm with counsel.
How many attorneys can one legal assistant support?
It depends on practice area and the attorneys' volume, and there is no standard ratio. Ask the client how many attorneys and what kind of matters, then ask the candidate how many they supported, at what level, and what slipped when it got busy.
Should I test typing speed for a legal assistant?
Only if the job genuinely needs it, such as heavy dictation or transcription, and give every candidate the same test. A formatting task, such as cleaning up a pleading or a redline, usually tells you more than raw speed.