Assistant for a lawyer in Dubai non-legal tasks to delegate, which type fits and what it costs

A typical week without an assistant

Nothing here is a scandal. It is a steady leak of billable time and attention.

• A filing deadline is in your head and in three emails, not in one calendar; you notice it the evening before
• A client meeting is booked over a hearing in another emirate because two people wrote to you on two channels
• Version chaos: the client comments on draft 3 while you work on draft 5, and the signed copy is somewhere in WhatsApp
• Client intake happens in your inbox: the same questions, the conflict check done from memory, the engagement letter sent a week late
• Hours are in a notebook, invoices go out late and the reminder for the unpaid one is never sent
• Travel, a licence or membership renewal and family logistics are squeezed into the hour before court

What the assistant takes over

Everything below is administrative support. Legal advice, drafting legal positions, signing and representing the client are the lawyer's work only.

• Business: one calendar for hearings, filings, meetings and internal deadlines with reminders at agreed intervals; conflicts flagged early; travel time between courts, offices and free zones included
• Business: document flow on your instruction, naming and version control in your document system, collecting documents and signatures from clients, preparing bundles and courier runs, keeping the matter file in order
• Business: client intake administration, a standard first reply within an agreed time, collecting basic information for the conflict check that the lawyer performs, sending the engagement letter you approved, scheduling the first meeting
• Business: billing support, pulling time entries from the system into a draft invoice for your review, sending approved invoices, polite payment reminders, keeping the receivables list current
• Personal: travel and hotels, personal document renewals, medical and family appointments, gifts and events
• Household (hybrid assistant): coordination of household staff, repairs, school runs and the family calendar
• Not delegated: legal advice to anyone, deciding what a document means, signing, filing under your name without your explicit instruction, moving client money or trust funds, confidential matters of the firm's staff

Which type fits and what it costs

Pick by the volume of matters and by how much of your private life needs running. Salary lines are market estimates in AED per month, full package of basic salary plus allowances; the employer also pays visa, health insurance and a gratuity provision.

• Sole practitioner or in-house counsel: an administrative assistant with document-system and calendar skills, about 5,000 - 8,000, senior 8,000 - 11,000
• Partner in a firm with a busy diary and travel: an executive assistant, about 12,000 - 20,000; a senior one for a managing partner with confidential matters 20,000 - 30,000
• Lawyer whose home life also needs an owner: a hybrid multi-assistant for business plus personal plus household, about 10,000 - 18,000, senior 18,000 - 25,000
• Overflow of scheduling, intake replies and billing drafts without physical presence: a virtual assistant, orientation 3,500 - 8,000 part-time or remote; weigh confidentiality first
• One person is enough for one lawyer or a small practice; when the firm has several partners, intake volume and billing every week, split into an executive assistant and a legal secretary or billing coordinator
• A paralegal is a different hire: they do legal work under supervision; an assistant protects your time

How to find and check

Good candidates come from law firm secretarial desks, corporate services and company formation firms, notary and typing centres with document discipline, and executive assistant roles in finance and consulting. Test discipline and discretion, not legal knowledge.

• Practical skills assessment: a list of 20 dated items (hearings, filings, meetings, a flight) with two hidden conflicts; ask for a clean calendar with reminders and a note of what needs your decision
• Email triage: 15 messages, some from clients, one from a court or authority, one marked privileged; which are urgent, which are forwarded to whom, what is drafted for the lawyer
• Profession-specific task: a bundle checklist for a matter with ten documents in three versions; the right one goes to the client, the rest is archived with a naming rule they propose
• Billing task: turn a sample timesheet into a draft invoice and a two-line payment reminder
• Red flags: shares a previous employer's client names or matter details in the interview, treats deadlines as approximate, cannot describe a version-control habit
• Probation plan: weeks 1-2 calendar and document system with you approving every outgoing item, weeks 3-4 intake replies and billing drafts, month 2 bundles and client documents, with a written review each month

Risks and boundaries

An assistant to a lawyer sees privileged information. Boundaries are not optional and must be written down before day one.

• Confidentiality and non-disclosure in the employment contract, plus the firm's rules on privileged documents, explained and signed; a breach is a dismissal matter, say so in advance
• Access by role: the document system under their own login with permissions by matter, delegated access to your calendar and inbox, no personal passwords, two-step verification everywhere
• Money: the assistant prepares invoices and reminders; client money, trust accounts and bank approvals never pass through them
• Communication rule: the assistant confirms, schedules and collects; any question that starts with "can I" or "what does this mean" goes to the lawyer
• Dependence on one person: a handover document with deadlines calendar rules, document naming, key contacts and recurring tasks; a second person in the firm who can cover the calendar
• Leaving: access is removed on the last day and the handover is checked, not assumed

How we help

TLNT is a hiring consultancy. We help a lawyer or a law firm define the assistant's scope, set the salary range as a market estimate, find and assess candidates with a practical skills assessment on real tasks (deadlines calendar, document versions, intake replies, a draft invoice) and prepare a clear offer. You make the hiring decision and agree the terms with the candidate yourself; the person is employed directly by your firm, the employer sponsors the visa and we give you a step-by-step checklist. See also our executive assistant and administrative assistant pages.

Our fee is fixed for each role and agreed before the search starts. A 10% prepayment of the fee starts the search, the rest is due once the person has started work. If it does not work out, we find a replacement free of charge; the period is set in the contract. Consulting and CRM projects are priced after a free review.