Paralegals may also perform clerical and administrative duties as needed, especially in a small office. However, as paralegals typically earn higher wages than legal secretaries, many offices reserve their paralegal’s time for higher level tasks.hile they still may perform administrative tasks, many paralegals assume much of a lawyer’s workload, employing an advanced understanding of the legal system. This frees the lawyer to focus on more detailed work and saves clients money, as paralegal services are not as costly as that of lawyers.