Legal Secretarial & Paralegal Courses For Careers
Legal secretaries come into the profession in a variety of different ways - some with more specialised skills than others. So let's take a look at the job itself, and explore the various options that could lead into it.
Most days, the bulk of a legal secretary's work will be typing up official papers such as contracts or wills, and letters from lawyers to their clients. In many smaller offices, legal secretaries perform a host of general secretarial roles as well. There are also some jobs that are specific to the legal industry, such as accompanying lawyers to court attendances.
If you've already had secretarial training or experience, you may want to take a specialist course to improve your skill-set for the industry. Different law firms will have their own specialities, and focus on one area of the law, such as criminal law or civil law. Which means there's a great variety of work - and then some offices are concerned with family law, and others might be concerned with company law.
Having said that, if you work for a small firm of lawyers you'll probably deal with more varied tasks than if you work for a big law company. So to re-cap - most of the work will be done sitting at your desk in the office. There's often the chance for legal secretaries to work part-time, and in fact some companies encourage job-sharing. The expected starting salary is generally around 13-15k, but can go on to reach 30k plus, depending on your skill-set and experience.
Training for Legal Secretaries
So, what does an employer look for when considering a legal secretary? High importance will be placed on excellent audio-typing abilities and copy speeds (60wpm plus - ideally reaching 70wpm or more). Painstaking attention to detail will be needed alongside an appreciation of legal terminology and concepts.
Passes in English and Maths at GCSE level should be offered as a minimum. Obviously without good spelling and composition you're unlikely to succeed in this work.
Many companies now utilise Microsoft Office Products, and therefore a good practical understanding of Microsoft Word along with PowerPoint and Excel are definitely welcomed. For training to Proficient or Expert level in all the necessary Microsoft applications, the training to look at is Microsoft Office Specialist (MS Office 2003) or Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MS Office 2007).
Various training colleges are featured here, so why not Bookmark this page for easy reference? Then you can come back at your convenience to review the options.
There are quite a number of well established secretarial colleges promoting their services on the internet - see what information they have that's useful. Legal secretarial work attracts people from many different administrative roles, so competition can be tough. Employers are looking for people who can bring benefits to their organisation so don't be afraid to blow your own trumpet - if you excel at something let them know how that skill could make their life easier. Check and double check your CV before you send it to an employer though. You could fall at the first hurdle if you're spelling's not up to snuff!
What's the Next Stage?
Many legal firms train their Legal Secretaries 'on-the-job', in order to precisely meet their exact requirements. Some organisations offer in-house training programmes and others may encourage employees to work towards external professional qualifications.
Various Legal Secretarial training programmes are available, and they can be quite in-depth. You might start by learning about legal forms and documents and confidentiality procedures. Then there's the court system and structure and how laws are made. The real meat will cover the specific subject matter that your employer's work involves, which for example could be Wills & Probate, Property Law or Family Law.
The cost of training depends on what you do, but most legal secretaries pay several hundred pounds to learn their skills. Certain PC skills may be included in the training, but for professional certifications refer to specialist IT Training Providers. There are a lot of colleges to choose from - look carefully at the features their courses provide to find the best one for you.
How To Go On To Become A Legal Executive
A natural progression for the experienced and career-focused Legal Secretary could be Legal Executive training. These are exciting times for Legal Executives. Outside of the High Court, fully qualified and experienced Legal Executives can undertake many of the legal activities that solicitors do. That said, due to the County Courts (Rights of Audience) Direction being extended, many senior Legal Executives now work on behalf of clients in the Magistrates Courts and County Courts. Clearly the level of training they've had will reflect the work they do. As with other lawyers, legal execs can cover a wide range of disciplines. Our aim in this information sheet has been to give you a taste of how life could be for you as a professional Legal Secretary. With so many training options available to you, isn't it time to get the ball rolling?
