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Choosing Legal Secretarial or Paralegal Courses

Legal secretaries come into the profession in a variety of different ways - some with more specialised skills than others. Let's first explore what legal secretarial work actually involves and then work backwards to look at the training you might need to get into the industry.

The majority of the work will involve typing correspondence on behalf of the lawyers you work for, and preparing legal forms and documents. In many smaller offices, legal secretaries perform a host of general secretarial roles as well. Equally you might have to deal with legal enquiries from potential clients, or even take notes in court.

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. Legal professionals will either work on criminal cases or civil cases, or a division of one of those. 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.

As a rule though, the bigger the practice the more specialised the work is likely to be. Small local firms may only have one legal secretary who will handle everything.

The job itself is mainly office-based, and the majority of work will be done on the computer (although that can vary from firm to firm.) Normal weekday office hours are standard, with the usual statutory entitlements. Some legal secretaries in larger offices work on a flexi-time arrangement. Most legal secretaries earn over 15,000pa after their first year in the industry, and many go on to receive excellent remuneration packages after several years.

Certification and Training

So, what does an employer look for when considering a legal secretary? Outstanding keyboard & computer skills would be high on the list of requirements, alongside a good command of the English language. You should also be very accurate, pay attention to detail, have good organisational skills and an interest in the law.

You should have English and Maths GCSE's at least, although there are no actual formally agreed certifications for legal secretaries. Obviously without good spelling and composition you're unlikely to succeed in this work. Microsoft Office is used extensively in the commercial world, which means you must have a good understanding of Word in particular. Study for an ECDL for basic computer user skills, or MOS or MCAS for more advanced Microsoft Office professional skills.

Various training colleges are featured here, so why not Bookmark this page for easy reference? Then you can access any of them without wasting time.

Any administrative or secretarial qualifications will stand you in good stead. In some parts of the country competition for jobs can be high, so it's important to give yourself an advantage. When you apply for work, list everything you can contribute that's constructive and relevant to the job, but don't spend too long on unrelated issues. Your CV must obviously be presented flawlessly - that document will tell an employer a lot about the standard of your work!

What Is My Route To Get In?

Many legal firms train their Legal Secretaries 'on-the-job', in order to precisely meet their exact requirements. The bigger law firms may have their own training schemes, but it's more common for individuals to study alongside their job with an outside training provider.

Training specifically for legal secretarial work features a diverse range of topics. For starters, you'll be taught about confidential ethics and practices, and be given an overview of the documents that legal secretaries deal with. Then there's the court system and structure and how laws are made. However the bulk of your studies will probably focus on the subject matter relevant to your law firm's expertise, which might be Land Law, Family Law, Criminal Law or one or more of many other legal areas.

Training prices range from a few hundred pounds to around a thousand pounds, but of course that depends on how much you need to learn. 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.

Legal Executive Training

Further training can lead to becoming a qualified Legal Executive. Legal Executives must continue training throughout their careers to keep abreast of the latest legal developments. With the exception of representing clients in the High Court, most of their activities can be similar to other lawyers.

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. Which courts they can work in largely depends on the area and level of their expertise. As with other lawyers, legal execs can cover a wide range of disciplines.

To sum up, training and gaining certifications for work as a legal secretary will give you the confidence to pursue a highly valued career path.

Why not take a closer look now at some of the possible options open to you.