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Looking At Legal Secretary Courses?

Legal secretarial work can be extremely interesting and rewarding for anyone with the right disciplines and skills. 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 core duty of a legal secretary is typing letters and other legal documents such as Wills, Contracts and Leases etc. Some legal secretaries deal with a whole host of office administration as well - from email monitoring to petty cash. Then there are times when the job will require you to leave the office and collect or deliver documents.

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. So there's a big variety of legal secretarial work, as civil litigation differs hugely from criminal law. That said, although those who work in large companies tend to deal in more specialised areas, a legal secretary in a small practice may handle many areas of the law.

Although the work varies between companies, the majority of it will be office and PC based. It's unlikely you'll be expected to work any anti-social hours - most legal secretaries finish around 5pm and only work on weekdays. Starting salaries generally vary from twelve to fifteen thousand pounds a year. However, a top legal secretary can command a very attractive thirty thousand pound salary after a few years.

Legal Secretarial Certification & Training Requirements

What exactly does it take to become a legal secretary? Predominantly you'll need to have extremely good English language skills and be able to demonstrate a typing speed of over sixty five words per minute.

Additionally lawyers need secretaries who are completely trustworthy and fair-minded, with very good practical and organisational abilities.

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. A good place to start would be with the ECDL, which teaches all user skills to an elementary level. Microsoft MOS or MCAS will take you to Proficient and Expert in all the relevant applications.

As you'll find a number of trainers featured here, you might like to Bookmark this reference page - a handy shortcut for this is to simply type in 'Ctrl D'. That will allow you to refer back quickly if you want to visit any of their sites.

There are quite a number of well established secretarial colleges promoting their services on the internet - see what information they have that's useful. With many Legal Secretaries coming into the industry from other secretarial roles, it's fair to say that the competition has increased. Make sure that you convey a bright and attentive professional attitude, display team spirit and good spelling and grammar. Your CV must obviously be presented flawlessly - that document will tell an employer a lot about the standard of your work!

What Do I Have To Do Next?

In order to fully educate their legal secretaries on the specific nature of their work, some firms train them alongside the job. Larger companies sometimes train their employees in house, but generally speaking most training is outsourced.

Lots of interesting things are taught on legal secretarial courses. 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.

In 2010 you can expect to invest from five hundred pounds upwards for professional legal secretarial training and certifications. That figure is exclusive of any computer software skills training you might need - add in another 100 pounds or so for an ECDL, or considerably more for MOS/MCAS. You'll find both in-centre and home-based training programmes by looking online at the range of UK trainers.

Developing Into a Legal Executive

A natural progression for the experienced and career-focused Legal Secretary could be Legal Executive training. This would provide for a more senior legal position with great prospects. 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. This depends though upon the field of expertise in which they're trained. Legal Executives often become the main point of contact for clients seeking professional advice on legal matters.

So to re-cap, training to become a Legal Secretary can lead to a very fulfilling and rewarding career. Why not take a closer look now at some of the possible options open to you.