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How to become a Legal Secretary in the England or Wales

Legal Article Guide

By: Tony Heywood

I hope you find the following information on Legal Secretarial/PA jobs useful.

THE ROLE

Legal secretaries assist in all aspects of running a law firm. The legal secretaries¡¦ jobs can include basic tasks such as word processing, audio-typing and dealing with general clerical work. Some legal secretary work can include meeting clients, arranging meeting and some even attend court or police cells.

Legal Secretary jobs can incorporate all areas of law - from criminal and civil law to property, family, corporate, private client and banking.

SKILLS and INTERESTS

If you are looking for a Legal Secretary job you should:

Have an interest in law

Have excellent secretarial skills

Be PC literate

Be accurate and methodical

Be discreet when dealing with confidential information

Have a good standard of English, spelling and grammar

Work well under pressure and be good a meeting deadlines

Of course, a polite friendly manner helps!

A mix of these skills would provide a solid foundation for anyone looking for jobs as a legal secretary

Click here for Legal Secretary jobs

QUALIFICATIONS

There are no formal qualifications to becoming a Legal Secretary, athough a high standard of general education is required. To become a Legal Secretary office and administration experience is useful as is some existing knowledge of the law.

Career Development

Employers often offer on the job training. There are different pathways that lead to legal secretarial qualifications:

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PA¡¦s

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PA¡¦s offer a diploma that¡¦s has been recognised as the most comprehensive qualification for Legal Secretaries. The diploma is extremely useful if you are looking for jobs as a Legal Secretary. The syllabus for the general diploma is divided into five main units:

Outline of the English Legal System
Outlines of the Law of Contract and the Law of Tort
Conveyancing and an outline of Land Law
Civil Litigation
Succession (Wills, Probate and Administration)

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PA¡¦s also offers courses for Legal Secretaries who would like to specialise in one are of law.

The subjects covered are:
- Civil Litigation
- Company and Corporate Law
- Conveyancing
- Criminal Law and Practice
- Matrimonial Law and Family Practice Succession

Click here for Institute Of Legal Secretaries Website and further information: www.institutelegalsecretaries.com

ILEX Legal Secretaries Certificate & Diploma

ILEX offer a Legal Secretaries Certificate (Level 2) and a Legal Secretaries Diploma (Level 3)

The ILEX Paralegal Programmes (ILEXPP) for Legal Secretaries are now considered the benchmark for those aspiring to or working in a legal environment as secretaries or personal assistants. Reflecting the National Standards in Administration, the programmes offer: a flexible route, no entry requirements (although a Grade C or above in English Language GCSE is desirable), a choice of when and where to study, task based assignments which are all accompanied by up to date training manuals.''

The ILEX Legal Secretaries Certificate covers the following areas:

Legal Word Processing
Administration in the Legal Environment
Communication Skills in the Legal Environment
Information Processing in the Legal Environment

The ILEX Legal Secretaries Diploma covers the following areas:

Advanced Legal Word Processing
Advanced Administration in the Legal Environment
Advanced Communication Skills in the Legal Environment
Advanced Information Processing in the Legal Environment

Click here for ILEXPP Website and further information on the ILEX Tutorial (Training to be a Legal Secretary) Web pages

OCR (RSA) Legal Word Processing

OCR(RSA)offers specialised qualifications in legal text and legal word processing. The course is for those with previous word processing experience who wish to specialise in legal work. This programme is ideal for those who are in employment or wish to gain employment in the legal sector. You will be taught about the production of a range of documents in a legal context. Legal styles and formats. Legal terminology and English grammar are also covered Legal Text Processing is part of the OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) suite of qualifications in text processing which are widely recognised by employers as benchmark qualifications in text processing.

Candidates who are successful in achieving accreditation will be able to extend their range of text processing skills at intermediate level and progress to different optional units within the suite of units at Level 2 or to progress to the OCR Text Processing Advanced (Level 3) qualification.

Legal Secretaries work in all areas of law from solicitors offices, barristers chambers through to law courts, police stations and within in house legal teams. It is possible to start as a legal secretary and work towards becoming a legal executive, paralegal or a licensed conveyancer. You could even study for a law degree.

Legal Secretary Jobs

Copywrite Tony Heywood (c)

2006

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