Steps to becoming a Legal Secretary

Many people question how to go about becoming a legal secretary without realising that there are no fixed methods to doing so. In general terms, the role of a legal secretary is to give administrative support to lawyers, the legal executives of a company and paralegals. They also help in the everyday running of legal firms.  The opportunities to work as a legal secretary not only exist in law firms, barrister’s offices or the courts. But also in law courts, local authorities, the police and armed forces, finance houses, real estate agencies and insurance companies.

The main duties include but are not limited to typing letters, legal documents such as wills, contracts, leases and court orders. Often times they work from documents dictated on to audio tapes as well as audio typing and copy typing. In addition to all this they:

deal with incoming telephone calls, letters, faxes and emails

dealing with queries from clients

organising diaries and making appointments

keeping records of costs and controlling petty cash

attending court or police cells with solicitors

delivering and collecting documents

general filing and sorting mail

There are law firms specialising in different areas of law while others deal with a wider range of matters. These are wills and probate, contracts, the English legal system, civil litigation, land law and conveyancing. Please bear in mind these areas of specialisation may be subject to where you are located be it in the US or UK.

The requirements for this position is not set in stone. However, employers do require that the potential candidate have a minimum of 5 GSCE passes including English or equivalent qualifications. ILEX or the Institute of Legal Secretaries and Pas offer recognised qualifications as well if you were considering making yourself competitive. There are times too when one can enter as an office junior and work one’s way up by training on the job. Alternatively, one can join a law firm and take a legal secretarial course to qualify as I did. Having general secretarial training can prove advantageous. You will also need typing and computer skills, with typing speeds averaging around 60 – 70 wpm. Law firms use the general Microsoft word application packages, so having this background is important. So too is having exposure to MS Powerpoint and MS Excel.

There are a number of useful skills that help in one’s pursuit working in such an environment. As was earlier mentioned having a secretarial background is a plus. Having an interest in law, being computer literate, having a keen eye for detail, being discreet and keeping clients information confidential because as you would understand you will be exposed to rather sensitive material. Having good spelling and impeccable English is also very essential, being able to meet deadlines and generally having a professional and pleasant disposition as you will be working with fee earners and other colleagues is paramount.      

If you have interests in working for a large law firm you have the option to enter as a float secretary with the advantage of learning a wide spectrum of skills sets where you can develop and make yourself more marketable. One can also consider working as a temp and once you gain more experience put in an application for a more permanent role. Hopefully you would have found the information given here useful had you been considering going into this area or profession.

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