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Legal Secretarial Work & Secretary Courses

If you're looking to get into Legal Secretarial work, you'll need to be orderly and disciplined, with a good aptitude for common sense! 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.

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.

Many legal secretaries start off as general secretaries, but increasingly those who've specialised are being considered more suitable. The legal profession is split into civil law and criminal law, and most lawyers will focus on just one. 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. If you're the only legal secretary working in a small office, the diversity of your work is likely to be greater than if you work with many others in a big office.

Whichever type of law firm you work for, you will spend most of your time in the office. The work is mostly done during standard office hours, and although positions are usually full-time you will find some part-time work being advertised. Salaries vary from up to 15K at entry level to over 30K for an experienced professional.

Training To Become A Legal Secretary

What skills do you need for legal secretarial work? Touch typing, audio and shorthand skills are essential, plus a good knowledge of how to use basic computer software. High emphasis will of course be placed on accuracy, so a patient and diligent approach will be expected.

Employers may stipulate certain academic qualifications, though usually this is just to demonstrate an aptitude level. Clearly if you're unsure about how to spell or compose a letter you will struggle in this sort of job.

Just about all law firms will use Microsoft Office, so be sure you have strong user skills for Word, Excel and Outlook at the very least. 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).

Training companies regularly feature on this page. For handy reference you could pop it in your list of Favourites. Then you can come back at your convenience to review the options.

You'll find that general secretarial (Pitman/OCR) and/or business administration qualifications can be very helpful. Legal secretarial work attracts people from many different administrative roles, so competition can be tough. Be sure to be positive, attentive and responsive - employers like to get a feel for how someone would fit into their working environment. Having said that, always be honest. People appreciate honesty, and claiming to be something you're not usually ends up causing you more problems.

What Actions Do I Take Now?

Many legal secretaries carry on with further training as they pursue their careers. They can then become experts in their company's specialism. Larger companies sometimes train their employees in house, but generally speaking most training is outsourced.

Training specifically for legal secretarial work features a diverse range of topics. You could begin by looking at the different types of legal documents and how they are prepared. You'll probably cover information about court procedure and how laws are arrived at. 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 would usually not include professional computer training, although some reference may be made to it.) You'll find both in-centre and home-based training programmes by looking online at the range of UK trainers.

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. Legal Executives duties fall between the Legal Secretary and those of the full lawyer. In many ways they act on behalf of clients in the same manner as a lawyer would, but they cannot represent them in High Court. However, with the extended rights of audience now in place, there are many Legal Executives who can represent their clients in County Courts, Family Proceedings Courts and the Magistrates Courts. Any work they do will of course depend upon the subject matter they've trained in. Most of the wide ranges of disciplines open to other lawyers are also open to legal execs.

So to re-cap, training to become a Legal Secretary can lead to a very fulfilling and rewarding career. Take the steps now to discover the right training choices for you.