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Secretarial Careers With Legal 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! First of all let's get into what a legal secretary does, and then go through the kind of training options available to develop your skills.

Essentially you will be expected to have excellent typing skills as the bulk of the work involves preparing legal documents. Depending on the size of the business, there may also be supplementary admin jobs to take care of as well. And of course sometimes solicitors will need you to attend court with them or visit a client in police custody.

It is possible to get into legal secretarial work with just regular office training and experience, but that's becoming less and less the case. Legal professionals will either work on criminal cases or civil cases, or a division of one of those. So each of theirwork is different - Civil lawyers can deal with many legal matters concerning such things as divorce, property and the family.

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.

Whichever type of law firm you work for, you will spend most of your time in the office. It's unlikely you'll be expected to work any anti-social hours - most legal secretaries finish around 5pm and only work on weekdays. A well-trained legal secretary entering the industry might expect to start on around fifteen thousand a year, with increments to over twenty five thousand with experience.

Legal Secretarial Training Options

What exactly does it take to become a legal secretary? High importance will be placed on excellent audio-typing abilities and copy speeds (60wpm plus - ideally reaching 70wpm or more). You should also be very accurate, pay attention to detail, have good organisational skills and an interest in the law.

Whilst there are no real minimum qualifications to starting as a Legal Secretary, employers may look for GCSE's (especially in English and Maths.) Naturally, spelling and grammar are key skills for the job, and no professional should rely on spell-check.

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.

As there are a number of training course providers on this site, here's a quick tip - Press Ctrl and D at the same time and you can Bookmark this webpage for easy reference. Then you can get straight back here with one click of your mouse!

You'll find that general secretarial (Pitman/OCR) and/or business administration qualifications can be very helpful. You must be able to present yourself well at interview to give yourself the best chance.

Employers are looking for people who can bring benefits to their organisation so don't be afraid to blow your own trumpet - if you excel at something let them know how that skill could make their life easier. Ultimately though, prepare yourself with professional skills and just be yourself - hopefully your natural charm and enthusiasm will shine through.

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Many legal secretaries carry on with further training as they pursue their careers. They can then become experts in their company's specialism. 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. You could begin by looking at the different types of legal documents and how they are prepared. The internet has become a very useful tool where legal matters are concerned, so that could also be covered.

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.

Professional training to become a Legal Secretary usually costs in the region of 600 to 850 pounds, but expect to pay more in some areas. This would not include the ECDL/MOS/MCAS or other IT/Computer training program (which can run from 100-1000 pounds or more - depending on the certification level desired.) There are a lot of colleges to choose from - look carefully at the features their courses provide to find the best one for you.

What Goes into Becoming a Legal Executive?

It's not uncommon for experienced Legal Secretaries to further their career by taking a Legal Executive certification. Legal Executives duties fall between the Legal Secretary and those of the full lawyer. The work is very similar to that of a solicitor, but Legal Execs cannot represent clients in the High Court. Because of the Extended Rights of Audience that now exist though, many Legal Executives are successfully representing people in the Family Proceedings Courts, The County Courts and the Magistrates Courts. This depends though upon the field of expertise in which they're trained. Most of the wide ranges of disciplines open to other lawyers are also open to legal execs.

Building a fascinating and valuable career as a Legal Secretary will take you right to the heart of UK law. It's down to you now to explore how you can turn your dreams and goals into reality.