Change-My-Career.co.uk

Legal Secretary & Company Secretary Training

You won't find any hard and fast rules for getting a position as a legal secretary, though clearly the role demands a number of key competencies. 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.

Legal secretaries must be highly proficient in touch typing, shorthand and audio in order to prepare official documents for lawyers. You might also be involved with other administrative tasks, such as diary organising and appointment booking. 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.

Law firms usually specialise, for example in criminal law, civil law or corporate law. So your knowledge will build depending on where you work - it could be you gain employment with a solicitor who handles wills and probate for instance.

Legal secretaries working in a small local company will usually gain a wider range of experiences than those in larger companies (who are more likely to focus on one area).

So to re-cap - most of the work will be done sitting at your desk in the office. Typical hours will be Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm - although part-time work, flexi-time or even job sharing may be possible. The expected starting salary is generally around 13-15k, but can go on to reach 30k plus, depending on your skill-set and experience.

Certification and Training

So, what does an employer look for when considering a legal secretary? High importance will be placed on excellent audio-typing abilities and copy speeds (60wpm plus - ideally reaching 70wpm or more). Moreover employers place a high emphasis on loyalty and trust, so client confidentiality must be honoured at all times.

Passes in English and Maths at GCSE level should be offered as a minimum. The need for a confident approach to grammar, punctuation and spelling goes without saying.

Microsoft Office is used extensively in the commercial world, which means you must have a good understanding of Word in particular. 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).

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 access any of them without wasting time.

There are quite a number of well established secretarial colleges promoting their services on the internet - see what information they have that's useful. In some parts of the country competition for jobs can be high, so it's important to give yourself an advantage. When you apply for work, list everything you can contribute that's constructive and relevant to the job, but don't spend too long on unrelated issues. To get an interview in the first place you must ensure your CV presents the right image - any mistakes here would take you straight off the short-list!

I'm Interested - Tell Me More...

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.

Training specifically for legal secretarial work features a diverse range of topics. Elementary courses will introduce you to legal paperwork and deal with legal working practices. Plus of course you'll need a grounding in the English (or Scottish) legal system. Finally you'll come onto the specialist areas. Your choice will reflect your company's expertise, so it could be anything from Family Law to Company Law, or Conveyancing to Criminal Law.

Training prices range from a few hundred pounds to around a thousand pounds, but of course that depends on how much you need to learn. For computer user skills training allow one hundred pounds plus for your ECDL, or several hundred pounds plus for the more advanced Office skills training. You'll find both in-centre and home-based training programmes by looking online at the range of UK trainers.

Training To Become A Legal Executive

If your ambitions go beyond the remit of Legal Secretary, you could progress onto becoming a Legal Executive in time. This is a position midway between the Legal Secretary and the Lawyer. Under the Legal Services Act 2007, Legal Executives are 'authorised persons' undertaking 'reserved legal activities' (not in the High Court) alongside barristers and solicitors. In the lower courts however, certain legal executives can represent their clients in the same way any other lawyer can. Their subject training and experience will determine which courts they have access to. Legal executives may go into Public Law, Corporate Law, or maybe pursue private clients of their own.

In closing, if you study to gain the skills for work as a legal secretary, you could build a very promising and interesting career. Take the steps now to discover the right training choices for you.