What knowledge and skills do you need to become a legal secretary?

A legal secretary role involves assistance to attorneys or working in an administrative position for legal institutions. Legal secretaries need to be prepared to assist court cases, by locating and transmitting the relevant information, filing legal documents, such as appeals, motions or subpoeanas and provide reliable assistance to the clients.

Office administration skills are essential to the effective management of legal cases. Legal secretaries ensure the exchange of information between the parties involved, maintain transparency throughout the process and provide the support documentation throughout the court cases.

The administration of legal resources and court case-specific information depends on trained professionals who are able to coordinate internal communication in the legal office. Time management skills, excellent IT operating skills and attention to details are key requirements of this role, which also keep the profession interesting and highly rewarding. A number of courses are on offer that will provide the knowledge and skills to carry out these functions effectively.

Specialisation

Legal secretaries can specialise depending on the profile of the office they assist. Training courses that prepare legal secretary can be tailored to cover civil or penal law and different sub-branches, such as family law, company law, employment law etc. General knowledge of law theory

Accreditation

The main accrediting body for legal secretary training in the UK is ILEX, the Institute of Legal Executives, which also established the levels of training and the qualifications required to enter this profession. On course-specific pages you can find more details about the accrediting body and information on the award received on completion. Training providers can further assist you with more details about the courses they run, either as open programmes, distance learning or in house programmes, so that you can decide how to study to become a legal secretary and choose the best option.

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