Legal and Political Government - Legal Secretary
Legal and Political Government - Legal Secretary
Amber
Legal secretaries provide administrative support for lawyers and legal executives.
- Produce legal documents like wills and contracts
- Prepare court forms and statements
- Handle confidential information
- Work from solicitors' written notes and audio files (dictation)
- Deal with clients
- Make appointments and manage diaries
- Accompany solicitors to court or police stations
- Deliver and collect documents
- Do general administrative work like record keeping and filing
As a Legal Secretary, you could work in an office, in a court or at a police station.
Legal Secretaries tend to work between 36 to 38 hours a week. You could work 9am to 5pm.
Starting: 拢20,000
Experienced: 拢45,000
You can get into this job through a college course, an apprenticeship, working towards this role or specialist courses run by a professional body.
You could take a course in audio transcription, legal word processing, or a qualification like a Level 3 Diploma for Legal Secretaries. You'll usually need 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course.
You could get into this job through an intermediate and advanced apprenticeship in legal services or as a paralegal. You'll usually need some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship, 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship. If you have an EHCP you may be able to apply under the DfE exemption which allows the apprentice to use Entry level 3 English and Maths qualifications. The apprentice would have to successfully achieve all other aspects of the apprenticeship requirements, become occupationally competent and achieve Entry Level 3 in English and Maths before the end of their apprenticeship.
You could start as an admin assistant with a legal business or organisation and then apply for a trainee position. For most trainee legal secretary jobs you'll need excellent word processing skills of around 45 to 50 words a minute.