Administration & Office Support
Legal Secretary/Assistant
Legal secretaries perform duties such as filing, typing and scheduling appointments within a legal services department or law firm.
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Entry-level education
VET qualification
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Job outlook
What does a Legal Secretary/Assistant do?
Legal secretaries perform duties such as filing, typing and scheduling appointments within a legal services department or law firm.
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Work activities
As a legal secretary, you would:
- type and setting up letters and legal documents or forms such as wills, contracts and court papers
- type from digital dictation or handwritten notes
- answer the telephone and pass on calls
- respond to client enquiries
- make and manage appointments
- prepare court documents
- process client payments and invoices
- attend legal proceedings to assist or take notes
- using office equipment such as printers, photocopiers and fax machines
- perform general administration duties.
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Key skills and interests
To become a legal secretary, you would need:
- an understanding of the law and legal procedures
- to be able to keep confidentiality
- an organised approach and excellent time management skills
- good communication skills
- the ability to work well as part of a team
- computer literacy and good typing skills
- a good level of English spelling and grammar
- knowledge of legal terminology
- accuracy and attention to detail.
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Working hours and conditions
Working Hours
In most full-time jobs you would work standard hours, Monday to Friday. Flexible hours, part-time work and temporary work are widely available. Working late is common during busy periods.
Conditions
You would be mainly office-based and spend a lot of time using a computer. A high level of personal presentation would be required.
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How to become an Legal Secretary/Assistant?
Entry Level Education
To become a legal secretary, a VET qualification in secretarial studies, business or business administration is usually required. You may be able to study through distance education.
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Job outlook
Employment of legal secretaries is projected to show little or no change.
This is largely because of the increasing use of technology, resulting in companies replacing secretaries with lower-cost administrative assistants. Many secretaries are now also required to support more than one manager in an organisation.
In addition, many managers now perform some work that was previously done by their secretaries. For example, they may send emails rather than have correspondence typed, or schedule their own travel and meetings.
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