Legal secretary work is a very specialized, interesting, and diverse area, and in order to pursue a career in this field you need to have a combination of standard secretarial skills and sound knowledge of the legal system. Legal secretaries provide an invaluable service in many areas, from the courts to attorneys’ and lawyer’ offices. Because this is a specialist area within the secretarial field, the salary often reflects this, and those entering into legal secretary work can look forward to an interesting, rewarding, and well-paid position.
To get into legal secretarial work, you need to add legal skills and knowledge to your basic secretarial skills and know-how, and this can be done through taking one of the legal secretary degrees available today. Legal secretaries undertake a wide range of duties for which these specialist skills will be required, such as drafting and preparing legal documentation, undertaking legal research, processing legal fees, reviewing legal documents, scheduling trial dates and witnesses, and maintaining legal records.
Because of the nature of this work, legal secretaries have to be precise and accurate with a real eye for details. The smallest mistake on legal documentation could result in major repercussions, so it is vital that the legal secretary has both the competence and confidence to perform the role. These legal secretary degrees will help to prepare students for the diverse range of duties involved on legal secretarial work today, and will build upon and develop existing secretarial skills in order to focus them more on legal issues.
Legal secretary degrees are ideal for those with existing secretarial skills who wish to move into a specialist area and pursue career progression with a secretarial role. You will find that these legal secretary degrees are offered by a number of schools and institutions, and can also be studied online, so those already working in a secretarial role can continue working while studying for a degree with a view to career progression.