How to Qualify for a Legal Assistant Job

The qualification for a legal assistant job requires Legal Terminology Knowledge, the applicant must have completed the course through a business institution training college and earn a diploma or business office certificate showing that he/she is duly qualify for the position by this time you should be presenting a copy of the awarded Diploma or certificate..

Fields of Law: There are several fields of law that one may specialize in as do Lawyers, they specialize in one or more fields. Quite often Law Firms are comprised of several practicing lawyers each specializing in their respective field and are addressed as Barristers & Solicitors. The job of a legal assistant to a Real Estate Lawyer is completely different from that of a Litigation lawyer as well as that of a lawyer who practices criminal law or family law. Therefore a legal assistant will need to know and understand the differences in these practices, and forms that works with each practice.

A legal assistant must either specialize in one specific field of law or study in all fields of law office practices to be efficient and able to be Assistant to any Barrister & Solicitor who may need their service. It is to your advantage to study all the fields of law. This course may take the minimum of one year intense study to cover for diploma in all fields of law office practice offered through one the major business institutions.

At the end of your preparation for this position you must be able to sell yourself in an interview efficiently to convince your interviewer you have the right stuff and are ready to put it in practice, your mannerism, confidentiality, and communication skills have got to be strongly convincing with enough assertiveness in yourself of your capability.

Legal Secretary: A legal secretary is the direct assistant to the practicing lawyer, who have met all the above requirements, his or her role includes handling all clients information, all legal documents with confidential information including the lawyer’s journal. This is a highly responsible position and requires trustworthy individuals with reputable character to be considered for employment. Over time the legal Secretary becomes more professional and more knowledgeable in this field of service because of the exposure to the different cases handled in the practice.

Junior Secretary: Other legal assistant position is that of the junior secretary. The junior Secretary assistant has the advantage of gaining experience by keenly observing the performance of the senior Secretary to develop her own skills and performance while caring out the lighter duties of the office, which includes managing the filing system, opening and closing files, managing the receptionist area when necessary, sort and dispatch mails, booking appointments and taking affidavits.

You may need to handle the lawyer’s journal to remind him of upcoming appointments and court dates he must attend, prepare his travel itenary, banking and keeping a record of stationary, sometimes if the direct secretary is unavailable you may be asked to draft up an outgoing letter or take an affidavit of a new client.

Good Mannerism: You definitely must have good mannerism on the phone to represent your firm well; how you answer the phone calls could determine whether or not you keep your position, as the clients either complement you to your boss or complains about you, it is important to have and maintain a good mannerism on the phone because clients do take their frustration and anxiety out on you when they cannot get to their Lawyer quick enough.

In the legal practice your dress code is mandatory you will have to comply with the dress code of the law firm.