Legal Secretary - An Introduction to Irish Law

Designed for:
Individuals wishing to pursue a career as a Legal Secretary.

Prerequisites:  
Comprehensive end-user knowledge of Microsoft Word, competent keyboarding (at least 40 wpm), good letter layout and office practice skills.

Objectives:
To give an introduction to the work, responsibilities, practice and structure of the legal office.

Course Content:

• Lesson 1: The legal office, legal practitioners, support personnel, the legal secretary, importance of proofreading.
• Lesson 2: Overview of different types of law – substantive vs procedural law, public vs private law, civil vs criminal law, the Irish court system and structure, how laws are made, general office procedures, setting up files, client care letter, instruction form, telephone attendance note, methods of communication
• Lesson 3: House style, business letter layout, special instructions and marks, routing correspondence, legal document layout, precedents and specialised software, preparing a codicil, importance of good file management.
• Lesson 4: Knowing about the office account and client account, how to record time, client care and invoicing, letter before action, business memo layout, expanding abbreviated words correctly.

Benefits:

You will:

• Understand how the legal profession and system works in Ireland
• Develop an excellent knowledge of the workings and structure of the legal office
• Be able to draw up legal documentation and letters as the course uses true-to-life scenarios that can be transferred to the workplace
• Know the areas that you need to focus on when working as a legal secretary
• Be aware of common errors that legal secretaries can make whilst producing documents
• This course can be completed as a stand-alone module but also represents one full module of Pitman Training’s widely recognised qualification, the Legal Secretarial Diploma

Course duration:
10 Hours