I was a secretary for a while but it was for a medical malpractice attorney, so it just mostly involved medical records. I don't really know much about being a "legal secretary". I had an interview for a legal secretarial job and it's looking like I might get it.
I just wanted to know what the legal secretary does mostly? I need to know if this is something I can really do without a lot of experience because I would be the only secretary to two attorneys. The attorney that interviewed me didn't seem to be bothered with just a little over a year of experience, but I don't want to take the job and have him think I have all of these legal secretarial skills and I don't.
I'm wondering what an average day is like for a legal secretary and if you can give me some tips on what I can do to prepare myself if I get this job? I can't afford to turn it down. With this economy, I don't know if I'll be able to get another job before my unemployment runs out! Help!
Thanks
mtwaites: I know the different fields, I'm just wondering what types of duties a legal secretary has and their different duties.
mtwaites
Legal Secretaries are responsible for a variety of jobs such as
Personal Injury
Medical Malpractice
Wills and Estate
Business and Commercial
Family Law
alicegirl71
A legal secretary should be familiar with how legal documents are formatted in order to assist in the preparation of documents. That will vary depending on the type of law the particular attorney practices; it may be wills or trust documents, or legal pleadings, or the various documents associated with a criminal trial. This type of thing can be learned as you go, by using examples of other documents. There are reference books you can use as well that lay out the structure of different legal documents.
You should have a good functional knowledge of how the legal system works, and the terminology associated with the practice of law.
You should also have excellent writing skills and proofreading skills. Add to this all the other administrative/secretarial requirements, such as good organization and time management skills, excellent software knowledge, and listening, communicating and analytical thinking skills.
V.T.V.RAM
According to http://www.salarysource.com/description2.cfm?cdkey=9#3, the job description of a legal secretary is "Furnishes administrative or secretarial support for a single or multiple attorneys. Performs transcription of legal documents, correspondence, contracts, or briefs. Reviews and edits prepared documents for accuracy. May investigate facts for projects from existing files and draft a summation".
The legal secretary must possess skills and traits far above average, such as excellent keyboarding, transcribing dictation, general knowledge about computers and other office machines, and ethics.
Orignal From: What are some skills of Legal Secretaries?
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