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Family law: Life, litigation and real-world client work
What is it really like to practise family law? In this session, the BPP team will interview a panel of practising family lawyers to explore the realities of working in this challenging and deeply human area of practice. The discussion will cover the nature of the work, the skills required to succeed and the personal qualities that are particularly important when advising clients through significant life events. Students will gain a clearer understanding of the day-to-day experience of family lawyers and the routes into this rewarding specialism.
- Thu, 05 Mar
- 13:30-14:00 GMT
- Digital Campus
Legal Apprenticeships
Legal secretary apprenticeships
Emma Finamore, Editor, AllAboutSchoolLeavers.co.uk
Last updated 10th February 2018
Law firms often require specifically skilled secretarial staff to help them operate, which means that there are opportunities for school leavers to do apprenticeships in these roles.
Legal secretary apprenticeships are usually Intermediate Apprenticeships, at Level 2, and take around one year to complete. Trainees on these schemes work to provide an effective and efficient administration/secretarial support service to the departments in the law firm’s offices.
Key responsibilities will involve assisting fee earners/secretaries with day-to-day administrative matters as required, including:
- Filing
- Opening new files
- Closing files and archiving
- File organisation and filing in accordance with departmental procedures
- Assisting with billing procedures and other account enquiries
- To provide support to other secretaries with workload as reasonably required
- To assist the department with day to day errands such as hand deliveries to Court
- To greet clients in a professional and pleasant manner and to ensure that they are announced to the relevant fee earner as soon as possible
- Ensuring all incoming calls to the office are answered promptly
- To provide refreshments to the meeting rooms as required and to clear away such refreshments
Who can do a legal secretary apprenticeship?
Entry requirements for legal apprenticeships will vary from law firm to law firm, but typically they will be looking for applicants educated to GCSE level in English (at least a grade B) and maths (at least a grade B).
As this is a support role the abilities, skills and attitude of applicants is probably probably more important than academic qualifications – you will need to be able to get along with everyone in the team, from other administrative staff to solicitors and partners, as well as being able to muck in with whatever jobs are required of you that day.
Most firms will want their legal secretaries to have the following:
- Working knowledge of MS Office applications
- Accurate and efficient PC skills
- Show initiative
- Able to prioritise effectively
- Ability to work under pressure
- Flexible and professional approach
- Excellent communication skills
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