Are you a legal secretary, if so can you offer me career advice?
I have been a PA for 2.5 years within the media but would really like to move into the legal industry. This is for many reasons including salary, benefits and security of job.
Did you undertake any formal training such as ILEX or the 'Legal Secretaries Diploma' from the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PA's. Which of these would you recommend, and would you advise going to classes over distance learning?
Any other advice regarding becoming a secretary or PA within a law firm would be greatly appreciated.
I would like to give you some positive advice. From my experience, the Diploma course offered by the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is really good and you will learn the legal knowledge and skills you need to gain employment as a Legal PA. Their qualification is well recognised in the legal profession.
They run an evening class in London which is popular and their tutors are very good, from what I've read of their testimonials. If you would rather study from home then that's a good option to as you will be able to take your time. Its depends on your situation as to what would be best for you.
Although there have been many redundancies in the big law firms, please do not let this put you off. This is due to them making sensible cut backs which they probably could have done with doing before. Hopefully the hype and doom and gloomers of this economic downturn will calm down enough for it to recover in the next year.
The legal profession is an important part of our society and Legal Secretaries will always be needed to help Solicitors. From reading articles and forums, I have noticed that people are changing their career to work in the legal profession as they see it as a safer field to be in. My friend works in a recruitment agency and she said that there is still a high demand for Legal Secretaries even though there are few other jobs available.
If you want to be a Legal PA then go for it! A positive and determined attitude is what is needed to help you achieve your goal. I suggest you contact the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs and have a chat to them. They are friendly and helpful.
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Hello there,
Whilst I am not a legal secretary, I do think that I might be able to offer some advice. Firstly, I am not sure where you work, in terms of location but I have experience within the PA field in London and in truth I would suggest that you think very long and hard about a move into Legal practice at this particular moment.
A huge number of leading law firms in the UK are making enormous redundancies of very successful and senior individuals at Partner level. The Legal industry at the moment is serious struggling and whilst it is not getting the same level as press as banking there is no doubt that they are in equal danger.
My advice would be to look to pursue a career within ‘in-house’ legal. By this I mean, leading firms typically will have a General Counsel which acts at their internal team of lawyers to guide them on very specific issues relating to their business. These teams will be absolutely vital at a time when legal issues (redundancy, litigation and desperate measures) are very much in the forefront of peoples minds.
The Lawyer (the leading Legal source of Information) has even put together a list of Law Firms who have made redundancies, which I have included here: http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=135426.
From my position, the number of experienced Legal PAs with not only the qualifications and skills but the relevant experience on the market place would serious damage your chances within a market that is now saturated with high calibre staff, and the qualifications alone will (tragically) not add a huge value to your search.
Sorry for negative advice, but I hope its of use.
References :
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=135426
I would like to give you some positive advice. From my experience, the Diploma course offered by the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is really good and you will learn the legal knowledge and skills you need to gain employment as a Legal PA. Their qualification is well recognised in the legal profession.
They run an evening class in London which is popular and their tutors are very good, from what I’ve read of their testimonials. If you would rather study from home then that’s a good option to as you will be able to take your time. Its depends on your situation as to what would be best for you.
Although there have been many redundancies in the big law firms, please do not let this put you off. This is due to them making sensible cut backs which they probably could have done with doing before. Hopefully the hype and doom and gloomers of this economic downturn will calm down enough for it to recover in the next year.
The legal profession is an important part of our society and Legal Secretaries will always be needed to help Solicitors. From reading articles and forums, I have noticed that people are changing their career to work in the legal profession as they see it as a safer field to be in. My friend works in a recruitment agency and she said that there is still a high demand for Legal Secretaries even though there are few other jobs available.
If you want to be a Legal PA then go for it! A positive and determined attitude is what is needed to help you achieve your goal. I suggest you contact the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs and have a chat to them. They are friendly and helpful.
References :
http://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com