Level 3 Diploma - Legal Secretary

This course is a must for secretaries and administrators contemplating working in a legal environment, whether it be in a solicitors office or in the legal department of a large firm. As well as giving an insight into legal administration the course covers in depth knowledge of each legal area which hopefully will give the learner an appetite to study law at a higher level. Many ambitious legal secretaries have gained a taste for law and have gone on to pursue a career in the law qualifying as legal executives, licensed conveyancers or solicitors.

Course Content:

The course consists of ten modules and each module has a tutor marked assignment as well as some activities.
The modules are;

Module 1 - Introduction to working in a legal office

This module will look at the different departments within a legal office – and take a brief look at the different types of legal work carried out such as Conveyancing; criminal and civil litigation; wills and probate and family. The module will also examine the roles and training of people within a legal environment such as solicitor, barrister, legal executives, licensed conveyancers, legal accounts staff etc.

Module 2 - The role of the legal secretary and client care

The module looks at attending client interviews, attendance at court; taking messages dealing with telephone calls and anti-money laundering procedures such as collecting identification evidence from clients. Also covered is a wholly important area client confidentiality and the requirements of the legal secretary.

Module 3 - Legal administration and systems

The virtues of different types of filing and diary systems will be considered along with Health and safety issues and requirements. Other systems such as dealing with incoming and outgoing post and document exchange systems will be examined. A very important commodity is time management which will be studied. And the structure of law firms will be examined –using a fictitious firm –so the hierarchy of firm will be examined; so will team structure within the firm and the possible structures of the firm itself – whether a limited company, limited liability partnership or partnership.

Module 4 - Office procedures of the legal profession

In legal work attention to detail and accuracy is crucial so typing and processing and proof reading letters and legal documents will be considered. In this module there is list of commonly used legal words and abbreviations included together with practice in using these.

Module 5 - Introduction to Law

The module will look at where the law comes from – sources of law- and how it is used through Acts of Parliament [Statutes] and judge made law – case law. The different types of Courts are then considered – how they work and their personnel. Particular statutes relevant to working in the legal profession such as data protection act, and equal opportunities act relevant to employment law will be considered in outline

Module 6 - Conveyancing

Looking at the first of four modules which covers working in a specific department in legal office. This module looks at the role of the legal secretary within the Conveyancing department of a fictitious legal firm. The module tracks the Conveyancing procedure from taking instructions from the client through to exchange of contracts and completion. The legal secretary will need to be familiar with all the forms involved in Conveyancing and this module explains these and how they should be completed.

Module 7 - Criminal litigation

Here we look at the work within the criminal litigation department. The procedure is tracked from the client’s arrest at the police station through to the appearance at Magistrates Court and Crown Court. Some criminal law is included in this module explaining the mental and physical elements required to commit a crime. The main emphasis of this module is the role of the legal secretary concerning the preparation of the documentation involved in a criminal case such as instructing a barrister to act in the case and typing witness statements and brief to counsel.

Module 8 - Wills and probate departments

This module visits the Wills and probate department – sometimes referred to as the private client department. The module will look how a will is prepared and the law regarding the signing of a valid Will. The module will then look at the forms required when someone dies either leaving a Will or without a Will. The legal secretary will be required to type up these forms with great accuracy and a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration will issue to enable the estate to be wound up.

Module 9 - Working within the family department

Concentrates on work within the Family Department. This department will deal with what happens in the family department of a firm, mainly divorce and matters relating to children’s welfare. The law relating to divorce will be explored and the legal secretary will have practice at completing a divorce petition and other associated forms.

Module 10 - Civil litigation

This final module considers work in the civil litigation department. It tracks the procedure and forms in taking a county court action and looks at the documents the legal secretary will need to prepare. There are some final quizzes and questionnaires to round off this exciting and useful course

This course is Quality Assured by the Quality Licence Scheme

At the end of this course successful learners will receive a Certificate of Achievement from ABC Awards and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the details of all the units the learner has completed as part of the course).

The course has been endorsed under the ABC Awards Quality Licence Scheme. This means that Oxford Learning College has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet certain quality criteria. The completion of this course alone does not lead to an Ofqual regulated qualification but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills towards regulated qualifications in the future.

The unit summary can be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this sector. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 3 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner.

The course itself has been designed by Oxford Learning College to meet specific learners' and/or employers' requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications. ABC Awards endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met. A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

ABC Awards is a leading national Awarding Organisation, regulated by Ofqual, and the Welsh Government. It has a long-established reputation for developing and awarding high quality vocational qualifications across a wide range of industries. As a registered charity, ABC Awards combines 180 years of expertise but also implements a responsive, flexible and innovative approach to the needs of our customers. Renowned for excellent customer service, and quality standards, ABC Awards also offers Ofqual regulated qualifications for all ages and abilities post-14; all are developed with the support of relevant stakeholders to ensure that they meet the needs and standards of employers across the UK.