Any1 work as a legal secretary?

Bubblegum.07

Hi!
I have a trial week @ a criminal law office as a secretary, and was wondering if anyone has any experiance of this type of work?
They gave me a typing test which went well.
I have been in the healthcare sector for 6 years and have never done anything like this.
I am terrified that I cant pick it all up, looks pretty demanding. I am going from a part time job to more or less full time so I hope it doesnt get too much.
I need a change.

Any hints or tips?
cheers.

Jerryjerryjerry

x.bens.mum.x wrote: »

Hi!
I have a trial week @ a criminal law office as a secretary, and was wondering if anyone has any experiance of this type of work?
They gave me a typing test which went well.
I have been in the healthcare sector for 6 years and have never done anything like this.
I am terrified that I cant pick it all up, looks pretty demanding. I am going from a part time job to more or less full time so I hope it doesnt get too much.
I need a change.

Any hints or tips?
cheers.

Firstly, congratulations on getting a week. What happens after that? Is it a temp role through an agency?

Anyway, I just recently ended a job as a Legal sec. Its VERY demanding.

What area of law are you going to be working in?

I will tell you that in most legal secretarial roles you are required to type about 100 letters a day... or get through about 5 audio tapes - minimum.

A lot of legal secretaries end up with carpel tunnel syndrome due to the excessive, continuous typing.

Solicitors generally are quite aloof compared with regular bosses. Many of them are quite old fashioned (old school) and expect you to make them tea and look up to them.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

anamenottaken

There should be other legal secretaries working there and you will probably be in the same area, not in an office on your own. You will be able to draw on their knowledge - on the first day they should show you how the files (physical and electronic) are organised and where any standard forms are kept. (You may find written notes from a previous postholder but I wouldn't count on that.)

If you have internet access (highly likely), remember that Google can be your friend!

Keep calm and make notes - and ask if you don't know and haven't been able to find out quickly online. That's just like any other job - like moving from being a legal secretary to working in the NHS.

Rockporkchop

Don't worry, you will be fine as long as you show willing and can type at least 70wpm.

I have worked in law firms for many years and I have to say I disagree with virtually everything written by jerryjerryjerry. There is no required amount you are expected to do, the work varies according to the workload and there will be busy days and quiet days like in any job.

I have met hundreds of legal secretaries and never come across one with carpal tunnel syndrome. And solicitors aren't generally aloof and stand offish, things are more friendly this century with everyone on first name terms and readily available coffee machines.

As you will be working in criminal law I would expect that you would be spending your time mainly on dictation - typing up witness statements, statements of accused, attendance notes and instructions to counsel. Depending on what type of firm it is, you may get involved in dealing with legal aid forms and administration.

Maybe google criminal law terminology so you can familiarise yourself with any words regularly used so you will recognise them on the dictation.

Good luck, I'm sure you will do really well.

Emmylou_2

Have a dictionary on your desk - and use it.
Don't be afraid to ask - the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
(This mainly applies to criminal and family law) DO NOT LET IT GET TO YOU. You will deal with some pretty icky, disturbing stuff. At the end of the day, leave it all behind you when you go home (this applies to everything though!)
Join the Institute of Legal Secretaries http://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/
Always have paracetamol/ibuprofen/aspirin/throat sweets/tissues/shoe cleaner thing/deodorant (neutral smell) in your drawers. At some point your lawyer will need them (or you'll have a headache dealing with them!). If you find a tie laying around the office, nab that too!
Have a pair of flat shoes under your desk so if you're running around at 3pm trying to get things off to Court before 4, you don't need to do it in heels!
Be friendly with the postroom. They can save your life on many occasions.
If you make a mistake - own up to it, put it right and then make sure you don't make that mistake again.

But most of all, in a trial week, just smile, take deep breaths and don't let the stress show. I've always said I'm like a swan - calm and collected on the surface, paddling away like **** under the water.

This was told to me on my first day as a legal secretary by a lovely lady who was in her 50s and had been a legal secretary all her life.

If all the trainees (or, indeed, equity partners) go to the pub at lunch and don't come back - what happens? Well, everything carries on like before. Everything gets done. If all the secretaries go to the pub at lunch and don't come back - what happens? NOTHING. You are one of the most important people in the firm. Without you, nothing goes out the door. Do not be intimidated by people with law degrees - they are NOT better than you.

Emmylou, FILS, legal secretary for 11 years now :eek: (Oh, and I've never TYPED 100 letters in a day - that's what mailmerge is there for. And most places now are on digital dictation, so the average length of a dictation is 3 minutes at my firm!)

Jerryjerryjerry

Emmylou wrote: »

Have a dictionary on your desk - and use it.
Don't be afraid to ask - the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
(This mainly applies to criminal and family law) DO NOT LET IT GET TO YOU. You will deal with some pretty icky, disturbing stuff. At the end of the day, leave it all behind you when you go home (this applies to everything though!)
Join the Institute of Legal Secretaries http://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/
Always have paracetamol/ibuprofen/aspirin/throat sweets/tissues/shoe cleaner thing/deodorant (neutral smell) in your drawers. At some point your lawyer will need them (or you'll have a headache dealing with them!). If you find a tie laying around the office, nab that too!
Have a pair of flat shoes under your desk so if you're running around at 3pm trying to get things off to Court before 4, you don't need to do it in heels!
Be friendly with the postroom. They can save your life on many occasions.
If you make a mistake - own up to it, put it right and then make sure you don't make that mistake again.

But most of all, in a trial week, just smile, take deep breaths and don't let the stress show. I've always said I'm like a swan - calm and collected on the surface, paddling away like **** under the water.

This was told to me on my first day as a legal secretary by a lovely lady who was in her 50s and had been a legal secretary all her life.

If all the trainees (or, indeed, equity partners) go to the pub at lunch and don't come back - what happens? Well, everything carries on like before. Everything gets done. If all the secretaries go to the pub at lunch and don't come back - what happens? NOTHING. You are one of the most important people in the firm. Without you, nothing goes out the door. Do not be intimidated by people with law degrees - they are NOT better than you.

Emmylou, FILS, legal secretary for 11 years now :eek: (Oh, and I've never TYPED 100 letters in a day - that's what mailmerge is there for. And most places now are on digital dictation, so the average length of a dictation is 3 minutes at my firm!)

I believe I was probably working for an ogre. I've been pretty unlucky. One firm I worked at, had a strict dress code and I got done for wearing collottes (trousers that look like a skirt) - this was in the late 80's. I then left law and worked in various other industries.

I recently went back to work for a firm of solicitors and what I found was horrific. I understand it must have been a one-off firm, but the senior partner expected to be called Mr ..... by us. We didn't have a coffee machine. We had old fashioned tapes which should have been ready for the bin! You could hardly hear the voices clearly for the muffling, especially at the beginning or end of a tape. They rarely realised when the tape had ended - carrying on dictating, and then not bothering to check.

They expected me to work an extra half an hour each day and if I dared to get off my chair at 5.00 pm, I was given a look. My boss would come in at 4.58 most days (after he realised I liked going home at 5) and would stand over me dictating a letter. He'd get me to print it out, then change it, and what have you. I rarely left at 5. He would walk up to me at random times and say, "have you saved your work?" I'd say, what are you talking about... that was his way of saying, get ready, i'm here to dictate a letter. Never did he once say anything positive or be polite.

One time, it was about 4.40 pm and I dared to look at my watch - not realising he'd walked in and saw me. He actually said, "I saw you looking at your watch". I wanted to scream at him, so what?

But I didn't. I smiled and said, I was simply admiring the workmanship of it.

I'm now working for a property company and I can't believe how lovely everybody is here. I totally understand that not all solicitors are horrid, scarey, scrooge-like slave driving rude so and so's... but I'm never going to go back to find out!

Finally, if I did less than five tapes, I would be called into the office and asked what was wrong with me. A lady got fired at Christmas for "not being up to scratch". She was really upset as she said she'd never had a problem re her work before. She used to get through three tapes a day.

Anyway, good luck and I'm sure that your job will be fine.

Jerryjerryjerry

P.s. They didn't allow you pens or post it notes. You had to buy them yourself if you wanted them. You'd have to take your pens home at night or they wouldn't be there in the morning.

Also, it was so cold in the building. They never put the heating on. There was this one weird Gas heater from the 50's and you had to ignite it. There was a knack to it. But it would have to be freezing before you risked breaking your thumbs trying to get it going.

Once you'd got this heater going, he'd (the boss) would come in and turn it down at every opportunity.