Legal Secretary Training

Nessi

I've many years PA/secretarial experience but now find myself in a job I loathe and detest. There are few secretarial vacancies out there but I do notice that of the few there are many of them are for legal secretaries. I'm therefore wondering about taking one of the legal secretarial diplomas to help me obtain a job in the legal field. I'm wondering if anyone on the forum can give me some advice. Which one is the best and I don't want to spend all the money on the qualification if, at the end of the day, all the employers want experience and not qualifications. Any help would be much appreciated.

maryroberts

I would also like some advice about this, hopefully someone will be able to help us! Are these online Diplomas recognised by employers? I've recently been looking at Alison online courses which are all free. They have a legal studies diploma - the contents are very interesting reading, but will a law company really take a free online diploma into account?

Like Nessi, I have also noticed the various legal secretary vacancies invariably state "experienced" - does that mean that we wouldn't stand a chance, with a diploma but no experience?

Nessi

That's interesting Mary. I've not come across any free online courses (they do sound a bit too good to be true!). I've been looking at Pitmans, ILEX and the Institute of Legal Secretaries which are all a few hundred quid. I'm going to call the Institute of Legal Secretaries later and see if I can get some info about the course and it's success in gaining employment. Meanwhile let's hope that someone more knowledgeabout stumbles on our thread!

maryroberts

Hi Nessi, here is a link to the free online course: http://alison.com/courses/Diploma-in-Law/content

I have started to go through it but I also think it sounds too good to be true - interesting reading though.

A while ago I looked into a course with the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs but have not taken it any further yet.

I'd be very interested to hear what they have to say about employment opportunities, if you speak to them later! Thanks.