Legal Administrative Assistants (LAA) are trained in law office procedures, law office technology, and legal terminology. They are expected to have specialized skills and knowledge pertaining to the legal profession, including Corporate, Civil, Family, Wills & Estates, and Criminal law. LAA’s must have excellent written and oral communication skills and be technically savvy and pay strong attention to details and time management. Law firms look for those who value good judgment, discretion, a proactive work ethic, and well-developed interpersonal skills.
Legal Administrative Assistants attend meetings and take minutes and assist lawyers in collecting legal and factual documents. They communicate with opposing counsel and other parties, clients, vendors and judicial and administrative staff. An LAA is responsible for scheduling depositions, site inspections, hearings, closings, and meetings for lawyers and other legal staff.
Often times, LAAs will prepare legal documents and notices and update transactional documents with the most recently negotiated language. Once complete, they transmit this legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials by electronic filing, mail, fax, or messenger. LAAs are expected to complete administrative forms, such as time cards and expense reports for supervising lawyers or those traveling on behalf of their firm.
Theory: 35 weeks
Internship: 4 weeks
Potential Career Paths After Completing the Program
Legal Assistants can make on average $19.87 – $22.36 per hour.
*(source: ca.indeed.com 2020)
Candidates must submit a copy of their Secondary School Diploma (OSSD, GED, or better), if this is not available they will be required to pass the Scholastic Level Exam (SLE).
This module will provide students with an overview of computer applications, the Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office Suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Students will develop the professional skills needed in modern business world through a series of projects and simulations in an interactive digital environment.
This module will provide students the tools to develop business English and interpersonal communication skills necessary to function in the modern business setting. In addition, this module provides a review of English grammar, sentence structure and punctuation as they apply to business communications. Students will develop effective interpersonal communication skills for managing personal and working relationships. The importance of diversity inclusion and teamwork will also be explored.
This module assists students in building a vocabulary of common legal terminology used within a law office, government agency, court systems, social services and current affairs through through a variety of exercises and case studies.
This module provides students an insight into law office environments; the requirement to be confidential, have good work ethics, provide timely reporting, record minutes, and maintain a high level of accuracy in everything they do. The student will acquire the skill sets necessary to find employment in many legal areas; General Law, Litigation Law, Family Law, Corporate Law, Real Estate Law, and Wills and Estates Law.
This module provides opportunities for students to learn to transcribe accurately legal material such as correspondence and documents using transcription software.
In this module, students will cover the points of legal research and writing that are indispensable to a legal administrative assistant including a problem-based approach to both research and writing.
This module allows students to apply administrative skills to a variety of legal areas within a multifaceted legal office environment with emphasis on the practices and procedures of law including: Family Law and Criminal Law, as well as the practices involved in Litigation, Corporate, Real Estate and Small Claims Court
This module provides students with an overview of PC Law’s software. Project based day-to-day processing is an integral component of this course and includes features that will assist with the management of the law firms business, such as Time and Billing, Accounting, and Practice Management.
This module will provide students with the skills to prepare for employment, research employment opportunities within their field of study and be successful in their future career. Some of the topics included will be the preparation of a resume, interview and cover letter.