Learn to be a Legal Assistant

What does a legal assistant do?

Legal assistants aid lawyers and legal teams by organizing legal documents, gathering information about cases and assisting during trials and hearings. A legal assistant will research facts relating to cases and help lawyers prepare for trial. Legal assistants can work in various areas, including corporate law, litigation, criminal law, immigration and more. 

Legal Assistant duties:

• Performing basic administrative and customer service tasks, such as answering phone calls, responding to emails and greeting clients
• Keeping all legal documents or correspondence organized and up to date
• Gathering all documents, statements and evidence a lawyer will need for trail
• Providing help during a trial
• Creating drafts of contracts, letters and other legal documents
• Scheduling meetings, appointments and interviews with clients, lawyers, witnesses and more.
• Performing accounting and billing duties

Skills

Studying to become a Legal assistant will enable the student to develop many skills. These include: 

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Organisation
• Time management

Legal assistant work environment

Becoming a legal assistant will require the graduate to find employment in law offices. There are some cases where a graduate of one of these courses can find work in government agencies or legal departments at corporate offices. Legal assistants might work long hours or overtime during cases or to meet deadlines. They might travel outside the office to gather or deliver documents or to assist lawyers during trials.

Other careers related to legal assistant

• Related careers
• Legal secretary
• Paralegal
• Administrative assistant
• Law clerk

There are many courses available across the country to become a legal assistant. 

You can find legal assistant courses near you on Courses.ie