Associate's Degree in Legal Assistant

A legal assistant is someone who works for a legal department and partakes in entry-level responsibilities. Usually you'll be working alone- with minimal amounts of supervision. This means that you should feel comfortable meeting deadlines and getting things done without being pushed. A legal assistant is responsible for performing many administrative duties including verifying files, preparing materials, and editing important documents so that they are easily understandable. Find schools below to help you get started on your legal administration assisting associate's degree program.

To succeed in this field, you should have advanced computer skills as well as have the ability to generate tables, charts, and reports based on the information you have gathered. Being a legal assistant may also require screening visitors, scheduling appointments, traveling, making telephone calls, and meeting deadlines. In some cases, you need to make sure that you are abiding by ethical policies and keeping all information confidential and secure.

Responsibilities of a Legal Assistant

A legal assistant is someone who understands and knows how to handle complex legal-related documents. They are responsible for formulating acquisitions, sales agreements, supply agreements, and even joint venture agreements. Understand that doing all of this requires a strict understanding of the law and an acute ability to recognize detail. As a legal assistant, you will also be engaging in maintaining corporate records and maintaining a corporate database.

Needless to say, there is a huge responsibility associated with this job. You are the person who is accountable for business licenses as well as interacting and engaging with Secretaries of the State. The ability to generate a huge assortment of reports, maintain and update project files, and assist attorneys is all in a day's work for a legal assistant. It would help if you were proficient in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel as you will be using them a large portion of the time (for presentations, formatting, creating charts, and preparing documents)

Legal Administration Assisting Qualifications

At the very minimum, you should earn at least your Associate's degree if you would even like to be considered for this position. In some cases, you may be able to get away with having an equivalent amount of formal training. Remember, this can be a competitive industry so having a high amount of education is an excellent way to stand out to employers. Another three years of Administrative Assistant is also required to hold this position.

Another skill which isn't required but highly essential is being an expert in Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft World. You should have outstanding interpersonal, administrative, and organizational skills as well as the acute ability to recognize detail. A legal assistant should have no problem multi-tasking (answering phones, proofreading, and writing) and he or she must be self-motivated since they will be unsupervised a large portion of the time. If you can work under pressure and enjoy working as part of a team then that is another plus. You should also gain experience by working in a legal environment as this will help brighten up your resume. If you are searching for a challenging career with unlimited advancement opportunities, then this is it.