Profession legal assistant

Legal assistants work closely together with lawyers and legal representatives in the research and preparation of cases brought to courts. They assist in the paper work of cases and management of the administrative side of court affairs.

Would you like to know what kind of career and professions suit you best? Take our free Holland code career test and find out.

Personality Type

• Conventional / Investigative

Related professions secretary

• Administrative secretary
• Executive secretary
• Legal secretary
• Medical secretary or receptionist
• Minutes secretary
• Office manager
• Personal assistant
• Project secretary
• Secretary
• Secretary, all other
• Team or department secretary

Knowledge

• Legal research

  The methods and procedures of research in legal matters, such as the regulations, and different approaches to analyses and source gathering, and the knowledge on how to adapt the research methodology to a specific case to obtain the required information.

• Court procedures

  The regulations which are in place during the investigation of a court case and during a court hearing, and of how these events occur.

• Legal department processes

  The different processes, duties, jargon, role in an organisation, and other specificities of the legal department within an organisation such as patents, legal cases, and legal compliance.

• Legal case management

  The procedures of a legal case from opening to closing, such as the documentation that needs to be prepared and handled, the people involved in different stages of the case, and the requirements that need to be met before the case can be closed.

• Legal terminology

  The special terms and phrases used in the field of law.

Skills

• Handle evidence

  Handle evidence important for a case in a manner compliant with regulations, in order to not affect the state of the evidence in question and to ensure its pristine condition and usability in the case.

• Study court hearings

  Read and interpret court hearings in order to format and process the outcome information of these events.

• Revise legal documents

  Read and interpret legal documents and proofs about happenings in relation with the legal case.

• Compile legal documents

  Compile and collect legal documents from a specific case in order to aid an investigation or for a court hearing, in a manner compliant with legal regulations and ensuring records are properly maintained.

• Manage accounts

  Manage the accounts and financial activities of an organisation, supervising that all the documents are correctly maintained, that all the information and calculations are correct, and that proper decisions are being made.

• Pose questions referring to documents

  Revise and formulate questions in regards to documents in general. Investigate about the completeness, confidentiality measures, style of the document, and specific instructions to handle documents.

• Follow given instructions

  Follow instructions to achieve goals and meet deadlines.

• Meet deadlines for preparing legal cases

  Plan and adjust timings in order to prepare legal documents, collect information and evidence, and contact clients and lawyers in order to prepare the case properly.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB