Legal Clerk Job Description
Legal clerks, also known as law clerks, work in law offices or in courts assisting with various administrative work. Legal clerks can be thought of as the heart of the legal system. They work with people at different levels of the law system: clients, legal secretaries, paralegals, lawyers and judges.
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Description
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Legal clerks research legal issues on various cases for attorneys, judges, or a law firm. They answer phones and perform other administrative office duties as necessary. A legal clerk may also prepare and process a variety of paperwork as well as assist an attorney or judge as required by law.
Responsibilities
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A legal clerk for a judge may be responsible for maintaining and updating the court calendar. Legal clerks will also respond to inquiries in person and by telephone. They may meet with clients to gather information before the client sits down with an attorney. This person will prepare legal documents, legal articles, answer phones, and physically file or e-file depositions, pleadings, and other documents in open Court, while maintaining confidentiality on all the work they prepare and maintain.
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Qualifications
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Qualifications may include at minimum an Associate's degree in Paralegal studies. Legal clerks for judges may include a Bachelors degree in Paralegal studies, or a similar field. Some legal clerks who work for judges are law students or those who recently received their license to practice law. It will be necessary for a legal clerk to have advanced typing and ten-key skills. Some employers may require a legal clerk to type at least 50 words per minute.
Experience
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Legal clerks need to be knowledgeable on court policies, procedures, and operational functions of a court room. This person must have a comprehension on legal codes and government regulations. Excellent structure and content of the English language is vital, which includes good grammar, spelling, and composition of words. Excellent communication, critical thinking, and writing skills are imperative as a legal clerk.
Environment
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Legal clerks will work in a professional office environment where they handle personal and confidential material. They should be organized. They will also spend time talking face to face to clients usually in a conference room, and will be sitting in court taking notes and may relay information to the attorney or client during a trial or hearing. Legal clerks will work in different fields of law, which may include family and juvenile, criminal, health, employment and labor, and real estate, to name a few. Legal clerks will spend a great deal in a legal library researching cases and in front of a computer.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit young lawyer image by Alexey Stiop from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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I have excellent clerical, typing, data entry, and some Microsoft offices skills as well. I have vast work background and history working in the legal setting. I've worked for three different court agencies such as Supreme Court of Brooklyn, Civil Court of NYC, and the most of by time and service was in Family Court of NYC.
