Training of a Legal Secretary in Financial Services
As a secretary who aspires to become a legal secretary in the financial services field, you can look forward to good employment prospects, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment of administrative assistants is expected to grow by about 11 percent between 2008 and 2018. "Moderate" growth in legal services is expected to grow faster than average. While employment growth will be slower for other secretarial specialties, legal secretaries can expect better opportunities.
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Necessary Education and Training
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After graduating from an associate degree program in secretarial training, if you plan to advance higher, you should enroll in additional community college classes offering additional training in the language of the financial services sector. Expect to obtain more specialized on-the-job training either from other senior legal secretaries or product vendors who have contracted with your employer.
Plan to participate in online classes or seminars that teach you how to operate new office equipment such as new software packages or information storage systems, states the BLS.
College Education
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As a legal secretary working in a financial services company, you will also need to graduate from a four-year program related to the financial services field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Your employer works with complex financial instruments and has to know what current law is as various retirement plans and accounts, stock, money market and other accounts are sold and managed for the company's clients. Because of your involvement with the legal aspects of the products being sold, you should take additional college courses in finance and economics or earn a degree in one of these fields. Having one of these degrees may give you the necessary competitive edge you need as you go through the application and hiring process. Your knowledge will help you as you work alongside lawyers and top executives in your company, according to the BLS. The traditional legal secretary program teaches you about legal office management, legal writing and terminology as well as accounting, according to Gatlin Education, an online training resource.
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Additional Skills and Qualifications
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You should be a skilled typist, highly skilled in spelling, grammar, punctuation and oral communication. Your employer expects you to have a high degree of people skills as you will be greeting the public every day. You need to know how to exercise discretion, good judgment and tact as you interact with other managers, employees and customers, according to the BLS.
Possible Certifications
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Your proficiency as a legal secretary can be certified through the National Association of Legal Secretaries, International Association of Administrative Professionals, Legal Secretaries International, Inc. and International Virtual Assistants Association. As you gain additional experience, you may also receive professional designations such as the Certified administrative Professional and the Certified Professional Secretary. After you have worked for at least one year in the legal field or completed an approved training course, you are eligible to obtain the Accredited Legal Secretary designation after undergoing testing through National Association of Legal Secretaries, according to the BLS.
Legal Secretary Duties
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As a legal secretary, your responsibilities are more specialized and evolved. Organizational restructuring and office automation have allowed your counterparts to accept responsibilities and duties once reserved for managerial and professional staff. You are, in essence, responsible for running and coordinating the administrative duties of your office, along with integrating, storing and retrieving legal and financial information for your supervisor and for financial agency clientele. You are responsible for creating and maintaining complex financial spreadsheets, managing databases, creating presentations and documents with desktop publishing software and digital graphics, according to the BLS.
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References
- Photo Credit boss and secretary image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com
