Certified Legal Secretary

Become a Certified Legal Secretary

The legal profession has a range of career opportunities available with over 300,000 positions today and is projected to grow to 325,000 by 2026. If you're ready to enter the legal profession and develop a great career that will be in-demand long into the future, this Certified Legal Secretary course can help by providing foundational knowledge over a broad range of legal topics to help prepare you for the NALS Accredited Legal Professional exam.

The Certified Legal Secretary course will help you gain the skills you need to enter the legal profession regardless of the type of law that interests you. Lawyers rely on these legal professionals to coordinate the daily functions of their law practice by maintaining schedules, managing clients, filing documents, drafting paperwork, and more. You will learn basic legal terminology, office procedures and management advice, basic accounting, and QuickBooks. Throughout the course, you will discover what it is like to work in this fast-paced, exciting, and in-demand field.

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Job Outlook for Certified Legal Secretaries

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary of a legal secretary is currently nearly $53,000 per year.

Jobs are expected to increase by 10% through 2029, which is considered much faster than average positions. There should be plenty of job opportunities for legal secretaries regardless of location.

Course Objectives

Learn useful and practical office and administrative skills.
Gain legal research and writing skills.
Gain exposure to a broad range of law topics and fields.
Gain the foundational knowledge required to enter the legal profession.
Prepare for the NALS Accredited Legal Professional exam.

Certified Legal Secretary Certification

You will be prepared for the Accredited Legal Professional (ALP) Exam offered by NALS The Association for Legal Professionals.

In order to sit for the exam, students need to meet the exam eligibility requirements independent of our online program.

To sit for the ALP exam, you must have completed one of the following:

Completion of an accredited business/legal course,
Completion of a NALS Legal Training Course, or
One year of general office experience

Prerequisites and Requirements

\While there are no prerequisites to complete this course, it is designed to prepare you to pass the ALP exam. In order to sit for the exam, students need to meet the exam eligibility requirements independent of this course.

To sit for the ALP exam, you must have completed one of the following:

Completion of an accredited business/legal course,
Completion of a NALS Legal Training Course, or
One year of general office experience

This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Instructors

Katherine Squires Pang, J.D., LL.M., M.Ed

Katherine Squires Pang, J.D., LL.M., M.Ed has practiced law with since 1983. She has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Management at the University of Texas, Dallas, and has been an adjunct faculty member of many universities, including New York University and UC Irvine. She received her B.A. in 1980 from Clark University, her J.D. from the University of Dayton Law School in 1982, her LL.M in Taxation from Georgetown University Law School in 1983, and her M.Ed from the University of Texas in 2001.

Registration and Enrollment

This is a self-paced course that can be completed 100% online. Open enrollment means you can start anytime.

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Curriculum Outline
1. Ethics for Paralegals
  1. Ethics for paralegals
  2. Codes that apply to legal professionals
  3. Specific duties that a paralegal can perform according to the ABA
  4. Confidentiality in your role as a paralegal
  5. What is considered a conflict of interest in your role as a paralegal
  6. Communications with the "other side"
  7. Paralegal disclosure
  8. Model Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility for a paralegal.
2. Law Office Management
  1. Duties you may have as a law office professional
  2. Accounting and billing in the law office
  3. Files and record management in the law office
  4. Technology used in the law office
  5. Types of files encountered in the law office
3. Introduction to Accounting
  1. Overview of Accounting
  2. Methods of Accounting
  3. The Accounting Cycle
  4. Major account groupings
  5. The Accounting Cycle
4. Grammar Essentials
  1. Components of Writing
  2. The components of a sentence
  3. Different types of sentences
  4. Identifying faulty sentences
  5. Using punctuation correctly
  6. Using the correct verb tense in your writing
  7. The function of a paragraph
  8. Using cause and effect in your writing
5. Legal Writing
  1. Importance of legal writing in the legal field
  2. Goal of legal writing
  3. Drafting documents in legal writing
  4. Constructing effective sentences in legal writing
  5. Using defined terms in legal writing
  6. Word usage in legal writing
  7. Redundancies
  8. Commonly misused words in legal writing
  9. Reviewing legal documents
  10. Using FIRAC in legal analysis
6. Legal Research and The Law Library
  1. Introduction
  2. Authorities of Law
  3. FIRAC
  4. Statutory and Case Law
  5. Resources
  6. Computerized Legal Research
  7. Citations and Shepardizing
  8. Summary
7. Introduction to the Legal System
  1. Introduction to terminology used in the legal system
  2. Structure of the government
  3. Judicial system
  4. Jurisdiction in the legal system
  5. Using FIRAC to read a case
8. Administrative Law
  1. Introduction to Administration Law
  2. Administrative Agencies
  3. Administrative Procedures Act
  4. Political Control over Agencies
  5. Rule Making and Right to a Court Review
  6. Examples of Administrative Agencies
9. Civil Litigation
  1. Initial client overview
  2. In the investigation stage, the paralegal needs to examine and inquire into the claim
  3. In pretrial litigation, the initial preparation of pleadings to initiate a lawsuit
  4. The settlement means an agreement has been reached before the trial
  5. The order of the trial/appeal
10. Contracts
  1. Case Law and FIRAC
  2. Contracts
  3. Contract Acceptance
  4. Consideration.
  5. Enforcement
  6. Contractual Capacity
  7. Defenses
  8. Third-Party Beneficiaries
  9. Breach
11. Torts
  1. Types of Torts
  2. Torts to Property
  3. Defenses
  4. Cause of action
  5. Defense of Negligence
  6. Strict Liability
12. Criminal Law and Procedure
  1. Introduction
  2. Intent
  3. Crimes-Battery
  4. Crimes-Felony
  5. Elements of the crime
  6. Criminal capacity
  7. Justification
  8. Summary
13. Family Law Outline
  1. Marriage
  2. Divorce and Separation
  3. Child Custody
  4. Child Support
  5. Spousal Support
  6. Adoption
  7. Division of Property
  8. Summary
14. Business Entity Formation
  1. Choice of entity
  2. Sole proprietorship is an entity that is owned by one person
  3. A partnership requires two or individuals operating the partnership
  4. A corporation comes into existence through the filing of Articles of Incorporation
  5. Limited Liability Company is a type of entity that is a cross between a corporation and a partnership
15. Real Estate Law
  1. Real estate law
  2. Importance of contracts in real estate law
  3. Deeds and titles
  4. Lender rights and leases
  5. Real estate development and easements
16. Probate Law and Estate Planning
  1. Introduction to estate planning
  2. Components of a will
  3. Execution of a will
  4. Trusts in estate planning
17. Bankruptcy Law
  1. Chapter 7 bankruptcy
  2. Chapter 11 bankruptcy
  3. Chapter 13 bankruptcy
  4. The bankruptcy process
  5. The perspectives of bankruptcy

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