Legal Secretary Certificate Course Online

About This Course

This intensive online program is designed for both beginning and experienced secretaries who are interested in improving their skills and working more efficiently within the law office.

Course Objectives:

Participants will demonstrate the following skills through successful completion of all required coursework and assignments:

• Discuss the origins and history of the American legal system
• Define and apply important legal terminology
• Discuss ethics for the law office
• Demonstrate professionalism and organization
• Identify the important rules of e-discovery
• Demonstrate proper file management and discuss common filing systems
• Demonstrate how to use some of the common word processing features and other computer applications specifically for the law office
• Demonstrate how to prepare legal documents including letters, pleadings, discovery documents, motions and memos
• Apply the basic rules of citation format
• Define the elements of law office management

Expectations

This is an accelerated course. Students will be expected to spend approximately 8 hours per lesson reading and completing writing assignments. Please note that extensions will not be granted for this online course. 70% is the minimum passing score on all tests and assignments for this course.

Prerequisites

This course presumes a basic knowledge of word processing and a typing proficiency of at least 50 words per minute. Basic word processing and typing skills will not be covered in this course.

Course Books

Required textbooks for this course:

• Legal Secretary Handbook, 2nd edition, ISBN# 978-0-9637248-3-0, is available through CLS by BARBRI.

Highly Recommended Legal Resources:

• Oran’s Dictionary of the Law, 4th Edition, by Daniel Oran. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning

For more information, call CLS by BARBRI at 888-930-4047, or visit our Online Store to order.

Lesson Topics

Lesson One: Introduction to the American Legal System & Ethics
Lesson Two: Reception Duties, Correspondence, File Management & Filing Systems
Lesson Three: Calendar & Docketing, Fees, Billing & Accounting Practices
Lesson Four: Word Processing & Legal Document Preparation
Lesson Five: E-discovery, Computers in a Law Office
Lesson Six: Legal Secretary Practicum

Quizzes:

For lessons 1 through 5 you will submit a 50-point short answer/essay exam covering the topics in that lesson’s reading. These quizzes are due before Midnight each Sunday.

Writing Assignments:

For lessons 1, 2, 4 & 5, you will prepare various legal documents. Documents are worth 20-50 points. Deadlines for document assignments are listed in the course.

Practicum:

The final lesson will test you on all material covered in the previous lessons and provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate real-world skills by completing several common legal secretary tasks as if you were in the law office. The practicum is comprised of a variety of tasks including correspondence, file management, billing and document preparation.

Bulletin Board Assignments:

You will also post your responses to five class participation assignments. These assignments are referred to as Bulletin Board Submissions and will be submitted by either selecting Bulletin Board Submission from within the lesson material, or by selecting ‘Forums’ under Activities in the course.

All lesson objectives, assignments, and quizzes can be found in the Lesson Materials.

Additional resources are available by accessing the URL Library tool.

Grading

Your grade will be based on your completion of five quizzes, four writing assignments, practicum and class participation/Bulletin Board Submissions. The tests and writing assignment can be accessed from within the lesson material, or by selecting ‘Assignments’ under Activities. You will have the opportunity to engage in “class participation” by using the Bulletin Board tool to respond to the bulletin board assignments throughout the course. Also, participating in the bulletin board assignments will enhance your understanding of the reading material.

Your final grade will be figured as follows:

• The quizzes comprise 40% of your grade.
• The four writing assignments comprises 30% of your grade.
• The legal secretary practicum comprises 20% of your grade.
• Your participation in class participation assignments comprises 10% of your grade.

Withdrawal Policy

Students may drop the course with a full tuition refund less a non-refundable $50 administrative fee if written notice is sent to CLS by BARBRI by email [email protected] by the Wednesday before class begins. Students may drop the course with a 50% tuition refund if written notice is sent to CLS by BARBRI by email [email protected] anytime from the Thursday before the course begins until the first Thursday of class. After the first Thursday of class no refunds will be issued.

Please NOTE: If you registered for a CLS course directly with the college or university, you are subject to the school’s refund/drop policies.