The Legal Support Specialist

This course has been specifically designed for the “Legal Support Specialists” to help them to master the role and develop and achieve a successful career plan.

For the purposes of this course we will use the term “Legal Assistant” or “Legal Support Specialist” to refer indistinctly to any of the titles the category may include (Legal secretary, Paralegal, Legal Office Manager, etc.)

In this video we will explore this interesting role. Let's get started!

In this lesson you will learn the seven phases of the Matter Management Life Cycle with an easy overview of them.

During the next lessons we will discuss each of the phases in more detail.

Let's get started!

Legal Assistants are usually the recipients and primary point of contact for legal matter’s requests.

Discover the importance of having a proper procedure in place for receiving and tracking matters.

At the end of this lesson you can download a "Legal Services Order Form" template which you can customize and start using to implement best practices at work.

Once a new matter request is received, the second step in the matter management life cycle is to assess whether the company or the lawyer can formally start working on it or must reject it.

In this lesson we will learn two important procedures to be undertaken during this phase:

- To run a conflict check.

- To run "Know Your Client" (KYC) or Due Diligence (DD) checks.

We will provide you also with a KYC form template which you can download, customize and use with your clients.

It is always recommended to follow a criteria for matter assignments between the team members as to achieve a fair, organized and effective distribution of work.

In this lesson we will go through the different criteria for allocating work and tracking performance.

In this lesson we will go through the fourth phase in the Matter Management Life Cycle.

We will learn the importance and necessary content of Letter of Engagements (LOE) and the different possibilities of billing arrangements within what is called "Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFA)".

At the end of this video you can download a Client Meeting Checklist with all the important points to follow for professional and successful meetings.

In this lesson we will discuss the importance of timekeeping and adhering to a proper billing system.

We will analyze the composition of a billing narrative and the important task of Legal Assistants of reviewing such narratives.

A Legal Assistant who is proficient in reviewing billing narratives is an in-demand candidate in the legal industry.

We will teach you here how to undertake a professional review of narratives applying best practices in the interest of both, the company's clients and the company's monetary interests.

In this lesson we will provide you with the following resources to complete the matter management life cycle:

A Matter Closure Checklist so you do not miss any important requirement or step while closing your matters;

A Lesson Learned Template to undertake a comprehensive Lesson Learned review with your team;

A Client Feedback Form

A very important part of the administrative function within a law office is the proper maintenance of legal files.

Every law office or legal department should have a pre-defined and standardized file management system.

Legal Assistants can help creating and developing a file management system if this does not exist or can help with improving and enhancing the existing one in place.

In this lesson we will teach you how to implement or improve a file management system within your company.

Legal departments are often considered as the guardian or repository of the Company’s documents as this is a task that demands high standards of security and confidentiality. Therefore, very often, Legal Assistants are assigned the task to develop and/or maintain a records management system and a record retention policy.

In this lesson we will explore the importance of having, understanding and maintaining a proper records management system as to help an organization to keep the necessary documentation accessible for both business operations and compliance audits.

When planning your career in law, you must be aware that employers look for a perfect mix of hard and soft skills in the potential candidates.

If your profile involves a good balance of both, hard and soft skills, you have a competitive edge in today’s legal market.

Let's explore the most in-demand soft skills for Legal Assistants so you can start building your profile accordingly.