MODULE 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
LEGAL OFFICE
ASSISTANSHIP
OBJECTSTIVES at the end of this module,
the students should be able to:
1. Define what a legal office assistance is
2. identify one’s responsibilities in order to become a valuable member
of the law office team
3. differentiate the challenges involved when working in a small,
medium-sized, and large law offices
4. distinguish the specialization available in the legal profession
5. describe the value of the customers and explain how to handle the
lawyer-client relation relationships in the work place, such as:
 cooperation
 sense of responsibility
 respect
 self-confidence
 initiative
THE LEGAL OFFICE ASSITANT
 to work in law office as a legal office manager or a legal office assistant
is one option you can take as a future office professional.
 When a law firm employs you, you will work for one or more lawyers,
also known as attorney, attorney-at-law, counselors, counsel, or legal
counsel.
 The competent, well-qualified Legal Office Assistance is a very special
kind of person who provides very important office administrative
assistance to the lawyer for whom she works.
 You will very important member in the law-office team.
 YOU WILL BE A MEMBER OF
THE LAW OFFICE TEAM
 Law office vary in size from those with the only one lawyer to those with
hundreds of lawyers in one office.
 In additional to the lawyer who may be partners in the law firm, there are
associate, law clerks, and people with a wide variety of skill; training, and
responsibilities in the field of law.
 Depending on the size of the office, there may be receptionists, calendar
clerks, file clerks, account clerks, stenographers, librarians, legal
researchers, legal secretaries, and of course, the legal office assistant.
 One person may also serve as the legal office manager.
 Every law office, would need the services of a legal office assistant.
 In your position as the member of the law office team, you are expected
to assume responsibility in assisting the layers for the office
management of the legal office
 It becomes apparent that within the law office there is a challenging
opportunity for you as a legal office assistant to advance to a position of
considerable responsibility if you are willing to continue learning on the
job.
YOU MAY CHOOSE TO WORK AS A
LEGAL OFFICE ASSISTANT in a
SMALL OFICE
 You may choose to work in a small office serving one
lawyer and enjoy working closely with highly talented
people, the less formal atmosphere, and the greater client
contact.
 You may have opportunity to do some legal office
manager.
 You may even work in counts and conduct legal
researches in the libraries.
 Of course, you will be expected to be proficient in typing,
computer operation, dictation, transcription, and knowledge
of legal office procedures.
 You must also be prepared to be an accounting clerk, file
clerk, court clerk, legal researches, and legal office manager
 Working as a legal assistant in a small law office would
require you to be well rounded in all the legal aspect of
office administration
 YOU MAY CHOOSE TO WORK AS A
LEGAL OFFICE ASSISTANT in a
MEDIUM OFFICE
 Other student may prefer a medium-sized office where they are assigned to
assist two or more lawyers whose work may be highly specialized.
 You may spend most of your time assisting the lawyers in preparing legal
documents until you become very proficient in this kind of legal work.
 If you are interested in continuing your education or pursuing a career in
law, you may have the opportunity for advancement to positions of greater
responsibility.
 You may work in the day, you may work in a law office and pursue your
studies of the law in the evening.
YOU MAY CHOOSE TO WORK AS A
LEGAL OFFICE ASSISTANT in a LARGE
OFFICE

 You may prefer to work in a large corporation and be assigned to work in

the legal department of the company.
 As a member of a large office staff, the legal office assistant may also
have some benefits not available to one who works in a small office.
 If you work in a large firm and you are assigned to assist one or two
attorneys, you will soon learn their areas of specialization and become
proficient and knowledgeable in the legal office responsibilities related to
these areas
 Large companies generally provide their employees with benefits such as
life insurance and health plans, and there are intangible benefits such as
the opportunity to develop office friendships with fellow workers from the
other department, which may not be present in a small medium sized
office.
 THE LAWYER AS YOUR BOSS
 To serve effectively as a legal office assistance, you should understand
something about the background and training of the lawyer who will be your
boss so you will have a real comprehension of the demands that his profession
makes upon him.
 Knowing the nature of the legal profession will help you better perform your
job as a legal office manager or legal assistant.
LEGAL TO UNDERSTAND THE
LEGAL PROFESSION
 Your boss, who is a lawyer, has spent many years preparing for his
career. He probably attended a four-year college taking a pre-law.
 Then he spent three years in a specialized law school-public or
private learning his profession and preparing to take the bar
examination so that he could obtain a license to practice law.
 When he receives his license, he is said to be ‘’admitted to the
bar’’. The term bar is synonymous with lawyers.
 The law is changing, and lawyers must keep abreast of changes. That is
the reason why you will be expected to do various legal researches when
you work as assistant. To a lawyer. Your boss needs to have great
knowledge and special skills. That is why he depends on the multitude of
law books that line the office walls to aid him work as a lawyer.
 Also needs of their clients vary, so they must be knowledgeable in many
fields in order to serve different kinds of client’s well
 Many lawyers had additional years of formal education studying a
specialized field of law. You will realize as you learn of law. You will
realize as you learn more about work as an assistance to a lawyer that your
employer may never stop studying and learning. The lawyer never stops
learning: he must deal with new laws and changes in laws as well as with
the society these laws serve.
 Lawyer or they are sometimes called attorney take great pride in their
profession and work very hard to arrive at position of great respect.
 The lawyer is responsible for decision-making with regard to the
application of the law; he takes his responsibilities very seriously.
 The demands made upon lawyers today are increasing constantly.
 Because of the increased demands made upon them, lawyers need and must
have more and better assistance from their nonprofessional staff.
 Incidentally, all lawyers are not men. More and more women are entering
the legal profession with great success.
 Although most legal secretaries or legal office assistants are women, there
are some men who also enter this kind of office work
 WHAT ARE SOME OF THE
SPECIALIZATIONS IN THE LEGAL
PROFESSION?
 Our court structure reflects the division of legal matters into two general categories;
namely: civil and criminal.
 In very general terms, civil legal matters are those that involved protecting the rights
of individuals.
 ® Civil law are those that deal with protecting the rights of the person, such as will,
estate management, corporate law, personal injury law, domestic relation law,
taxation law, patent law, maritime law, labor law, and international law.
 Criminal legal matters concern the protection of society from harmful acts.
 ® The practice of criminal law is more than dramatic than the practice of civil law
and seems more exciting because of television, newspaper, and other media. Some
lawyers are attracted to criminal law and specialized it.
 Most lawyer are primarily concerned with the day-to-day processing of civil matters
 Other elect to engage in general practice, wherein they serve clients with all kind of legal
problems.
 Whether a lawyer specializes in civil or criminal law or not, many lawyers find that they have a
special aptitudes and devote the majority of their time to these areas of their time to these areas of
specialization.
 For example, some lawyers are at their best in the courtroom. They develop reputation as
outstanding trial counsel or trial lawyer and may be retained by other lawyer to take over a case
when it reaches the point of trial
 Other do their best work in organization and managing cases, and still others are particularly
skilled in legal research.
 When the time comes for you to seek your first full-time position, you may elect to work for a
lawyer with specialty that is of particular interest to you.
TYPES OF LEGAL PRACTICE YOUR
LAWYER-BOSS MAY ENGAGE IN
 May lawyers establish a legal practice as individuals. They may work
alone or employ other attorneys to assist them but one attorney is, in a
sense. The owner and the head of his small firm.
 Most law firms are partnerships of several attorneys who may also
employ other attorneys to assist them.
 Law firm are business enterprises and are operated to make a profit for
their owners- whether an individual or partners
 The manner in which the attorneys are compensated is determined as
agreements made when the firm is first established or when new
members are taken into it.
 POSITION IN A LEGAL PRACTICE
 The founders of the law office are called the senior partners or senior
members of the firm.
 The attorneys they employ to assist with the workload are generally
known as legal associate
 Larger firms employ law students or beginning lawyers as law clerks to
assist with research and preparation of documents
 Today, some lawyers are forming corporation instead of partnerships
 The distinction is not important to the legal office assistant except that it
may change the manner in which correspondence and documents are
signed
 Some lawyers become employees of one company for which they work on a
full-time basis other serve on a part-time basis other serve on a part-time
basis as company legal counsel.
 Large corporations often have a legal staff, and frequently the manager of
the office is a lawyer.
 Some companies employ attorneys on retainer. This means that the company
pays the lawyer a specified amount each month in return for which they
handle any legal problems that the business may have.
 Other lawyers may be employed on a temporary basis to handle special legal
problems, on case-to-case basis.
YOU MAY WORK IN A
GOVERNMENT LAW OFFICE
 More and more lawyers are needed today by government agencies to
defend its people. Lawyers in the government service also need assistants
in the performance of their job.
 In the area of criminal law, lawyers are employed to represent the people
of the Philippines in prosecuting people who have been charged with
violating laws. Locally, they are known as district attorneys
 The Philippines government has offices of public defense or
public defenders that provide, without charge, defense for
people accused of criminal or civil actions who cannot afford to
pay for their own defense on the other hand, there are also
lawyers in private practice who give free legal services to the
poor members of our society. One such organization is the
FLAG. Which stands or free legal action group.
 In the area of civil law, many public agencies employ lawyers
in investigate and regulatory capacities to make certain that the
law and all regulations of the agencies are complied with.
 CIVIL SERVICE REQUIREMENTS WHEN YOU
WORK IN THE GOVERNMENT
 When you decide to work in a government law office, you have
to take and pass the civil service examination. Being a civil
service eligible, you have more changes of getting permanent
appointment in a government office some of the civil service
exams that you can take are:
 ® sub-professional civil service examination (for the graduates
of a two-year course)
 ® professional civil service examination (for the graduates of a
four-year or any degree course)
 ®civil service stenographer examination (you will be expected
to proficient in steno and typing/encoding)
 REMEMBER: No matter how a lawyer is employed-whether
the person works for oneself, for a company, or for a
government agency- one needs efficient help from a legal
office assistance.
CUSTOMER IN A LAW OFFICE
 Law is a profession concerned with assisting people who
have problems that involve laws or regulations. People
who seek help from lawyers are called legal clients.
 Clientsmay be individuals, business, organization of all
kind-public or private corporations
 Some clients regularly seek advice and assistance from their
attorneys on all of kind matters, while others call on their
attorney only occasionally
 In any case, they may want legal papers prepared, they may
want the attorney to represent the in court, or they may
simply want advice on a legal matter.
 The welfare of the client is the primary concern of the
attorney, his secretary or legal assistant, and every member
of the staff.
THE LAWYER -
CLIENTRELATIONSHIP
 The relationship between a lawyer and his client is a private
privilege one.
 This is the same kind of special relationship that exist between
husband and wife, doctor and patient, and clergyman and
parishioner.
 All communications are highly confidential.
 Thelaw protects the confidentiality of privileged
communication.
 No count can force a husband to testify against his wife, or vice
versa. In the same manner, lawyer cannot be called as a witness
and asked to reveal information given him by his client. And the
same is true of doctors and clergymen.
 The privilege nature of communication between lawyer and
client affects every member of the attorney’s staff, including his
legal office assistance or legal secretary.
 Therefore, as a legal professional you should know that all
information obtained while working in the law office must be
kept in the strictest confidence.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A
LEGAL OFFICE ASSISTANT
 Alllegal assistants or legal secretaries owe their boss two
very special thing: loyalty and confidentiality.
 The legal office assistant has a special responsibility to keep
oneself any information she may obtain as a result of the
position.
 One must not reveal such information to family or friends,
and she should not even discuss it with other members of the
office staff.
FORMATIVE EXAMS FOR
MODULE 1

INTRUDUCTION TO LEGAL
OFFICE ASSISTANTSHIP
 CAREER DEVELOMENT PROJECT 1-1:
DECIDE WHERE YOU WOULD WANT
TO WORK AS LEGAL OFFICE
ASSISTANT
 You have learned that lawyers may work for small, medium, and large
firms. You now know that some engage in general practice, whereas other
specialize in criminal or civil law. You also learned that a lawyer might
serve I a government agency or work in a private company.
 Consider what you have learned about the types of law practices and decide
what kind of office you think you would like to work in the future.
 Using plane paper, describe the size of office, the type of
lawyer, and the type of specialized law practices you
would choose to be working with.
 Explain why you would make these choices about the type
of job you will want to seek. justify your answer.
 CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT1-2
PRACTICE YOUR ROLE AS A LEGAL
OFFICE ASSISTANT

 Carefully read the following situations, which typically those that occur in
the law office. On a piece of paper, explain what you would (or wouldn’t)
do on the following situations:
 The wife of a major in your city, who is prominent member of the
community, filing for legal separation and has asked your lawyer-boss to
be her counsel. Would you discuss this with your family, friends, or other
secretaries in the firm? Why or why not?
 The son of the principal in your school was involved in a
crime several months ago. From what you know of the
situation, you believe that he was not at fault. He asked you
whether he should sue the other person accusing him of a
certain crime. He insisted on taking to your boss who is
attending to another client at the moment. How would you
handle the situation?
ISSUES FOR CLASS ROOM
DISCUSSION
1. The lawyer is a professional person in the true and literal meaning of
the term “PROFESSIONALISM”.
a. Research on the true meaning of the term: professionalism.
b. Be able to discuss the behavioral standard of a professional.
c. Find out what are expected from you as an office professional
d. What significance does this have for you as a future legal office
assistant or as legal secretary who will assisting lawyers in the future?
1. What are the relationship of the professional nature of your career to
the following;
a. Lawyer-office assistant relationship
b. Office assistant-client relationship?
LEGAL OFFICE SI ULATION AND
ROLE PLAYING
 During your lunch break, a friend calls you to tell you that she has heard
that a mutual friend of yours is going to adopt a baby. You know about it
because the lawyer who is your boss is handling this particular legal
matter. How will you handle such as call?
 A visitor that your boss is expecting arrives. She has a previous
appointment with your boss. While you ushering the visitors to the
lawyer’s office, the client starts criticizing the actions of another client in
the waiting room for the way in which she is dealing with the
misbehavior of her small child. How would you react?
 While you are finishing document on the computer for the
signature of your boss, a caller is a client called up to find
out about the court decision on her legal case. You know
that the court already made the decision, and you have a
copy of a document. However, you are not allowed to relay
the matter on the phone. How would you handle this
particular call?
END OF PRESENTATION