All About Law | Training Contracts | Vacation Schemes | Law School | Law Careers

I joined Clintons in 2001 as a legal secretary having passed my A-levels but deciding not to go to University.  Initially I was working for both the music department and the Private Client department.  The Private Client side really sparked an interest and because of that I wanted to learn more and read through the files and began asking questions.  Slowly I was assisting my fee earner as opposed to merely typing for her.  The Partners at Clintons were great as they noticed that I was tackling tasks above my secretarial role and was asked by them where I saw my career.  We discussed my interest in the Private Client law and we researched into the options of taking my legal education further.  Clintons supported me and I embarked on the ILEX Paralegal Level 2 and 3 exams.  Following those I am now undertaking the STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) exams.  In addition to the Private Client work I also deal with some debt recovery/house repossession for a major lending company so have now branched out into a new area of law.

The main issue I have found with being a Paralegal is that initially it is difficult to work out your job description.  From my point of view I have to be clear as to what my secretarial duties are and what my fee earning duties are.  I have requested that I still continue to be the secretary for the Consultant in the Private Client department as I have learnt so much just by typing her correspondence, attendance note and documents.

My main area within the Private Client department is Probate Administration and simple Wills.  I have not built up enough courage at the moment to tackle any tax and trust aspects of this area of law but I am sure in time I will. 

Over the course of these blogs I hope to be able to share some tips and advice which I hope that you will find helpful.  The first thing I have learnt is that the instructions you receive are very important whether it is for a Will or for an estate – there is nothing more frustrating than wanting to either start drafting or start the administration and find that you are missing vital information.  Be sure you ask the right questions and obtain the information that you will need!

So at the end of my first blog I hope I have provided enough background that from now on I will be able to describe some of our current cases and my involvement in them (on a no name basis obviously!).  If you would like me to include anything particular in the blog or if there are any paralegal questions you have and you would like my opinion please comment on the website.

Sounds pretty cool.