After leaving my last job as a customer service relations manager, I sought a career change. This is because I had reached managerial level in my current profession and really had nowhere else to go other than changing company. I was also looking for a change and it really was the time for me to look for something new. I decided to look for a legal job as law had always appeared to me. I looked legal secretarial work the most as it was seemingly most suitable for me.
 

Getting a Job

 
I went to a number of recruitment agents that gave me some suggestions that were not that ideal for me. They were very junior legal roles and with very low pay. I did however see some interesting Legal  Secretary roles but they consistently required the CILEx qualification. I asked some recruitment
agents about CILEx and they explained that many firms use this as a standard of Legal qualification in the legal industry. They suggested that if I took the Level 3 Legal Secretary Certificate, I would be able to start applying for Legal Secretarial work. They said that the qualification took a little while to
obtain but the practical element of it made you attractive to law firms.
 

CILEx Legal Secretary Courses

 
I found a college that provided CILEx Legal Secretarial Level 3 Certificate courses. They had a Barrister who provided one to one tuition remotely or in person, as suited, after a long day induction into Legal
work. In the meantime, I carried out numerous practical exercises to check that I could format and create legal documents effectively. I had to take a Word course in order to function effectively as a Legal Secretary, as the requirements were greater than in my previous role in relation to word
processing, template production.
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I completed the course after 6 months part-time, whilst I was still working in my last job. I started to apply for legal jobs and soon landed a great legal secretarial job in a large law firm. I have scope to move
up within the firm, potentially studying more to become a paralegal or progressing to be a Legal Secretary at a higher pay grade. I have to say CILEx helped me land this new career and having now met many other legal secretaries it seems to have benefited many others.
 

How I became a Legal Secretary

 
Find CILEx courses at www.pa-course.co.uk/cilex-legal-secretary-training. You can also find details of CILEx or CPD Legal Secretarial training on this website.