Law Office Administration Specialist Certificate
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Course Description
This highly specialized curriculum is designed for paralegals who have achieved, or expect to achieve, a higher professional status and levels of responsibility in their respective legal department. The overwhelming trend in law firms is to appoint an outstanding paralegal professional to a management type position involving decision making and often supervisory powers over other employees. Such a professional must be versed in the basic operating systems of the law firm, including technological applications. Paralegals in decision-making capacities must have an understanding of legal ethics, and must be conversant with more than one area of the law. This specialized program is designed to facilitate the success of paralegals in positions of responsibility. Such a professional, in order to reach higher levels of responsibility and income, must have the far-reaching knowledge and perspective that this program provides. Students who successfully complete this program receive a Specialized Certificate in Law Office Administration and Legal Ethics.
Textbooks: All textbooks are included in the tuition for this specialized certificate program.
Course Outline
In this course, you will gain a basic background in law office administration. You will learn how law is practiced in the private sector, the role of the legal administrator and legal assistant manager, how a law office manages its expenses, timekeeping, and how a lawyer sets and collects fees. You will learn about billing, client trust accounts, administrative reports, and client file management.
The course also covers the use of computers in a law office. This knowledge is especially valuable since computers play a major role in the modern law practice. In this age of electronic discovery and online legal research, computer knowledge is extremely important.
Topics covered include:
- Learning about the differences between computer applications (software) and computer systems (hardware).
- Computer terminology, and the technologies that are most commonly used, including operating systems, software applications, and hardware devices.
- Input devices, speech recognition programs, and scanners, and word-processing programs.
- Law-related uses of the Internet, including the main fee-based sources of computer-assisted legal research, such as Westlaw? and Lexis?, as well as the use of listervs, intranets and extranets.
A paralegal with expertise in these areas will be a valuable part of any legal team.
Module 2: Legal Terminology
Students of the law are often initially overwhelmed by the prevalence of legal jargon known as legalese. The legal profession, perhaps more than any other, uses a vocabulary that is incomprehensible to the uninitiated. This course is designed to quickly educate the student to be familiar with the basic terminology of the legal profession. The course is divided into modules, each of which is dedicated to one are of the law. Modules include real estate, probate, litigation, bankruptcy, and criminal and tort law. In each module, the student learns the meaning and use of the common legal terms in that area of the law. If you have ever wondered what it means to move for summary judgment, if you don't know the difference between a mortgagor and a mortgagee, if a writ of habeas corpus means no more to you than res judicata then this course is for you!
Module 3: Ethics
Paralegals, like attorneys, must be knowledgeable of the rules of ethics. This course covers the basic principles governing the ethical practice of law for both lawyers and paralegals. Subjects explored include the unauthorized practice of law, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, paralegal-client relations, disciplinary procedures, fee splitting, billing, advertising, and misconduct in the law office.
More Information
| Language | English |
| Course Length | 252.00 hours |
| Duration of Access | 4 mos |
| Instructor | TBA |
| Vendor | Washington Online Learning Institute (Read more about Washington Online Learning Institute accreditation.) |
| Course Certification | Certificate |
| Prerequisites/Audience | HS Diploma/GED |
| Requirements/Materials Included | Textbook Required and Included in Course Cost |