1. Who these standards are for
The National Competency Standards for Legal Secretaries are designed for secretaries working for lawyers or paralegal fee earners.
NB: many senior legal secretaries also do a limited amount of paralegal work. These standards do not encompass that paralegal work. They related secretarial work only. Such paralegal work is covered by the introductory level Paralegal NCS.
2. Number of levels
The standards are set at three levels: introductory, intermediate and advanced.
3. Content
The Legal Secretarial NCS cover:
Client Care
Communication
Equipment Use
IT Skills
Legal Skills
Managing Information
Managing Others
Managing Workload
Professional Conduct and Compliance
Secretarial Skills
Self Development
Team Work
Knowledge Guidelines
4. Guidance for Institute members
Institute members undertaking legal secretarial work should seek to comply with the Legal Secretarial NCS at the appropriate level.
5. Stakeholders
These standards have draft by the Institute in partnership with the members on its Standing NCS Working Party.
6. Publication information
The current edition of these standards were published in October 2009.
7. Additional information
Secretaries complying with these standards are eligible to potentially receive a legal qualification for only GBP £95. See Qualifications.
8. Downloading your copy
you can download:
A copy of the introductory level in .PDF format by clicking here.
A copy of the intermediate level in .PDF format by clicking here.
A copy of the advanced level in .PDF format by clicking here.
If you cannot open a .PDF document then you can download a free copy of Adobe Reader by clicking here. Alternatively, if you subscribe to the Legal Secretarial series of NCS we will send you a set in Word 97-2003 format.
9. Subscribing
Although you can download a copy for free here in .PDF format you should consider taking out an annual subscription to the series relevant to you. Subscriptions cost GBP £70 per year, per series of standards.
The advantage of subscribing is that you:
Automatically receive all updates, amendments, corrections and notices concerning that series and the standards in general
Receive copies altered to let you easily mark standards as having been met, and which also allow for a verifier to initial his/her confirmation
Receive copies in Word 97-2003 format for easy editing/cutting and pasting
Have the opportunity to speak with us about implementation of the standards
Are eligible to be/register candidates for the LPQ qualifications (Legal Secretarial NCS only)
For more information visit the subscribe page.
