CILEx/City & Guilds Legal Secretaries Diploma Level 3

General information

CILEx (Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) is very well recognised as a leader in the Legal Environment and City & Guilds is extremely well established as a provider of excellent vocational courses across the World. This well established and respected advanced secretarial diploma course provides students with the specific knowledge and skills to work in a solicitor’s office or any legal environment, as well as providing excellent transferable skills to work in any office as a secretary or administrator. The course specifically addresses the production of a wide range of specialist legal documents such as Wills, Divorce Petitions and Affidavits, and familiarises students with the use of legal terminology. IT skills are an integral part of the course, and students will develop these skills to a high level during the year using the current Microsoft Office suite. As part of the Diploma Level 3 course, students cover Legal Studies which gives a deeper insight into the making of law, the Judiciary, the Court structure and how the law works. Family Law and the Law and Practice of Wills and Succession are also studied. This additional module provides a potential stepping stone to progress further in the legal environment as a legal executive. The essential skills of proofreading, audio and touch typing are taught as well as the necessary administrative skills, such as event management, team working, stock control, client care, procedures involved in arranging meetings and producing the Agenda and subsequently, the Minutes of the Meeting together with knowledge of other ad hoc duties. The core of the delivery is to ensure students gain employability skills and well recognised qualifications. To this end the qualifications on the course are designed to provide students with a wide range of business as well as administrative skills. In preparing students for work we provide CV workshops and training in interview skills and also help students to find work placements in a legal office. The business element of the course includes students developing entrepreneurial characteristics of independence, innovation, imagination, creativity, tenacity and leadership. The course is run by an established team of staff who have successfully delivered the course for several years. Throughout the course students have the additional support of an allocated Personal Tutor who is there to smooth the journey through the year to facilitate a successful outcome for our learners.

Course content

• Legal Studies
• Legal Word Processing
• Touch typing and Audio typing skills
• Proofreading
• Business Skills in the Legal Environment
• Edexcel Level 2 Award in Work Skills
• OCR Text Production Business Professional Certificate

Teaching and assessment

Assessment varies depending on the Module. Some modules are externally examined while for others students complete externally set assignment based tasks. At the end of the course City & Guilds moderate the assignments.

Entry requirements

A minimum of 5 GCSE A-C with a minimum C in English. Level 2 equivalent qualifications will be considered. At interview, candidates will be required to sit internal, course specific tests.

Progression

Students can seek employment in a secretarial or administrative role, in either a legal or business environment. They could also potentially go on to complete Legal Studies at a higher level which could lead to a career as a legal executive.

Dates and times

This course starts in September and is run for three days a week until July. The duration of the course is one academic year.