Legal Support Co-ordinator Review

A Paralegal/Legal PA type role, wiht an outward facing title of 'Legal Support Co-ordinator'. My job involves writing letters and sending documents. I do a lot of scanning documents and drafting standar form warranties. My relationship with people in the firm only really extends to the people in my department and a few others from around the office. I have had little contact with external people/clients.

I have developed organisational skills mostly. A skill I have learnt almost from scratch is attention to detail, through checking my work for small mistakes and typing errors.

I understand why I do the jobs that I do, and why I haven't been given a more varied range of work, but at the same time I feel a bit put-out by that. I have had a few opportunities to get involved in social events and have enjoyed those. In fact what I found I enjoyed the most was the non work related activities (i.e. organising a charity event), I haven't been able to get excited or to enjoy much of the work I have done. This is mainly because I have discovered that the career is not for me.

I think I feel about as 'valued' as you can in a big firm. Within my team I felt like I was needed to do the jobs I've been doing because they need someone to do them. Outside of that however, I don't know.

The introduction to the programme was very organised, although I was not given all the details that others were given due to a confusion during a change of email that was not communicated effectively inside the firm. However, some of the key elements of the programme seemed to fizzle out. For example, I was supposed to have a monthly talk to discuss objectives and my progress. During my 8 month contract, I only ever had 2 of these talks.

I was provided with the same training that a graduate trainee would recieve, although a lot of it went over my head at times I feel like I have a good understanding of some of the issues in the area that I work.

I feel like my supervisor was interested in my future and even though I decided that I am not right for this particular career and that it is not right for me, my supervisor was still helpful in trying to get on the right track for what I want to do. I was given constructive character/professional points to work on during my time on the programme and appreciate that. However, I don't think that a lot of the people I have worked with were as honest with me as they could have been.

My salary more than covers my needs for all of my costs, it has allowed me to save a lot of money and to indulge on things I wouldn't usually have the money for.

I have manage to get involve in a range of 'non work related activities' such as charity events and local community out-reach programmes.

Yes

Because it is a good opportunity to take a year out of education and to earn some money and a lot of experience (especially if your end goal is to become a solicitor).

I would like to have been more aware before the interview process that the work you do really depends on the department you will work in. I feel I have been lucky in the department I have been put in as it is relatively low-pressure/low-stress. I would recommend this programme to people who have an interest in law, and more importantly, to those who are not sure whether they want to become a solicitor or not. This experience changed my mind on what I wanted to do as it is not what I thought it would be like at all. I did a lot of perparation for the application/interview process. Although I am still not sure exactly what they were looking for. You have to have a feel for how businesses work and what is valuable to a business for success. Also, proof-reading your application and making sure there are no stupid mistakes is essential.