WHAT IS LEGAL SECRETARY secretaries to work late to make sure all

paperwork is prepared and ready to go for a

• A legal secretary plays a crucial role in the big case.
everyday workings of a law office. Legal
secretaries require extensive knowledge of LEGAL TERMINOLOGIES
legal proceedings and documentation. It is
• AFFIDAVIT - A written document that
not uncommon for the most experienced
contains evidence that the person making
and high performing legal secretaries to go
the affidavit swears or affirms is true.
on to be promoted to paralegal positions
Affidavits should only contain facts, not
within a law firm.
opinion, not argument and not personal
WHAT DOES A LEGAL SECRETARY DO? comments or attacks. Other documents like
emails, letters, photos and even copies of
• The role of a legal secretary is to support the text messages can be attached to an affidavit
lawyers and paralegals in a law office or as exhibits to support the factual statements
organization. Most legal secretaries converse made in the affidavit. Evidence given to the
directly with attorneys, clerical personnel, court on an application should only be given
courtroom staff members, clients, expert by properly made and filed affidavits.
witnesses and commercial vendors.
• ARGUMENT - Often written down as an
➢ As legal secretaries tend to possess a
outline or even in full paragraphs. If you are
specialized skill set across various computer
going to refer heavily to your written
programs, the tasks which they are
argument, you should make copies of it to
responsible for can range from more
give to the judge and the opposing party to
traditional secretarial jobs such as answering
follow along.
phones and taking messages, to creating
• ATTORNEY - Another word for ‘lawyer’.
detailed spread sheets, presentations, or
• THE BAR - Either an actual metal or wooden
preparing law documents.
horizontal bar or the physical area separating
➢ Legal secretaries have to be extremely
the seats where people sit to observe or wait
organized, sharp, personable, and self-
their turn in front of the judge from the
disciplined, ready for an array of assignments
counsel table.
and able to meet tight deadlines on a daily
• THE BENCH - The place where the judge sits
basis.
and overlooks the courtroom.
➢ Legal secretaries must also interact with all
• CHAMBERS - A courtroom in BC Supreme
kinds of people on a regular basis. The kinds
Court where a judge or master hears a
of communication involved in a day's work
variety of applications usually starting with
involve face-to-face, phone, and e-mail
the shortest applications, i.e. 5 minute
communication, and even video
application.
conferencing with clients, lawyers,
• CONSENT ORDER - An order that contains
paralegals, opposing counsel, city officials
terms which all parties have agreed to
and more.
include.
WHAT IS THE WORKPLACE OF A LEGAL SECRETARY • COUNSEL - Lawyer or lawyers.
LIKE? • COUNSEL TABLE - The long desk where there
is usually a podium in the middle and space
• Most legal secretaries work in law offices.
on each side for the applicant and
However, they can also be found in
respondent to sit and put their material.
government agencies, corporate legal
departments of companies, and public
interest firms. Legal secretaries can expect a
fast-paced, high-stress work environment
with firm deadlines. It is common for legal
• COURT CLERK OR REGISTRAR - The person
sitting in front of the judge in the courtroom
(and behind a computer) who is responsible
for checking you in at 9:45 a.m., for recording
the proceedings, for handing up material
from the litigants to the judge and back
again, and generally assisting the judge and
the parties with administrative or clerical
matters.
• COURT COSTS - Costs that are usually
awarded to the successful party after trial
based on a scale and on specific amounts set
out in a Tariff attached to the Rules of Court.
• DISBURSEMENTS - Costs that a party will pay
to their lawyer for things like photocopying,
faxes, courier charges, filing fees, etc.
• DISCOVERY - This is a term that is used with
both productions of documents and
examination of a party by the opposing party,
under oath/affirmation and with a court
reporter transcribing all of the questions and
answers for later use.
• FILE, FILED, FILING - Documents that start or
respond to a court process, affidavits, and
orders are just some of the documents that
have to be filed with the court before they
are served or delivered to other parties.
• PLEADING - Refers to the Notice of Civil
Claim and the Response to Civil Claim and
Counterclaim.
• REGISTRAR - A person appointed to sit in
special Registrar’s Hearings to decide cases
about, for example, lawyer’s fees and the
amount of costs that should be paid by the
losing party after a trial.
• REGISTRY - This is where you have to go to
file documents or obtain copies of
documents from a court file.
• RULES OF COURT - These govern the
procedure that is to be followed, including
how documents are to be prepared, filed,
delivered, the timelines that have to be
followed.
• SOLICITOR - Another word for ‘lawyer’. This
is a bit old-fashioned and you won’t hear it
used much in court except perhaps when
people talk about “solicitor-client costs”.
• SOLICITOR-CLIENT COST - The court costs
awarded at the end of a trial which represent
all of the successful party’s reasonable legal
costs.
• STAMP - Not the thing that you stick to a
letter (remember those?) but a rubber stamp
with the court’s name on it and the date.
• SUBMISSIONS - Your presentation or
argument made to the court.
• SUBPOENA - A document that is served on a
witness to require the witness to attend a
trial to give evidence on a certain day and at
a certain time. A witness who fails to show
up could be found in contempt of court and
could be arrested and brought to court if the
court issues a “bench warrant”. This does not
happen very often.
• SUMMARY JUDGEMENT - An application
you can make to ask the court to make an
order in your favour based simply on the
facts in the Notice of Civil Claim or Response
to Civil Claim on the basis that there is no
actual case against you or there is no defence
to your claim.
• SUMMARY TRIAL - A hearing in Supreme
Court that is normally limited to affidavit
evidence and argument from the parties and
is often a quicker and cheaper way to have
your case decided than going to an actual
trial where witnesses will give their evidence
live in front of the judge.
• THIRD PARTY - A person or company
involved in some way in the events or
incidents that lead to the plaintiff suing the
defendant.
• TRIAL LIST - Lists of the court hearings to take
place at the Courthouse on any particular
day.
• YOUR HONOUR - How you address a Master
of the Supreme Court.
WHAT IS ETHICS?

RIGHT -WRONG

There are three key points here:

1. Although morals and ethics are not precisely

measurable, people generally, have similar
reactions about what actions or conduct can
rightly be called ethical or moral.
2. As humans, we need and value ethical
people and want to be around them.
3. Saying that someone or some organization is
law-abiding does not mean the same as
saying a person or company is ethical. Here
is a cautionary note: for individuals, it is far
from easy to recognize an ethical problem,
have a clear and usable decision-making
process to deal it, and then have the moral
courage to do what’s right.

HOW DO LAW AND ETHICS DIFFER?

• There is a difference between legal

compliance and moral excellence. Few would
choose a professional service, health care or
otherwise, because the provider had a
record of perfect legal compliance, or always
following the letter of the law. There are
many professional ethics codes, primarily
because people realize that law prescribes
only a minimum of morality and does not
provide purpose or goals that can mean
excellent service to customers, clients, or
patients. Business ethicists have talked for
years about the intersection of law and
ethics.
• Simply put, what is legal is not necessarily
ethical. Conversely, what is ethical is not
necessarily legal. There are lots of legal
manoeuvres that are not all that ethical.