Attorneys rely on sharp, motivated legal secretaries to help them start a practice or keep a thriving practice competitive. In this program, you’ll learn all the skills you need to enter the fast-paced world of the legal secretary. The demand for this profession is growing faster than average, and attorneys are consistently on the lookout for qualified, professional legal secretaries to augment their practices.

In these lessons, you’ll master everything from the basics of legal terminology and procedure to practice management tasks, accounting, and QuickBooks skills. Along the way, you’ll find out just what it’s like to work in this fascinating and growing field.

By the time you’ve completed this program, you’ll possess the knowledge necessary to successfully pass the National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS) Accredited Legal Secretary (ALS) exam.

Upon registering, you're given an initial six months to complete this program.  Should you need more time beyond the six months, an extension of six months is available at no additional cost.  Pricing varies for extensions beyond six months. 

This program will prepare you for a career as a legal secretary in a law office, law firm, non-profit agency, or governmental agency. Upon completion, you'll know how to:

• Manage the front end of a legal office.
• Attend to accounting and QuickBooks details for attorneys.
• Use legal terminology effectively.
• Complete basic legal writing tasks.
• Manage projects in legal offices.
• Communicate persuasively and effectively.

1. Introduction to Legal Secretary Program
2. Law Office Management
3. Legal Terminology
4. Introduction to the Legal System
5. Legal Writing

Midterm Exam

6. Persuasive Communication
7. Introduction to Accounting
8. Introduction to Excel
9. Introduction to Quickbooks
10. Project Management

Final Exam

This program is for you if you have a high school diploma or GED and you want to work for a lawyer in a legal setting such as a law office, a law firm, an in-house legal department, or a governmental or non-profit agency. You do not need any prior experience or training in this field. You should have an Internet connection and e-mailing capabilities and be familiar with using the Internet.

Textbooks included in the cost of the program are:

• Office Procedures for the Legal Professional
• Gregg Reference Manual
• Harvard Business Essentials: Power, Influence and Persuasion
• Keeping the Books: Basic Recordkeeping and Accounting for the Successful Small Business
• Bookkeeping Made Simple
• Dictionary of Legal Terms
• Legal Secretary's Complete Handbook

High-speed Internet is recommended. You can take this program on a PC or a Mac. This program is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000, and with Internet Explorer versions 5.5 through 8. Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, and PowerPoint are required for the program.

Hardware Requirements:

• For Windows Vista or Windows 7: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® dual-core processor, 3.0 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology; for Windows XP: Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon dual-core processor, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology
• 2 GB RAM
• 1.8 GB free disk space for installation
• 1,280 x 1,024 true color video display adapter 128 MB or greater, Microsoft® Direct3D®-capable workstation-class graphics card
• 1,024 x 768 display resolution with true color

Katherine Squires Pang, J.D., LL.M., M.Ed received her B.A. in 1980 from Clark University, her J.D. from the University of Dayton Law School in 1982, her LL.M in Taxation from Georgetown University Law School in 1983, and her M.Ed from the University of Texas in 2001. She has practiced law with national law firms since 1983, ran for the United States Senate in California in 1994, and was appointed by Governor Wilson as a Commissioner to the WCAB from 1994 to 1996. Dr. Pang has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Management at the University of Texas, Dallas, and has been an adjunct faculty member in the law and business schools of many universities, including the Stern School of Business at New York University, Pepperdine University, USC, Golden Gate University, and the University of California, Irvine.

In addition to having over 20 years of law firm experience, Dr. Pang has founded several companies, including LawPrep, Inc., LawPrep Press, Inc., Legal EdNet.com, and EdWay Online. From 1989 to 1996, Dr. Pang authored several books, videos, and interactive CD-ROMs. Dr. Pang was also the manager for firm-wide practice section development, training, and forms for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld, L.L.P.

Dr. Pang has experience providing multimedia, interactive distributed learning to working professionals and adult learners in law and business through a variety of technologies, including video streaming and online conferencing (Webcasts, synchronous and asynchronous threaded discussion boards, and chat rooms) via the Internet and satellite, as well as ISDN-based videoconferencing on CD-ROM. Dr. Pang has been a speaker at the MEC 2001 Conference: Turning a New Page in Educational Technologies, sponsored by Arizona State University; the 2001 Conference on Training and Knowledge Management: Moving Beyond Training, sponsored by Generation 21 Learning Management Systems; and a speaker at various other e-learning conferences. She has design, development, implementation, and managerial experience in educational multimedia course design and creation. She has been responsible for course design and delivery using Macromedia Director, Windows Media Player, FrontPage, PowerPoint, Blackboard, Prometheus, WebCT, Webboard, and a host of other proprietary platforms. She also has experience with digital video, MPEG, MOV, and AVI Files.

To choose a demo course, please click here. You will see a list of all of the Programs and may chose any course within a program to view as a demo. You will need to "register" for the demo by entering your first and last name and an e-mail address. You will receive a username and password to access the demo.