When we enter a law office the first individual you meet is the legal secretary. That person is the one with responsibility for the correspondence, records, and other affairs of a law office. The executive position or executive secretary is one of major responsibility in business or government. First responsibility of a legal secretary each day is open, read, and note all mail received that day. It is Important in a law office. The mail often includes legal documents crucial to a certain case that day. They must be familiar with all standard forms used in the office. Affidavits, bills of sale, deeds, leases, mortgages, powers of attorney, propositions, and wills. Tape Shorthand theory means the writing down of dictation from an employer, and then transcribing the material onto sheets with the aid of earphones and computer. .
Every secretary is required to have a skill speed of 80 WPM before graduating, also when taking the civil service exam. In some offices the dictation is seized by one secretary while the typing is completed by another. Usually larger offices hire clerk typist. It is important that secretaries are capable of reading each others shorthand notes. Every legal secretary works with computers, duplicators, stencil machines, but the Dictaphone is usually most frequently used. Information must be transcribed quickly, and accurately in attractive form. .
Filing systems are important to any secretary. The files at any office must be maintained in perfect order, so that any file may be located promptly by any person authorized to use the files. General secretaries often work inside an organization where company records are maintained by special file clerks inside a central filing room, but the secretary may still remain responsible for all the filing. A secretary must learn the rules of four basic filing systems. The alphabetic, subject, geographic, and numeric systems. Also the vertical files, card files, and open shelf files.
