Other Legal Occupations

There are a huge number of legal career options in Ireland besides the most well known roles of barrister and solicitor; many people work in these areas while studying for other qualifications. For example a legal secretary might take a nightcourse with a view to becoming a solicitor, while others are happy and excel in their position and enjoy high salaries as experience increases.

Some of these occupations, such as legal secretaries and law clerks are employed in both the public and private sectors, while court clerks are employed exclusively by the state. All these roles call for a good working knowledge of the legal system and skills that are specific to the role, e.g. a court reporter for instance, needs shorthand skills as Dictaphones and other recording systems are illegal in Ireland’s courts.

Education
Legal secretarial courses are generally one year in length and provide a FETAC level 5 award. They are to be found in colleges across Ireland, including the College of Commerce in Cork, Marino College in Dublin, Bray and Monaghan Institutes of Further Education and Tralee Community College. As well as providing an education in office and IT skills, theses courses will also teach the student a basic understanding of the law, and encompass work experience.

Bray Institute of Further Education provides a two-year FETAC level 5 course entitled National Certificate in Stenography, for aspiring court reporters. Students will learn the skills of stenography (making transcripts of speech with a stenograph machine) to an international standard, become proficient with CAT (Computer Aided Transcription) software, and also understand standard court procedure. As a FETAC course, students will also undergo a work experience programme.

Acquiring the position of law clerk generally involves graduating in a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Studies. These courses generally require around 300 CAO points and can be three (level 7) or four years (level 8) in length. Course providers include Letterkenny and Waterford Institutes of Technology and Griffith College Dublin. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the Irish legal system and will be able to perform administrative legal tasks in a professional manner.

Court clerks are civil servants at the grade of Executive Officer; entrants from outside the civil service are usually graduates who have successfully completed a competition.

Options after Qualification
Legal secretaries can find work in many areas – law firms, barristers’ chambers, government legal departments, financial institutions and other private companies. Opportunities often exist to become a law clerk by studying part-time.

Court reporters are often employed by firms who are contracted to record court proceedings, although the opportunity also exists to work as a freelance. Other scenarios that require a court reporter’s unique skills are tribunals (plenty of work these days!) and public enquiries. Court reporters with another language will often find work abroad.

Law clerks can find employment in the public (local authorities) and private sectors (large law firms, commercial companies). Many law clerks use their experience to train as solicitors.

Court clerks can be found in all of Ireland’s 45 District Courts and 26 Circuit Courts. Opportunities exist for promotion in the courts service and in the civil service.

Graduates with legal qualifications are often much sought after in the business world, with roles such as legal advised offering a well-paid and challenging alternative to more traditional careers such as barrister or solicitor.

The Work
Legal secretaries provide administrative support to professionals in the legal industry. Besides general secretarial work - tasks include producing and proofreading letters and legal documents such as leases, contracts and wills, and totalling and preparing legal bills.

Court reporters use a stenograph machine, capable of recording 200 words per minute, in order to make verbatim (word-for-word) reports of court hearings. The transcript they prepare using the CAT system must be as clear and accurate as possible.

Law clerks carry out administrative duties in a legal office, such as drafting documents, looking up references in law records and in some cases carrying out interviews of clients and witnesses. Clerks also assist solicitors and barristers in court.

The duties of a court clerk are manifold, but the majority of their work involves the practicalities and logistics of running a court, e.g. preparing the order of business, recording Orders of the Judge, and compiling warrants, fines, summonses, barring orders and bonds. They are in communication with all interested parties in a court case – judge, gardaí, prison officers, legal teams, etc. As registrar for local areas, the court clerk keeps a record of local licensed premises and land ownership, and settles small claims issues. During an election or referendum, the court clerk is involved in all aspects of voting administration, from preparing ballot boxes to vote-counting.

Personal Qualities & Work Environment
Organisational skills need to be at an impressive level and an eye for detail is essential for the working of legal documents like contracts and wills; there is no room for mistakes.

Legal cases can create vast amounts of paperwork that will need to be referred to in the future - an ability to manage and effectively store large amounts of information is a valuable quality for all the careers mentioned in this section.

The Money
Qualified workers with experience in these careers can expect to earn around €28,000+ a year.
The lack of career progression opportunities in the role of court reporter compared to the other jobs is made a little less relevant when you hear the highest earners can make over €100,000 a year!

Jargon
Covenant: Written document in which signatories either commit themselves to do (or not to do) something, or in which they agree on a certain set of facts
Legal Aid: Help given by the LAB (Legal Aid Board) to people who cannot afford basic legal services
Legal Document: a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

Job Titles
Law Clerk
Court Clerk
Court Reporter
Legal Secretary
Legal Adviser

Further Resources
LegalJobs.ie
Web: www.legaljobs.ie

The Courts Service
15/24 Phoenix Street North
Smithfield
Dublin 7
Tel: 01 888 6000
Web: www.courts.ie

The Bar Council
Four Courts
Dublin 7
Tel: 01 817 5000
Web: www.lawlibrary.ie
Email: barcouncil@lawlibrary.ie