Certificate in Legal Practice

Take a first step toward working in the Law.

This course can be valuable for anyone who needs to work within a Legal office, Paralegal or Legal Support  situation (eg. Law office staff, Paralegals, Legal Assistants, Solicitors, Law Professors, Legal Receptionists/Secretaries, Private Investigators, Authorised Government Inspectors and Officers, Law Enforcement Officers and many others).

How to Get Your Career Started:

If you haven't worked in either an office or legal situation before, you are wise to take a two pronged approach to improving your chances to work in this industry:

1. Enrol  in a course.   If you have limited time to study, start with our 100 hour Legal Terminology short course. You can always upgrade to a full certificate later on. If you have the time though; consider enrolling in this full certificate from the start. Obviously, the more you study, the more your opportunities for employment are advanced.

2. Get some experience.  Qualifications alone are rarely enough to win out in a job interview or a contest for promotion once you are in a legal office. Volunteering with community based organisations can be a great way to get some initial experience, particularly if the organisation has a relevance to law (eg. Neighbourhood Crime Watch committees, Victims of Crime support bodies, Local Government bodies, etc). Volunteering can impress potential employers, and help you stand out from your competition.

Modules

Core Modules	These modules provide foundation knowledge for the Certificate in Legal Practice.
	Bookkeeping I BBS103
	Legal Terminology BWR108
	Office Practices VBS102
	Criminal Psychology BPS309
	Professional Practice For Consultants BBS301
	Technical Writing (Advanced) BWR301

Note that each module in the Certificate in Legal Practice is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

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This course is relevant for a wide range of situations from business and politics, to Law, Crime and Police.

 

Course Structure 

Six modules need to be successfully completed, as follows:

Module 1 Office Practices

The course covers the following in 8 lessons:
1. The Modern Office: Scope of office work, procedures, the home office vs commercial premises, etc.
2. Communication Systems: Using the phone, business letters, faxes, couriers, postage, etc.
3. Interpersonal Communications
4. Phone Skills
5. Writing Letters and Other Documents:Writing Letters and Reports. Structure of a report, memos, business letters.
6. Computer Applications: Scope & uses of computers, types of computers, software types, peripherals, word processing, CD Roms, Modems, setting up and care of a PC.
7. Office Organisation and Procedures: Stationary, Office furniture, Paper specifications, Filing & record keeping etc.
8. Health and Safety in the Office: Office layout and organization, security.

Module 2 Legal Terminology  

There are eight lessons in this module as follows:
1. Scope and Nature of Legal Terminology
2. The Legal Workplace –People & Processes
3. Legal systems –Australia, UK, International Law etc.
4. Contract & Business Law
5. Property Law - Buying & selling property, Conveyancing, Intellectual Property
6. Wills, Probate, Estate Law
7. Criminal Law
8. Other –Tort law, Family Law, Civil Actions, Bankruptcy, Insurance, Accidents Compensation

Module 3   Criminal Psychology

There are ten lessons consisting of -

1. Introduction to Criminal Psychology
2. Psychological approaches to understanding crime
3. Psychology and understanding serious crimes
4. Mental disorder and crime 1 – Learning disabilities and crime
5. Mental Disorder and Crime 2 - Psychopathy
6. Gender and Crime
7. Youth and Crime
8. Psychology and the Police
9. Psychology in the Courtroom
10. Psychology and Crime Prevention

 

Module 4   Bookkeeping I

There are 13 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction – Nature and Function of Accounting for Service Firms
2. Balance Sheet
3. Analysing and Designing Accounting Systems
4. The Double Entry Recording Process
5. Cash Receipts and Cash Payments Journal
6. Credit Fees and Purchases Journal
7. The General Journal
8. Closing the Ledger
9. Profit and Loss Statement
10. Depreciation on Non-current Assets
11. Profit Determination and Balance Day Adjustments
12. Cash Control: Bank Reconciliation and Petty Cash
13. Cash Control: Budgeting

 

 

Module 5   Professional Practice for Consultants

There are eight lessons in this module as follows:

1. Determining If a Consultancy Practice is for You
2. Planning a Consultancy Practice: Part 1
3. Planning a Consultancy Practice: Part 2
4. Knowing What to Charge
5. Setting Up Your Consulting Practice
6. Keeping Accounts and Records
7. How to Generate Business & Keep It
8. Maintaining Your Consultancy Practice

 

Module 6   Technical Writing

There are nine lessons in this module as follows:

1. Scope and Nature of Technical Writing
2. Presentation
3. Matching style and content to the audience
4. Planning: Developing a Logical Structure or Format
5. Collaborative Writing
6. Writing Technical Periodicals
7. Writing Manuals and Procedures
8. Writing Project Proposals
9. Writing Project Reports.

Extract from our Course Notes:

 

WHAT IS CRIME

Crimes are acts that break the law of the particular society.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines crime as:

“An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare. An evil or injurious act, an offence, sin, especially of a grave character.”

However, we also have to consider does the law cover all acts that may cause injury to public welfare? What about damaging decisions made by the government?  Also, what is considered a crime – as we have discussed above, some behaviours are considered immoral or antisocial, but are not necessarily a crime. 

Think about the following:
• Euthanasia
• Killing in self-defence
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Taking drugs
• Killing during a war
• Failing to join the army as required in a war time situation.
• Making personal phone calls at work
• Using the internet in work time
• Using work envelopes/stationery etc
• Finding money in the street and keeping it
• Prostitution.

So, on the one hand we have crimes that break the law, and hence represent the ‘legal’ definition of crime. On the other hand, we have acts that offend our moral code which represent the ‘normative’ definition of crime. 

We have probably given you more questions than answers here, but defining crime is not, as we said earlier, a simple matter.  As we can see, crimes are defined by societies and by culture and the time that we live in. For example, it would not have been a crime one hundred years ago to not pay your TV licence in the UK, because there was no TV.  In Victorian pharmacies, cocaine was sold, but today this would be considered illegal in most countries.

So what we view as a crime depends on:
• How crime is viewed
• Time
• Particular society
• Culture

There is no objective, simple definition of crime.  The meaning of crime is affected by the particular society in which you live.  Therefore, we can say that the meaning of crime is actually a social construction.