Career Experiences

ILSPA partner, TotallyLegal, has launched their 2023 salary survey and they need you to take part!

As the UK’s leading specialist legal job site for lawyers and legal professionals, TotallyLegal is setting out to gauge how the post-pandemic landscape has shaped the candidate-driven legal recruitment market.

Consulting findings from previous TotallyLegal audience insight surveys, they strive to investigate the current trends facing the legal recruitment landscape, following the steady recovery from our recent chapter of uncertainty. 

Our Legal Secretaries Diploma Course is suitable for a wide variety of individuals, whatever their experience, whatever their schedule and wherever they live in the world.

We were pleased to be able to communicate with Shama Ali, who recently completed our Legal Secretaries Diploma course from Dubai. An experienced Legal Secretary, Shama took a five-year career break to have two children, returning to the legal sector during the pandemic. We asked her what led her to take a qualification at this stage in her career, as well as how she found studying overseas with a busy family.   

What were you doing before you joined ILSPA?

Introducing, Dr Avi Bhangal

I am a legal assistant working at TLT LLP, a UK law firm headquartered in Bristol which was named Law Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2021. Prior to this role I had completed my LLB/LPC/LLM/PhD at the University of Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire.

Whilst studying I had the opportunity to take part in many legal roles including a mini pupillage. 

Working at TLT LLP

In September I started work with TLT LLP working in the Financial Service Disputes and Investigations department. As this was during Covid-19, I was remote working but treated it as a normal working day with normal working hours. 

My day overview

A Legal Assistant is a key cog in the legal industry, providing support to Lawyers and working alongside them by performing important administrative and clerical duties. They are required to have a strong knowledge of legal terms, procedures and documentation. Our partner, Simply Law, recently spoke to Alia Choudhury, a Legal Assistant at Keller Lenkner, and found out more about her role and what she does each day.

Introducing Alia Choudhury

I am a Legal Assistant working at a multi-claimant US legal firm specialising in commercial, employment and consumer class action litigation. Prior to this role, I had studied my LLB at Liverpool John Moores University, from which I graduated this summer with a 2.1.

On 18 November 2021, SecsintheCity – the UK’s only dedicated job site for business support professionals – hosted the 10th annual PA of the Year Awards.

These awards celebrate the successes and accomplishments of Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants and Office Managers from the past year. For the second year running, the PA of the Year Awards were held virtually, but that didn’t stop attendees from turning out in the event’s traditional black-tie attire.

Breanna Worton – a Legal PA working at global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and winner of the Legal PA of the Year Award at this year’s event – took the time to answer some questions about her career, winning this accolade and what it means to her.

One thing is for certain, there is no one set way into the legal industry! No matter which role you are interested in – Solicitor, Paralegal or Legal Secretary – there are multiple paths you can consider to reach your goal. Simply Law recently spoke with Beata Rebalska. Beata is a Risk and Compliance Assistant at Clyde & Co. She kindly shared her path to becoming a legal professional.

The legal industry

I have wanted to become a lawyer for as long as I can remember, and that’s why after finishing school, I decided to go to college to study law, business and finance.

As a law degree student at the University of Sussex, Evelina Tarabuta has a keen interest and in-depth knowledge of law. When seeing how competitive the job market was for law graduates, she realised that she needed something to give her some practical experience, and make her stand out in the crowd. So, after some research, Evelina chose to study ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma. Her career has gone from strength to strength since qualifying. She has started her own business and now offers legal services to a range of clients.

We spoke to Evelina about her company, her pro-bono work and her future plans.

What were you doing before studying with ILSPA?

Former ILSPA Student Kimberley Evans was working as a teacher when she decided to take the plunge and go for a career in law. An encounter with a family law Solicitor prompted Kimberley to study ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course. Since she completed the course at the end of 2018, Kimberley’s career has gone from strength to strength. She is using her current role as a Legal Secretary for the Qualifying Work Experience needed to become a Solicitor and hopes to cross-qualify as a Barrister in the future.

Our partner, Simply Law, recently caught up with Samantha Evans, a Legal Assistant who kindly shared what she does on an average day at work, her hopes for the future and her advice for those looking to join the legal profession.

Career path

At college, I chose to study law as one of my subjects, as I had a general interest from watching crime dramas on the television, reading John Grisham’s books, and obviously, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde! I thoroughly enjoyed the course and knew it was something I wanted to study at university. In September 2018 I started my Law Degree (LLB) at the University of Worcester.