Legal Secretary Certificate

(Currently Not Accepting Enrollments)

Description and Outcomes

Effective April 17, 2024, this program will no longer be accepting enrollments or reentries. Students interested in a similar program may consider the Associate of Applied Science in Legal Support and Services or Bachelor of Science in Legal Support and Services.

Legal secretary is a field of law that offers employment opportunities for highly trained and qualified graduates in a wide range of businesses and industries. The Legal Secretary Certificate program is designed to provide you with an introduction to legal secretarial skills and enhance your abilities on the job. Upon graduation, you may pursue employment as a legal secretary or a legal administrative assistant in a law firm, the judicial system, or the legal departments of organizations in the profit and nonprofit sectors. Coursework focuses on the role of the paralegal in the civil litigation process and helps you develop the skills necessary for effective legal writing, document processing, and use of software applications.

Qualified credits earned in fulfillment of this certificate program may be transferable to certain Purdue Global degree programs.

Program Length

The Legal Secretary Certificate program consists of a minimum of 31 quarter credit hours. Upon successful completion of the program, you will be awarded a certificate.

Program Outcomes

  1. Communication: Demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate in the legal environment.
  2. Ethical Decision Making: Demonstrate the ability to apply ethical decision making in the practice of paralegal.
  3. Critical Thinking: Demonstrate the ability to apply critical thinking to resolve paralegal practice problems.
  4. Theory and Practice: Demonstrate the ability to synthesize and analyze theoretical and practical concepts from a variety of areas of legal specializations.
  5. Basic Skills: Demonstrate the ability to apply and employ basic office secretarial skills to produce legal forms and documents.
  6. Legal Communication: Demonstrate the ability to produce written legal correspondence and documentation.

Program Availability

For program availability, please refer to the U.S. State and Other Approvals section and Program Availability Information.

Policies

Please refer to school-specific policies and the Policy Information section for general Purdue Global policies.

Certification, State Board, and National Board Exams

Certification and licensure boards have state-specific educational requirements for programs that lead to a license or certification that is a precondition for employment. Prospective and current students must review Purdue Global’s State Licensure and Certifications site to view program and state-specific licensure information.

Licensure-track programs may limit enrollment to students in certain states; please see Purdue Global’s Program Availability Information to determine enrollment eligibility.

You are responsible for understanding the requirements of optional certification exams. Such requirements may change during the course of your program. You are not automatically certified in any way upon program completion. Although certain programs are designed to prepare you to take various optional certification exams, Purdue Global cannot guarantee you will be eligible to take these exams or become certified. Your eligibility may depend on your work experience, completion of education and/or degree requirements, not having a criminal record, and meeting other certification requirements.