Job Responsibilities of an Associate Lawyer

by Darren Smith Legal Adviser

An associate lawyer, or a legal associate or an associate in a law firm is an entry level or a mid-level job. These jobs are taken up by law school graduates with paralegal training who aspire to become a lawyer. An associate lawyer generally specializes in a single domain of law. This can be criminal law, entertainment, family, bankruptcy, environment, and so on. This job provides a solid starting point for anyone who wants to have a rewarding career in law. There is an ample number of associate lawyer jobs in Canada, but there is also severe competition. Here is a guide on what skills are desirable, what the educational requirements are and what the job is like.

Educational Requirements

To become an associate lawyer, a bachelor’s degree is mandatory. A certification or any other form of work experience in paralegal studies of often sufficient to enter a law firm. To maximize one’s chances of getting a job of an associate lawyer, one must enrol in an internship or a training program during their time at law school or after completing law school.

Desirable skills for an associate lawyer

To be an associate lawyer, the skills required can be broken down into six main points.

1. One should be well-versed in the legal matters and he or she should be able to understand the complex cases as well as the law that are applicable to the cases.

2. Organizational and management skills are a must. This is where the internships or the training programs help a lot.

3. An eye for detail is always desirable in any legal job.

4. As with all other legal jobs, one should also be updated always with the changing laws. Laws and legal procedures change frequently and one should be able to keep up with that.

5. Computer proficiently is a must. When one is in a legal job, there are a lot of documents that he or she needs to handle. Having good proficiency in handling digital documents help.

6. Good communication skills are mandatory. Besides have good oratory skills, he or she should also be persuasive. This will help them to increase their client base.

The primary responsibilities of an associate lawyer

An associate lawyer has to take up a lot of responsibilities. Since lawyers have to deal with multiple clients, a lot of their work is delegated to the associate lawyers. Therefore, they are often involved in research as well as assisting the lawyer in multiple legal tasks. Generally, the tasks of an associate lawyer include the following:

· The legal associate helps with preparing for legal trials, proceeding or hearings. These help a lot in gaining experience.

· The associate should take part in meetings with the clients. He or she should participate in an active discussion with the client, along with the attorney and come up with a possible solution to the problem.

· The associate should actively study and identify the laws that are applicable to the present case.

· Research work regarding the case is one major task that the associate should handle. He or she should collect all the evidence, gather all data and verify all information that will be essential while presenting the case at the court.

· Legal work also involves a lot of document handling. The associate should handle all the documents, draft them and even prepare various legal materials such as arguments, reports and so on.

· The administrative part is also handled by the associate where he or she takes care of the documents and keeps track of them so that they are available whenever needed.

· The legal associate should also coordinate with clients, schedule meetings, calls and conferences.

In a nutshell, an associate lawyer is an assistant to the attorney who also has expertise in the legal domain. Hence, the associate can take over some of the important tasks of the attorney, such as handling documents, making reports and presentations for meetings, maintaining databases and so on.

Future scope for associate lawyers

There is a lot of opportunities for associate lawyer jobs in Canada. However, there is severe competition. An excellent academic background, combined with decent work experience as an associate can provide one with excellent opportunities in the future.