Legal Assistant Job Query/Rates of Pay

LegalLaaaaady

Hey everyone!

Would anyone shed some light on the rates of pay a Legal Assistant (I have half of my FE1s completed and have obtained 1st class honours for my LLB + BCorp) with 1 year experience should get?

I have been working in a small firm for six months or so and have been getting paid minimum wage despite my qualifications. Work load is very heavy and I do an average of 10 hours over time each week, if not more, and often I am the only one from the office in on weekends. I am expected to manage my own case files and receive very little instruction from the principle solicitor. I have been told that I will not get paid for any overtime nor for travel time when I am required to go to Four Courts in Dublin, but that I could use overtime hours as time off (which is very unrealistic due to the work load-it's impossible to get time off) At the beginning I asked for a pay increase and have been refused.

Would anybody have any advise for this situation? I believe I should be paid for every hour worked, or at least a reasonable salary for same but I also believe I am in no position to argue with my boss due to the very little jobs available for legal assistants currently.

Thank you!

hullaballoo

No offence is meant by this but your qualifications so far are just stepping stones for becoming a full legal professional and the commercial reality for small firms is that they cannot pay proper salaries to staff generally but certainly not staff who are all but unqualified.

That said, you should be paid for your work at the agreed rate and that includes Statutory minimums. The idea that trainees are to be subject to the same rites of passage as existed in olden times when your principal was training is no longer legally permissible.

You are obviously in a catch-22 situation though, because if you start insisting on getting paid for your hours worked, it could precipitate a breakdown in your relationship with your boss and that could be that.

If it was my decision, I would be checking out in a serious way what else is available that might be suitable.

Mr. Incognito

You are not a trainee.

You are a legal secretary and entitled to be paid minimum wage for all time worked including overtime.

In smaller firms this practice is rife and exploitive.

Are you attending Court instructing barristers? A Barrister must be led in Court by an instructing solicitor.

Samuel T. Cogley

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Are you attending Court instructing barristers? A Barrister must be led in Court by an instructing solicitor.

Definitely goes on, not suggesting it's right of course.

nuac

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

You are not a trainee.

You are a legal secretary and entitled to be paid minimum wage for all time worked including overtime.

In smaller firms this practice is rife and exploitive.

Are you attending Court instructing barristers? A Barrister must be led in Court by an instructing solicitor.

Trainee solicitors/apprentices have often attended on counsel in court, under the direction of their Master.

Often did so.

Also as an apprentice have made applications at Master's Court - that was in Master O'Leary's time.

Leading a barrister would be a matter for eminent Senior Counsel

Samuel T. Cogley

What would the definition of an apprentice if you don't mind me asking?

hullaballoo

I think you need to have indentures to be an apprentice, no?

Samuel T. Cogley

hullaballoo wrote: »

I think you need to have indentures to be an apprentice, no?

Okay exposing myself as being thicker than usual I thought only training solicitors had that/those...

nuac

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

What would the definition of an apprentice if you don't mind me asking?

Former name for trainee solicitors

Samuel T. Cogley

In the case of a large firm with a solicitor at the CCJ say, could they let assistants take notes or does it have to be a solicitor in each specific court number?

chopser

You have no qualifications. You have not completed a legal executive course, nor a secretarial course nor have you qualified as a Solicitor. You have a degree which is a wast of time if you do not know how to work in a legal office. No use in in knowing Donoghue v Stevenson if you can't draft a proper letter. One year experience is nothing really

Minimum wage is all you should be getting realistically unless you are with one of the very large firms. Have your current firm told you that they will give you a traineeship and put you through Blackhall and you already intend biting the hand that feeds you? You should of course be getting paid for all hours that you work for and travel so do fight that corner if you must.

If you think there are much better options out there then go find them. I know that things have improved since I started my traineeship but not for someone with little more than a bloated opinion of what a law degree is.

(It is sufficient for a legal exec with instructions to attend on counsel)

hullaballoo

I was once attended in Court by a transition year student on work experience in the High Court. I didn't realise it at the time but it transpired after I asked her what she had noted down and she had completely misunderstood almost everything everyone involved had said.

It wasn't a small firm either.

nuac

hullaballoo wrote: »

I was once attended in Court by a transition year student on work experience in the High Court. I didn't realise it at the time but it transpired after I asked her what she had noted down and she had completely misunderstood almost everything everyone involved had said.

It wasn't a small firm either.

I have brought TY students to various courts, planning hearings, and some meetings. Merely as observers.

Most counsel would, rightly, be annoyed if they found out that the person attending them was just a TY student. Minimum; adjournment and furious call to instructing office.

hullaballoo

Yup, no problem with TYers in Court.

Big problem with school students handing papers to the bench.

Hunchback

You might consider looking for a traineeship while sitting the next 4 exams. Depending on where you land, you could get paid quite a bit more as a trainee than as a legal assistant. But don't burn your bridges before you cross them.

It is a little bit miserable that you don't get paid for the time you spend going to the Four Courts

Pat Mustard

LegalLaaaaady wrote: »

I am expected to manage my own case files and receive very little instruction from the principle solicitor. I have been told that I will not get paid for any overtime nor for travel time when I am required to go to Four Courts in Dublin, but that I could use overtime hours as time off (which is very unrealistic due to the work load-it's impossible to get time off) At the beginning I asked for a pay increase and have been refused.

Not a great situation tbh.

You are not getting paid for travel time. Are you reimbursed your travel expenses, at least?

irishasj

Hi,

I am working in a small firm in Dublin, very busy firm. I have 8 years experience in an office with 3 FE-1's,(degree, masters -not law and legal diploma). I was hired as a receptionist/legal assistant 6 months ago.

Yesterday I was told that my wage (currently 356/week) will be dropped to €330.00/week in three weeks as I am moving away from reception to just full legal. I am running files with all of the responsibility. I am expected to work long hours and have unpaid study leave, no fees paid, won't enter Blackhall until Sept 2018.

I was told contracts are to be signed in in three weeks...I haven't seen these. I think I should start applying to other places asap. Any advice would be great!

Mr. Incognito

Leave.

There are better options with 8 years experience.

Mid tier atm is 30K salary and all fees paid for a trainee solicitor.

You need to prioritise getting the remaining FE1s

LegallyAbroad

irishasj wrote: »

Hi,

I am working in a small firm in Dublin, very busy firm. I have 8 years experience in an office with 3 FE-1's,(degree, masters -not law and legal diploma). I was hired as a receptionist/legal assistant 6 months ago.

Yesterday I was told that my wage (currently 356/week) will be dropped to €330.00/week in three weeks as I am moving away from reception to just full legal. I am running files with all of the responsibility. I am expected to work long hours and have unpaid study leave, no fees paid, won't enter Blackhall until Sept 2018.

I was told contracts are to be signed in in three weeks...I haven't seen these. I think I should start applying to other places asap. Any advice would be great!

Go look for a better traineeship. When you find one, leave. Don't leave before you find your traineeship. Even though they're a lot easier to get than 5 years ago, mid-tier to top-tier traineeship are still a struggle for plenty of people.