13111 Legal administrative assistants

What this occupation covers

Legal administrative assistants perform a variety of secretarial and administrative duties in law offices, legal departments of large firms, real estate companies, land title offices, municipal, provincial and federal courts and government.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 9 main duties for this code.

• Prepare and key in correspondence and legal documents, such as deeds, wills, affidavits and briefs, from handwritten copy, shorthand and machine dictation using computers
• Review and proofread documents and correspondence to ensure compliance with legal procedures and grammatical usage
• Schedule appointments, meetings and conferences for employer
• Set up and maintain filing systems, utilizing knowledge of legal records and procedures and frequently controlling confidential materials and documents
• Open and distribute regular and electronic incoming mail and other material and coordinate the flow of information internally and with other departments or organizations
• Determine and establish office procedures and routines
• May supervise and train other staff in procedures and in the use of current software
• May attend court, meetings or conferences to take notes, minutes and dictation
• May perform other general office work as required including preparing financial statements.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 9 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 14301 Correspondence, publication and regulatory clerks
• 12110 Court reporters, medical transcriptionists and related occupations
• 42200 Paralegals and related occupations

Excluded from this code

• By-law clerk (See 14301 Correspondence, publication and regulatory clerks)
• Court recorder (See 12110 Court reporters, medical transcriptionists and related occupations)
• Paralegal and related occupations (See 42200 Paralegals and related occupations)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

administrative assistant - judicial · administrative assistant - legal · collection legal assistant · commercial law administrative assistant · commercial law legal assistant · commercial law secretary · corporate finance legal assistant · corporate law administrative assistant · corporate law legal assistant · corporate law secretary · corporate records legal assistant · estate administrative assistant · estate secretary · family law legal assistant · foreclosures legal assistant · insurance legal assistant · judicial assistant · labour law legal assistant · legal administrative assistant · legal assistant · legal assistant - criminal law · legal secretary · legal stenographer · litigation administrative assistant

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Completion of a one- or two-year college or other program for secretaries or legal secretaries is usually required.