Diploma in Legal Support

Purpose

The purpose of the qualification is to equip qualifying learners with knowledge, skills and competencies to apply both theoretical and practical knowledge in the management of a legal practice environment. It will provide high quality and competent legal support services to legal practitioners, while simultaneously adhering to the relevant rules of professional ethics. The qualification has primarily a vocational orientation, which includes professional, vocational and industry specific knowledge related to the field of legal support services. The express purpose of the qualification is to provide to graduates a sound understanding of general theoretical principles related to the legal support industry as well as a combination of general and specific procedures and their application in a variety of legal support contexts.

The qualification is designed to provide learners with detailed knowledge of the different areas of law, management and administration of a legal firm. Learners will acquire detailed knowledge of specific fields of management, law and technology used in a law firm to prepare them for the workplace. The qualification provides learners with an appropriate balance of theoretical knowledge and practical legal skills. Qualifying learners will be equipped with the necessary management and entrepreneurial skills to function as independent, multi-skilled, socially and environmentally responsible legal support staff. A life-long learning culture will be promoted in an innovative legal academic and practical environment through reflective engagement ensuring high and relevant tertiary standards.

Legal firms in South Africa make use of legal support staff and the objective of the Diploma in Legal Support is to develop specific theoretical competencies as well as practical skills for graduates to effectively operate in specific areas that have been identified and include amongst others the following:

• Litigation secretary.
• Attorney's assistant.
• Conveyancing secretary.

The diploma will also benefit those individuals who are currently employed as support staff in law firms to obtain a qualification for purposes of promotion.

Rationale

The need for this qualification relates directly to the fact that a variety of vacancies exist for legal support staff within the legal fraternity. The proposed qualification articulates vertically with National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 7 qualifications on the Higher Education Qualifications Sub Framework which includes the Advanced Diploma in Law (with specialisation).

Research for legal secretaries' careers has shown that there is a specific demand for tertiary qualified legal support personnel in the field of the legal secretarial profession with specific reference to the need in the areas of litigation, conveyancing, debt collection, estates and general legal support duties and assistance in law firms.

There were contact and discussions between the academic staff members, professional legal institutions, practitioners in the public and private sector and industry in the development of the curriculum. The development of the curriculum with an eye on recent and ongoing developments in the legal support industry further contributes to the fact that qualifying learners will meet the needs of the workplace for which they have been prepared for.

This qualification will equip qualifying learners to render competent services to the public in general and to assist legal practitioners in particular. In addition to the aforementioned, the qualification will afford employed legal support staff the opportunity to undergo further training and obtain a formal tertiary qualification in the field of legal secretarial and support services.

The qualification will provide for the need of the development of specific theoretical competencies complemented by practical skills to effectively operate in the aforementioned legal support contexts. Learners will in their final year of study have the opportunity to work for the entire academic year in an assessed legal support context as part of a credit bearing Work Integrated Learning (WIL) component of the curriculum design. The WIL component of the qualification will help learners to integrate theoretical learning in year one and two of the qualification with practical application in the different contexts where they will be employed after graduation. Qualifying learners will be equipped with job-specific skills and competencies which will enable them to enter the formal legal support profession in a variety of contexts.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The institution accepts the principle underlying outcome-based, resource-based and lifelong learning, in which consideration of articulation and mobility plays a significant role. The institution also endorses the viewpoint that Recognition of Prior Learning, whether obtained through formal teaching and learning qualifications at this or another institution or acquired informally through experience, is an indispensable element in the decision concerning admission to a qualification.

Recognition of Prior Learning is awarded based on the applied skills and competencies the applicant demonstrates in the application in the light of the outcomes that must be achieved with regard to the constituent modules of the qualification.

RPL for advanced admission is an application for admission where the applicant does not meet the stated admission requirements but wishes to be admitted to an advanced qualification on the basis of RPL. As part of a rigorous assessment process the applicant would need to furnish evidence of exceptional experience, depth and scope before his/her application would be considered.

Entry Requirements

The minimum requirement is

• Senior Certificate.

Or

• A National Senior Certificate (NSC).

Or

• A National Certificate (Vocational) (NC(V)) Level 4.

This qualification comprises of compulsory modules at 5 and 6 totalling 360 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 5, 120 Credits

• Communication for academic purposes, 10 Credits.
• Information Literacy Skills, 2 Credits.
• Life Skills, 2 Credits.
• Computer Literacy, 10 Credits.
• Legal Practice for Legal Support, 14 Credits.
• Legal Support Skills, 10 Credits.
• Law Office Administration I, 20 Credits.
• Legal Support Technology I, 16 Credits.
• Legal Drafting I, 16 Credits.
• Civil Procedure for Legal Support, 10 Credits.
• Conveyancing Practice I, 10 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 6, 120 Credits

• Law Office Administration II, 20 Credits.
• Bills of Cost, 10 Credits.
• Legal Accounting, 12 Credits.
• Legal Support Technology II, 20 Credits.
• Legal Drafting II, 20 Credits.
• Wills and Deceased Estate Administration, 10 Credits.
• Conveyancing Practice II, 10 Credits.
• Civil Litigation, 10 Credits.
• Law of Contracts, 8 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 6, 120 Credits

• Work Integrated Learning in Legal Support.

1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of legal support staff.
2. Understanding of the different forms of knowledge in the fields of law applicable to legal support staff.
3. Ability to evaluate, select and apply appropriate legal methods, procedures and techniques in legal application applicable to legal support staff.
4. Ability to identify, analyse and solve problems in the legal environment in which they function in respect of unfamiliar contexts and gather evidence and apply solutions to problems.
5. Understand the ethical implications of decisions and actions taken by legal support staff in the legal environment in which he/she operates.
6. Demonstrate an ability to evaluate different sources of information pertaining to the legal environment; be able to select the appropriate information to resolve the problem and to be able to apply well-developed processes of analysis, synthesis and evaluation to the information sourced.
7. Ability to not only communicate information reliably, accurately and coherently, but also be able to present and communicate complex information using applicable academic, professional and occupational formats and conventions.
8. Demonstrate an ability to make decisions and act appropriately in a range of familiar and new legal support contexts and an understanding of the relationship between legal and legal support systems and the impact of actions and developments of one system on the other.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Apply key concepts, terms, rules and practices as legal support staff.
• Assist a legal practitioner and/or a law firm with highly skilled secretarial capabilities with specific reference to the areas of litigation, conveyancing, debt collection, estates and general legal support duties.
• Perform legal research and draft legal documents and organise and manage files, documents and exhibits.
• File documents with courts, deeds office, South African Revenue Service (SARS), Master's office.
• Evaluate own performance as legal support practitioner against the standards and requirements of the legal profession.
• Identify learning needs in a variety of legal support contexts and provide support to the learning needs of others in the working situation.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Classify and interpret different forms of knowledge in the field of law towards the application thereof as practicing legal support staff.
• Relate and apply different forms of knowledge in the field of law as legal support staff.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Make use of the appropriate legal methods, procedures and techniques in legal application applicable to legal support staff.
• Address legal problems and issues through the application of appropriate legal methods, procedures and techniques in legal application.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Make use of the appropriate legal methods, procedures and techniques in legal application.
• Solve legal problems and issues through the application of appropriate legal methods, procedures and techniques in legal application.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Interpret the ethical implications of decisions and actions taken by legal support staff and assistants in the legal environment in which he/she operates in the best interest of all parties.
• Relate appropriate ethical decisions and actions to the legal environment and practice in the best interest of all parties concerned.
• Apply universally accepted ethical standards in order to solve legal problems in familiar and unfamiliar contexts.
• Interpret the complexity of ethical dilemmas in the legal environment.
• Demonstrate an ability to abide by and operate in accordance with the relevant professional codes of ethics.
• Show an ability to work effectively in a team or group and to take responsibility for his/her decisions and actions within a variety of legal support contexts.
• Demonstrate an ability to take responsibility for the decisions and actions of others within the legal support context including the responsibility for the use of resources.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6

• Compare and apply different sources of information in the legal practice in order to resolve legal problems appropriately.
• Select the appropriate information from the appropriate source to resolve legal problems in different contexts.
• Apply well-developed processes of analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information derived from a variety of different sources.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7

• Summarize and rephrase all legal information and documents accurately and coherently as legal support staff and administrative assistants.
• Categorize and classify complex legal documents and information appropriately.
• Make use of professional legal terminology and formats in order to communicate information reliably and accurately.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 8

• Construct the appropriate decision and professional legal advice in a diverse range of legal support contexts and practices.
• Compare different legal support systems and examine and evaluate the impact of actions and developments in one system on the other.

Integrated Assessment

Feedback on formative assessment is recognised as an integral part of the teaching and learning strategy. The safe assign tool protects the authenticity of learner submissions, including discouragement of plagiarism. Procedures are stipulated to receive, record, process, and turn around assignments within a time frame that allows students to benefit from feedback prior to the submission of further assessment tasks. Assessment activities are appropriately structured and varied to accommodate the qualification purpose, its intellectual levels as defined in skills, competencies and attitudes, the diversity of its learner body and designed to support more independent, autonomous and accurate self-learning. There is a clear progression in assessment tasks embedded in module outcomes pitched on the differentiated National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Levels, i.e. from 5 to 6. This applies for all in-course self- assessment activities, formative assessment tasks to the exit level summative assessment requirements.

Formative Assessment: Assignments, projects, research papers, case studies, role play, self- assessment; presentations; fieldwork and on-line assessment; tests and quizzes. On-line tests and quizzes are automatically graded and include feedback to learners. They are also used to monitor progress of the learners with regard to the attainment of learning outcomes. Quizzes are also used to evaluate the quality of delivery, teaching and tutoring. Quizzes accommodate the following types of questions: Multiple choice; matching questions and answers; true or false; fill in the blank, etc. Written assignments include activities such as summaries (e.g. to summarize an article); short/essay answers, paragraphs, full-length essay type assignments. The following information is included in an assignment: Purpose of the assignment/activity, deadlines for completion, a description of assignment and the assessment criteria.

Summative assessment: Written and/or oral tests/assignments/presentations and examinations.