“I took the Legal Administrative Assistant program. CDI College helped me see what I wanted to do with my life and showed me the steps that I needed to take to get there.” - Cindy C., CDI College Graduate
The legal profession has ample employment opportunities and provides a challenging and fascinating workplace. CDI's Professional Legal Assistant program introduces you to the core clerical skills, legal terminology, legal concepts and documents you will need to thrive in legal assistant jobs.
This CDI College diploma program combines lectures, discussion, quizzes, assignments, exams, and practical work experience to prepare you for a fast-paced career in the legal field.
This program is 60 weeks in length.
Job Opportunities
- Law Firms
- Real Estate Companies
- Trust Companies
- Corporate Legal Departments
- Financial Institutions
- Government Offices
Professional Legal Assistant
Also offered in British Columbia as Legal Administrative Assistant - BC At:
Abbotsford Richmond Surrey VictoriaAlso offered in Manitoba as Legal Administrative Assistant - MB At:
WinnipegAlso offered in Ontario as Legal Administrative Assistant - Ontario At:
Ajax Mississauga Scarborough TorontoProgram Courses
The program outline below is for Alberta . Click here to see the outlines for British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- The workplace of the twenty-first century demands excellent communication skills. The focus of this course is on the application of language arts skills and writing techniques that ensure effective and grammatically correct business communications.
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- This course looks at the planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up stages of an interview.
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- The focus of this course is civil litigation conducted in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. Students study the Alberta Rules of Court, both procedurally and substantively, to acquire a working knowledge of the stages of litigation including relevant documents and preparation of same. Each student is required to complete a civil litigation file from instruction provided. The procedure for actions in Provincial Court, Civil Division is also examined. Students also study enforcement of judgments, including seizure and garnishment processes and the relevant legislation governing same.
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- This course reviews the structure of businesses and their creation and transfer. Various methods of business financing and secured transactions are examined with emphasis on the Alberta Personal Property Securities Act and related legislation.
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- The Law and Procedures of the Corporation as they pertain to the Professional Legal Assistant in Alberta are studied. The course emphasizes the Alberta Business Corporation Act, and to a lesser degree, the Alberta Companies Act, the Societies Act, the Canada Business Corporations Act, and the Canada Corporations Act.
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- The Criminal Code of Canada, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and other criminal or quasi-criminal legislation are covered in this section of the program. Various interviewing techniques and investigative procedures with regard to criminal offences are included. Practical procedures utilized throughout the client’s arrest, trial, sentencing and appeal are also covered.
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- This course combines an overview of the substantive and procedural law affecting marriage, separation, child welfare and cohabitation. Substantive and procedural law with regard to divorce proceedings and matrimonial property proceedings are studied in detail, preparing the legal assistant to assist lawyers with family law matters. Each student is required to complete a contested divorce file.
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- This course is designed to introduce the student to the Canadian legal system and various facets of the law not encompassed by other more specific courses within the Professional Legal Assistant program. The main components of the course will concentrate on tort and contract law, civil rights and freedom laws (emphasizing The Canadian Constitution and Human Rights Protection laws), and Administrative Law (including Labour Law).
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- This overview course introduces the student to the law office environment and the day-to-day procedures affecting all support staff. Students gain an awareness of the practical skills necessary to be a competent professional legal assistant.
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- This course will provide the student with a working knowledge of legal research and legal citation. The students will be familiarized with all aspects of legal research including how to use and synthesize legal research materials in order to work competently in the legal research field. Students are expected to become totally independent researchers. The course will culminate with a final written substantive legal memorandum and a final exam.
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- This course offers a case-oriented, problem-solving approach for learning Microsoft Excel. Students explore both basic and advanced features while creating a variety of documents such as budgets, marketing and sales reports, forecasts, and statistical tables.
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- This course offers a case-oriented, problem solving approach to Microsoft Word. Students work with both basic and advanced features while creating and applying standard formatting to a variety of documents such as letters, memos, forms and reports.
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- This program includes a practicum component consisting of a specified number of weeks of work at a job site. This practicum work experience is a mandatory diploma requirement and the business organization does not pay for the services of the student during the practicum.
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- This course is designed to equip students with interpersonal skills identified by employers as essential for success in the professional world. Using a variety of instructional methods including case studies, group exercises and discussion, students learn and practice key communication skills.
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- This course combines an overview of the substantive law of Real Estate with practical experience and substantial file work to develop the skills and techniques necessary to practice involving residential Real Estate in Alberta.
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- This course will introduce students to skills and concepts that will help them achieve personal, academic, and career success.
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- This course combines a review of the legislation that determines the distribution of property upon death with a practical emphasis on the skills necessary to assist in the administration of an estate. The proper drafting of Wills and the completion of all Court documents necessary to obtain grants of representation are examined. Additional estate matters including Dependent Adult applications and Enduring Powers of Attorney are also reviewed.
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- Designed to introduce users to computer operation, operating system basics, disk structures and keyboarding, this course provides the foundation of all training in computer applications.
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In this course students enhance their keyboarding skills. The goal is to be able to type 40 words per minute in order to increase marketability.