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CERTIFICATE IN LEGAL PRACTICES VBS016

Duration (approx) 600 hours
Qualification Certificate
Do you want to work in the legal profession? Do you need to know more about the law for your job? This is the course for you.
 
This course can be valuable for anyone who needs to work within a Legal office, Paralegal or Legal Support  situation (eg. Law office staff, Paralegals, Legal Assistants, Solicitors, Law Professors, Legal Receptionists/Secretaries, Private Investigators, Authorised Government Inspectors and Officers, Law Enforcement Officers and many others.
 

Modules

Core ModulesThese modules provide foundation knowledge for the CERTIFICATE IN LEGAL PRACTICES VBS016
 CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY BPS309
 LEGAL TERMINOLOGY BWR108
 OFFICE PRACTICES VBS102
Elective ModulesIn addition to the core modules, students study any 3 of the following 8 modules.
 BOOKKEEPING APPLICATIONS BBS203
 BOOKKEEPING FOUNDATIONS BBS103 (UK Version)
 CRIMINAL PROFILING BPS227
 ETHICS BPS217
 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE FOR CONSULTANTS BBS301
 RESEARCH PROJECT I BGN102
 SECURITY MANAGEMENT BBS207
 TECHNICAL WRITING - BWR301

It's easy to enrol...

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Improve your knowledge of the law and the legal profession with this certificate in legal practices.
 

Take a first step toward working in the Law.

This course can be valuable for anyone who needs to work within a Legal office, Paralegal or Legal Support  situation (eg. Law office staff, Paralegals, Legal Assistants, Solicitors, Law Professors, Legal Receptionists/Secretaries, Private Investigators, Authorised Government Inspectors and Officers, Law Enforcement Officers and many others).

How to Get Your Career Started:

If you haven't worked in either an office or legal situation before, you are wise to take a two pronged approach to improving your chances to work in this industry:

1. Enrol  in a course.   If you have limited time to study, start with our 100 hour Legal Terminology short course. You can always upgrade to a full certificate later on. If you have the time though; consider enrolling in this full certificate from the start. Obviously, the more you study, the more your opportunities for employment are advanced.

2. Get some experience.  Qualifications alone are rarely enough to win out in a job interview or a contest for promotion once you are in a legal office. Volunteering with community based organisations can be a great way to get some initial experience, particularly if the organisation has a relevance to law (eg. Neighbourhood Crime Watch committees, Victims of Crime support bodies, Local Government bodies, etc). Volunteering can impress potential employers, and help you stand out from your competition.

This course is relevant for a wide range of situations from business and politics, to Law, Crime and Police.

 

WHAT IS CRIME

Crimes are acts that break the law of the particular society.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines crime as:

“An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare. An evil or injurious act, an offence, sin, especially of a grave character.”

However, we also have to consider does the law cover all acts that may cause injury to public welfare? What about damaging decisions made by the government?  Also, what is considered a crime – as we have discussed above, some behaviours are considered immoral or antisocial, but are not necessarily a crime. 

Think about the following:

  • Euthanasia
  • Killing in self-defence
  • Drinking too much alcohol
  • Taking drugs
  • Killing during a war
  • Failing to join the army as required in a war time situation.
  • Making personal phone calls at work
  • Using the internet in work time
  • Using work envelopes/stationery etc
  • Finding money in the street and keeping it
  • Prostitution.

 

So, on the one hand we have crimes that break the law, and hence represent the ‘legal’ definition of crime. On the other hand, we have acts that offend our moral code which represent the ‘normative’ definition of crime. 

We have probably given you more questions than answers here, but defining crime is not, as we said earlier, a simple matter.  As we can see, crimes are defined by societies and by culture and the time that we live in. For example, it would not have been a crime one hundred years ago to not pay your TV licence in the UK, because there was no TV.  In Victorian pharmacies, cocaine was sold, but today this would be considered illegal in most countries.

So what we view as a crime depends on:

  • How crime is viewed
  • Time
  • Particular society
  • Culture

There is no objective, simple definition of crime.  The meaning of crime is affected by the particular society in which you live.  Therefore, we can say that the meaning of crime is actually a social construction.

Crime has several meanings all of which are socially constructed.  There are crimes that occur within strict legal definitions and those that relate to codes or conventions known as normative definitions. They are usually formal moral codes such as religions, or informal codes such as socially acceptable behaviour. 

Any Questions?

Our tutors are more than happy to answer any questions, so please click here to ask a question.

Request a copy of our handbook here.

 

Courses can be started anytime from anywhere in the world!

Meet some of our academics

Sarah RedmanOver 15 years industry experience covering marketing, PR, administration, event management and training, both in private enterprise and government; in Australia and the UK.
Tracey Jones (psychology)B.Sc. (Hons) (Psychology), M.Soc.Sc (social work), DipSW (social work), PGCE (Education), PGD (Learning Disability Studies) Tracey began studying psychology in 1990. She has a wide range of experience within the psychology and social work field, particularly working with people with learning disabilities. She is also qualified as a teacher and now teaches psychology and social work related subjects. She has been a book reviewer for the British Journal of Social Work and has also written many textbooks, blogs, articles and ebooks on psychology, writing, sociology, child development and more. She has had also several short stories published.
David CrothersChartered Accountant with 20 years experience in corporate and financial roles. David has a FCA, GAICD, B.Sc.Econ (Hons), Cert IV TAA. Extensive international experience in business and finance.
Kate Gibson B.Soc.Sc.15+ years experience in HR, marketing, education & project management. Kate has traveled and worked in a variety of locations including London, New Zealand and Australia.