VCC Legal Administrative Assistant Program

I was beyond thrilled to get an update from two recent LAA grads, Jesse and Angeli, that they are both now working for one of our wonderful practicum hosts, Blakes LLP. Congratulations to all of you, I'm excited to hear more!

Congratulations to our new Legal Administrative Assistant student, Debbie, who joined our 100 wpm club on her first timed typing test for the program. Her top speed to date is 117 wpm at 99% accuracy! Amazing!

There is always a learning curve to any new software, but our current legal administrative assistants are putting in the effort to learn this software and produce excellent Statements of Account. Everyone did an amazing job on their first Statement of Account assignment.

The Fall 2023 LAA Cohort Practicums wrapped up last Friday and every single student received a glowing review from their host - no surprise, they were all amazing! Hear from one student, Kelly about her experience:

My practicum experience at Blakes was fantastic!

I had experience with hands-on tasks such as billing, expenses, time docket, and binding.

I learned various software programs that Blakes has been using like documentation software, bf system, outlook features, reminding system and more.

Since it was my first time office experience at Blakes, I was worried and nervous. However, the understanding and accepting environment of Blakes along with the assistance and check-ins from VCC instructor during the practicum was very helpful!
It has been a very precious time at Blakes with the great people to learn from.

Thank you to the VCC and Blakes for providing me with such a great opportunity.

After five jam packed months of training at Vancouver Community College in the Legal Administrative Assistant Program, our students are now completing their two week practicum at firms or at the Public Prosecution Services Canada Office.

I had the pleasure of visiting one of our students, Trish Vu, at
. Macushlaw is a new practicum host, and they are a great addition. Trish is getting an amazing experience there. Among other things, she is preparing excel spreadsheets; using Notion, Office 365 and Clio; and shadowing paralegals and other support staff.

Thank you so much to everyone at macushlaw and Trish for putting so much effort into making this practicum a valuable and memorable experience.

We were so lucky to end a month of learning about Litigation Procedures with a two hour in-depth look at the processes involved in pursuing a criminal application by federal crown prosecutors and what role Legal Administrative Assistants play in those processes. It was an amazing presentation, thank you Voula, Rashieka and Rosellina!

I love the vibe of everyone racing to complete their final simulation at the end of a course. Everyone is currently working hard to complete their final Litigation Simulation after 4 long weeks of learning the Supreme Court Civil Rules and forms, producing beautiful documents (including the tricky Bills Of Costs), observing court hearings and more.

Thank you so much to Christine Drag for spending an hour with our class providing invaluable information regarding where to apply for jobs and how to properly prepare for an interview. And a huge thank you to Christine Drag and Nathanson, Schachter & Thompson LLP for raffling off a $100 gift card to make the morning even more memorable.

Thank you so much to Nicole Williams of McQuarrie Hunter who generously donated an hour of her time to give us excellent tips and strategies for creating an individualized cover letter and resume that will stand out, advice on preparing for answering and asking questions in an interview, and follow-up techniques that will stand out.

Are you curious about what it entails to become a Legal Administrative Assistant? Join us for a one-hour Zoom info session to learn more about VCC's Legal Administrative Assistant Program. We will discuss prerequisites, courses, opportunities for graduates and more. Register here: https://www.vcc.ca/.../legal-administrative-assistant/