Legal proofreading is when a legal professional work with a law firm proofreading documents a lawyer or analyst submitted, and compare them against the document in the word processor, created. The prime job responsibility of a legal proofreader look for errors in spelling, grammar, consistency, punctuation, flow, terminology, referencing of the document, and must also know about legal writing.

Requirements to become a legal proofreader

Legal proofreading requires the dedicated skills of both skilled and practiced lawyers and trained proofreaders as well. A legal proofreader provides exceptional legal proofreading and editing facilities to those studying law or working in the legal niche or even those offering legal or quasi-legal services.

It is imperative, for the profile of legal proofreading, to be knowledgeable of the legal field and relevant practices. Legal Proofreader ensures your documents are proofread by proofreaders/editors only who have legal and editing qualifications and experience. A big number of former lawyers and legal practitioners in any area of the law offer legal proofreading services or consultancies. If instead of a legal proofreader you want to become a family lawyer, here are some tips for family lawyers.

The legal proofreading job is to deliver exceptional customer services

Along with this, a legal proofreader should have some merely specialized job requirements as under –

• The candidate should have earned a Bachelor’s degree in English, preferably, or Journalism or equivalent work experience required.
• Candidate should have a thorough knowledge of legal timekeeping or a job tracking system is preferred.
• Candidate should have expertise in the legal arena it’s an advantage but not required with a strong working knowledge of legal terminology and proofreading symbols.
• Candidate should contain intermediate knowledge of MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are necessarily required including expert-level knowledge of the English language, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• The candidate should have strict attention to the details with prominence on accuracy and quality of work done.
• The candidate should display the proven ability to work through complex legal document markups and instructions.
• Candidate should be a team player and has the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Capability to prioritize the jobs to equilibrium multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
• Remarkable skills in customer services are the add-on

The legal proofreading asks for some job responsibilities also

• A proofreader should proofread complex legal documents for appropriate firm style, diction, syntax, consistency, spelling, punctuation, and grammar using proper citation protocols (The Chicago Manual of Style, The Bluebook, and California Style Manual).
• Assist the Document Services team with document preparation and production as needed.
• You need to review converted documents against the originals to ensure accurate conversion. One should be responsible for complete full read/word-on-word proofreading of client submitted materials.
• You need to perform cross-reference checks, define term tests, and review Table of Authorities as requested.
• Conduct separate checks for the format, text accuracy, and statistical data.
• For a better practice in legal proofreading, one should check corrected proof against prior copy to ensure all corrections were made accurately.
• Ensure that content of the document is accurate, precise, and complete and that the material is organized logically.
• Follow pre-established policies and procedures while performing your job.
• Handle sensitive and confidential documents and information.
• Advanced knowledge of standard proofreading marks.

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