We’ve been hearing about an official constitution for Europe for many years now. In fact, at one time Tony Blair promised the country a referendum on it when he was Prime Minister back in 2004; but when both France and the Netherlands voted against it, the national vote was cancelled.

Ever since then, the Labour Government has not made any renewed efforts to allow the country to vote on an issue that is potentially more important to the UK than most other EU states. It all boils down to the fact that the UK does not have an official written constitution at present. If and when the Lisbon Treaty does come into force, this will mean yet another element to add to the already confusing constitution of this country.

What Will the Lisbon Treaty Mean?

Everybody does projects: whether it’s simply going on holiday, developing a complicated new product or anywhere in between. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re particularly successful. Using some project management skills, tools and techniques can significantly increase your chances of not only achieving what you set out to achieve, but also making sure that it’s more likely to be beneficial in the long run. So here are the top ten tips for improving your management of projects:

1.  Get help. Managing projects often requires knowledge or skills we don’t have. Find some people who do to help you.

Deadlines are a common everyday occurrence in our busy lives. We’re either trying to meet them or chasing others to achieve theirs. And trying to work to too tight a deadline can affect the quality of your work or cause you to make errors. The following top ten tips will help you meet your deadlines and also help you manage others to meet theirs. Some tips apply to both!

1.  As soon as you are given a deadline for a task, put it in your diary and then work backwards from that date to ensure that you achieve it on time. If necessary, put stage reminders in your diary too. For example, if you have to put together a report for your manager by Friday, put a reminder in your diary for the previous Monday to check that all the components are available for you to work with.

New provisions added to Home Information Packs (HIPs) may be too little too late.

Home Information Packs (HIPs for short) have been part of the residential conveyancing market for just over two years, but some industry experts have already written them off as an expensive failure. The introduction of HIPs was widely considered to have been badly managed from the start. One of the most high-profile examples of mismanagement was the last-minute removal of the compulsory requirement for a home condition report. Many experts at the time complained that the report was the one document that could have made a real difference to the value of a HIP. To decide if the critics are right, it is worthwhile revisiting what the government’s main objectives were for the packs.

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is delighted to have launched the ILSPA Legal Secretary Jobs Board, which specialises in Legal Secretary jobs throughout the UK. 

ILSPA has been helping people with their legal secretarial careers since 1990 and we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary next year. The Institute was originally founded to promote excellence and professional recognition of Legal Secretaries and PAs. Our Membership base has grown over the years and we now provide qualifications, support, advice and career guidance to trainee and experienced Legal Secretaries. ILSPA has Students and Members throughout the UK and overseas.

Under s.24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (as amended by the Serious Organised Crime Act 2005), it states that a member of the public may perform a citizen’s arrest on a person who is expected to be in the middle of committing an indictable offence, or when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person is about to commit such an offence, or when the person has already done so.

In other words, an individual member of the public can only arrest another person if they have committed an offence that would be deemed as serious. Indictable offences are those that would be passed on to the Crown Court for trial by jury, as the Magistrates’ Court would not have the power to try such a crime.

Last month saw the launch of the ILSPA Legal Secretary Jobs Board, a niche jobs board that aims to provide the most comprehensive listing of Legal Secretary jobs in the UK. The board is feature packed and is open to both Members of the Institute as well as the general public. In its first weeks the board is already attracting many visitors and its usefulness will only grow as it becomes more widely known amongst job seekers and employers alike.

Here is a quick guide to some of the useful features available on the board:

Personal Profile and CV
 

Every regular windows user will be familiar with the combination of keys: CTRL+ALT+DEL. This magic combination is used to lock the screen, log in or more often than not force an unresponsive application to close. Other commonly used key combos are CTRL+C and CTRL+V for copying and pasting or F5 to refresh a page in your Internet browser. These common shortcuts are incredibly useful and improve productivity by making tasks that would usually require some pointing and clicking possible with only a few keystrokes.

These are not the only key combos around that can improve your productivity and make your working day a few minutes shorter; in fact there are a lot more. Here are some of the more useful ones:

Whether you have secured a new job or have been working at the same company for some time, understanding how you can make a good impression will be of great benefit to you.  Your new position could be the start of a fantastic new career, or if you have been feeling unenthusiastic in your current role, you still have the chance to change your perspective and impress your employers.  Your role affects the success of the company, so take the time to think about your contribution.

Information Resources

A final update before the new Supreme Court replaces the House of Lords

On 30 July the current highest Court in the land, the House of Lords, made its last decision in the Debbie Purdy case. The Court heard Mrs Purdy’s plea for clarity in the law on assisted suicide. Because of the Law Lords’ decision, new guidelines will be published on 23 September regarding the prosecution of people who help others to commit suicide. Following this case the Law Lords have now passed into history. From October the new Supreme Court will make decisions on difficult areas of law. The change has been justified as a necessary modernisation, but there is some concern that this new Court may use its more extensive powers to oppose the will of Parliament.