When people who should not be in such work manage to slip through the cracks in the pavement and enter professions where vulnerable children or adults are involved, this is an issue that is always guaranteed to create a high level of controversy in society. After all, the vulnerable are the people we should always make every effort to protect the most, and when there has been a breach of trust, this is something we have to learn from and we must ensure the same thing never happens again.

Have you recently decided to return to studying after a long break? Perhaps it has been many years since you last found yourself in such a position, and now that you have enrolled on one of the Institute’s courses, you are hoping that you will feel enthusiastic right through to the end. Enthusiasm is a common emotion to feel at the start of a course of study, although it is sometimes difficult to maintain. Rest assured that there are ways in which you can control such emotions, and ensure that you remain steadfastly committed and enthused by the course.

The conscious (thinking) brain and the subconscious (emotional) brain

Our brain is a complex and fascinating organ. The thinking (conscious) brain operates at an intellectual level, giving us perspective and good problem-solving capability. When it works in healthy harmony with our emotional (subconscious) brain, we function at our best and can be at our most robust and resilient in dealing with whatever life throws at us. Research has shown that the emotional brain processes around 2 million pieces of information every second. In contrast, the thinking brain can hold only between five and nine things in conscious awareness at any one time. So, of necessity, all the pieces of information that the emotional brain deals with (like blinking, regulating blood pressure, telling us when we need food, etc., as well as the range of feelings and thoughts which it generates) need to be filtered before being brought into conscious awareness. The brain’s own filter mechanism is capable of developing and retaining unhelpful negative processes, the three most usual culprits being deletion, distortion and generalisation.

Well, actually, no! You’re not its greatest asset, but you are part of its second-greatest asset, and that is something, in itself, to think about! Why? I’ll tell you later.

What, then, is your firm’s greatest asset? It’s their clients. Why? Well, without them there would be no firm, no business, no partners and no staff, because there would be no money coming in! So clients are extremely important – you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that – as Aleksandr Orlov Meerkat would say – ‘Simples’!

If at first you don’t succeed – take a different approach!

There are two ways of tackling a problem – logically and creatively. Most people use the former approach. However, many problems just cannot be solved logically, because we are used to making assumptions about the information that we gather in an effort to try and overcome the problem. It is important, with problem solving, to beware of having fixed ideas.

Over the years since I have been writing articles for The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs, I have covered the topic of anti-social behaviour on a number of occasions. This is mainly down to the fact that this particular subject means so much to all of us; after all, it is a huge issue within many of our neighbourhoods, and there are high levels of frustration when it comes to how people feel local authorities, the police and the criminal justice system are dealing with such problems.

The Institute is delighted to inform you that our new website will be launched on Wednesday 6 June. We have worked on it with much love and care to provide our Members and the public with an attractive and welcoming place to find the information they need to progress in their careers. ILSPA is dedicated to helping you with your career every step of the way, and we will be providing more benefits for Members.

One of the many benefits of Membership is having access to the exclusive Membership area on our website. This has been redesigned and encompasses a wealth of useful information and resources for Members:

The Legal Secretaries Diploma is studied by a wide range of students of varying ages and different backgrounds. Whether you are young and just starting out in your career or you are an experienced professional and want solid career direction, our course is suited to you. One of our students, Annabel Hammond, proves the latter. We were very pleased to see that she achieved a distinction for our course with a result of 99%. This is an extremely high achievement and shows that Annabel has great attention to detail and an excellent understanding of law and legal procedures.
 

A Summary of the Effect of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

For several months we have been following the passage of the controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) through Parliament. This month, despite 14 defeats for the government in the House of Lords, it has now become an Act. The changes to civil litigation will be the most comprehensive since the Civil Procedural Rules (CPR) were introduced over 12 years ago. These reforms were not unexpected, and if you look back through the Institute’s journal articles since 2010 you will see many references to Lord Justice Jackson’s Report on Civil Litigation and costs.¹ It has already taken two years for the Jackson reforms to hit the statute books, and it is expected to take until April 2013 for the changes to be made in legal practice.

There are times when we talk to ourselves critically. Perhaps we just think it, or perhaps we voice it out loud. “I’ll never get this right.” “I’m such an idiot.”

Phrases like this are a sure sign that emotional hijacking is at work. If we become aware that this is going on, however, we can challenge the thought rather than become a helpless victim to it. Challenging allows us to better control our emotions. The emotions are sure to be giving us some message, but the real message is more than likely to be obscured by emotional hijacking and so we risk misinterpreting what is actually going on.