Given the current financial climate, it may not have been the best time for the law to change regarding statutory payments for redundancy. With the economy already suffering an increasing number of job losses week on week, there are fears that this new increase to statutory redundancy payments may result in an even sharper rise in the number of people being made unemployed.

Redundancy pay is calculated on the basis of age and length of service. The number of weeks pay is multiplied by the current statutory rate. The law currently states that an employer is obliged to pay employees up to £330 per week if they are made redundant after two years of continuous service. There are further criteria that are taken into consideration which an employer has a statutory duty to be mindful of.

These are:

Employees under the age of 22

Notwithstanding that criminal law specialist legal secretaries’ and PAs’ work diaries are hardly brimming with such enquiries from clients, this area of law still conjures up some of the strongest thoughts and opinions from all of us, no matter which side of the fence we choose to stand on over the issue. Indeed, it may be fair to state that this subject probably represents one of the most controversial issues that currently shrouds our legal system.

Heather Jones, a Student Member, shares her success after completing the Legal Secretaries Diploma course.

We are all aware that the credit crunch is biting big time, and the perception is that there are no jobs out there, so just sit tight and wait for the ‘gloom and doom’ to pass. However, my recent experience proves that even in the current climate, having a positive attitude can help you achieve what you desire. I would like to share it with other students and advise you all to strive and ‘believe in yourself’.

A vital step when approaching trial

If ever the saying “time is money” were true, then it must be when you talk about lawyers. With the guideline hourly rate for a partner regularly exceeding £200 an hour, any steps which help to reduce the time spent on a case are worthwhile taking. 

Becoming a tutor with the Institute of Legal Secretaries

I started teaching shortly after I finished law school. I found the experience terrifying but exciting. Fortunately, the butterflies went away quickly but the excitement of exchanging ideas with others never did. I was aware of a hands-on training course for legal secretaries when I was teaching the National Association of Paralegals course in the late 1990s. I found that with both courses the practical approach to legal study was very refreshing. In 2005 there was an opportunity to provide training for the Institute that I was very happy to take up.

My background and legal experience

Attitude is a mind-set. It is the way you look at things mentally. When things are going well a positive attitude is easy to maintain. But we're all human and something will always happen to test our positive mind-set. So when that happens, here are the top 10 tips to help you bounce back and regain a positive outlook:

1.    Nurture your funny focus. While it's not appropriate to laugh away all serious problems, laughing can help you transfer your focus from the problem to possible solutions.

Is it career suicide to ask for a pay rise in the current economic climate?

Imagine the scene – you’ve worked with the same company for a good few years and over the last two years you’ve had nothing by way of a pay increase, not even the cost of living. With margins being squeezed from all sides how do you ask for a pay rise? When it comes to asking for a pay rise, even the most confident people can suffer a crisis of confidence.

The tour we conduct takes Students around an area of London known as ‘The Temple’, where many barristers’ chambers are located, and the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, which contains 86 courts and 3.5 miles of corridors and houses the High Court in London and the Appeal Courts, both Civil and Criminal.

We visit part of the ‘Inner Temple’ and pass by the famous ‘Temple Church’ - yes, the very same Temple Church depicted in the Da Vinci Code!

It’s like entering a different world because, as we step through an archway from the very busy Strand into a side passage, the traffic noise suddenly disappears into deafening silence! We stop to look around us at all the beautiful buildings housing the chambers and discuss how barristers’ chambers operate.

The nine Legal Secretaries pictured below were the first to pass the Legal Secretaries Diploma course run by advocates of the GTA University Centre in association with The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs. The GTA worked closely with members of the local industry to deliver the course, which started in September 2007 and was tutored by Gavin Ferguson, Allan Skirrow and Philip Nicol-Gent, also pictured. Gavin is an advocate of Ozannes Advocates and Notaries Public Guernsey and practices as a trust lawyer, advising a wide range of professional trustees on all issues concerning trusts. Allan is an advocate of the Royal Court of Guernsey and currently appointed by Carey Olsen as part of their corporate group. Allan has acted on behalf of various developers and advised on many aspects of property acquisition.

In the last two issues we have looked at preparing and writing a report. The third and final stage of report writing is to check your report. Make sure you are methodical when checking, no matter how much you feel you know what you have written: start at the top of page one, and keep going until the last line of the last page!

When you have finished writing your report, run spellcheck on it, then take a printout and leave it for as long as possible (preferably a day or two) so you can read it with fresh eyes. It may be worth asking somebody else to read it as well, as they will spot mistakes not noticeable to you. See the ten points below, which are divided into three stages, for checking longer reports. For shorter reports, check everything but you will be able to check all the points at once.