The Children and Families Act 2014 introduces fundamental changes to the way in which children in care will be dealt with. This Act seems to cover everything, from banning smoking in cars to how the most vulnerable children with special needs should be treated. This legislation represents one of the biggest shake-ups in childcare seen in decades.

One of the most important features of the Children and Families Act 2014 is expediting the adoption process, in terms of both attempting to make it easier to adopt children and reducing the length of time that care proceedings take through the court system, with a new maximum of 26 weeks.

Expediting the Adoption System

Working as a Legal Secretary will often mean dealing with clients and customers. As is the case with any service industry, it is imperative to show these clients the highest level of customer service skills at all times, especially considering how handsomely they may be paying for their legal advice and support. Here is some advice to ensure that your customer service skills are always at their best.

Respect

Whatever your position within a legal firm, you should display the highest level of respect for your customers. Remember that they are paying your wages and they have choices elsewhere if your firm is failing to deliver. An open and empathetic attitude should be combined with a willingness to help.  You need to make every customer’s experience with your firm as pleasant and smooth as possible.

For some Legal Secretaries and PAs, acquiring Paralegal skills is a natural progression in their careers. Many ILSPA Members gain experience naturally through work at their firms or have taken  specific courses of study to further their skills. Legal Secretaries have a great opportunity to advance their careers in this respect and can be fee earners in their own right.

This month we are reviewing some of the recent changes to UK Courts that came into effect this year. We will start by considering changes to the Civil Courts and their procedure and finish our roundup with some changes to the Criminal Courts.

The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2014, together with the 69th update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), came into force at the end of April 2014 and brought in several changes to Civil Litigation. Two of the main changes are the introduction of the single County Court and new civil judgment enforcement procedure.

Single County Court

Office* – the UK’s largest event for PAs, EAs, VAs and Office Managers – returns to London’s Olympia on 7-8 October 2014. Visitors can expect it to be a big year for office*, with over 175 leading suppliers, 32 training seminars, inspirational free keynotes and unrivalled networking opportunities. If you can only visit one event this year, make sure it’s office*.

Over 4,000 attendees walked the aisles last year (up 11% from 2012), and the show’s fifth anniversary edition – still four months away – is already on track for another great performance. 

Since the show’s 2010 launch, exceptional educational content has always been a key draw. The 2013 show saw over 70% of visitors enjoying 12 free keynotes and eight free office* Interactive Theatre sessions. Meanwhile, nearly half of attendees at the two-day show signed up for one or more of the 32 seminars on offer.

I started working in the legal profession in 1975 when I left school.  I have worked for the same firm all my working life and thoroughly enjoy my job. 

Telephone etiquette is a very important area of Legal Secretary work. There are ways in which to answer the telephone professionally and to take a message when needed. Taking the message incorrectly, especially when working as a Legal Secretary, as a PA or in other legal capacities at an office, can lead to problematic situations for the caller’s case or even for their overall faith in the firm’s competence.

One Rule to Always Remember

The person who answers the phone acts as the representative of the company. Whenever you pick up a call, whether you answer the phone often and take messages or you answer it just once in a while, you are the representative. You are the one who is making an impression on the person at the other end of the phone.

Answering the Phone Appropriately

Online research can take a lot of time, especially if you do not take care to manage your bookmarks properly. There are many tools available for keeping your bookmarked pages ordered properly so that you always know where to find that interesting snippet of information you found last night at 1 a.m.

Firefox Sync

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/sync/

This is a web application which can sync all your bookmarks across your devices. Firefox Sync allows you to access a bookmark you found at work on your iPad, phone or laptop.

Xmarks

http://xmarks.com/

Employment law changes are coming into effect. Now that it is June, ACAS early conciliation is in place and more is to come with regards to employment laws. The laws are changing as a way to help employees and employers; however, there has been some concern about the cost to employers. Find out what the updates are so that you can remain ahead of the game.

ACAS Conciliation

For many working in legal departments, using Microsoft Excel is a daily necessity, from producing invoices to taking stock of how much stationery is in the storeroom. As with most essential office software, there are many things you can do to make daily use more easy and pleasurable. Here are five useful tips:

Entering Text over Several Lines

If you have a lot of text to enter into a cell and you want it to appear, hit ALT+ENTER and your cursor will be taken to a new line.

Navigating Worksheets with Shortcut Keys

Shortcut keys are always good to know. If you have a lot of worksheets, you can navigate them by pressing CTRL+PAGE DOWN to move right and CTRL+PAGE UP to move left.

Hiding Data in Printouts