Nominations have now opened for the 2022 PA of the Year Awards, hosted by SecsintheCity – the UK’s number-one job site for Business Support Professionals – and in association with Tay Associates.

The annual event is held to acknowledge and celebrate the talent and achievements that Business Support Professionals deliver for businesses throughout the UK. Each year, we endeavour to ensure that more and more attention is given to Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants and Office Managers for the excellent work that they carry out – the PA of the Year Awards are crucial to those efforts.

PA of the Year Award Categories

This year’s iteration has several categories, including:

We have some good news – we are pleased to announce that the tour of the Royal Courts of Justice is resuming. Now that the Covid-19 restrictions have been fully lifted, the RCJ is accepting group tours again. This is a wonderful opportunity for our Students to see how the courts operate and to really put their studies into perspective. 

The tour dates are as follows:

Tuesday 7 June

Monday 4 July

Tuesday 2 August

Here is a selection of vacancies from our Legal Secretary Jobs Board this month:

Junior Office Assistant – Owen Reed

Location: London

Salary: £21,000

Junior Office Assistant required to undertake a number of general office administration and reception duties. They will need to work closely with other administrative staff to help maintain a smooth and efficient office. The successful candidate must be proactive in their work habits and show high interest and engagement in all tasks delegated to them. They must learn quickly and will gain valuable experience that will enable them to develop further within the firm.

This role would suit a Legal Secretaries Diploma Graduate.

View the full job description here:           

Setting goals is an important part of building a long and successful legal career. For many, the ultimate goal as a Legal Professional is to secure a position with one of the biggest legal firms in the City, working on high-profile clients and gaining seniority in a competitive field.

However, increasingly, many people in the legal sector are seeking a good work-life balance as one of their key goals, and may be looking for more control. Joining a boutique firm can offer these benefits, as well as many of the same advantages as working for a City firm, and can be considered as a viable alternative.

The rise of boutique law firms

Join us for 48 hours of continuous personal development PLUS 1 month to access all the replays.

To become exceptional, you need to be trained by the exceptional, and we pride ourselves on bringing you the best of the best.

Our online ES Global event contains 48 hours of practical training, personal and career development, and a huge dose of inspiration from the world’s top trainers for Administrative Professionals. We aim to not only improve your working life but to help you strive for bigger and better things every day.

We have over 50 speakers confirmed for this event. We will be releasing 5 new speaker announcements every week.

Register your place now and enjoy massive savings.

Please note:

The long-anticipated era of “no-fault” divorce came into force on 6 April 2022, nearly two years after the passing of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act.

Under the new system, couples will no longer need to make allegations about the conduct of a spouse. Instead, either one or both spouses will be able to make a statement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. This statement will be enough to prove that the marriage has come to an end and will allow the Court to make a Divorce Order.

Some civil disputes could be characterised as emotionally charged, but few are as contentious and hard fought as matters involving the home. This month we have two examples of highly contested cases and a call from the court for compulsory ADR.

First, we will consider a boundary dispute over 17 inches of land where the legal costs ran to over £200,000. These figures speak for themselves, but if you had any doubt, the circuit judge who heard the case confirmed that the cost was “beyond my comprehension.” He was also critical of the fact that both parties wanted the claim to be heard in the multi-track (reserved for claims worth more than £25,000) when it was a small claim (i.e. valued at less than £10,000, where costs would have been limited).

Last month, over 9 million people across the world came together to show their care for our planet’s future. By switching off their lights for an hour at 8.30 p.m., they demonstrated that small actions can make a big difference. During the darkened hour, people sat by candlelight and had the opportunity to reflect on how they could reduce their impact further.

Those lucky enough to work remotely at the start of the COVID-19 era were able to keep themselves and their companies going, despite the intense pressures of that challenging time. 

This shift to remote work fundamentally changed how we use IT. Use of Zoom increased by 30x in April 2020 as meetings moved online. Slack workspaces proliferated. And corporate spending on cloud services grew by nearly 40%.

It increasingly seems that many of these changes will remain in place, as the pandemic continues and organisations appreciate the benefits of keeping at least a partial remote footing.

When was the last time you made an effort to catch up on your filing? Last month? Last summer?

Many times, we struggle with filing because it feels overwhelming, we’re not sure where to begin or we don’t have an efficient system in place.

Filing can be inconvenient and time-consuming. However, this is often because you don’t have the right tools or supplies to quickly grab a folder and create a label.

Filing usually means getting up from your desk, walking to a supply cabinet, locating the file folders, walking back to your desk, typing a label, feeding the label sheet into the printer, retrieving the label from the printer and finally assembling the file. It’s no wonder we resist it!

But there are ways to simplify your filing system. Here are two quick tips.