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.

I wish to start by commending The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs for setting up this high professional standard. The course is expertly structured and the materials intelligently written to encourage practical knowledge acquisition. Unlike normal text books, one cannot excel in this course without a painstaking and thorough study of the comprehensive pack, stemming from the way it is deliberately and/or consciously structured, a strategy I strongly believe was aimed at giving the Legal Secretary and PA quality training worth its weight in gold. The course is obviously tasking but very interesting. I said tasking because the achievement test sessions are technically prepared and one just has to unavoidably read each unit over and over again to get there. Patience! Patience!

Annette Goss, Lorraine Richardson and Michael Taylor.  Published by The Law Society.  ISBN-13: 978-1-85328-938-5.

This is an excellent book written by a District Land Registrar, a practicing Solicitor and an Assistant District Land Registrar, respectively.

It was specifically written to provide Legal Secretaries and support staff in Solicitor’s offices with practical information and guidance in the completion of conveyancing forms and other conveyancing documents, which it does clearly and concisely.  One of the authors, apart from being a practicing Solicitor, has a wealth of legal training experience, and this shows in the way in which the book takes each part of each form and document in turn and shows exactly how it should be completed.

As we are currently experiencing one of the worst recessions for many years, most companies are finding it hard to deal with the everyday decisions and financial hardship that seem to be part and package of these times. Much of the financial hardship appears to be as a result of other companies encountering difficulties over settling their bills, and this can even lead to the companies becoming insolvent. In turn, companies who had released goods to these companies on credit terms find that they are out of pocket when the company becomes insolvent.

A voice on the telephone recently asked me, "Are you his Secretary, or do you prefer to be called his Administrative Assistant?" I told him, "I am his Secretary and very proud of it." You could hear the relief in his voice as he replied, "Thank goodness I can deal with a real person, the one who really runs things and I don't have to deal with a prima donna who takes offence at the least little thing!" Now, I'm serious. This really happened. And I think he voiced a common feeling, because people know that a Secretary, especially a Legal Secretary, is close to the boss, can be trusted with information, and will handle all matters correctly. (But we know who really runs things and it's not the Secretary.)

The role of the Legal Secretary used to be seen as a humble position, and women were first employed in offices during the First World War when the men went off to fight.  It was then that people started to realise that women were capable of working efficiently and resourcefully within the secretarial role, and when the war finished, many women carried on in this line of work.  However, in those days it was rare for women to work until retirement, as they usually gave up their jobs to get married or have children.

Proofreading is the final, key, stage of writing.  You will have spent time planing, writing and re-writing your document so make sure you also invest he time in profreading.  A silly spelling eror or missing apostrophe could change the meaning of your message and it will definately give the wrong impression of you an you firm.  Use the ten tip’s blow to help you proof-read letters’, reports, documents and even emails to make sure you dont have the mistakes that youv’e noticed in this paragraph!!

1. Be methodical when proofreading.  When you finish a document, run a spell check, print it off and leave it for as long as possible before proofreading it.  This way, you have a greater chance of reading the document with “fresh eyes”.

In 1998, a decision was made that was seen as very controversial at the time – to abolish the right to legal aid in personal injury law cases. This eventually came into effect in 2000. The main reason this cut-off was deemed necessary was because an average of 700,000 claimants a year in this area of law alone meant that the cost to the public purse was soaring out of control.

Bureaucracy seemed to have a role to play in this abolition too, with many successful claimants finding that once they had covered the statutory payments that were required to settle all costs, there was very little in the way of compensation left for them. It would seem that the claimant was getting a far better deal if they lost, as in these circumstances legal aid would cover all applicable costs. Moreover, this scheme was seen as being completely inflexible.

When you think of serious negligence cases, you might consider road traffic accidents, accidents at work or careless professional advice. What would not necessarily come to mind would be someone tripping on his or her shoelaces and causing a spectacular amount of damage.

Nick Flynn, who admitted to having a “Norman Wisdom moment”, managed to bump into three 17th century vases, reducing them to a jumble of broken porcelain. The accident occurred at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The antique vases were from the Qing dynasty, and the largest of the three was 32 inches tall and weighed nearly 100 pounds. With an estimated value of between £200,000 and £300,000, this was a serious incident by anyone’s standards.