In April, ILSPA announced that top-ranked multidisciplinary law firm Joelson offered exclusive mentoring to a small selection of lucky ILSPA Students. The mentoring scheme, which takes place over a 12-month period, includes a day in the Joelson office each month, Q&A sessions with the secretarial team and other members of the firm, one to one contact with Joelson Legal Secretaries, and much more.

After a rigorous application process, we are pleased to introduce you to the two successful applicants for the scheme, Ashleigh Almeyda and Rachel Hoar.

Expert keynotes. The latest legal tech. Networking with industry insiders. LegalEx is back as an in-person event this November.

LegalEx 2021, taking place on November 10 - 11 at ExCeL London, is the must-attend event to meet industry thought leaders, regulators at the forefront of legislation and code-of-conduct changes, and experts in client success, technology and business development.

Law firms and government departments have been using new technologies to provide legal services for years. It could be argued that anyone working in the profession who does not already recognise themselves as a “technology” lawyer should get comfortable with the idea that he or she will need to become a technology “geek” in the years to come. This article will consider some of the latest IT innovations affecting the profession.

The term “lawtech” is used to describe technologies that aim to support, supplement or replace traditional methods for delivering legal services or administering the operation of justice systems. Lawtech covers a wide range of tools and processes, such as:

• Document drafting

• Automated legal research

• Client/due diligence checking

Temporary work offers you an alternative to committing to a role on a permanent basis whilst still allowing you to gain new skills and develop your career. Candidates temp for a variety of reasons, and whether this is to assist with a career change or to fill a gap in employment, there are many benefits which we discuss below in this article. Do also take a look at our blog, which looks at questions to ask to suss out if a temp position is right for you.

1. Enjoy flexibility

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

Legal Secretary - Conveyancing – Campbell Hooper & Co LLP

Location: Sunningdale, Berkshire

Salary: Competitive

An opportunity has arisen for an experienced legal secretary/legal executive to join a friendly and flexible firm on the Berkshire/Surrey borders.

The part-time position would include supporting and assisting the conveyancing partner, who also undertakes wills and probate work, in all aspects of their property work.

View the full job description here:           

Audio typing is a valuable skill for those wishing to improve their professional abilities as a Legal Secretary. There are a number of jobs that list audio typing as a stipulation, and although it is not a skill that is always required, it may enable you to welcome better job prospects.

We have put together a list of the best online resources for Legal Secretaries looking to improve their audio typing skills.

Typing.com

Finding solutions is not just what Secretaries do in their jobs every day; it’s also a necessary part of being resilient that can help us deal with life’s problems. The interesting thing about being solution-focused is that it’s not even necessary to know the details of a problem in order to fix it. You just have to focus on how you want things to be different and work towards that.

Analysing the problem won’t help solve the problem

Former ILSPA Student Kimberley Evans was working as a teacher when she decided to take the plunge and go for a career in law. An encounter with a family law Solicitor prompted Kimberley to study ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course. Since she completed the course at the end of 2018, Kimberley’s career has gone from strength to strength. She is using her current role as a Legal Secretary for the Qualifying Work Experience needed to become a Solicitor and hopes to cross-qualify as a Barrister in the future.

Whether you want to be a Legal Secretary, a Paralegal or a Lawyer, the law industry can be very competitive. Because of this, it’s crucial that you do everything in your power to boost your CV. 

This is particularly important in the legal industry because lots of law graduates and professionals will have similar qualifications. Therefore, you need to work that bit harder to stand out from the crowd.

By demonstrating your passion for the industry, as well as the role you’re applying for, you could give yourself a competitive edge over other candidates. But how do you go about doing this?

Well, our partner Simply Law have put together a few suggestions for ways in which you can show employers how passionate you are about law. 

In one of our recent journal articles, it was reported that bugs in the digital divorce system had caused a delay in the introduction of no-fault divorces. Despite these setbacks, the digital divorce service is still set to replace the traditional paper D8 form from 13 September 2021. After this date, the Court Service will expect divorce applications to be made using the digital divorce process. There is a short transition period finishing on 4 October, but after this date, the paper D8 form will no longer be accepted. There are a few limited exceptions to the use of the online process, and paper applications will still be used for civil partnerships, judicial separation and applications for petitions of nullity.