2015

Can you believe that although we are well into the twenty-first century now, we find ourselves still considering an abhorrence of mankind that should have been eliminated back in the nineteenth century? Alas, it would appear that our species is always ready to prove its monstrous side in some way or other, and this is entirely why Theresa May (Home Secretary) and several other members of the House of Commons believed that modern slavery legislation was called for.

The main purpose of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is to criminalise any forms of human trafficking and modern slavery and to criminalise the transportation of an individual with the intention of exploiting them. The Act’s definition of slavery includes premature or arranged marriage, forced labour or the exploitation of child labour.

If you took any employee to one side and asked them whether or not they believe they truly give 100% to their work, I wonder if they would answer affirmatively. Let’s try to delve into the inner depths of our beings here and evaluate just how committed you really are to your work.

Job Satisfaction

One of the most pertinent factors to dictate whether you really feel you are giving your job 100% boils down to your level of job satisfaction. If you jump out of bed in the morning with a spring in your step at the very prospect of going to work, this is excellent, and you are probably putting your all into what you do. However, if there are negative thoughts and issues getting in the way of the enjoyment of your work, you are likely to find that the figure you are putting into your job will be closer to the 50% mark or perhaps even lower.

ILSPA is working with Prodigy Learning to offer its Members, Students and applicants the chance to become a certified Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS).

As law offices become more reliant on technology, it has never been more important for their staff to be confident and competent using common software such as Microsoft Office.

Emma Stacey (CEO, ILSPA) said, “It is essential for Legal Secretaries and PAs to have good Microsoft Office skills in order to perform their work accurately and efficiently. We are very pleased to be offering Microsoft Office through Prodigy Learning to enable people to gain employment or advance their skills in the workplace”.

Guess what? Christmas falls on December 25th this year.

This isn’t my line, but Martin Lewis’s – he of “Money Saving Expert” fame. His point in a nutshell is that although we all know on the 1st of January each year exactly when Christmas will fall, we tend to make little or no financial preparation for it, with the result that many of us binge spend and then have to pay for Christmas at least until the following Easter.

What holds true for our finances can also be true of our working and private lives at Christmas. Somehow, as that immovable deadline of 25 December looms ever larger, there just seems to be more to do at work and at home. And worse still, it all must be done by Christmas Eve.

What is ‘agile working’ and how is it likely to affect you? Jocelyn Anderson talked to Virginia Clegg, Senior Partner elect of national firm DAC Beachcroft, to find out.

Agile working is beginning to gather momentum. It’s a concept that has been around for a few years, but it has come into sharp focus recently in the legal market because of its adoption by a number of firms, including Herbert Smith, Wedlake Bell, DAC Beachcroft and, after an announcement in August, Clifford Chance. Indications are that this new idea is likely to be taken up increasingly over the next few years, and that it is going to touch the working lives of many Legal Secretaries quite soon.

In April 2015, new charges came into effect which have dramatically increased the cost of court proceedings in England and Wales. Since these charges were put in place, there has been much protest from civil liberty groups and legal professionals. Over 50 magistrates across England and Wales have stepped down as a direct result of the charges. They believe that the increase in the price of justice violates the core principles of the Magna Carta (which incidentally celebrated its 800th birthday in 2015).

On one level, there are as many answers to this question as there are legal secretaries and lawyers. Every working relationship is different, and most of us will have found out that what perfectly suits one relationship doesn’t work at all in another.

However, as someone who has worked both as a Legal Secretary and as a lawyer, I think that there is one quality that most lawyers would agree is essential to the makeup of a really good Legal Secretary or PA. This is a quality that transcends personality types and practice specialisms, and you need it whether you are working for a family lawyer or a commercial lawyer, and whether your boss is permanently frantic or completely chilled. Looked at from the other side of the desk, your fundamental skill is to make your boss’s job easier, however you achieve it.

Case management systems are designed to monitor the life cycle of a case in order to manage the workflow of everybody dealing with the case. This makes the most effective use of everyone’s time. There are lots of different systems available to perform this task, but they all have a lot in common when it comes to the features on offer.

Different systems have different types of law firms in mind. There are software systems, which are specifically programmed for small law firms that have only a few cases on the go at any one time, and there are other systems for larger law firms handling many cases at once. There are also some systems which are designed to cater for specialisms and niches within the legal profession, such as medical law or intellectual property law.

Last month we looked at the advisability of checking the financial viability of the parties in a conveyancing transaction before contracts are actually exchanged. This month I want to deal with another pre-contract area which can possibly have disastrous consequences if you are not careful.

It has been a busy few months in the family courts, with a number of high-profile cases hitting the news. Previous articles are available in the monthly Journal archive from both September and October of this year, and we would encourage you to also read these to help you get to grips with this rapidly developing area of law.

1) Divorce and dishonesty

Two ex-wives who ‘accepted’ unfair divorce settlements appeared in the Supreme Court in October and their cases will now form a precedent for how dishonesty when disclosing assets will be treated in family courts.

You become an achiever by achieving your goals. If you achieve your goals, you’re an achiever. If you don’t achieve your goals, you’re not an achiever.

This is a simple, binary way to think about achievement. To achieve means to reach, attain or accomplish. What you choose to reach, attain or accomplish is up to you.

The difference between an achiever and a non-achiever is largely a matter of attention. Non-achievers give their goals little attention, if they bother to set goals at all. Non-achievers reach, attain or accomplish something other than their goals — and quite often that is someone else’s goals, without consciously making those goals their own.

It won’t have escaped your attention that your boss’s continuing professional development (CPD) obligations have changed quite dramatically over the past couple of years. From a mandatory 16 hours per year, the minimum annual learning requirement for solicitors has been reduced to zero, and CPD has been replaced by “continuing competence”. When the rules for your boss have been relaxed, you may question the importance of CPD for yourself. CPD, however, remains one of the biggest opportunities for all Legal Secretaries and PAs.

Taking a set amount of CPD every year increases your skill set, gives you more content for your CV and probably will enhance your earning power. But there’s also the more straightforward pleasures of being able to understand more about the background of your job and reviving your interest in your work when you’re feeling a bit jaded. 

Have you ever authorised a payment from your bank account with a PIN, checked off an “I agree” box on a website or acknowledged delivery of a package by signing with a stylus on the delivery man’s electronic pad? The chances are that most of us have done all of those things within the past few weeks. Every time we did so, we were “e-signing” a contract or other document. In fact, as I’ll make clear shortly, we were not only e-signing but also “digitally signing” — and yes, there is a difference between the two. But whichever way you do it, signing documents without a traditional pen has become an integral part of modern life.

An exclusion clause is a type of clause that appears in a contract when one party tries to limit or exclude itself from liability. If the law did not prevent it, then large companies would use and abuse these clauses to protect themselves. Consumers have already “agreed” to hundreds of terms and conditions when they buy goods and services, so the laws protecting them from unfair exclusion clauses are important. In this article we will review what statutory controls are in place to protect consumers and consider recent changes to the law.

The two key statutes that control the use of exclusion clauses are

• the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, and
• the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA)

In June a landmark case involving a husband hiding his assets from his wife finally worked its way to the Supreme Court.

Michael Prest is a wealthy oil trader. A High Court judge ruled in 2011 that he was worth at least £37.5 million at the time. His former wife said he may be worth much more, but in any event the judge, Mr Justice Moylan, ordered Michael Prest to pay his former wife £17.5 million. Now although the figures are large, there is nothing otherwise remarkable about the judgement, except that Mr Prest tried to hide behind company law to avoid paying the £17.5 million divorce settlement.

Disputes in property and conveyancing do not often find their way into the Law Reports, but there are two areas of conveyancing practice — one recent (2015 in the High Court, Chancery Division) and the other not so recent (November 2013, which went to the Court of Appeal) — which apply to common aspects of pre-contract searches and enquiries and which are therefore worth looking at. I’ll deal with the former in this article and the latter next month.

With hundreds of Twitter accounts dishing out the latest law updates, it can be difficult to separate the useful from the useless. Twitter has masses of info, advice and tips to offer you - simply searching ‘#law’ will generate thousands, maybe even millions, of results. Click on the right accounts though, and you could be on to a winner - reading all the latest law ‘need-to-knows’ and storming up the legal-professional ladder.

However, to save you from the ceaseless searching, we’ve teamed up with Surrey-based solicitor Barlow Robbins to help scope out every nook and cranny of the Twittersphere and unearthed the best law-based accounts to help you succeed and flourish in your law career. Grab your mobile, tablet or laptop and have a gander at these top tweeters:

Divorce proceedings are often messy and complicated as couples and their lawyers seek a ‘fair’ division of assets and wealth accumulated during the course of a marriage. The more straightforward cases end in a 50/50 split of assets and wealth, but different circumstances call for different rulings. A decision made recently by the Court of Appeal has made headlines because it ordered a consultant to surrender all of his accumulated wealth to his ex-wife. This is a completely unorthodox situation, but it was deemed to be the fairest option for the ex-wife and children involved.

The Criminal Court System of the United Kingdom is widely regarded as being one of the most complicated in the world. The main reason for this is that it was not designed all in one go, but rather it expanded, adapted and developed over the course of more than 1,000 years. To further complicate matters, the four individual nations which make up the United Kingdom have 3 different legal systems between them, meaning that there are 3 different criminal justice systems operating within the borders of one country. For now, we will only focus on the system which is in place in England and Wales.

Heuristics are rules intended to help you solve problems.  When a problem is large or complex, and the optimal solution is unclear, applying a heuristic allows you to begin making progress towards a solution even though you can’t visualize the entire path from your starting point.

Suppose your goal is to climb to the peak of a mountain, but there’s no trail to follow.  An example of a heuristic would be:  Head directly towards the peak until you reach an obstacle you can’t cross.  Whenever you reach such an obstacle, follow it around to the right until you’re able to head towards the peak once again.  This isn’t the most intelligent or comprehensive heuristic, but in many cases it will work just fine, and you’ll eventually reach the peak.

Frances discovered that her marriage had ended at a neighbour’s party. She was chatting with a lively group of people, amongst whom was George. George, as Frances knew, worked on the support staff of a legal firm specialising in high net worth divorces. George did not know Frances and they hadn’t been introduced. Another person in the group directed George’s attention across the room to Hugh, who as it happened was Frances’ husband. Before Frances could lay claim to him, however, George casually remarked, “Oh yes, I know Hugh, he’s a client of ours.” This was news to Frances, and it didn’t take much time for her to work out that Hugh could only be consulting a divorce solicitor in secret for one reason.

Whether you work for a big firm or a small one, you’ve probably noticed a renewal of interest in money laundering issues on the part of your principals in recent months. The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) has made money laundering one of its key priorities this year, and has already carried out a number of inspections of money laundering procedures in bigger firms, not always it appears with results considered satisfactory. The SRA’s initiative will be followed later this year by new money laundering regulations in the UK, which will create additional responsibilities on solicitors to find out who is in control of suspect companies or trusts, and to prevent lawyers (among others) being used to facilitate terrorist financing. All in all, this is a good time to refresh your memory on the basic principles of the money laundering rules, and where necessary to ask for further training and guidance.

The Court of Protection is the specialist court dealing with the property, money, physical welfare and sometimes even the liberty of those without the mental capacity to make their own decisions. These “protected persons”, usually known in the Court Rules as “P", range from very young children to the very elderly, and the Court’s decisions take in many forms of mental incapacity, from brain damage and severe autism to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Last month we introduced the world of unbundled legal services. Cutting through the jargon, unbundling is shorthand for how some firms are now providing legal advice for litigation clients with limited financial means.  In this article we will highlight some key points that should be considered when advice is provided in this way and consider how you as a litigation secretary can add value to the process.

To recap, below are some examples of the types of legal services that might be classified as unbundled services and others that fall more into a firm providing a client with full legal representation.

Examples of unbundled services: 

One of my first secretarial jobs was working in a medium-sized firm with, among others, a lady whom I’ll call Sylvia. Sylvia’s desk was generally an awe-inspiring sight: it groaned with teetering piles of files, Post-It notes were stuck around the computer screen as well as on the desktop, and there were usually a couple of shorthand notebooks open at pages with to-do lists, scribbled in shorthand that only Sylvia could read back. It looked like chaos to everyone else. But Sylvia was always able to find within a couple of minutes whatever document she needed amongst this apparent jumble, and she never seemed to miss a deadline or prioritise tasks wrongly. 

Criminal Law and Practice is not a subject that is included in the Legal Secretaries Diploma course, and the reason for this is that when the course was first devised, it was geared to the most common areas of law that are practiced in the average firm of solicitors, as this would give the student the best chance for finding a job.  However, Criminal Law and Practice is provided by the Institute as a Higher Diploma Course and it is a very interesting area to work in.

Like most areas of legal practice, civil litigation has been affected over the past few years by the cuts in public spending. Following the withdrawal in April 2013 of legal aid for most civil claims, there are many people who are unlikely to be able to afford to pay privately for a solicitor to advise them. To help these clients, the Law Society published guidance on 19 March 2015 for solicitors called ‘unbundling civil legal services’.

Normally when a litigator uses the word ‘bundling’, he or she would be talking about the process of getting all the documentation ready for a trial. The term ‘unbundling’ has an entirely different meaning. Unbundling could be compared to the concept of ‘pay as you go’ or ‘a la carte’ legal services. The fees that a solicitor charges a client (called the retainer) are limited to particular stages in a civil claim. Some examples of unbundled legal services include:

In a unanimous ruling in March 2015, the Supreme Court agreed that Nadine Montgomery should succeed in her claim against the Lanarkshire Health Board. Nadine had given birth to a boy who developed severe disabilities stemming from complications during the birth in October 1999.

Mrs Montgomery won over £5 million compensation in her major damage suit after her son suffered brain damage due to birth complications, claiming that medical professionals neglected to fully inform her of the risks involved with giving birth as a type 1 diabetic. It is recognised that when diabetics give birth to babies that are larger than average, it puts those mothers at higher risk of complications.

ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course contains a conveyancing unit which is based on residential conveyancing. This article will look at some of the differences in the procedure if you are working for a Commercial Property Lawyer.

Commercial properties can be bought and sold just like domestic properties, but they are also commonly occupied by commercial tenants under a lease. Indeed, most commercial property transactions will involve leasehold property; however, some are freehold.

‘Title Insurance’, ‘the Protocol’, ‘Transaction’, ‘HIPs’ (Where on earth did they get to?) and now the ‘Conveyancing Portal’. Those of you who work in conveyancing departments will undoubtedly know all about this latest development – the ‘cure all’ for conveyancing ills. But … I wonder.

The portal has been created to speed up the conveyancing process. But it’s not really a new thing – this trying to speed up conveyancing. Once it really took off, there’s been no stopping it. I remember my first introduction to the notion that, to most people, the conveyancing process was somewhat akin to wading through a vat of cold treacle. I remember, as a young lawyer, someone saying to me, “Why does everyone moan about the high Solicitors’ costs for conveyancing but they don’t moan so much about Estate Agents’ fees?”

With the explosion of technological advances we’ve seen in recent years, it seems as though every single aspect of life has been affected and enhanced by technology. Not just life, though, but death as well: the wills industry has already started modernising itself in various ways in order to keep up with the times.

From probate apps on Apple and Android devices to the recording of video Wills, the Wills and Probate industry is undergoing a technological revamp in all sectors. Here are some of the major shake-ups we can expect to see in the coming months and years, as well as some of the implications of said developments.

The Main Upcoming Advancements

There are several skills you need to have when studying ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course. Firstly, you do not need to have any previous experience in law to enrol. ILSPA’s Diploma will give you an understanding of the most important and most commonly practiced areas of law. Once qualified, you will be able to secure employment as a Legal Secretary and advance your knowledge on the job.

We are often much better at identifying our strengths than looking objectively at our weaknesses, but knowing the areas in which we struggle most is usually the most beneficial piece of information we can have in terms of improving our performance. Whether you are not receiving the marks you were hoping to achieve on a course or not getting the recognition or results you want in the workplace, there are a few things you can do to try to work out where your weaknesses are and therefore give yourself the best chance of improving them.

Ask for feedback

Since the new Conservative government was elected, there have been announcements that significant changes will be made to the strike laws which are currently in place. When these changes come into effect, any strike which will affect the public services will need to have the support of 40% of the eligible voting union members. As it stands, a strike can be carried out if it has the support of the majority of those who vote.

Unions have responded to the announcement by saying that the new legislative measures will make legal strikes almost impossible. The new percentage will not be calculated from the number of people who vote, but from the total number of union members who are eligible to vote and therefore could have voted.

The Data Protection Act (1998) includes legislation to protect the personal information of Internet users to ensure that they are not exploited illegally online. This is the only real legislation which exists in the UK to protect individuals from what goes on online, and it is only scratching at the surface when it comes to Internet safety. Victims of cyberbullying, websites containing illegal and indecent images of children or minors, plagiarism or illegal sharing of intellectual property, and other online content which can be considered illegal are not protected, censored or restricted in the same way that our credit card details might be, and this is causing a huge degree of controversy over Internet use.

Working as a Legal Secretary will require you to be extremely focused and organised in order to adhere to tight deadlines and to keep up with the fast-paced legal industry. Dividing your work or objectives into specific goals is an important part of managing your workload and achieving your overall ambitions. This is not just true for people in employment – for those of you currently studying for qualifications, the setting of goals is just as important.

Setting goals is only the first step, though. This article includes some tips which will help you stick to your goals once you have decided what they are.

Be organised

Finding the right level of stimulation for your work and relationships is one of life’s key challenges. Sometimes we procrastinate on tasks and check out from relationships because the overall stimulation level isn’t a good match for our preferences. Some situations are understimulating, causing us to feel bored and listless. Other situations are overstimulating, causing us to feel stressed or anxious. In the middle is the preferred zone where we feel attentively engaged, but this zone is different for each individual.

Fortunately, we don’t have to accept every situation as it comes. We can take steps to alter the default stimulation level to make it a better fit for us. This gives us more conscious control and flexibility.

When the Stimulation Is Too Low

Online resources for legal research can often be hard to navigate. If you are searching for a specific case summary or information on one particular act, you may find yourself looking for a very small needle in a very big haystack. The recently relaunched Emplaw website, however, seeks to change that by offering a clean, easy-to-use interface and focusing on one area of law rather than all of them.

The Emplaw service offers a vast repository of employment law data, including thousands of searchable case summaries and law cards. While the service is subscription only, there is a lot of useful information available for non-subscribers. Non-subscribers can read summaries of all content, which on its own is quite a useful feature.

Those of you who are starting out in your legal secretary careers may be considering looking for employment in one of the larger law firms. We have provided some information about five large law firms which have offices in the UK and overseas.

Pinsent Masons

As part of your studies on ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course, you have considered the topic of land law. This month, we are reviewing proposals to change rights over land. These changes affect public rights of way and were part of the government’s Deregulation Bill 2013 – 2014.

You may recall from your studies that a right of way is an easement. The land that is subject to such an easement means that the landowner must permit someone to pass over their land. Public rights of way allow members of the general public to pass over land, and these rights of way were designed to allow people to access the countryside. These types of easements are protected by law. If you are the owner of land that is subject to a public right of way, it is your responsibility to keep the right of way clear of obstructions.

Our Legal Secretaries Diploma unit relating to Wills, Intestacy and Family Provision explains why it is important to make a Will. In the course assessments, Students learn how to produce a Will.

However, it is possible to make a Will without professional assistance; in fact, it is possible to pick up a draft Will with basic instructions on how to complete the same from a High Street stationery retailer. Whilst this can produce a valid Will, it is also very easy to make a mistake when writing the will or signing it, which can render it invalid or ambiguous. 

On the evening of 4 March 2015, the House of Lords discussed and approved the amendment to the Civil Proceedings and Family Proceedings Fees Order.

This has brought about several changes to the court fees incurred by different claims. As of 9 March 2015, these are the fees which claimants will be obliged to pay in order to receive the money won in court:

•           Any claim of a sum of money between £10,000 and £200,000 will be subject to a fee of 5% of the total amount claimed. Claimants will be able to benefit from a small discount on this amount if they issue through Secure Data Transfer (SDT) or Money Claims Online (MCOL).

•           Any claims worth a total amount over £200,000 will incur a fixed fee of £10,000.

Over the past year or so, the government has been trying to introduce cuts to the legal aid budget which could have a drastic impact on the number of people entitled to legal aid and the amount of support to which they have access.

The Law Society launched a sustained campaign against these cuts, determined to protect the most vulnerable from cuts to a vital support line for victims. On 11 March 2015, it was officially announced that the Court of Appeal had failed to pass the cuts which the government had proposed in relation to legal aid.

The cuts would threaten those who are unable to pay for their own legal representation. They could leave vulnerable people at risk by denying them access to legal representation following criminal accusations.

Thousands of women throughout the world celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March. Events were held by organisations, charities, educational institutions and groups to celebrate achievements and inspire women of all ages and nationalities. The first International Women’s Day was held way back in 1911 and was celebrated by over a million people in countries across Europe.

There has been a significant shift in our society’s attitude to women in the past century. It is amazing to think that women of 21 years and over were allowed to vote only after the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act was passed in 1928. Some of our grandmothers will have been around at that time.

Most jobs have been subject to changes over the past few decades as we race to keep up with constant advances in technology. Many technological developments have made life easier, but we need to be aware of how to work with them and stay vigilant.

Countries throughout the world have very different systems in place for making and updating laws. The two main systems are common law, which is based on cases, and civil law, which is based on government legislation. A third system is called sharia law.

Common Law

New powers have recently been handed over to a number of different local authorities – including the police, landlords of social housing, and town and district councils – to provide a new approach to anti-social behaviour. These new regulations have been introduced to try to empower victims and to make communities safer. 

When it comes to effective team working, are you an Efficient Emma, an Improving Imogen, a Not Bad Nora – or a Struggling Susan? These fun stereotypes have been created by specialist matter and case management software company Iken as part of its campaign to highlight and share best practice for team working, especially amongst in-house legal departments.

Iken’s 10-point checklist highlights the increasing challenges Legal Secretaries and PAs face as they work to co-ordinate team activities. The questionnaire, titled “Are your information management systems helping or hindering best practice in your in-house legal team?”, is available for free download here.

Iken business manager James Garland explained the thinking behind the questionnaire:

As a Legal Secretary, you will be aware that confidentiality is essential in the legal field. Issues concerning confidentiality arise when information is disclosed by one person to another in a situation where it could be reasonably expected that that information would not be disclosed to anyone else. Confidentiality is protected as a fundamental human right and is expected to be observed in a very extensive range of circumstances.

When working in a fast-paced industry like law, it’s vital to keep up with all the latest news, views and developments. Thankfully, there are some clever legal eagles out there who run some pretty impressive blogs filled with all the latest information. We’ve chosen a few of our favourites that you simply must be reading.

Roll on Friday

Roll on Friday is a blog like no other in the industry. Working similarly to a social media site, it’s a unique place for law workers to discuss what’s going on in their careers, asking questions like “Which restaurant in London should I take my new client?”

Budding lawyers and barristers can look for friendly and confidential inside advice on standard pay, benefits and perks from experienced industry workers.

www.rollonfriday.com

Stowe Family Law

2014 was a year of extremely important changes in the field of employment law, with various updates having been made as well as the introduction of new legal ideas. Listed below are the most notable changes which have taken place during 2014 that you should be aware of.

TUPE Reforms

In January 2014 TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006) was reformed to allow employers to have greater flexibility to dismiss or make changes to a contract following TUPE transfers. Importantly, redundancies made after a TUPE transfer has been made are not automatically counted as unfair dismissal anymore. However, in February, a dismissal of an employee made after a TUPE transfer when they refused to accept contractual changes was deemed automatically unfair.

Minimum Wage Penalties

Reading and writing skills may seem a topic more suited to school children, but foundation skills like these are so important that you should always consider if there is room for improvement.

Let’s start with writing skills. Whether you are preparing a document for your portfolio or making a job application, a quick review of your basic English skills can avoid simple mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar.

A misplaced apostrophe or poorly spelt word can mean the difference between failure and success. It is easy to avoid errors by rereading what you have written. Even better, if you are preparing something like a job application, where you only have one chance to get it right, get someone else to look over it first.

Remember these three main areas where small changes can make a big difference:

Spelling

It is not uncommon for law students to complain that they struggle to remember all the case names and Acts of Parliament that make up the legal rules in the UK. There are lots of different kinds of memory techniques that you can try, and we have set out below a few for you to consider using.

Don’t worry if you find that a technique does not work for you, as this is a personal skill and you need to find out what suits your own individual learning style.

Make memory cards

As of 4 December 2014, new stamp duty rates will be in place for anyone buying a house anywhere in the UK. These new rates have been introduced to reduce stamp duty for most people buying a home and to make the charges fairer for everyone. You will be affected by the new rates if you buy a residential property in the UK which costs you over £125,000.

Research performed by Search Flow predicts that there will be growth in conveyancing work this year. Last year, 75% of Conveyancers experienced at least a 10% growth in their work, and 41% of them saw a work increase of 25% or more.

Because of this, 52% of Conveyancers are looking to increase their workforce over the coming year. This is good news for Legal Secretaries Diploma graduates or experienced Legal Secretaries with Conveyancing skills.

Take a look at this interesting infographic about the future growth of Conveyancing which has been produced by Redbrick Solutions.

The job market can be very competitive, and it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you are not being successful in job applications simply because of that factor. It could be that you are jeopardising your own job search without knowing it, and a few simple changes could help you to be much more successful in finding employment.

Make sure that you are prepared

Legal Secretary roles can be varied. Make sure that you understand the particular specialisms and workings of the company you are applying to work for before applying for a job. It is also important to make sure that you are fully aware of all of the tasks that you will be asked to perform on a daily basis and ensure that you have the right skills to conduct them to a high standard.

Take time with your CV

When teaching on the Diploma course, I often see students trying to write down everything that is discussed in class. Now you may be able to write down every single thing that is said, but this type of note taking is rarely the best way to learn or remember information. Effective note taking is a skill, and there are different theories and techniques that you can try in order to develop the style that suits you best. We will start by considering three widely used strategies.

The general job market today is very competitive, and there are more people than ever applying for each available position. But this is not true of every single job market. Over the last five years or so, there has been an increasing demand for Legal Secretaries, which looks like it will continue well into the future.

If you are a law graduate, getting a job as a Legal Secretary could be the perfect way to get your foot in the door and get noticed. ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course is studied by many law graduates as it helps them to acquire the practical skills they need and it boosts their CVs.

Passing below the radar can be easy to do when working in secretarial roles. People conducting their job perfectly might not receive the recognition that they deserve simply because everything is running smoothly and therefore they don’t draw attention to themselves. There are several things that you can do to make sure that your work doesn’t go unnoticed, and the New Year is the perfect time to start bringing attention to yourself. Make your resolution for 2015 to get yourself noticed at work and to make sure that you feel appreciated by your colleagues and bosses. 

Create personal relationships

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global legal practice who have more than 3800 lawyers based in over 50 cities across Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Recognised for their industry focus, they are strong across all the key industry sectors: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and life sciences and healthcare.

Wherever they are, they operate in accordance with their global business principles of quality, unity and integrity. They aim to provide the highest possible standard of legal service in each of their offices and to maintain that level of quality at every point of contact.

The Team

We are delighted to announce our new Scholarship Scheme which will enable one Student each year to study our Legal Secretaries Diploma course for free. ILSPA would like to offer financial support to someone who may not be able to fund the course themselves, enabling him or her to have a successful Legal Secretary career.

Occasionally we receive enquiries from people who want to better themselves and have a good career by studying the Legal Secretaries Diploma course, but they are unable to afford the course fees.  By introducing the scholarship scheme, we will be able to give someone the opportunity to enrol for our course without having the worry of the financial commitment.

Legal Secretaries are being invited to join a new social networking site for the legal services sector.

Mootis – mootis.co.uk – has been launched by award-winning silk Bill Braithwaite QC. 

Commenting on the launch of Mootis, Chairman Bill Braithwaite QC said:

“Sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook are hugely successful, but we feel the world of legal services is large enough to warrant its own bespoke platform.”

In terms of the legal sector, Braithwaite says Mootis will appeal to two audiences: those already registered with sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn, and those who are yet to engage with the world of social media. 

“It’s got dual appeal,” he continued. “We believe existing social media users will welcome the benefits of a site focused entirely on legal services.

We are delighted to announce that Megan James has secured a permanent contract with the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs as our Senior Administrator. Megan started working for us in August 2014 in an administrative role. We have been very impressed by her performance and professionalism over the past six months. She has dealt with her duties and responsibilities with great efficiency and has an excellent work ethic. Within a short period of time, we could see she was a very competent member of the team and capable of taking on more responsibility in the company. Well done, Megan!

Megan has answered some questions about her background and told us about her experience working for ILSPA so far:

What attracted you to work for ILSPA?

The UK Legal Services market is undergoing dramatic transformations instigated by various influences, including market liberalisation, technological developments, new business structures and an increasingly knowledgeable and professionally demanding calibre of client. 

ILSPA is proud to support the LegalEx exhibition and conference, which is entirely dedicated to the business needs of your legal firm, and designed to drive growth and efficiency. Our Tutor, Seamus Ryan, will be speaking at the event about why the Legal Secretary is such an important asset to a firm. You can view information about the talk here: http://www.legalex.co.uk/speakers/seamus-ryan/.

In an ever-changing legal landscape, the traditional attitude to legal services has been turned on its head. The main reason behind this is the requirement to comply with the regulatory objectives of the Legal Services Act 2007. The prime objective of this statute is to open up the legal services sector, making legal services more accessible and less costly to the consumer.

Three of the statute’s eight specific objectives are improving access to justice, promoting competition and increasing public understanding of legal rights.

With the virtual eradication of legal aid, there is a huge gap. The public will, now more than ever before, need cost-effective and accessible legal advice and assistance. Paralegals are now filling that gap.

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is pleased to announce the winner of our 2015 Scholarship. Congratulations to Karina Gindhay, who has successfully gained a place on our Legal Secretaries Diploma course.

We received a good selection of applications for our scholarship, but Karina Gindhay shone out above the rest. Karina made a particularly special effort to tell us about her background, why she wanted to study on ILSPA’s course and what gaining the qualification would mean to her. 

Legalex 2015 is the first national event and conference for the legal profession which is entirely focused on the business behind law. The event offers a wonderful opportunity to attend educational seminars, network with your peers and meet suppliers to the industry. You can register for free tickets by visiting www.legalex.co.uk.

ILSPA not only supports Legalex but is also holding a seminar in the practice management theatre on 14 May titled “The Legal Secretary Is One of Your Greatest Assets”. One of our tutors, Seamus Ryan, will be talking about the value of developing the Legal Secretary role and how this helps firms to optimise their performance. 

ILSPA has introduced a fantastic new Membership scheme. As from 1 July 2015, ILSPA Members will be able to renew their Membership for a one-off fee of £50. This will entitle them to Lifetime Membership of the Institute.

Rather than Members renewing each year and paying a fee of £35, they will only need to renew their Membership once, and they will receive Membership benefits for as long as they need them. 

We have received positive feedback about the scheme already. Members are very keen to renew knowing they only have to pay a one-off fee, and we have had former Members showing an interest in joining us again. We believe this will greatly aid Membership retention and help us form closer relationships with our Members.

Lifetime Membership is also available to new Members of the Institute. Whatever level you are at in your career, you can receive a wealth of benefits through ILSPA.

We are delighted to announce that our new Legal Secretary Jobs Board is live. The new Jobs Board has been created so that it integrates with our main website and is more user friendly.

ILSPA’s Legal Secretary Jobs Board specialises in Legal Secretary jobs throughout the UK. We advertise vacancies from law firms and recruitment agencies, and aggregate Legal Secretary jobs from Indeed.co.uk.

Candidates can apply for Legal Secretary jobs and upload their CVs for employers to view. Our Jobs Board holds a wide range of vacancies, from junior and trainee positions to those that require someone with secretarial skills and a Legal Secretary qualification, and others that require experience.

SecsintheCity, the UK’s #1 job site for PAs, EAs and Secretaries, has announced that nominations are now open for the PA of the Year Awards 2015.

Sponsored by recruitment specialists Tay Associates, the awards recognise the professionalism of PAs and acknowledge their contribution to the organisations they work for, with previous finalists representing leading brands such as Facebook, M&C Saatchi, Ann Summers, Royal Mail and Mercedes.

Nominations can be made through an online nomination form, and are welcomed from PAs and EAs in all sectors, for the following categories:

• PA of the Year
• Interim PA of the Year
• Legal PA of the Year
• Social Media PA of the Year

Emily Penny, head of sales for SecsintheCity, said: “We’re delighted to announce that the PA of the Year Awards ceremony will take place in November 2015.

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

Team Assistant – Trowers & Hamlins

Location:  Exeter

Salary:  Competitive

Closing Date: 15/08/15

Trowers & Hamlins is a City-led, international and national law firm with 130 partners and over 650 staff located across the UK, Middle East and Far East. With offices in London, Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and a representative Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur, we provide a full-service integrated offering.

We are always interested in hearing from talented people. For future Team Assistant vacancies, please feel free to register your CV with us and we will be in touch as and when a suitable position arises.

As announced in the July edition of DEDICATED – The Legal Secretary Journal, the nominations for the Secs in the City PA of the Year Awards 2015 are now open. One of the objectives of ILSPA is to ensure that Legal Secretaries and PAs receive the recognition that their skills and knowledge deserve. We thought that now would be the ideal opportunity to speak to the current Legal PA of the Year, Rachel Newman, and find out how she felt about winning the award last year, why she believes that recognition for Legal PAs is so important, and what tips she has for newer Legal PAs just starting their careers.

Please tell us a little about yourself and your role at Hogan Lovells

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

Family Law Secretary – Acorn Law North West Ltd

Location:  Manchester

Salary:  £21,000

Closing Date: 23/08/16

The role is to be a Secretary within a small team of secretaries working for some of the best Family Law Solicitors in the North West whose regional, national and global client bank range from persons earning £60,000 plus pa to high net worth Captains of Industry, Media stars, sporting stars and personalities. Some clients are self- made entrepreneurs worth hundreds of millions of pounds and others are landed gentry.

View the full job description here: 

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

Legal Secretary – Personal Injury

Location:  London

Salary:  £33,500

Closing Date: 11/10/15

Leigh Day is urgently seeking a Legal Secretary, to assist a Partner within our Personal Injury department. The successful applicant will hold a responsible position providing secretarial and litigation support to the Partner.

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

Float and Evening Secretary – The Khan Partnership

Location: Camden Town, London

Salary: £30,000 plus

Closing Date: 20/11/15

The Khan Partnership are seeking to recruit a professional, proactive, vibrant, highly experienced and motivated Float Secretary to provide extensive support to their Senior Partner, Partners and Fee Earners across the firm. This is a permanent position to cover evening support.

View the full job description here:

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/recruitment/candidate/job/22339/

Our Annual Awards Scheme Is Back – Bigger and Better!

Shining a light on the legal world’s most inspirational support staff, the Legal Support Awards ceremony is attended and fully supported by legal industry leaders. Our awards are unique, because they are dedicated purely to legal support staff.

This year we are back at The Brewery London on 25th February 2016, with new award categories and fantastic prizes up for grabs, plus a superb panel of judges and keynote speakers from some of the largest and most successful law firms in the world.

Winning one of our awards is the ultimate recognition and is recognised throughout the legal industry. What better accolade could there be for your firm or to put on your CV?

Open Categories for 2016:

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

Litigation Secretary – Harcus Sinclair

Location:  Camden Town, London

Salary:  Up to £38,000

Closing Date: 04/12/15

Harcus Sinclair is seeking to recruit an experienced secretary to work for a partner and support 4 other fee earners in a busy litigation team.  The candidate must be able to offer a high level of support and be pro-active, efficient, organised and work calmly under pressure. 

View the full job description here: 

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/recruitment/candidate/job/27302/