Career Experiences

Rebecca Bouhsine is a successful Legal Secretary and current Student here at the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs. Having previously completed ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma and our Civil Litigation Advanced Diploma, Rebecca is currently working towards her Criminal Law Advanced Diploma with us. Rebecca kindly took time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about her role, her studies and what advice she would give to others who want to enter the profession.

What does your role involve at Voisin Law?

For your interest, inspiration that anything is achievable and also, I hope, enjoyment, I set out below in summary how I progressed my career from secretary to qualified lawyer and subsequently programme leader for over ten years at The Law School at The University of Westminster.

It all started following my A-levels and a brief spell in retail, as I decided to embark on a legal secretarial course at Enfield College. Although I struggled with Pitman shorthand, I very much enjoyed the trips to The Old Bailey and local County Court. I left Enfield College a far more able and organised individual, with a very high typing speed (my forte) as well as a legal secretarial qualification enabling me to secure employment.

Michelle Gager from Career Legal had the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the world of job sharing at global law firm Allen & Overy. She interviewed Jane Templeman and Joanne Mackay, who started their careers as Legal PAs and now job share as Group Managers in Litigation & Tax. Jane and Joanne are a great inspiration to ILSPA’s Students and Members. When Jane started at Allen & Overy as a Legal PA, she did not have any previous legal experience and learnt on the job. Joanne started the firm as a junior Legal PA and worked her way up.

Jane Templeman – Group Manager in Litigation and Tax at Allen & Overy

We at ILSPA believe that, with the right initiative, our students have the potential to reach any goal that they aspire to. This belief has been supported recently in the case of Jacqueline McGuigan, former Legal Secretary, now Lawyer, who rose to media fame due to a significant employment law case. This achievement stands as a testimony to the fact that Legal Secretaries with talent, ambition and motivation have unlimited potential within the legal sector and could even go on to winning cases that are reported in the national news.

This New Year’s honours list brought with it an inspiring and encouraging tale for our Members and for all those starting out in the legal field. Janet Cooper, partner and co-founder of the Yorkshire-based niche law firm Tapestry Compliance LLP, who began her career as a secretary before graduating in law, has been appointed Officer of the British Empire (OBE). Her services to gender equality, women’s empowerment and employee share ownership have gained her overwhelming recognition within her field, elevating her to be regarded amongst Britain’s most invaluable members of society.

Can you imagine the difficulties you would face going through law school as a deaf person? The image in our heads is most probably one of us relying almost exclusively on our powers of sight to intake any information presented to us. Can you imagine, then, taking away the power of sight also? Now imagine that the law school in question is Harvard, noted as one of the top law schools in the world, regarded for both its remarkable academic excellence and prestigious previous alumni. This is the story of Haben Girma, a truly inspirational Eritrean-American woman who overcame these momentous hurdles and became the first deaf-blind graduate of Harvard Law School.

Having originally worked as a PA and Office Manager, I’ve been a freelance Virtual Assistant (VA) for just over three years now and I absolutely love it. Whether you are a PA in the legal sector or elsewhere, there are huge opportunities if you’re thinking of going freelance.

I’ve met tons of PAs, Secretaries and others recently who are thinking of going “virtual”, or are just interested in how the transition from PA to Virtual Assistant works – so here’s my story!

I’d been a Bookkeeper and Office Manager for a number of years before becoming a PA in the accountancy sector in 2001. Seven years later, due to a merger, both myself and my boss were made redundant. When he asked me if I wanted to join his new business venture, I didn’t hesitate. Although he made me a junior partner, in practice I was essentially still in a PA role.

I began my career as a Legal Secretary after finishing college, where I studied a two-year Business Administration and Secretarial course. After working for two different solicitor’s firms over the course of three years, I left the profession to work as an Administrator organising events at a local university. I had enjoyed working as a Legal Secretary, but I made the decision to change career due to the increase in salary, and I also liked the idea of gaining experience in events management. 

Vicki Lister is the Secretarial, Catering and Reception Services Manager for Reed Smith, a global law firm based in London.

Vicki has worked her way up to her current management position after initially starting her career as a nanny. She then made the change to law and took on a secretarial role at a Magic Circle firm and has since progressed through promotion to her current role.

Vicki joins us to share her experience and what a typical day is like for her…

How I start my day… I start my day at 6.30 a.m. and get into the office around 8.45. I check my emails on my train journey to ensure any urgent absences can be dealt with early and so that when I get into the office I can get straight on with other work or urgent emails or attend any meetings. I have breakfast and a strong coffee at my desk, much needed!

If you’d have told me 20 years ago that I would now be working as a Legal Secretary, I would have laughed.

I always wanted to be a Medical Secretary, as I had always been interested in that sort of environment. So after college, my dream came true and I started to work at my local hospital as a relief Medical Secretary. I loved my job and looked forward to every working day.

When I met my future husband, I left the hospital and moved 250 miles south. I was offered a post as a Legal Secretary in the personal injury department of a local Solicitor’s office, and suffice to say, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic.

How wrong I was. My knowledge of medical terminology stood me in good stead; however, I must have annoyed my colleagues with endless questions regarding legal jargon and the whys and wherefores of legal practice!