The world of law changes on a regular basis, so Douglas Scott Legal Recruitment has kicked off its annual Big Data Survey and is inviting legal employees all over the UK to take part.

The salary and benefits benchmarker was launched last year and immediately acknowledged within the legal industry for shining a spotlight on all the issues facing legal recruitment, as well as for spotting trends within the ever-changing legal landscape. 

Last year's survey pinpointed a massive discrepancy between legal staff and their employers with regard to bonuses, which helped a number of companies target candidates more strategically. By highlighting the needs of potential recruits as well as future trends in the industry, we hope to again provide valuable insights that will make the recruitment process more effective for all concerned.

I enrolled for the Legal Secretaries Diploma course due to the fact that since I was young I always dreamt of being a Solicitor. As I grew up, I undertook experience in major law firms – Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Pinsent Masons. After these experiences my passion for law was confirmed, so I sought to look for relevant experience and to get a qualification before I began my Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL).

I really look forward to my studies every Wednesday at the Institute, mainly due to the fact that I enjoy the way my tutor teaches; he is very interactive and fully explains each module and is so willing to answer questions.

In my younger days people would say that shorthand and typing were “such useful skills” and that one would scarcely be out of a job with such aptitudes tucked under one’s belt.

‘Shorthand’ includes many types both written with the pen and produced by machines. Pitman, Gregg and Teeline are renowned pen methods, whereas Stenotype and Palantype are well-known machine systems.

“Would you say you’re a good communicator?” is a classic interview question, but the follow-up, “Explain why”, can really scupper interviewees, who might find themselves mumbling and scrabbling for examples and looking like anything but a good communicator!

Going into an interview for a Legal Secretary or PA job feeling fully prepared and confident about relevant skills will help you greatly on the day. But regardless of how much research you’ve done about the job, the firm, and its management style and global strategy, you could still be caught out by those pesky, quirky, unexpected ‘curve ball’ questions interviewers sometimes like to throw in.

While we can all agree that the autumn can be exceptionally beautiful in many ways – what with the glorious changing colours all around us – we would also tend to concur in that the dreaded colds do their rounds at this time of the year. 

If you are currently midway through studying for your Legal Secretaries Diploma with The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs, it is important to understand how we can help you.

If you have covered Constitutional Law in some detail, you will appreciate just how difficult it can be to get Private Members’ Bills pushed all the way through both houses of Parliament in order to become law. Only a very small percentage of these bills acquire Royal Assent and become statutes. Therefore, it is interesting when a Private Member’s Bill appears to be attracting more attention than usual, especially when it covers such an important aspect of family and criminal law. 

At present, there are many people who believe that the laws surrounding child neglect do not go anywhere near far enough to protect the youngest members of our society. Whilst they do cover ‘intentional neglect’, which basically means protection against physical neglect, there are absolutely no provisions in law to protect a child’s emotional, spiritual, educational and moral needs.

Studying with the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs can be done by distance learning from home. This facility allows you to be in complete control of your time. With most people now having a computer and Internet access, taking a distance learning course is becoming a very popular way to study. 

You Can Start Your Course at Any Time of Year

You can commence study at any time of the year with ILSPA. While the Legal Secretaries Diploma course takes on average three to six months to complete, you can take the course over a period of one year. 

You Can Choose Your Own Study Time

As a Legal Secretary or PA, you may be required to proofread a document before it is sent out. This means checking it over carefully yourself or reading it out loud with someone else who also has a copy. You may even be asked to just look something over for someone. If you are given a proofreading task, it is useful to know some tips, as it can be easy to read the body of the text quickly and not notice small, but important, errors.

Firstly, make it easy to read. When checking a document, try to do so from a paper copy, rather than reading it from a computer screen. If the document has a particularly small font, it is helpful to enlarge it so it is then easier to read.

Consistency

It’s official – employers have zero patience when it comes to CV grammar and spelling. When asked, ‘What is the biggest turn-off for you to see on a candidate’s CV?’ the top answer employers gave was poor grammar and spelling mistakes, according to a recent survey. Recruitment consultancy Nicoll Curtin asked 550 companies, and a massive 65 percent pointed to CV errors as their ultimate bugbear.

Shoddy spellchecking and proofreading aren’t exactly a ringing endorsement of your knowledge of basic office technology or attention to detail, are they? For enthusiastic, well-trained legal secretaries and PAs, it’s vitally important to demonstrate these basic skills.

This month we are doing something a little different and looking at the big picture so far as English law is concerned. This is something that is covered in the first unit of ILSPA's Legal Secretaries Diploma so that students can get a good grasp of how English laws are created. By knowing something about the ‘big’ picture, you are showing an interest in the same thing that intrigues many lawyers.