Be honest, now. On the final day of the Christmas hols, when you were tidying the last of the festive debris from your handbag or pockets and thinking about your first day back at work, did your heart lighten – or sink? Or was it somewhere in the middle? 

There are exceptions to every rule, but it’s not generally a good sign if you are either ecstatic or profoundly depressed to be back in the office. Even if you are somewhere in the middle, it’s worth taking some time as you start the new year to decide where you are on the spectrum, and to consider whether making one or more work-related resolutions for the new year might help.

In recent months we have written about the major changes to how litigation clients are paying for legal advice. Legal services are now being unbundled so clients can “pick and mix” when they want to pay for legal advice and when they will do it themselves. This month we will consider how unbundled legal advice fits in with representation at court hearings. This type of representation is commonly called advocacy, and traditionally it is a service that has been provided by barristers or solicitors on behalf of their clients. Following changes to the scope of legal aid funding in April 2013, there has been widespread concern that individuals will be forced to represent themselves in court (known as litigants in person).

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/

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:

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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/

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.