We would like to share how impressed we are with the standard of coursework we have been receiving for our Legal Secretaries Diploma course. Recently we have seen a very high number of Students achieving distinctions, which is no easy feat. Through gaining a distinction, Students show that they have a thorough understanding of various areas of law, can produce legal documents with the highest attention to detail and can follow instructions to perfection.

We recently saw massive changes in the way legal aid works in England and Wales. In a bid to cut legal aid budgets by over £350 million pounds a year, the Government have made several changes to the system and cut the availability of legal aid to a variety of civil as well as criminal law cases. The changes came into force in April 2013 and are, as predicted, resulting in changes in the way people deal with legal matters and, more specifically, a rapid rise in the number of people having to represent themselves in court. 

It is quite common to find yourself getting more interested in some parts of a course and struggling with certain other areas. Even if the course seems perfect for you, there may be some parts of the syllabus that you simply do not find as interesting as some other aspects of the course material. For instance, with the Legal Secretaries Diploma, you may find yourself more interested in specific areas of the law and less able to focus on other areas of study. 

Douglas Scott Legal Recruitment is helping to judge the inaugural Legal Support Staff Awards, which have been organised by GEM Legal Training and will take place at Bolton De Vere White’s hotel in September 2013.

Gemma Rush, pictured here, is a recruitment consultant at Douglas Scott.  She is judging the Legal Secretary of the Year award – tipped to be one of the busiest categories. Gemma has worked at Douglas Scott for over two years where she manages the legal support desk. Prior to joining Douglas Scott, she worked in human resources at the Co-operative Bank.

Recognising the employees who are so important to the success of law firms, the Legal Support Staff Awards are being organised by GEM Legal Training to assist legal firms across England and Wales by rewarding talent at every level of the business infrastructure.

CareersINFO produce careers job profile films for young people and are looking to create film content for their online careers resource Skills Explorer: http://www.skillsexplorer.com/. Skills Explorer gives users a chance to explore their skills and career options through videos.

The main aim is to educate young people in schools about the different work opportunities available to them. To that end, Skills Explorer is a free new way for students to connect with world-of-work job profile films, giving users a chance to explore their skills and career options like never before.

Skills Explorer supports classroom, workshop and one-to-one career discussions with tailor-made talking points, learning opportunities and next steps for students, careers advisers and teachers alike.

This month I thought I would share a few tips for MS Word that will save you time and hopefully stop you from pulling your hair out on those days when you just can’t make Word do what you want it to.

Comparing documents in MS Word

Sometimes you may need to compare two documents and track any differences. This comes in handy when you are trying to see which version of a document was created first or even if you have two copies of a large document and you wish to see, without reading the whole thing, if it has been tampered with.

Legal aid is a way to offer legal advice and support to people who cannot afford to pay for it themselves. It has been one of the basic pillars of the welfare state since it came into being. But new changes that came into effect in early April in England and Wales have removed legal aid funding from various areas of civil law, including family disputes and social welfare benefits advice as well as housing and debt problems. The Government claims that resources are extremely tight and that spending on legal aid the way we have is no longer an option. According to official sources, the new cuts will save £350 million from a £2.1 billion budget.

In October 2012, David Cameron made a statement about the prison system and that prisons should be made to work for the offenders. He also said that punishment and rehabilitation should in fact take equal precedence in preventing crime. The Prime Minister said that the debate on punishment had become too ‘black or white’, and that the prison system should be one that has a positive and rehabilitative impact on an inmate’s life, rather than merely a punitive one. 

Why do you need rapport?

Competition is incredibly tough in the law profession today. Having a good interview technique will be crucial if you are to land a traineeship or job. Rapport is the connection between two people – the spoken and unspoken words that say ‘We are on the same page’. It is the art of making someone feel comfortable and accepted. To create rapport, we need to know how to connect with others, regardless of their age, gender, ethnic background, or mood, or the situation.

This month we will consider a recent Court of Appeal decision which should remind those practicing in Wills and Probate of the importance of following best practices when preparing wills for clients. 

The case, Hawes v Burgess [2013] EWCA Civ 74, involved a 2007 will which cut out the testatrix’s son, Peter, and left the estate equally to her two daughters, Libby and Julia. 

Consider the following background facts to the case:

1. The deceased, Daphne Burgess, died in 2009, aged 80, having suffered from failing health since 2006.

2. Under an earlier will, her estate (total less than £200,000) had been left equally to her son and two daughters.