The start of a new year is the perfect time to think about the skills you would like to acquire to advance your career. It provides you with a fresh start, which can give you clarity about what you want to achieve. Whether you are new to the profession or you have been working as a Legal Secretary for many years, there are always skills you can develop to improve the quality of your work.

In line with our article on continuing professional development, we have produced a list of five skills that you could consider honing this year:

2020 has arrived and it’s a great time to have a think about the ways in which you can develop yourself professionally this year. The new year offers a clean slate where you can see things clearly and focus on improving your professional working life.

In order to be a competent and efficient Legal Secretary, you need to have impeccable skills. There are many different areas which you could consider improving, including your secretarial, legal or IT skills. Our New Year, New Skills article can give you some guidance with this. Whether you are new to the profession or you are an experienced Legal Secretary, there are always ways in which you can improve to be better at your job.

This month we will consider the Queen’s speech which took place towards the end of 2019 and what new laws we might expect to see in 2020.

The Queen usually only attends Parliament on ceremonial occasions. Last year, she was present at the State Opening of Parliament, where the start of the parliamentary year was marked. At the state opening, the Queen read out her speech from the throne in the House of Lords Chamber. To be more precise, the speech was not actually the Queen’s own words; it had been prepared for her by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The Queen’s speech normally happens once a year, but the last one happened in June 2017 because the Prime Minister at that time, Theresa May, wanted a two-year parliamentary session.

ILSPA’s tour of the Royal Courts of Justice has always been a popular and interesting element of our Legal Secretaries Diploma course. Over the years hundreds of Students have benefited from attending a unique and specifically tailored tour from our Patron and former evening class tutor, Amanda Hamilton. Our guided tour is created to help Students put their learning material into perspective and really understand the court system and processes they are being taught.

The law of contract has slowly been developing in line with changes in the way people enter into contracts and use technology to communicate. One recent example of these changes is how the law treats a contract made by email. Some have argued that an exchange of informal emails would not be enough to create a formal legal relationship, but they are sadly mistaken based on recent case law developments.

The legal sector is highly competitive so securing an interview requires a strong CV and a cover letter that grabs the employer’s attention. This article by Simply Law Jobs set out how to write an impressive and interesting cover letter to help you stand out from the crowd.

What should a cover letter do?

The aim of a legal cover letter is to firstly show off your legal knowledge and secondly demonstrate that you have conducted thorough research into the company you are applying to. You should always write a new cover letter for each role that you apply for.

December is here and Christmas and the new year are just around the corner. Hopefully, you are all looking forward to a well-earned rest over the holiday period, but there are still a few weeks left to work through before we can put our feet up. The end of the year can be a busy and rather hectic time for law firms. It can be hard to think about the little things that may need doing. Here are a few tips to really help you round up the year and set yourself up for 2020 while you’re at it.

Take a look at your CPD

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is delighted to be offering new online webinar classes, which start on Tuesday 7 January 2020. Webinars have become a very popular form of learning due to the growth of virtual communication.

ILSPA now provides three study method options for our Legal Secretaries Diploma course. You can study through evening classes in London, online webinar classes or online via distance learning.

The beauty of our new option is that you can study our course from the comfort of your own home as well as being taught by one of our tutors. Our online webinar classes enable you to have an interactive experience, where you can communicate with your tutor and be part of a group of Students. It is a great blend of our evening classes and our distance learning courses.

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

Legal Secretary – Property and Litigation – Sherrards

Location: St Albans

Salary: £22,000 - £30,000

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a full-time Legal Float Secretary within a leading law firm in the beautiful city of St Albans. The individual will be providing legal secretarial support for both the Property and Litigation departments.

View the full job description here:          

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/jobs/candidate/job/166430/

Legal Secretary – Matthew Waite & Co  

Location: Tring, Hertfordshire

Salary: £21,950 - £23,950 DOE

One of ILSPA’s aims is to provide affordable training to Students and Members. We are delighted to work in partnership with Prodigy Learning to provide you with a fantastic 50% discount on Microsoft Office courses.

Microsoft Office provides courses in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. If you would like to improve your word processing skills, learn more about working with spreadsheets, become familiar with using Outlook for emails or know how to conduct a PowerPoint presentation, then you can now do so at half the cost.