Personal relations and the connections that you make can define your career: they can help you secure roles in particular firms; effect who you end up working alongside; they can even help you win or lose your firm clients. Whether you enjoy it or not, law demands that you network.

Networking is really a skill in itself, and it is one that those wishing to enter the legal profession at any level would do well to master. It is normal to be worried about what to talk about in front of other professionals at first, but it’s easy to become a networking pro with a little bit of preparation and practice. Simply Law Jobs have set out this simple guide to help you ease into networking and fine tune these essential skills. 

1. What’s it all about?

When embarking on a career as a Legal Secretary or advancing your expertise within your role as a Legal Secretary, it will be necessary for you to study a course which provides you with the knowledge and skills needed for the job.

No matter how proactive, organised or positive you are, anyone can have a bad day. Whether it’s a change in schedule for an important piece of work, a busy period in the year or even office politics, sometimes your workday can seem insurmountable.

When you have those days, it is easy to feel completely overwhelmed, but there are some steps you can take to make things more manageable. This article provides some solutions to help you get your day back on track.

Take a step back

It may seem like such a simple thing, but by taking the time to gather yourself and take a deep breath, you will allow yourself to find clarity in a situation. By gathering your thoughts and looking at everything objectively, rather than being caught up in the eye of the storm, you will be able to move on to the next step.

In this age of text-speak and abbreviations, it is quite common for emails to drift into an informal format. When messaging your friends or family, this is completely acceptable; however, it can easily lead to a lazy style of emailing when contacting organisations. This can infer that you don’t care, or be taken as rudeness, and you certainly do not want those connotations within your professional life. This article highlights the key things to remember when writing a professional email. If you follow these rules, you are less likely to make an error in an emailed job application, when contacting organisations, or when sending an email for work. Following the simple rules below will ensure that your emails always represent you in the most professional way.

Format

As part of your job search and to ensure you secure interviews, you should get into the habit of submitting a covering letter alongside your CV, even if is not a requirement. A covering letter is a great opportunity to showcase your relevant skills and attributes in more detail. Today we will share with you our step by step guide on a successful covering letter.

Craig Harris is a multi-award winning Executive Assistant, who currently works for Shelter UK. Some of his recent awards include our trusted partner SecsintheCity’s Social Media PA of the Year 2018 and Pitman’s Super Achiever PA of the Year 2017. Having forged an impressive and successful career as an Assistant, Craig is now working to promote inclusion and diversity within the profession.

In January 2018 he co-founded the LGBT Admin and Assistant Network, and dedicates much of his time to speaking publicly about his aim to be a role model for all Assistants, especially aspiring male Assistants considering making the leap to the profession.

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

Legal Secretary – Benson Mazure  

Location: London

Salary: £25,000 - £30,000

A well established, small, friendly and busy practice in the heart of the West end are looking to recruit a Legal Secretary.

You will be required to assist the Partners in the practice and work as part of a team.

View the full job description here:          

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/jobs/candidate/job/143532/

Junior Secretary – Judge Sykes Frixou   

Location: London

Salary: Negotiable   

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was established in 2007 as an independent body responsible for regulating the 180,000 Solicitors in England and Wales. The SRA’s purpose is to protect the public by ensuring that Solicitors and those working for them meet very high standards. The key way that the SRA does this is by publishing and enforcing Principles for the profession and a Code of Conduct contained in the SRA Handbook. This month we will be considering the biggest change to the Handbook since it was introduced in 2011.

Jemina Blake studied ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma back in 2012. After graduating she worked for one of the leading law firms in the South East and continued to study. She completed a Level 4 Diploma in Paralegal Studies with NALP and a Level 5 Diploma in Business Management. Now Jemina has used her impressive experience and qualifications to start her own business, My Legal Transcription. ILSPA spoke with Jemina about what initially interested her about the law, why she chose to become a Legal Secretary and how she turned that into a business of her own.

How did you become interested in working within the legal profession?

So you’ve perfected your CV, you’ve trawled through the job boards and found the best positions, you’ve sent in your applications after painstakingly rewriting your covering letter multiple times...the list goes on. Lo and behold, you’ve secured an interview. Congratulations! That is fantastic news.

As the interview date approaches, however, your initial excitement may start to give way to some of those pesky interview nerves. This is entirely normal, but why does it happen? Are you overthinking it, perhaps? Maybe you’re desperate to impress your future boss, or you want to prove yourself to your family? Whatever is playing on your mind, you won’t be the only one to have felt like this before an interview.