The PA Show 2019 (formerly Office* Show) will once again play host to the UK VA Conference. The show will take place at the Olympia exhibition centre in London on ‘VA Day’, 27th February 2019.

The UK VA Conference 2019 has compiled an agenda that will appeal to a whole range of Virtual Assistants and their skill levels – from start-up newcomers to established and successful Virtual Assistants.

Read on to see the complete agenda along with information about the hugely popular free VA Breakfast session that will be held before the event to kick off VA Day.

Session One 10:15am: #MyVAFuture - What should my VA business model be?

A signature has been used as a formal obligation and personal certification for centuries, but are you ready to potentially sign your life away on the electronic dotted line? The use of electronic signatures in everyday life is now commonplace, with as many as four in ten signatures written in the UK to sign for deliveries, often using an electronic device.

E-signatures are efficient and easier to enforce, with the improvement for general customer service a significant benefit. However, uncertainty in their admissibility has meant that the uptake within law firms and businesses has been slow — most are concerned that e-signatures could still be challenged in court.

It is common in January for people to start thinking about what skills they would like to learn in the coming year, or what areas they would like to improve in. So this month ILSPA wanted to consider not only how best to set and achieve your chosen 2019 goals but also the best mind-set to allow yourself to succeed and progress too. 

The genius zone idea is popular among many friends of mine. The idea is that we should spend more time doing what we do amazingly well, and delegate or eliminate everything else that we can.

ILSPA’s Single Subject Legal Advanced Level courses are offered to Legal Secretaries who are looking to gain an in-depth understanding of one particular area of law, and acquire some advanced skills at a Paralegal level. In order for ILSPA to assess your understanding of the law, you are required to submit assignments in essay form.    

To start with, it’s a good idea to define what an essay is. If you were to look up the word in a dictionary, or even online generally, you would find a variety of meanings such as “a piece of formal writing which discusses a particular issue, situation or problem”.

This month we are considering a further push by the government to make the conveyancing process quicker and cheaper. Currently the home buying process takes, on average, between three and four months from the date an offer is accepted until the transaction is completed. Part of the reason it takes this amount of time is because buyers and sellers can struggle to communicate basic initial information. In addition, this failure to communicate well can affect the number of transactions that fail to reach the completion stage. 

The new year is traditionally a time for reflection and resolutions. Many of us will be looking back at the previous year and thinking about which areas of our personal and professional lives we would like to improve in the coming one. And why not? The new year can be a fantastic excuse to revaluate our goals and consider how we would like to work on our skillset.

ILSPA has been working with aspiring Legal Secretaries since 1990 and one of our main aims is to provide recognised and affordable training to Students. As such, ILSPA's Legal Secretaries Diploma course is one of the most comprehensive and best value courses on the market.

The course is a vocational qualification, designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge required to gain employment as a Legal Secretary. One of the ways the course can be studied is through attending evening classes at Regent’s University in London.

There are many avenues you can go down to secure a job as a Legal Secretary. You can register on a jobs website such as ILSPA’s Legal Secretary Jobs Board and apply for positions, you can register with a recruitment agency to find a suitable role, or you can contact law firms and send a speculative application. The latter option can be a much more direct and quicker route to getting a job.

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

Immigration Law Legal Secretary – Chapman Legal Recruitment Ltd   

Location: Blackburn

Salary: £18,000  

Chapman Legal Recruitment Ltd has a new opportunity for an experienced Legal Secretary to work with our award-winning client based in Blackburn, Lancashire. Your role will be to provide comprehensive secretarial support to the Immigration Department.

View the full job description here:

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/jobs/candidate/job/136742/

Legal Administrator – Kennedys 

It’s December and for many professionals an office party or get-together is on the cards. Whether this fills you with dread or excitement, it would be fair to say that company parties can sometimes be a complicated night to navigate. If you are unsure what to expect or what is expected of you, then ILSPA’s list of advice on Christmas party etiquette is here to help. Christmas parties can be a fun distraction from the normal working day but they can also be a great opportunity to network, get to know your colleagues and set yourself up for the coming year. Here are our dos and don’ts for the Christmas party season.