We are delighted to announce that we have a new blog on our main website. Every week we will be sharing our news, views and suggestions with you so that you can keep up to date with us on a regular basis.

Through our blog, we can express ourselves in a more informal way than our journal. We will be making recommendations to advance your skills and encouraging professional development, as always! You will be able to see what discounts are currently available to you through ILSPA, whilst learning about other companies which can help you with your career.

Have you ever wondered how experienced Legal Secretaries and PAs began working in the profession? Have you ever wondered what Legal Secretaries enjoy about their role on a day-to-day basis? Or which skills are really worth their weight in gold?

As the professional body for Legal Secretaries and PAs, ILSPA has the privilege of working with people at all different stages of their legal secretarial career. From those still training, or looking for their first position, right through to expert Legal Secretaries and PAs with years of experience behind them. ILSPA chatted with some of these experienced professionals and asked them what wisdom they would like to share with newer Legal Secretaries.

How did you come to work in the legal profession?

You may have noticed recently that for a limited time, recruiters can advertise on our Legal Secretary Jobs Board for free. This means that there are a larger number of Legal Secretary and PA positions being advertised for which you can apply, so it is well worth registering as a candidate or, if you’ve already done so, ensuring that your candidate profile is up to date.

Track Changes is one of the features of Microsoft Office Word which you may not have come across before, but which is an invaluable tool. When you first come to use it, you may find it confusing, but once you are familiar with it, you will find it indispensable and really quite straightforward. In this article, we will help you familiarise yourself with the key features of Track Changes.

What is Track Changes for?

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

Float Senior PA – Gowling WLG   

Location: Birmingham

Salary: Competitive

Gowling WLG, an international law firm with 1,400 legal professionals working around the world, is looking to hire a Float Senior PA to join their team in Birmingham. The role will involve covering both planned and unplanned absences, providing fee earners with the administrative support needed to provide seamless legal services to clients.  

View the full job description here:

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/jobs/candidate/job/131578/

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

Part Time Legal Administrator - GC Business Lawyers   

Location: Leeds

Salary: £22,000 p.a pro rata

GC Business Lawyers is looking for a part time legal administrator to work around 12--16 hours per week mostly on their own. The work will include file openings, preparing risk assessments, file closures, and working with Leap software .

View the full job description here:

https://www.institutelegalsecretaries.com/jobs/candidate/job/128722/

Legal Secretary/PA – Jazz Personnel 

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Salary: £20,000 - £24,000

This year the Executive PA Awards are being held on Wednesday 14 November at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre in Australia. And one very lucky UK PA will have the chance to attend courtesy of Executive PA Media!

The Executive PA Awards are a fantastic event which hosts up to 300 EAs from around the world. They are the oldest and most established awards for administration professionals and with nominations accepted from 121 countries they are the only EA & PA awards that are run globally. The awards provide a platform to profile and recognise the essential work of the executive support profession to an international audience. 

As an ambassador for the EA/PA profession, Paula Harding knows how important, rewarding and challenging the role of a Personal Assistant (PA) can be. ILSPA had the pleasure of talking to Paula about the role of the PA and what she feels makes a PA efficient and successful. 

Can you give us a brief explanation of what the role of a PA involves and how it differs from a Secretary?

Legal Secretaries will often be expected to proofread documents as part of their role. We have, therefore, put together a list of tips in order to help you proofread effectively.

1.            Remove as many distractions as possible. You will need all of your concentration when proofreading.

2.            Read the document slowly to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

3.            Print out a copy of the document that you are proofreading if possible rather than editing it on a screen.

4.            If you are editing on a screen, use the Track Changes function in Word in order to note the changes as you go along.

5.            If proofreading on a computer, use a spell checker during your first read-through, but remember that it is not infallible.

The UK’s complex Inheritance Tax (IHT) system could shortly be due for reform depending on the results of a review by the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS). Chancellor Philip Hammond has written to the OTS asking it to review the IHT regime and he said: 

“IHT, and the system within which it operates, is particularly complex and I would like to request that the OTS carry out a review. I would be most interested to hear any proposals you may have for simplification to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and makes the experience of those who interact with it as smooth as possible.”