Last month we introduced the world of unbundled legal services. Cutting through the jargon, unbundling is shorthand for how some firms are now providing legal advice for litigation clients with limited financial means.  In this article we will highlight some key points that should be considered when advice is provided in this way and consider how you as a litigation secretary can add value to the process.

To recap, below are some examples of the types of legal services that might be classified as unbundled services and others that fall more into a firm providing a client with full legal representation.

Examples of unbundled services: 

The Court of Protection is the specialist court dealing with the property, money, physical welfare and sometimes even the liberty of those without the mental capacity to make their own decisions. These “protected persons”, usually known in the Court Rules as “P", range from very young children to the very elderly, and the Court’s decisions take in many forms of mental incapacity, from brain damage and severe autism to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

As announced in the July edition of DEDICATED – The Legal Secretary Journal, the nominations for the Secs in the City PA of the Year Awards 2015 are now open. One of the objectives of ILSPA is to ensure that Legal Secretaries and PAs receive the recognition that their skills and knowledge deserve. We thought that now would be the ideal opportunity to speak to the current Legal PA of the Year, Rachel Newman, and find out how she felt about winning the award last year, why she believes that recognition for Legal PAs is so important, and what tips she has for newer Legal PAs just starting their careers.

Please tell us a little about yourself and your role at Hogan Lovells

‘Title Insurance’, ‘the Protocol’, ‘Transaction’, ‘HIPs’ (Where on earth did they get to?) and now the ‘Conveyancing Portal’. Those of you who work in conveyancing departments will undoubtedly know all about this latest development – the ‘cure all’ for conveyancing ills. But … I wonder.

The portal has been created to speed up the conveyancing process. But it’s not really a new thing – this trying to speed up conveyancing. Once it really took off, there’s been no stopping it. I remember my first introduction to the notion that, to most people, the conveyancing process was somewhat akin to wading through a vat of cold treacle. I remember, as a young lawyer, someone saying to me, “Why does everyone moan about the high Solicitors’ costs for conveyancing but they don’t moan so much about Estate Agents’ fees?”

ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course contains a conveyancing unit which is based on residential conveyancing. This article will look at some of the differences in the procedure if you are working for a Commercial Property Lawyer.

Commercial properties can be bought and sold just like domestic properties, but they are also commonly occupied by commercial tenants under a lease. Indeed, most commercial property transactions will involve leasehold property; however, some are freehold.

SecsintheCity, the UK’s #1 job site for PAs, EAs and Secretaries, has announced that nominations are now open for the PA of the Year Awards 2015.

Sponsored by recruitment specialists Tay Associates, the awards recognise the professionalism of PAs and acknowledge their contribution to the organisations they work for, with previous finalists representing leading brands such as Facebook, M&C Saatchi, Ann Summers, Royal Mail and Mercedes.

Nominations can be made through an online nomination form, and are welcomed from PAs and EAs in all sectors, for the following categories:

• PA of the Year
• Interim PA of the Year
• Legal PA of the Year
• Social Media PA of the Year

Emily Penny, head of sales for SecsintheCity, said: “We’re delighted to announce that the PA of the Year Awards ceremony will take place in November 2015.

In a unanimous ruling in March 2015, the Supreme Court agreed that Nadine Montgomery should succeed in her claim against the Lanarkshire Health Board. Nadine had given birth to a boy who developed severe disabilities stemming from complications during the birth in October 1999.

Mrs Montgomery won over £5 million compensation in her major damage suit after her son suffered brain damage due to birth complications, claiming that medical professionals neglected to fully inform her of the risks involved with giving birth as a type 1 diabetic. It is recognised that when diabetics give birth to babies that are larger than average, it puts those mothers at higher risk of complications.

We are delighted to announce that our new Legal Secretary Jobs Board is live. The new Jobs Board has been created so that it integrates with our main website and is more user friendly.

ILSPA’s Legal Secretary Jobs Board specialises in Legal Secretary jobs throughout the UK. We advertise vacancies from law firms and recruitment agencies, and aggregate Legal Secretary jobs from Indeed.co.uk.

Candidates can apply for Legal Secretary jobs and upload their CVs for employers to view. Our Jobs Board holds a wide range of vacancies, from junior and trainee positions to those that require someone with secretarial skills and a Legal Secretary qualification, and others that require experience.

ILSPA has introduced a fantastic new Membership scheme. As from 1 July 2015, ILSPA Members will be able to renew their Membership for a one-off fee of £50. This will entitle them to Lifetime Membership of the Institute.

Rather than Members renewing each year and paying a fee of £35, they will only need to renew their Membership once, and they will receive Membership benefits for as long as they need them. 

We have received positive feedback about the scheme already. Members are very keen to renew knowing they only have to pay a one-off fee, and we have had former Members showing an interest in joining us again. We believe this will greatly aid Membership retention and help us form closer relationships with our Members.

Lifetime Membership is also available to new Members of the Institute. Whatever level you are at in your career, you can receive a wealth of benefits through ILSPA.

Like most areas of legal practice, civil litigation has been affected over the past few years by the cuts in public spending. Following the withdrawal in April 2013 of legal aid for most civil claims, there are many people who are unlikely to be able to afford to pay privately for a solicitor to advise them. To help these clients, the Law Society published guidance on 19 March 2015 for solicitors called ‘unbundling civil legal services’.

Normally when a litigator uses the word ‘bundling’, he or she would be talking about the process of getting all the documentation ready for a trial. The term ‘unbundling’ has an entirely different meaning. Unbundling could be compared to the concept of ‘pay as you go’ or ‘a la carte’ legal services. The fees that a solicitor charges a client (called the retainer) are limited to particular stages in a civil claim. Some examples of unbundled legal services include: