As part of your studies on ILSPA’s Legal Secretaries Diploma course, you have considered the topic of land law. This month, we are reviewing proposals to change rights over land. These changes affect public rights of way and were part of the government’s Deregulation Bill 2013 – 2014.

You may recall from your studies that a right of way is an easement. The land that is subject to such an easement means that the landowner must permit someone to pass over their land. Public rights of way allow members of the general public to pass over land, and these rights of way were designed to allow people to access the countryside. These types of easements are protected by law. If you are the owner of land that is subject to a public right of way, it is your responsibility to keep the right of way clear of obstructions.

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs is pleased to announce the winner of our 2015 Scholarship. Congratulations to Karina Gindhay, who has successfully gained a place on our Legal Secretaries Diploma course.

We received a good selection of applications for our scholarship, but Karina Gindhay shone out above the rest. Karina made a particularly special effort to tell us about her background, why she wanted to study on ILSPA’s course and what gaining the qualification would mean to her. 

Those of you who are starting out in your legal secretary careers may be considering looking for employment in one of the larger law firms. We have provided some information about five large law firms which have offices in the UK and overseas.

Pinsent Masons

Online resources for legal research can often be hard to navigate. If you are searching for a specific case summary or information on one particular act, you may find yourself looking for a very small needle in a very big haystack. The recently relaunched Emplaw website, however, seeks to change that by offering a clean, easy-to-use interface and focusing on one area of law rather than all of them.

The Emplaw service offers a vast repository of employment law data, including thousands of searchable case summaries and law cards. While the service is subscription only, there is a lot of useful information available for non-subscribers. Non-subscribers can read summaries of all content, which on its own is quite a useful feature.

Thousands of women throughout the world celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March. Events were held by organisations, charities, educational institutions and groups to celebrate achievements and inspire women of all ages and nationalities. The first International Women’s Day was held way back in 1911 and was celebrated by over a million people in countries across Europe.

There has been a significant shift in our society’s attitude to women in the past century. It is amazing to think that women of 21 years and over were allowed to vote only after the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act was passed in 1928. Some of our grandmothers will have been around at that time.

Spring is officially upon us, and we can therefore reflect on how the winter has affected legal services to clients. Winter is the most common time for personal injury accidents to happen due to ice and snow. The first question on some people’s mind would be ‘Whom can I sue?’ Whilst a civil litigation personal injury claim may be considered, one must not forget that there are also other aspects of private law which could be considered, including Occupiers’ Liability.

Unfortunately Britain is not always equipped to deal with adverse weather conditions. The weather is down to ‘Mother Nature’, and when weather warnings are put in place stating ‘Only go out when necessary’, they should be adhered to and it is up to the individual to decide whether to take the risk. Therefore, in many cases, any injury you incur will not be claimable as it is simply an accident.

Most consumer law was written about thirty years ago and does not clearly cover all types of modern contracts such as those dealing with digital content like music, software or games. New measures to enhance consumer rights and make them easier to understand were unveiled by consumer minister Jo Swinson in early 2014.

The proposals, outlined in the draft Consumer Rights bill, streamline overlapping and complicated areas from eight pieces of legislation into a single consumer bill. They also introduce new rights for both consumers and businesses. This government bill was introduced in the Commons on 23 January 2014. It had its second reading on 28 January 2014. A carry-over motion was agreed on 28 January 2014 which allowed consideration of the bill to be resumed in the 2014-15 session.   

In an ever-changing legal landscape, the traditional attitude to legal services has been turned on its head. The main reason behind this is the requirement to comply with the regulatory objectives of the Legal Services Act 2007. The prime objective of this statute is to open up the legal services sector, making legal services more accessible and less costly to the consumer.

Three of the statute’s eight specific objectives are improving access to justice, promoting competition and increasing public understanding of legal rights.

With the virtual eradication of legal aid, there is a huge gap. The public will, now more than ever before, need cost-effective and accessible legal advice and assistance. Paralegals are now filling that gap.

The UK Legal Services market is undergoing dramatic transformations instigated by various influences, including market liberalisation, technological developments, new business structures and an increasingly knowledgeable and professionally demanding calibre of client. 

ILSPA is proud to support the LegalEx exhibition and conference, which is entirely dedicated to the business needs of your legal firm, and designed to drive growth and efficiency. Our Tutor, Seamus Ryan, will be speaking at the event about why the Legal Secretary is such an important asset to a firm. You can view information about the talk here: http://www.legalex.co.uk/speakers/seamus-ryan/.

Over the past year or so, the government has been trying to introduce cuts to the legal aid budget which could have a drastic impact on the number of people entitled to legal aid and the amount of support to which they have access.

The Law Society launched a sustained campaign against these cuts, determined to protect the most vulnerable from cuts to a vital support line for victims. On 11 March 2015, it was officially announced that the Court of Appeal had failed to pass the cuts which the government had proposed in relation to legal aid.

The cuts would threaten those who are unable to pay for their own legal representation. They could leave vulnerable people at risk by denying them access to legal representation following criminal accusations.