33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity
Heuristics are rules intended to help you solve problems. When a problem is large or complex, and the optimal solution is unclear, applying a heuristic allows you to begin making progress towards a solution even though you can’t visualize the entire path from your starting point.
Suppose your goal is to climb to the peak of a mountain, but there’s no trail to follow. An example of a heuristic would be: Head directly towards the peak until you reach an obstacle you can’t cross. Whenever you reach such an obstacle, follow it around to the right until you’re able to head towards the peak once again. This isn’t the most intelligent or comprehensive heuristic, but in many cases it will work just fine, and you’ll eventually reach the peak.
Judith Croasdell, former PA to Professor Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most famous scientists, has been confirmed to host a headline Keynote at this year’s office* show, which returns to London’s Olympia on 13-14 October.
One of my first secretarial jobs was working in a medium-sized firm with, among others, a lady whom I’ll call Sylvia. Sylvia’s desk was generally an awe-inspiring sight: it groaned with teetering piles of files, Post-It notes were stuck around the computer screen as well as on the desktop, and there were usually a couple of shorthand notebooks open at pages with to-do lists, scribbled in shorthand that only Sylvia could read back. It looked like chaos to everyone else. But Sylvia was always able to find within a couple of minutes whatever document she needed amongst this apparent jumble, and she never seemed to miss a deadline or prioritise tasks wrongly. 
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.
Finding the right level of stimulation for your work and relationships is one of life’s key challenges. Sometimes we procrastinate on tasks and check out from relationships because the overall stimulation level isn’t a good match for our preferences. Some situations are understimulating, causing us to feel bored and listless. Other situations are overstimulating, causing us to feel stressed or anxious. In the middle is the preferred zone where we feel attentively engaged, but this zone is different for each individual.
Working as a Legal Secretary will require you to be extremely focused and organised in order to adhere to tight deadlines and to keep up with the fast-paced legal industry. Dividing your work or objectives into specific goals is an important part of managing your workload and achieving your overall ambitions. This is not just true for people in employment – for those of you currently studying for qualifications, the setting of goals is just as important.
We are often much better at identifying our strengths than looking objectively at our weaknesses, but knowing the areas in which we struggle most is usually the most beneficial piece of information we can have in terms of improving our performance. Whether you are not receiving the marks you were hoping to achieve on a course or not getting the recognition or results you want in the workplace, there are a few things you can do to try to work out where your weaknesses are and therefore give yourself the best chance of improving them.
As a Legal Secretary, you will be aware that confidentiality is essential in the legal field. Issues concerning confidentiality arise when information is disclosed by one person to another in a situation where it could be reasonably expected that that information would not be disclosed to anyone else. Confidentiality is protected as a fundamental human right and is expected to be observed in a very extensive range of circumstances.
When it comes to effective team working, are you an Efficient Emma, an Improving Imogen, a Not Bad Nora – or a Struggling Susan? These fun stereotypes have been created by specialist matter and case management software company Iken as part of its campaign to highlight and share best practice for team working, especially amongst in-house legal departments.
When working in a fast-paced industry like law, it’s vital to keep up with all the latest news, views and developments. Thankfully, there are some clever legal eagles out there who run some pretty impressive blogs filled with all the latest information. We’ve chosen a few of our favourites that you simply must be reading.