In this month's edition of our Legal Secretary Journal, we published an article about the most common Microsoft Office skills Students need when completing their coursework. ILSPA's courses require Students to produce legal documents so that they become competent in Legal Secretary work.

It is essential for Students to have Microsoft Office skills before enrolling on our courses, however we would like to provide guidance to those who might need help with certain areas.

Our article includes setting page margins, line spacing, inserting a table, creating table borders and inserting columns. Honing these skills is also beneficial if you are working as a Legal Secretary and haven't …

The Law Society Excellence Awards celebrate the work and achievements of Solicitors, legal teams and firms throughout England and Wales.

Categories include Woman Lawyer of the Year, Solicitor of the Year, Excellence in Client Service and Law Firm of the Year, amongst others.

The deadline to nominate your team, boss or your firm for their achievements is midnight tonight! You can find out more and make a nomination here.

In support of mental health awareness week, ILSPA would like to express how much we value mental health in the workplace and at home. Certain situations arise in life that can lead us to place where we feel confused, overwhelmed and not able to cope mentally. These circumstances can happen to anyone, at any age, from whatever walk of life we come from. 

It would be great to end the stigma associated with mental health disorders so that people can speak openly about their thoughts and feelings. We need to help each other, whether it is family, a friend or …

Coodes Solicitors in Cornwall has recently appointed four new associates and four new partners - one of whom is our Course Assessor, Maria Richards.

Coodes believes in the nurture and development of its staff and these promotions have come about through this. ILSPA can also see how much they value their Legal Secretaries as some of them have studied ILSPA's Legal Secretaries Diploma Course.

Maria has been working as a Legal Executive for Coodes for the past six years and specialises in Conveyancing. As well as helping and assessing ILSPA Students, she is also the senior examiner for the National Association of Licensed Paralegals …

Now is the perfect time to take the plunge and enrol on our Legal Secretaries Diploma course via distance learning. For the entire month of May, Students who enrol for the distance learning diploma course will receive £100 off their course fee, making the course just £500!

Our Legal Secretary course is widely recognised by law firms and legal recruiters, and will provide you with valuable legal knowledge and the practical skills you need to become a competent and qualified Legal Secretary. You will learn various areas of law and the practical tasks involved with Legal Secretary work, such as legal …

Strictly Recruitment will be holding two workshops for those who are looking to secure their first Legal Secretary role. With Students all over the country completing various legal courses, firms are searching for new talent to join their teams.

ILSPA's Legal Secretaries Diploma graduates have been invited to attend the workshops. They will take place at 3.00pm on Thursday 9th May 2019 or Wednesday 15th May 2019. 

Topics that will be covered include :

• How to structure a CV
• The importance of personal branding
• What to expect during the recruitment process
• Interview hints and tips
• What law firms expect
• General career …

The May edition of our Legal Secretary Journal has been published.

In this month's lead article we speak to Hollie Nixon, one of the newest Legal Secretaries at Clifford Chance LLP. Hollie spoke to us about her transition from a completely non-legal background into the legal secretarial profession. She gives useful advice to people looking to make the change themselves.

Also featured is an announcement from our partner, Secs in the City about their summer networking event. This will be taking place on Wednesday 10 July 2019 in London. You can read about what to expect from this year's event and find out how to sign …

We would like to remind our Typing Skills Course Students that the Typing Skills website is no longer available. The platform was originally provided by Typing Ace who no longer provide support for this course.

Our Students were emailed at the beginning of the year to encourage them to complete the course by the end of April. If you have not managed to complete the course, you can improve your typing skills for free through www.typing.com.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

Secsinthecity will be holding their annual networking event in London on Wednesday 10 July. This event is suitable for PAs, EAs, office professionals and also ILSPA Students.

There will be interesting presentations, networking opportunities, CV advice and interview tips, boutiques, as well as wine and canapes!

You can register your attendance for the event here.

Today is Administrative Professionals Day and here at ILSPA we would like to wish a very happy day to all our Members, Students and colleagues who work within the sector. We have long believed that administrative professionals, such as Legal Secretaries and PAs, are the backbone of a business. That is why it is one of our objectives as their professional body to give Legal Secretaries and PAs the recognition they deserve.

Many organisations are getting involved in the celebrations of the day, such as Executive Secretary who are offering a free e-book discussing the future development of administration. Some have published their thoughts …