SecsintheCity have announced their winners for this year's PA of the Year Awards. SecsintheCity is a job site dedicated to Personal and Executive Assistants. Every year they hold an awards ceremony to recognise the most talented and hard working people in the profession.

12 finalists were shortlisted from 500 nominations. This was no easy feat for the judges who found so much talent among the nominees. After a series of interviews, 4 winners were finally chosen.

The winner of the Legal PA of the year category was Amy Franklyn who is the Executive Assistant to the Head of Corporate​ at Bird & Bird LLP …

Following on from our gender equality post last week, it is apt that 100s of women went to parliament to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Qualification of Women Act yesterday. The act gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as an MP, although since its affect there have only been 491 women MPs compared to 4503 men.

Due to this imbalance, MPs invited female constituents to Westminster to show that they are welcome there and encourage them to stand for elected office. It was hashtagged #askhertostandday. Parliament's 50:50 campaign aims to inspire a new generation …

Wasn't it great to watch Children in Need on the BBC last Friday! For those of you who missed it, over £50 million was raised to change children's lives across the UK. This was a record amount for one night and brings the total amount raised to over £1 billion since it began.

BBC Children in Need's vision is to ensure that everyone has a childhood that is safe, happy and secure, and allows them the chance to reach their full potential. They provide funds to charities across the UK who help disadvantaged children in situations like poverty, abuse, neglect or who …

It is great to hear that there is a rise in women gaining positions at the top end of the legal profession. Many of the large law firms have implemented a gender target and are ensuring that a good percentage of women are promoted to partnership positions each year.

Travers Smith LLP is the latest firm to appoint a woman as a senior partner. Kathleen Russ will actually be their first ever female senior partner! Travers Smith was founded over two centuries ago so it shows how women really do need to start being recognised for their worth.  

As time goes on …

If you are currently looking for a Legal Secretary job, there are many avenues you can go down to secure employment. You may just be starting out in your Legal Secretary career or be an experienced Legal Secretary who wants to achieve a higher salary.

ILSPA's Legal Secretary Jobs Board holds a wealth of positions for trainee and experienced Legal Secretaries from law firms, recruitment agencies and other jobs boards such as Simply Law Jobs, Totally Legal and Secs in the City. Our jobs board is a hub for Legal Secretary vacancies in London and throughout the UK.

Apart …

The next evening class for our Legal Secretaries Diploma course starts on Tuesday 29 January. The class will take place every Tuesday evening at the Regents University in the beautiful setting of Regent's Park, London.

If you are interested in enrolling for this course, you can save £100 if you enrol before the end of November. Our early bird discount reduces the course fee to £700 whereas it is usually £800. You have the option to pay by interest free instalments if you wish, which entails an initial deposit of £70 followed by 6 monthly instalments of £105.

ILSPA's Legal Secretaries Diploma course …

This month's edition of our Legal Secretary Journal has been published.

Michelle Clarke talks about how she worked her way up the ladder from an Administrative Assistant to being a fee earner! Studying ILSPA's Single Subject Advanced Diploma course in Civil Litigation enabled Michelle to gain the legal knowledge and Paralegal skills she needed to progress within her firm. We are so proud of her.

There is some great advice for trainee Legal Secretaries in our journal. Learn how to make the best of your transferable skills as well as use social media to gain employment. There is also a great opportunity to …

The Lawyerhas recently published details of the UK's largest 200 law firms. The combined revenue of these firms increased by 10% from last year which shows that the legal industry is thriving and a solid part of our economy. Legal Secretaries can feel secure in the fact that they will always be in demand to help lawyers with their work.

The top 5 firms include DLA Piper, Clifford Chance, Hogan Lovells, Allen & Overy and Linklaters. DLA Piper ranked at position one due to producing the highest revenue. It is an international firm with lawyers based in 40 countries throughout the world.

If you are …

We are pleased to learn that a UK fund has been set up to stop the harassment and abuse of women at work. The fund which is managed by an organisation called Rosa will be used to provide resources to experts who can offer advice, support and advocacy.

Rosa say that over half of women have experienced sexual harassment at work. The Justice and Equality Fund (JEF) is born from a group of women in the entertainment industry who were inspired by the 'me too' movement and they want to span their reach to other employment sectors. The fund's aim …

You can find some great vacancies on ILSPA's Legal Secretary Jobs Board at present. There are Legal Secretary jobs based in London, Bristol, Belfast, Birmingham, Nottingham and throughout the rest of the country.

Depending on what level of experience you have, you can search for junior or trainee roles, or more experienced roles if you have worked in the legal profession for several years. 

You can also select the area of law you would like to work in such as Conveyancing or Litigation. It might be that you have a particular interest in a certain area of law after completing your …