Sally Daya talks about a typical day as a Legal Secretary at Lamb Brooks; discussing the experiences and opportunities to which she may be exposed to.
Sally joined the firm as a Legal Secretary after working in Africa for a few years. She has worked in different law firms in various departments including Contentious Probate and Clinical Negligence.
Arriving at the Office
9:00am – The first thing I usually do before I start work is make myself a coffee and get settled at my desk. If I am waiting for cheques from our accounts team, I will check the pigeonholes on my way up to see if they are ready for collection.
9:10am – I spend time reviewing my emails whilst drinking my coffee. The way I manage my inbox is like a to-do list, everything I have dealt with will be filed away in email folders so the items in my inbox are reminders that I need to action something.
I am responsible for monitoring our incoming enquiries and so I check all the incoming correspondence from our website and log this. I keep this spreadsheet open most of the day to make sure that one of our solicitors deals with the enquiry and contacts the client back. I will also open my digital dictation software and see what dictations, or typing, I have.
10:00am – I am frequently opening new files for new clients. In our department, we have numerous Will files and each time a client instructs us on writing a Will or changing their current Will a new file must be opened. Once the client is set up on our system, we then make sure any work we do for them is added as a “matter” under their name. At this stage, the solicitor would have given me instructions on our initial letter to the client.
11:00 am The other matters we deal with in the private client department are Lasting Powers of Attorney and sometimes it is necessary for me to follow up with the Office of the Public Guardian if we should have received a registered Lasting Power of Attorney. When the Powers of Attorney arrive back, we send copies to the clients and scan in the originals, so they are stored electronically in our system.
12:00pm – By this time our post would have come in and would have been reviewed briefly by the supervisor of our department. Before it lands on the solicitor’s desk whom I support, comes to me so I can scan it into our computer system and log it under the client’s matter. By this point in time, I would have started picking up my typing jobs on the digital dictation system.
Lunch
1:00pm – I always sit and read a novel during lunch. I enjoy the mental break, and it feels like I’ve had a long restful nap when I get back to my desk for the afternoon.
Afternoon
2:00pm – I continue working on any digital dictation I have so I can clear as much as possible for the solicitor I support. The letters, attendance notes, and documents she dictates need to get to her in time for her to read them carefully and make any changes she sees fit. If there are payments to be made, I need to start pushing for these to go through if the client is expecting them on the same day.
3:00pm – Part of my job involves storing important original documents, like Wills and Codicils, or looking for them. It is important that a paper trail is left for any originals I remove from the strongroom.
3:15 pm – Sometimes a large file will land on my desk which needs to be worked on. When we are dealing with large estates it’s important, that we keep all the papers relating to the estate in an orderly manner so they can be quickly found and actioned. Occasionally, I will be asked to raise invoices on files or make payments to clients, or Will beneficiaries or third parties.
4:00 pm – By this point all the signed letters would have been returned to me and I can start collating the enclosures, so the letters are posted promptly. Checking documents is crucial because so many letters go through our department, and it is easy to make mistakes when dealing with lots of different files in one day.
Occasionally I will get asked to witness a Will, so I join the solicitor in the meeting. Files need to be closed and as this is a low-priority job I only do this when all my urgent work is done. When closing a file, I make sure to follow the firm’s procedure so all the originals we need to keep are securely stored and the client is aware that their file is being closed.
End of the working day
5:00pm – by the end of the day I am usually exhausted. I may stay late if my desk needs tidying or something urgent needs to be attended to but generally, I try to leave the office on time.
Three top tips for Secretaries:
- Be organised: You can’t rely on yourself to remember everything you need to do, so it’s important to keep to-do lists and write things down.
- Keep on top of your filing: Solicitors (and all of us) get frustrated if they can’t find documents quickly so try to file things promptly – whether the hard copy or the soft copy.
- Communicate: don’t make assumptions – because this can lead to mistakes. It is better to ask questions and know the facts than assume to things – this leads to mistakes.