Legal support staff conference 2010

Friday 24 September 2010, 9:00am–5:00pm
Law Society House, 179 Ann Street

Overview

This conference builds on the fundamentals to provide legal executives, paralegals, law clerks, and support staff the technical skills to ensure success in everyday practice. This conference features new practice area streams tailored to meet the needs of support staff working in key areas of law including personal injuries, property, wills and succession, and family and is geared to help fast track your career.

Course code: 100924

9:00am–9:30am
Setting smart goals for your career progress

Setting goals at work and incorporating them into short, mid and long term career goals can be extremely rewarding. With focus on ethical standards, excellent work performance and effective time management, dealing with a variety of people while maintaining integrity and work-life balance, this session will provide:

  • settling achievable goals
  • incorporating these into career goals
  • tips for excelling at any job you do
9:30am–10:30am
Practical advise for preparing legal documents

Presented by a solicitor, a barrister and a Judge, this session will focus on:

  • familiarising with Uniform Civil Procedure Rules forms
  • when and why certain forms
  • common forms used in commercial litigation matters – claims, statements of claim, affidavit of service, copies of judgements
  • importance of timeframes for filling certain documents and other deadlines
10:30am–11:45am
Property Law

The topics covered in this stream are essential for support staff in property law practices. The topics covered are:

  • the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act (PAMDA) and the Conveyancing Protocol
  • practical advice for preparing property related documents
  • Office of State Revenue audit–what you need to know
10:30am–11:45am
Personal Injuries Law

Personal injuries embody matters under three Acts. Some of the matters that are dealt under personal injuries are motor vehicle accidents, work related injuries, criminal acts of employees. The following are the key point of this session:

  • the relevant forms and timelines in personal injuries matters
  • statement of loss and damage
  • personal injuries matters and client agreements
11:45am–12:45pm
Lunch
12:45pm–2:30pm
Wills and Estate Law
  • the confidential nature of a Will preparation process
  • a brief outline of estate administration
  • the importance of ethics for support staff
12:45pm–2:30pm
Family Law
  • family law matters – the process, identifying relevant forms and jurisdiction
  • the importance of ethics for support staff
  • confidentiality
2:30pm–3:00pm
The importance of ethics for support staff

Two important and common issues are questions of disclosure and legal advice. When communicating with clients, legal support staff must not cross the boundary of their jobs to provide advice that can be construed as legal advice. Using practical examples, this session will focus on:

  • the importance of disclosure
  • the parameters of legal support staff communication – what is legal advice and what is not
  • tips for the prevention of breach
3:00pm–3:30pm
Trust accounting for support staff

Trust accounting is an essential part of the business of a law firm. This session will be presented in simple manner with practical examples of the following:

  • how to manage trust accounts and early identification of potential problems
  • consequences of mishandling trust accounts
  • the rules set out in the Legal Profession Act 2007 and their application to legal support staff
  • assistance and resources provided by the audit section of the Queensland Law Society
3:30pm–5:00pm
Closing plenary Confidentiality

It is vital to know what information construe confidential information which cannot be shared with third parties. This session will focus on lawyers’ ethics and how they apply to support staff.

  • confidentiality – importance of confidentiality in a law firm and the role of legal support staff
  • what can you do incorporate the duty of confidentiality in to your daily tasks?