Week 3, Post 2

School-Related Reflection

Discuss how, through this program, you changed from Year 1 students to a pre-professional. What specific elements in the program helped to develop you as an emerging legal assistant? You may wish to relate your new sense of professionalism to, for example, research you have done - explain how 'real' you think your classroom/lab experiences have been; why it is that you have come to feel more mature in your attitudes/thought processes/people skills. These are only examples of what you may wish to discuss. You may choose your own topics but please be specific - who, why, what, when!

I could start off by saying that the work load was double in year two compared to year one. When I sat in the open labs a few times I heard students complaining about how much stuff they had to, and I was just thinking in my head “just you wait and see girl, this is nothing compared to what will come”. It is nice though for the students that are coming new into this program that they are getting a revised program outline allowing the courses to be spread out more.

I believe the classroom setting was about 50-60% ‘real’ in real estate. I can’t say how ‘real’ it was on other aspects of law because I didn’t cover much of anything else other than real estate. The documents we prepared and the formatting and the concepts are all there in all the courses, but the time line in which we did everything was off, and of course that is understandable because we don’t have the time to do one file at a time for about 4/5 months and family cases which can take years. I wished that the scenario’s in class was made to be more real because I find that I don’t understand the time line too well for real estate transactions.

I believe just the other all learning aspect of what the documents are and how they are formatted and what they all do have helped me as an emerging legal assistant. I understand that all filed need forms like consents, undertakings, statutory declarations, account, trust reconciliation statements, statement of adjustments, and many more documents. To be completely honest until I started this course I never knew that you needed a lawyer to be able to sell or purchase a home. I now know that they have a very important role, and the legal assistant is there to help the lawyer ensure the transaction runs as smooth as possible.

Learning in the past three weeks how to clearly communicate with clients has played a huge factor in my every day duties. Learning to answer phone calls correctly, speaking clearly, telling the person you are going to put them on hold, just over all being polite and putting the clients feelings first is just something I learned to be very important. I believe I've become more comfortable with talking to strangers because of these past three weeks.

Were there benefits to blogging or would you prefer to submit a private written report at the end of the three weeks? Explain.

I believe there were benefits to blogging. It help separate the amount of work that was needed to be completed in this course in the three weeks that we were at placement. I’ve also preferred more of something smaller then something big at the very end that is worth more, that way I can learn from my mistakes if needed. Blogging has also helped me stay in touch with my classmates. I see how everyone is doing and what they like/dislike about their placement. I’ve also realized how we all have learned the same thing and yet were all slightly differing from one another because no two firms are identical.

How prepared were you for work placement following completion of the program?

I believe I was fairly prepared for placement. I knew what I was doing 80% of the time. Although I needed to learn the procedure of everything I was able to catch on. We were given the theory and the practical in our course so I knew the definitions of terms used around the office and the documents that what certain documents looked like and what were their purpose in the files.

Have you chosen the career path that's right for you? Explain why or why not.

I believe about 75% that I have choose the right career path. I know that I am still in the learning process and with time things will get easier as I become familiar. I am happy that I have until June 1^st to see if this is really what I would like to be doing in life and if not to find out what I would like to be doing instead.

Have your developed your own 'standard of excellence?' Describe what you expect of yourself with respect to your approach to a work assignment/ formatting documents/etc. Describe some of the standards you have developed over our two years of study.

I believe I have developed some kind of standard of excellence. I know that procrastination is not the key to success. I was never in a situation where I didn’t hand in something but I did have some pretty long nights my second year. I found it helpful with miny quizzes because the material was also fresh in my memory.

When it came to assignments and formatting documents I always made sure that I was giving it my all, 110% effort all the time. Even in these past three weeks I’ve learned how my lawyer liked his documents formatted and made sure to format them according to his liking.

Over the years I’ve guess I could say that I ensured to always do my best and ask questions when I didn’t know. I would ask my classmates first because I learned that if I didn’t understand something then their probably is at least one other person in the class who didn’t understand either and you can solve the problem out together.

I would just like to end off my last blog by thanking every single one of you in the class who has ever helped me with anything, whether it was school related or not. Thank you all for your kindness and for the past two years. It was a pleasure getting to know you all, and a very warm thank you to you Ms. Bradley for never giving up on me. I hope everyone had a wonderful time at their placement and a huge Congratulations to everyone who was offered a job!

Now we can say “WE MADE IT”. See you all at Convocation June 6^th.

Week 3 Post 1

Wow! Time has flown by! I can't believe the third week is already done. I was not formally given a job because Mr. Teixeira's usual hiring day is June 1st but he did tell me to search around and see if a bigger law firm may be something I am interested in, because he would not want me to always wonder how it would be working somewhere else. He did inform me that if I did not find anything until then, or even the last week on May, when the other assistant is gone on vacation, that he is more than happy to have me come work for him. I am happy with how my three weeks turned out at Teixeira Law Office and I hope everyone else is going well too.

Give examples of oral and written communication used in your work placement. Did you draft your own communications? Are you using 'clean formatting'? Are you using Outlook. If so, what features are you using?

All the forms we prepare in Convencyer are already written up. We just delete I am currently not using Outlook at my desk because the email assigned with that computer was having some issues. I have a calendar for the week pinned up so I can see the meetings Mr. Teixeira has but when clients call in to make an appointment I transfer them to the legal assistant so she can schedule the appointment.

Provide an example of a problem you encountered and describe how you solved it.

Are you using a To-Do List/notebook to prioritize you work to meet deadlines.
I have a note book where I write down what I have to do, but because there is only one other assistant in the office, most of the time I do one thing at a time and when I've completed it I see what else needs to be done. That is excluding the typical office duties like telephone calls, clients, letters that she may ask me to package and send out with the Purolator.

What is one of your weaknesses? How did you overcome this in your work placement?

I feel that while I was working I depended a lot on the other legal assistant. I know during my exit interview she said I should have more confidence in what I do. I feel like I still need to strive a bit more to overcome this weakness and I am sure that if I were to have a more one on one training basis about everything then I would be more confident in what I do and I wouldn't have to ask too many questions about the slightest things.

Provide recommendations for refinements to the curriculum (i.e. are there specific elements we should spend more time on to better prepare you for your work place). What is right about the curriculum? What needs to be improved upon? Which courses did you prefer - explain why. Which courses did you not prefer - explain why.

I believe that there is just so much to learn in Real Estate that more elements within the course should be covered. Topics like new builds or condominium's would be good topics to study.

I preferred Corporate Law above all the other courses just because I was always more business oriented since high school. I didn't mind Real Estate, but I did find it very stressful. Doing my placement in a firm that mainly focuses on Real Estate also confirmed to be that theory. Requisition dates are extremely important, days of closing are stressful an hectic because you need to be funded in order to give title to clients, and it's even more stressful when there are multiple closings on a day (just like today, my last day, we had 5 closings).

Family Law and Litigation were the two courses I preferred the least. In litigation I found that their was too many date deadlines. In family I found that the forms were quite complicated to fill out, especially if you did not have a lawyer acting on your behalf. Also I am an emotional person, I do not have the personality to be able to separate work from feelings to the extent that is needed for some of the matters.

How will you continue to learn and develop professionally as a legal assistant?

I plan on just learning more through my experience of working more. Nobody can just sit around all day and expect to know to do something without every trying it for them self. Whether it will be at Teixeira Law Office in June or another law firm I hope I continue to learn and expand on the skills and knowledge I was taught.

Week 2 Post 2

Are you feeling more comfortable? Why or why not?

Yes!! 100 times yes! At the beginning I was scared of the telephone. Even though I have done some work in an office environment before the telephone always scared me. Now I pick it up all the time. I try my best to help the client out if I can, but if not I transfer the call over to Crystal, the other legal assistant.

Is there any subject matter you wish we had covered in class? Explain. How are you managing to become more knowledgeable about this subject.

In regards to Real Estate I am satisfied with what we learned in class. What we learned in class is what I have been doing. I haven't yet come across anything totally new in Convencyer that I wasn't familiar with.

I know that I won't be doing a lot of Wills and Estates but if I were to wish anything, it would be to have used Will builder more then once during the school year. With there only being one assistant I can't do much without her explaining to me all there is to do in Will Builder. It's easier for the lawyer to just focus on creating the Wills and POA's himself.

Are you drawing on skills learned in interpersonal communications, office procedures, math, bookkeeping or legal classes?

In interpersonal communication we learned a lot of theory so I can't say I am pulling much from that class. However we did learn how important it is to be able to communicate effectively. I see how important it is to stay calm, and have patience while listening and dealing with clients.

Office procedures seems like such a long time ago, I'm not going to lie. If it's something that I've learned then that is helping me know, it is tables! I have created a nice new precedent that we can follow when closing files in order to ensure all the necessary documents are in the file.

I found Math very easy but the most math we are doing is adding up taxes or per diem. I use the calculator in my tool bar if I need to calculate something but overall Convencyer does a good job at dragging over numbers from tab to tab and having the trust reconciliation statement add up.

Same with accounting, the most accounting I do is make sure the statement of adjustments balances along with the trust reconciliation statement.

Have you had an opportunity to interact with clients? How? Was this easy or difficult? Explain.

Clients are coming in and out of the office all day because of the man who has his business in Mr. Teixeira's Office. Although, it's just hi and bye with those clients and telling them where Rafael's office is, I'm constantly communicating with strangers. Some others I've interacted with have been the mail man or puralotor man who asks me to sign off on packages.

I've also interacted with clients who have come in for a meeting with Mr. Teixeira. I have given them client identification forms and taken two pieces of ID (one with a picture) from each client to scan and give to Mr. Teixeira before he meets with them. So far it's been it's been easy and people have been kind. Although a few times I've seen people complain that I ask them to fill out another client identification form and ask for ID when they have already filled one out, but it's just a protocol that is required.

On Thursday clients came in to close their file and after picking up their filled in verification of identity form they asked me if I was Crystal. I told them I wasn't and I am just at the firm on a placement position. They told me they thought I was her because it looked like I knew what I was doing. It made me smile and my confidence grew a little because I knew at that point that I had learned a lot and I really was comfortable and was able to do the responsibilities I was given.

School-Related Reflection

What resources are you using at your placement?

At my placement I am using the software I previously mentioned along with the internet when needed. I also have a note book where I keep my notes and phone numbers of bank and law firms that are need to frequently be called.

Have you discovered resources on the Internet that were/are useful to you, other than those introduced in class? If so, please share URLs.

I have used AMO to search for municipalities of townships and cities. Other then that I'm not on the internet at all, unless I'm sending out a package from our firm and we use Puralator.

Review the list of responsibilities submitted by you before your placement. Indicate whether the list was accurate of whether you were exposed to different responsibilities or did fewer than were listed.

The listed I submitted before started is accurate to what I have been doing up until this point. I've probably used Will Builder and created Wills/POA's less then I was told I was going to work on them, but that is just because it's easier for the lawyer to work on those files instead of explain all the details to Crystal or myself.

What do you consider two of your strengths? How are you using them to your advantage at this placement.

I believe one of my strengths would be organization. I haven't yet miss placed anything that belonged in a certain file. I have learned that its easy to work on one thing at a time and if something comes up and I have to change my direction and do something else because of priority reasons, I just clean up my work area and put the file/work I was working on aside and go back to it later. The filing cabinets behind my chair, under the printer have become my best friend. All the files are in their that have been opened and are ready to get closed based on the closing date. When I come in the office I open up Convencyer and the file cabinet and check on what is closing the soonest and make sure the file is already to go in time.

My second strength I would have to say is that I am responsible and hardworking. I get to work always on time and always put in 110% effort in all the duties I'm given. Sometimes I even work through my lunch hour break just to be able to do more work and help take things off Crystal's and Mr. Teixeira's plate. ( I still eat though, I multi task :) ). Once I'm done one job I always ask see what else I can do.

Week 2 Post 1

Describe the software and versions, tools, and equipment used in the office.

We use Office 2010, Convencyer and Will builder in our office. It is also very nice because Teraview automatically connects with our Convencyer software. The usual day to day equipment found in an office are also found in my office. We have printers, fax machine, scanner, hole punches, staplers, and computers from what I can think of at the top of my head.

Are you using/will you use any of the legal software learned in your program? Explain. If you are using new software, was  it easy/difficult to adapt to. Why?

I am using Convencyer like 90% of the time since I have started at my placement. One day this week I opened up files for new clients in Will Builder who are creating Wills and POA's.

Describe some of the documents you have been preparing. Do not use client names.

I have been putting together purchase and sale files in Real Estate in order to have the file prepared on the day of closing. I have had to created/printed out VOI forms, direction re titles, acknowledgment and directions - transfer/charge, direction for funds, accounts, statement of adjustments, trust reconciliations, letters to send our to other solicitors asking for discharges, fax cover pages, letters to insurance companies, authorization for withdrawal, statutory declaration, etc. Basically all the documents that are needed to close the file, just like we produced in our real estate class for our file on Trigiani.

Do you have any accounting responsibilities? Explain what they are.

I currently do not have any accounting responsibilities. The closest I've got to money so far is going to the bank one day since I've started placement. Because days of closing are very stressful and we usually get funded towards the end of the day the other assistant takes care of all the banking.

Have you been assigned a specific project? Explain your role.

I am not sure if this counts as a specific project, but I have been given purchase/sale files, and I needed to ensure all the necessary documents were in the file in order to have the clients sign everything prior to their day of closing. I was given a checklist and I highlighted and crossed off documents I that were done as I got closer to completing the file.

Week 1 Post 2

Office Environment

What are your work hours; how are you supervised?
My work hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. - 5.p.m. with one hour of lunch from 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.. During the lunch hour the office is closed and we all go out to eat or order in food. I am supervised by the other other legal assistant in the law firm. When the lawyer is in the office he checks up on me to make sure I understand what I am doing and if I have any questions.

Describe our work area.
I was given the reception desk at the entrance of the office. I have my own printers, scanner, fax, sticky notes, pens, pencils, paper clips, automatic stapler, hole punch, cutting board, computer with keyboard and wireless mouse. Figure 1 & 2 is my work area.

Describe your daily routine.
I don't have necessarily a daily routine other then arriving at the office always 5 minutes before 9 and I check the calendar to see what appointments Mr. Teixeira has that day and I check the brown drawer under the printer/fax machine to see what files are coming up to close. They are arranged based on closing date, which makes it easy to find which files need to be worked on and finished up. Once the legal assistant has arrived and has settled in, she tells me what we will be doing that day. This first week I did a lot of opening/ closing files, sending out faxes to firms to receive discharges on charges and answering the telephone. I did open over 10 new client files, so I am excited for these next two weeks because I will be able to work on those from beginning to finish, and help the legal assistant finish up the files that are ready for closing.

How is work initiated? Is it dictated, written out in longhand, sent to you by email or do you write your own correspondence, emails, etc.?

The legal assistant dictates to me what I have to do, and so far this week it's been straightforward easy work. We did one thing at a time too. There were over 30 files that needed to be closed and I closed them all, labelled them and placed them in the blue boxes as see in Figure 1.

Have you done anything this week you particularly enjoyed or did not enjoy?
I enjoyed closing files because I found it very straight forward. It consisted of making sure that all the necessary corresponding documents were in the file whether it was a sale, purchase or refinance. I had to make sure all paper clips were removed and everything was stapled. After that I assigned a file closing number [ex.17-41-003] (year)-(box number)-(#)]. The numbers consisted usually from 001-015 depending on how many files are able to fit in a box. It was easy and straight forward! I loved it because after finishing over two boxes the office seemed a little less cluttered and I felt I really was able to do something that helped the legal assistant have less on her plate.

School-related Reflection

Personally I would not have preferred an exam over the tests/quizzes/portfolios. Creating the portfolios has created great precedents to bring along to work with me. The quizzes were great because it kept all the material fresh in my mind. The weekly quizzes in Corporate law were also very helpful instead of a mid-term because that course was very theory based. It was also helpful once the quizzes were done that they showed you the correct answers in order to learn from the mistakes.

I found the answer keys on the bulletin board also very helpful. It is easy to just get instructions but it's hard sometimes to put all the information your given all together. Seeing precedents of other students work helped me see where I should start, or where I went wrong or what I needed to change.


                   FIGURE 1                                                FIGURE 2
  

Week 1 Post 1

First Impressions

It’s been a little over half a week of working and I got to say I love it. I thought the hours of 9-5 would be hard to get used to but I enjoy them. The legal assistant has kept me quite busy even with the software and WiFi acting up a lot because of construction going on in the area which makes the day go by so quickly.

What areas of law are practiced in the law firm you are working at? Do they have a mission statement? If so, what is it?

Family Law, Wills and Estates and Real Estate are all practiced at the firm. With this busy season the lawyer, Mr. Teixeira isn’t taking new clients unless they are related to Real Estate transactions because he never passed up on those offers. He takes on more family law relate cases towards the fall months.

Provide details of the orientation you have received. How were you introduced to other staff members? Are you working with one or many staff members? Are you writing instructions in a designated notebook?

With the law firm being so tiny, introductions went very quick. Aside from myself, there is only four others working in the law firm, and two of those people have offices in the law firm but they don’t do work for the lawyer, one being his dad (Armenio), and the other being an old friend of Mr. Teixeira who just needed a desk to be able to work at (Rafael). He does things like income tax, deals with immigration papers and much more. I work under the legal assistant, Crystal Laurie, who was a former graduate from this program, and we both work for the lawyer. Crystal gives me instructions on what to do and how to do it. Her instructions are straight forward and we do one thing at a time, so I don’t necessarily write down what I am supposed to do. Although, I do write down in a notebook notes/steps about file opening/closing, printing, scanning, faxing, discharges, mailing, and I will continue to expand my notes based on what I learn, in order to remember the little details.

Were you provided with a manual of office procedures? If so, what type of information was in it? Is there a particular way to format documents? If not, how will you keep track of all the details of the job?

I was not provided with a manual of the office procedures. I do have a notebook that I keep with notes the legal assistant has told me. The pages so far I have filled in consist of steps on how to fax out letters to companies, how to scan ID’s on real estate transitions, what to look for in a file when closing in, and the proper way to label closing files. Also, I have notes on what to do when I receive discharge statements and how to open files in Convencyer.

When formatting letters, it was easy and straight forward. When Convencyer produces a document the lawyer would just like me to remove one enter before the date, add and enter after the re line and remove the space before the legal assistant’s initials beside the lawyer’s initials in the signature line.

Has anything surprised you about the office or what you are doing?

I’m not sure if it’s just the first week and I’m not given too much responsibility, but I am not stressed at all, as I assumed I would have been before starting. During my former placement the phone rang, but not too much. Today alone I counted 32 phone calls, which I was responsible for answering and transferring it to who it needed to be transferred to or answer the questions/concerns the callers were dealing with. People are always calling, so it surprises me how the legal assistant is able to get work done when people are always calling. People were also very nice and understanding when I told them that I am new and I’m able to transfer them to someone who was able to help them.

Provide details of your observations of the office environment and the things that made an impression on you [positive or negative].

I don’t believe I have any negative observations. It’s a small, friendly, cozy office with very few stairs that lead to a second level (which I am thankful for as I do go up and down many times a day, and it can get pretty tiring). Everyone in the office speak Portuguese, other than myself, so along from learning legal related work, I’m also learning Portuguese.

Real Estate is a very busy field, people are always calling in about their purchase, sale or refinance. Day’s of closing are very stressful because the money needs to be deposited in the bank before the end of the day and the proper correspondence sent out before the transaction can be complete. My first day working it was a client’s day of closing. Crystal and I took a trip to three banks that day, we went to TD to get certified cheques and then went to deposit the cheques at RBR and CIBC. That took about an hour and we got back at the office just in time to finish the transaction on the purchase file. I was informed that next week, I’ll be taking a trip to the bank to do exactly that for another clients purchase transaction.

Officially accepted a placement

A little change in plans. After a discussion with Ms. Bradley on Thursday, March 30, 2017 about the placement at Skyline we decided I should go for one more interview before I finalize my decision at Skyline.

Friday morning (March 31st)  I interviewed with Crystal and Mr. Teixeira at Teixeira Law Office in Cambridge. They were both very friendly. I didn't go into the interview feeling worried. I knew that if this was the place for me it would be mine, and everything would fall into place. Whether with this placement or the one at Skyline. I left the interview feeling happy and confident. The assistant got back to me after an hour and  offering me the placement position, which I have accepted.

It may be a small law firm, but the people their have huge hearts. My giggly, fun personality will fit just right in with the others. The law firm covers wills and estates, real estate and family law. I'm excited to start working at this law firm, more excited now then I was with my other officer. I also  look forward on expanding the skills and knowledge I've gained these past two years during my placement.

They are also looking to hire, so depending on my performance I may be looking at a full time job after. So that motivates me to give it my all, 100% and more.