Week 1, Post 1 (Monday, April 10 - Sunday, April 16)

Week 1, Post 1

First Impressions

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?

Lennox and Penney practice Real Estate, Estates, and Business and Corporate Law.  I have asked around and there is no mission statement that I can find.

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?

I was given a tour of the office when I came here in the summer to ask about the availability of a summer job. When I came back to get my forms signed I was given another tour. I was introduced to whoever was working at the time. There are several part-time workers here, so I didn't get to meet everyone then and I still haven't met everyone yet. I am working directly to Stephen Penney (Lawyer and Partner), and working with John Lennox (Lawyer and Partner), Carole Highmore (a Law Clerk), Diane (a Law Clerk & graduate from the Office Administration - Legal program) and Winnie (Receptionist and Accounts).

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?

Diane has been creating an ongoing office manual since she began working here in 2015. It is split into several volumes, and I am borrowing it from her volume by volume between things I'm working on. There many things in there which take the Office Administrator through, for instance, a purchase file or a sale file, and the different precedents and how Stephen likes them set up. Calibri 12 pt is standard in the office and justified margins. No one is fussy about how the letters are spaced out at all. I have my own standards though, and I am applying them.

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

I have been pleasantly surprised by the order and structure with which my time at Lennox and Penney has been structured ahead of time in order to give me the broadest experience while I'm there. In my past two days in placement, I have worked on material for every area of law the office deals with.

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

The office is very professional and the people are warm. The building they have their office in is beautiful. Some of the office equipment (such as the phones) are new, and other pieces are not so new. They use Office 2010 and WordPerfect. Also Teraview, Conveyancer, Fast Company and Estate-a-Base. Everyone is informal and on first-name basis when just employees in the office. The formalities are in place when in front of clients / potential clients.

Things done in placement to date:

Purchase & Sale & Appendix A from template for buyer
     -> Title search (parcel register, instruments, printing out deposit account charges for docket)
     -> Enter amounts from deposit account charges in Teraview into PCLaw
Opened two files using PCLaw
Meeting re closing list to review where files are and what needs doing
     -> Purchases in bold – requisition date important
Wrote receipt from scratch for certified cheque client bringing in in minutes
Photocopied two forms of ID for client file (driver’s license & credit card)
     -> Scanned signed Agreement of Purchase and Sale and email to buyer’s lawyer
     -> Took dictation for cover letter to vendor’s lawyer
     -> Mailed certified cheque and Agreement of Purchase and Sale by courier
Raised an initial letter for a commercial sale
Searched minute book list for company and pulled the minute books.
     -> Found missing and incomplete by-laws.
     -> Found extra company incorporated in BC.
     -> Preparing to transfer shares
Prepared to scan and destroy some files
     -> Referenced Law Society rules and prepared spreadsheet to catalogue all hard-copy files deleted. This helps to head off allegations of indiscriminate deletions (inc fields: - Client Name, Client Address, File No., Brief description of nature of matter, File closure date, File destruction date / delivery to the client, Name of lawyer authorizing destruction / delivery.
     -> Meeting with paralegal Lennox and Penney contracts work out to (Sheila). Made notes for Stephen and made notes for me to action tomorrow.
     -> Meeting with John and clients signing Wills and Powers of Attorney. I witnessed.
     -> The power went down while I was printing from Teranet!

New things learned in placement to date:

I learned how to email instruments etc directly from Teranet rather than printing them. This allows documents to be saved to .pdf files in client files to reuse rather than having to incur more costs by going to Teraview again each time when you want to view or send the documents again!

To be continued.................