Week 1, Post 2 (Monday, April 10 - Sunday, April 16)

Week 1, Post 2

The office environment

What are your work hours; how are you supervised?

My work hours are 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  I am not supervised as such.  I am lucky enough to be reporting directly to Stephen (one of the lawyers at the firm) who is always there should I need to ask questions (as are Diane and Carol) but never makes me feel watched. It feels very balanced.

Describe your work area.

My work area is a 'movable feast'. There are a number of people who work different hours. I occupy their desks on the days they are away. There is a space issue at the office as it is small. We are getting through it though!

So on Mondays and Fridays I sit at Carol's desk. She mainly deals with real estate, so I explore her computer - where she stores things, what her task lists look like in her Outlook etc. She uses the Outlook task list to keep a running tally of where she is on any one file so when she goes in to catch up with the lawyer she can describe exactly what stage the file is at. I also look at how she stores files she is currently working on. The senior partner at the firm likes each of his staff to own their own files, so the files are stored in their offices mainly.

During the week the lady who works downstairs solely on wills (Maureen) is away at the moment, so I take her desk.

Describe your daily routine.

I go into the office, say hi to Winny on reception, dump my bag and start up the computer. While it's booting I make sure there is coffee running through the coffee percolator and catch up with whoever else is propping up the kitchen sink on personal life and work files. Stephen will pop in and check to see whether I'm still occupied with the last lot of work he gave me or I need some different things to do, and checks at the same time to see whether I have any questions. After a few hours we will catch up again, and perhaps I will sit down with Diane and have a tutorial on how they enter the accounts into PCLaw for example. So I'm learning by doing, covering every area of law they offer, and also being taught further on the programs I learned at school.

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.

Stephen has dictated letters and emails to me while I'm not at the computer. From my experience throughout my life working in an office, proper shorthand like Teeline would have been very useful to have as a skill. If all I have is a notepad (and Carol knows shorthand and the lawyers are used to that) it is hard to write notes fast enough that they don't have to wait and I actually capture the meaning of what they dictated in a way that I know what it means when I come to typing it!

Otherwise, Stephen has left me to type my own emails and letters, just making changes he would like when I present him with a printed draft (for letters).

Have you done anything this week you particularly enjoyed or did not enjoy.

I have really enjoyed when using Teraview has worked well and I can pull the monies incurred on a docket by searching parcel registers and instruments and input them into PCLaw. Powercuts when using Teraview I can take or leave!

Do you check voicemail?  Do you record your own voicemail greeting?  Do you answer the telephone?

I don't check voicemail. Nor do I record my own voicemail greeting. I do, however, answer the telephone at reception if it is ringing and no one is there at the time to answer it. I also initiate my own calls.

School-related reflection

In some courses, in place of exams, you have had quizzes, tests and portfolios. These were often completed outside of class, allowing you the opportunity to review your textbook and other resources.  Upon submission, you received instant feedback.  Would you have preferred an exam instead of the smaller, more frequent tests/quizzes/portfolio?  Did the quizzes/tests/ portfolios assist you in learning the theory?  Explain your answer.

The quizzes and tests we have had via eConestoga I have found very useful as they were easier to revise for than larger tests/exams and we got our mark instantly after submitting.

The portfolio I struggled with. It was useful with the ones for Mrs. Bradley that she would allow us to submit the work and, after having our work corrected, would allow us to then submit corrected work for a better mark. I found it very hard in Heather's class for Family Law as she wouldn't allow us to do that and we simply received the mark we received for our initial hand-in. The portfolios were incredibly hard work, and very stressful when compiled alongside more classwork. The homework was so intensive during that semester with having to complete homework at school because of the software licenses being limited that I found it compounded the stress. I am looking forward to using the portfolios at work should I have the opportunity, but as it turns out at the moment I won't be working in those areas of law. So, in short, I would have preferred a final exam rather than the portfolios.

Was it helpful to have answer keys on the bulletin board?

I did find it useful to have answer keys on the bulletin board. I would have found it more useful to have been shown exactly how to do things in Civil Litigation and Real Estate specifically before we had to find our way through alone after a simple lecture.

Things done in placement (cont).:

Took signed wills and Powers of Attorney to Carol to be commissioned and stamped. Scanned them and enveloped them for pickup.

Wrote to the accountant as we are behind with resolutions for two companies and need to know if he has anything later from them than March 2015.

Printed out a parcel register twice by mistake. :(

Spent a good deal of time with Carol going over how she organizes her office her files (both electronic and physical) and her processes.

Had a PCLaw tutorial on how to process cheques for a closing of a sale, and then took cheques to bank to both deposit and fees and disbursements and to certify mortgage payment cheque and sale payment cheque.

Had a pot-luck office lunch in the meeting room. :)

Called realtor to try to find out opposing solicitor's details (3.30pm) but they had gone home. (!)

Chased an old real estate case and updated the task list.