For some reason, I am paying particular attention to light fixtures at work at the moment. I find they way they have paid sensitive attention to them bears out the 'unfinished' look they have gone for in the rooms, and it is a nice attention to detail.
Well, here we go. Week two, post two eh?
School-related reflection
What resources are you using at your placement?
For me, this question was answered in the answer to question 1 of the previous section, which made up my 'Week 1, Post 1'. I am using every resource they have, so far, as listed in my answer to that question I just referred to. I am even using CD burners to burn corporate details to CD that are too lengthy and use too many resources to print out as bound booklets for directors and shareholders. We are looking into changing that to USB sticks in future I believe.
Have you discovered resources on the Internet that were/are useful to you, other than those introduced in class? If so, please share the URLs.
I am not sure if we used this one in class, but http://www.canadianlawlist.com/ is one I have been using to check out the opposite party's lawyer. Apart from that there are some websites you can use in order to check marketable value in certain areas of Ontario, and also to check boundaries that I know are used at Lennox and Penney, but they require login details that I don't have yet so I cannot get into them. They use the Grand River Conservation Authority 'Map Your Property' site but I believe Mrs. Bradley introduced that to us briefly in class, so not a new one.
Review the list of responsibilities submitted by you before your placement. Indicate whether the list was accurate or whether you were exposed to different responsibilities or did fewer than were listed.
Reception and basic office admin, data input, PC Law (15%)
Real Estate file prep - Conveyancer, Teraview (30%)
Business file preparation - Fast Company (30%)
Wills/PoA prep. - Estate-a-Base (15%)
The above was what Stephen wrote on my form. He has made sure that I am exposed to all this and more. My duties have been varied and have gone somewhat deeper into these areas than he wrote, as you will be able to see by what I've been doing each week.
What do you consider two of your strengths? How are you using them to your advantage at this placement?
1) I am resourceful and make things work even when how I expect things to be does not turn out to be how things are! This helped me greatly when working on a laptop and finding that some of the annual resolutions I had to complete this week we were not done originally on Fast Company, nor were they to be done going forward on Fast Company!
2) I have a good sense of humour and enjoy getting to know colleagues on a 1-2-1 basis. This helped with the above!
What I did this week!
Reviewed with Diane:
Opening purchaser docket in Teraview, printing parcel, singling out which instruments to print, saving out, entering into Conveyancer, preparing documents from Conveyancer, entering docket summaries from Teraview into PCLaw, requesting a tax certificate & printing cheque from PC Law, arranging file, leaving for Stephen to sign.
John meeting with Carol:
Went through closing agenda for a corporate sale of assets
General file update
Emailed realtor with request for other party's solicitor's contact information
Rec email back with info and updated client folder
Emailed other party's solicitor regarding land boundaries and purchase by the City
Hectic closing! More runs to the bank to certify cheques, and then on to another bank to deposit them.
'Sale' file review (all precedents)
Reminder notice review w/Stephen, Diane, and Winnie
Burnt CDs of corporate documents for shareholders and directors
Meeting with Stephen, Diane & Winnie:
Winnie raises reminder notices for Stephen of all outstanding accounts
Raised pre-bills of unbilled time for Stephen, entered his fee for all, raised accounts (PC Law).
Billed for annual resolutions I raised and got same ready to mail off to client and accountants
Emma! I like that your firm seems to be going into an 'enviromentally friendly' direction with burning CD's ( I haven't done that since high school!). We usually try and do almost everything we can online and through sending documents to the other solicitor through conveyancer, which I like the reduced paper usage! Is burning CD's for your clients very time consuming? Or are you able to keep on with other work on the computer while it burns?
ReplyDeleteHope week three is amazing!!!!!
Hi Tara :)
DeleteThis was for a particularly large company structure change. For real estate transactions everything is done as paperlessly as possible between the parties - enough paper is used in the office printing out drafts and printing out for the client file single-sided amiright? =p
I found the computer I was working on got grumpy if I didn't keep the window I was using to burn open, so I did something that didn't require use of the computer while I was burning disks. It won't happen too often I don't think, but it was a bit of a reminder from yester-year!
It didn't take too long. I just worked it in between other jobs and did a bit at a time, or when I was waiting for the coffee-maker to do it's stuff :)
Emma!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the beautiful pictures of your office. Your pictures make my heart peaceful. I am glad to hear that your placement experience is amazing. I hope you enjoy your last week.
Oh Claire :) I do so love the way you use the English language. It makes my heart happy to hear from you. I can't wait to hear about how your placement has been since your supervisor went away on holiday. How are you doing over there?
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