The paralegal’s to-do list is endless (as is the to-do list of a solicitor or trainee). A frequently asked question is “what should I be working on?”. Not just for me, but for all my colleagues.

Scottish guy took me through a to-do method that he was taught on an “organisation training day” he attended with work last week and it looked something like what is pictured above. I have seen similar methods, involving the use of post its to prioritise but this was the first time I had tried it.

Basically there are 4 categories of to-dos:
- important/urgent
- not important/urgent
- important/not urgent
- not important/not urgent.

Ideally, you should always be working in the important/not urgent category.

How did I get on?

I tried this for the first time today – I kept on top of my inbox (most new emails and jobs went straight into the “important/not urgent” category) and dealt with all my “important/urgent” jobs and got through a lot of the “important/not urgent” ones. I was surprised at how much time I actually spend on not important jobs when I have important ones on my desk.

So far so good. Will review the method again in a week.

Want to give it a go? Here’s what to do:

1. Think of all the things you need to do over a two week period.
2. Write them down on post-its.
3. Stick them in the relevant categories. (This is the important bit.)
4. Start working on them. No more procrastination.
5. Delegate the not important/not urgent jobs.
6. Update and review – move the post-its around.

I told by boss my leaving date this week and put the rumours to rest. Clients naturally got told first, but news travels fast with only a matter of weeks to go and soon everyone knew. condolences and wishes of good luck come flooding in, the work floods in and dries up at the same time – it is a funny one.

Currently we don’t have a replacement (so if you are looking for a paralegal job?) so there is a bit of tension. I’m busy trying to finish up projects, write handover notes and a new version on the bible, while preparing myself for the new job.

A busy, yet exciting time and with my original training contract start date being back in 2010 – a welcome relief.

As I am responsible for Search flow in my current role I also get to remind everyone that search flow is now offering a new HS2 search as part of their services. The Report provided will provide more accurate information than a local authority search (which currently only reveal whether the property is within a 200metre radius). I have not yet had the opportunity to try this out. Anyone had any experience with this yet??

That’s all the boring personal stuff over and done with. Next step: countdown to the training contract.

Now personally I do not have the physical fitness to run a half marathon (or a 10K) although I have been challenged to do a 10K and the half marathon next year, a challenge I may take up as I refuse to allow people to tell me I can’t do something.

Surprisingly for an aspiring solicitor I am not competitive (or at least I don’t think I am). Some colleagues and friends are obviously competitive. Their competitiveness shines out of them. People run scared. You know the type. This can from time to time cause friction in the workplace, a slight unease, but overall, competitiveness is encouraged.

and it should be.

Competition between individuals, encourages more work. Competition between firms encourages a higher standard of work.

Being competitive forces us to do better and offer a better service. I also firmly believe in building relationships and working together towards the common good. The outcome: all these networking events and joint ventures that our firms put us through. Working together will get us farther than working apart.

Competitiveness in the work force is a large part of what drives our team forward. Clients often instruct two firms to keep us competitive. We compete on standard of work, meeting deadlines and costs. A classic example in my job: we have until close of business to send the report to the client, but can we see if we can get it out this morning?

The promise of more work certainly drives the average solicitor, even those of us who are not competitive – the result – a better service for the clients, a much more stressful day for the paralegal.

It has been a rather hectic last few months and I have found it difficult to allocate time to writing, blogging, and even tweeting (one of these days I will get a iphone and I will be unstoppable!!). Commuting time always used to be my writing time and I have grown to miss these two hours of relaxing time that were forced into my day.

Work has also been more busy, longer hours have been needed, and I have also been determined to get my networking and social life up to scratch – blogging unfortunately took a hit.

So, I am determined to fit in more regular pieces of writing starting … now!!

Another frequent question relates to revision and preparation for exams – there is a lot of material out there on “How to revise” I do not intend to go into this again here particularly as everyone studies in a different way. Instead I list the 5 “points” that I consider the most important and explain a little about how I approached my LPC exams. 

1. Be Prepared

The first rule is to be prepared – in reality you should be preparing for your exams from the word GO! Right at the beginning of the year. But if you missed that opportunity – there is nothing for it, but to get in some cramming. Just because you are cramming doesn’t mean that you cannot learn and use your time effectively. Prepare, plan and revise.

2. Have a plan (and/or a routine)

Your plan will depend on your personal situation. Considerations should include:

• “How much time do I have?” and “What do I need to learn?” Draw up a Revision Timetable. When studying my LPC I took the practical approach of 30 days to learn 30 Workshops.
• How do I learn? Through trial and error you should by the time you have finished your undergraduate degree, know how you learn best. There is no point in saying I will do loads of mind maps if you are simply procrastinating and you don’t actually learn from them (a mistake I made during my undergraduate degree). I am an individual who learns from writing, which prompted me to come up with the design your own textbook method of revision as it helped me revise and made answering questions a breeze in the open book exams. Of course if you are more of a typist than a writer a wiki is another alternative – but, while it does help you learn, the problem is you can’t take it into the exam.
• Continued Learning – there is a temptation to wait until all your classes are finished before you start revising. This is too late. You need to have a plan of how to deal with the ongoing classes parallel to getting in some revision. If you don’t already use something similar, my “teaching notes” method of note-taking was my solution to this problem.

3. Know when to change your plan

The unexpected will always happen. You need to know when your plan isn’t working, or at least KNOW when help is required and/or a change of plans is needed. The most common reason for students needing a change of plan is that they run out of time. The golden rule here is: simplify. Whatever your original plan was, make it easier, focus on the main points – 30 days… simplified action.

4. Know your weaknesses (aka Procrastination is evil) – avoid them!

With a plan all set out – it really is simply a matter of getting down to business. Get rid of all distractions, work in an environment that works well for you. Do not procrastinate. Everyone has an optimum study time – use your time well, take breaks when you feel your concentration is going – but be careful not to get sucked into doing other things. A break can be as simple as going to the bathroom and splashing some water on your face. You should also combine your breaks with getting some healthy food in you to keep your energy levels up and to help you to focus.

and finally…

5. Keep stress to a minimum

Stress is not productive. Do not panic and do not stress – keep your focus. Try to enjoy your revision it will seem like less of a chore. And most importantly  - sleep well!!

Last week I went to see a Shakespeare play at a local theatre (corporate perk) – as regular readers will know I lip read, and was quite nervous about tackling a play I wasn’t that knowledgeable about. But we were in the second row, and for the majority of the time I didn’t have a problem following the play (although the sheer concentration that had to be put into listening to some of the monologues was exhausting especially after a full day of work).

Afterwards, people asked how I got on (there are a few colleagues that understand how my hearing works) and I said it was manageable. Others colleagues, didn’t realise that I lip read ALOT and were surprised saying that I cope really well at work and in meetings.

Alarm bells should have started ringing at that point. It is sod’s law that as soon as someone says that my hearing starts playing up. Today was a perfect example of that.

Horseshoe style meeting (and I was late due to having an earlier meeting with a Partner which overran so I didn’t get a prime spot). I had missed the first 10 minutes so it was hard to “catch up” anyway and it was a discussion round the table rather than having “one speaker” – but there is nothing I hate more than when someone goes “Travis can deal with that!” and I don’t even hear my name (let alone the rest of the conversation) and everyone turns to look at me. This happened today.

There are moments when I can say that I didn’t hear something, this was not one of them. So I agreed that I could handle whatever was being said (simply on the basis that I handle most things anyway). Luckily, it was something I already did and was not really any extra work – but it opens up the question, busy full on meeting with discussion coming all directions, when is it appropriate to ask for a repeat of what was said, without disturbing the flow of the meeting (particularly if it was more than one item missed rather than just like one sentence).

Something to ponder.

One of my justifications for the move (in my attempt to convince my parents that the move wasn’t just a whimsical idea) was that I would be looking for a job in the South – so doing my LPC in the North only to move once it was completed was not going to help me as all the networking events and careers advice would be aimed at the local northern firms.

For those of you at the stage where you are considering where to do the LPC this is an important consideration if you haven’t already got a training contract.

When I was justifying my move to my parents some of my arguments were just empty words (I just needed the argument to sound good). Some of my arguments did not end up being true and at the time I was still critical of the career advice provided. Nevertheless I did stay on my provider’s job mailing list after graduation and every once in a while a few “exclusive” gems get circulated by email (both for training contracts and paralegal/legal support jobs).

This week I got another job email – 9 exclusive legal advisor positions for LPC Graduates with a starting salary higher than what I earn now. Although I am not looking for a job at the moment both emails like this and the fact that I now share the same LPC provider with nearly all my interviewers (and colleagues) – I know the choice was the right one professionally.

I have blogged previously about:

1. using paper in the form of a progress journal;
2. using Gmail to keep track of job applications;
3. using an iPhone app (My Job App)

The first two require the individual to be naturally organised to help them maintain their progress and keep it up to date. The third option the iPhone app, it much more suited for those who aren’t naturally organised given the prompts for information which help you remember what information you should note down.  But it still requires you to use the app and check it.

Another alternative is a web app/website known as Apply Mate – it is designed for the single purpose of helping you maintain a job application list and follow up through the use of email reminders. Law Graduates tend to juggle a lot of applications (and with some recruiters taking months to get back to you about an interview) it helps you keep on top of everything.

Sign up is straight-forward, just put in your email address and a couple of facts about yourself. It is a quick sign up and you can get started straightaway. No need to verify your email address.

Click add application to get started. The application can be given a name (this is what it is shown as on your list view of applications) – additional details to be entered include status (not started, in progress, submitted, accepted, rejected, completed), company and position details. The key things to enter are of course the deadlines and interview dates. You can check a box if you want an email reminder (together with setting the date you want the reminder to be sent). A very handy tool if you are prone to forgetfulness (or work off reminders). As well as reminders you can also sync with your calendar service.

Another nifty little function is it has a space for you to enter in the website, username and password – very handy for online applications and keeping track of what you use for your username and password (something else that is often forgotten) – just remember not to use the same password for everything.Or if you are not comfortable putting in your password – you could put in a prompt.

“My dashboard” function shows you your applications (and goals) in order of upcoming deadlines. “View all applications” shows you all your ongoing applications and allow you to click on a link (to the website) and displays your password without viewing the detail of the application if you don’t want to. See below which I set up by way of example.

The view goals tab probably has less of a use for most users – it allows you to create goals for you applications. Again, I made up another mock up by way of example which is what I would personally use it for (even though I’m not currently making TC applications).

My goal here is to do 10 training contract applications before X date (first line) here I’ve done 2 out of 10 in my mock up (which are listed below) – the names of course can be different. If you want an application to be added/linked to a goal you simply check the tick box when you add the application. It is really straight-forward but this is probably a less useful function for the majority of users.

Conclusion?

Great web app if you live by reminders. But for the more naturally organised it might seem like overkill and a tad restrictive. Also as it is a unitasker it might not suit everyone’s needs (where as methods like Gmail and utilising your calendar are using tools you use anyway (and consequently less of an effort)). It is very much like revision – sometimes the same method works great for some people and terrible for others – this web app will fit some people’s style perfectly.

Give it a try.