Week 3 Post 2

This is my last post. It's the end of school and the beginning of something new. Who knows what adventures will come my way, school was definitely an adventure that sometimes got tough but I struggled through it. The last day of my placement was great I brought in Timbits to say thank you it was supposed to be something else that turned into a disaster that I wanted to throw at the wall.  So now to answer the rest of the questions.

Recommendations for the curriculum is to split a few of the courses up especially litigation and family law because that is a lot to do and take in for one semester especially having two portfolios due. I found out transcription is actually important to do, though really wasn't my favourite they seem to do a lot of that at the office I was at. Plus legal grammar is slightly different than normal people grammar. All the courses for law are needed though.
Document processing should be changed for legal students because we format differently and that got kind of confusing.

There were a few courses that I felt were not needed because they has nothing to do with what we were learning.
Ethics though it did have some kind of interesting things it is kind of out dated and I personally have my own form of Ethics that probably don't make much sense to people.
Career Planning is something you would take before you go to college and really isn't tailored for legal administration students. We end up having to change everything in our resumes anyways.
Interpersonal Communication should be optional or an elective by time a person reaches college especially if you're older you kind of know how to deal with people.
They need to fix the keyboarding like if you're able to pass with 55 words on four to six tests in the second semester you shouldn't have to take it for the rest it would relieve a lot of pressure because I found it was more my nerves than my typing with keyboarding.

My favourite course was Presentation Software because you got to be creative and probably my electives for the same reason.
If there was a way to change the curriculum I would say put the electives first year because there seemed to be a lot less work in that semester it kind of tricks you.

Also one suggestion is it would be nice if the labs that had vmware always worked because there wasn't always a lot of computers available and it was difficult when computers were unavailable. It was really nice at the end of the semester when the one lab was available because no one was using it.

To keep developing professionally, I will learn as I go. This is how I learn best.

I'm not sure much has changed with me from first year to second year. I've learned a lot, but I've also learned I am unsure I like being totally professional sometimes I just want to be me. I know I need to find a place that can accept that. Though this I have learned through many years of working also, me and rigid standards don't get along so well, I end up in a strange place that seems cut off from myself. I have to find a place that is a balance. I guess one thing that might have changed in my thoughts is money may not be the most important, it is important, but I rather work in an environment that is fun and accepting.

If I didn't have to blog it would be okay. I like reading about everyone else's experiences. I am just not fond of doing it myself. It goes against my no social media ideas. I understand the need to because how else would we see what other people are doing, but it's still not my thing.

I was as prepared for my placement as I could have been. It is a lot different from school, but it was great. The people I worked with were the most amazing patient warm people.

Well, is this career right for me? I have to say probably not, it doesn't quite fit my personality. It's too much perfection for me and not enough creativity, my mind wonders and I find myself daydreaming, especially when it's too quiet. There are other careers I can look at with the skills I have learned and I have learned a lot. I really think the right career for me would be to win the lottery! 😜 (There I go daydreaming again)

I'm not sure I have my own standard of excellence when preparing documents, there were some things I noticed I wanted to fix like too many spaces in between words bothered me a bit, but for the most part I find if a document looks good that is fine to me, I'm not particularly picky about margins or other things. I'm pickier than I was, but not so much that if it is off my an inch it would bother me unless you've done a program like this most people would not notice anyways.

Anyways that is all! I am done! I finished I am happy! This has been one crazy roller-coaster ride of an experience, and yes, I am proud of myself I finished something I never thought I would.
💙💜💙Hope all of you have an amazing life!💙💜💙

Week 3 Post 1

We're coming to an end, so much has been learned and so much fun. Today was great we all went out to lunch it was so much fun.

I don't really do many written communications, I don't have my own email and cannot use my own for security reasons everything is just orally told to me. There are so many precedents hidden everywhere I do not need to write my own, anything that needs to be changed are colour coded, formatting is slightly different, oddly am slightly more picky I found the show hide things on Word Pefect it helps a lot, though I leave most things alone, except for things I specifically have to change then I make sure there are not double spaces.

Other than my enemy the typewriter I have not encountered any problems, other than having to photocopy a million receipts instead of using a hundred pages of paper I placed as many as I could on the gnome machine (I asked first, sometimes I would do things without asking and it did not quite work out stapling things for example) Some lawyers like it done differently, I finally figured who likes what done.

I don't use a to-do list, I have a reminder of notes of what not to do and what to do I am given things stuff to do and if they need something done for the next day or in an hour I stop what I am doing and do that first.

My weakness is names, especially later in the day when they are so much alike, I actually have to write them out by hand sometimes and look over them again to make sure I have them right. My brain just gets bored of seeing names and sometimes the computer screen makes it a jumble so I actually have to look over it again on paper to make sure they are right and I have commas in the right places, sometimes I just wish commas would die. Not quite sure how that would work but I did draw a picture of it, made me laugh.

The rest of the questions have to wait for another day those involve different thought and are not so easy to answer.

Cheers

Week 2 Post 2

The skills I use most are from Wills and Estates and Word. The rest of the legal classes not really, but I am not dealing with those areas of law. Some of the other classes seemed useless and were just trying to make me waste time. 

I use all the precedents built in the database though most of it is in Word Perfect, I'm slowly getting better at it. 

No different resources if I need something it's usually there or I Google, Google is my friend.

The responsibilities are pretty much what I was expecting, not too much and not too little. It's just right. I really have to remember to stop stapling everything. 

I don't know, I hate these questions, about strengths.

I can learn from my mistakes. and I have a good sense of humour, I can usually make people laugh. It's my favourites strength.

Week 2 Post 1

It's official I have made an enemy at work.... The typewriter... How I loathe that thing!!!! Right now it does not have anything to fix mistakes, so I had to do something 3 times because getting the buttons to line up is a task, but I won, stupid thing didn't beat me. So that was my first problem, I had to slow down with the typing, that is how I fixed the issue.

I use Estate-a-Base, quite a bit, I had a training session today... I learned some neat tricks that I wish I had known in school. Estate-a-Base, has a ton of features that seem to be hidden. Now I would try to reply what they are, but honestly, it is something I have to actually be looking at to know.

I prepare so many Affidavits of Execution, I do some letters to the Minister of Finance, oh I love pre-drafted letters. I've done a reporting letter for a will but needed some help with that because I've never seen one if I have I don't remember. I can't remember what else I have done. There are some other things.

I have no accounting responsibilities.

I feel more or less comfortable, but it's totally been a hell of a weekend or week, so I feel as comfortable as possible.

Some of the equipment is strange to use, I wish there was half a class to teach us how to use some of it and how to troubleshoot, I'm trying to think of a word that to describe what I feel without swearing, hmmmm..... I know annoying issues. My way of saying it would have made more sense.

I only called a client once and it went well.

Hope everyone is doing well!!!!

Week 1 Post 2

So what else to explain.... I learned to find source code on word perfect which helps because some of the precedents' numbers are slightly messed up, meaning they are very tiny, it actually help with formatting a bit, I had a formatting war with a document today, it won the first time... Wordperfect only lets you undo so much, so I had to redo it the second time I won.

I have been doing tons of affidavits of execution, powers of attorney, and three other things I forget the names of.

I forgot to say I have my own office, for now, I call it my hole, I am there just until the new lawyer or articling student comes in not sure which one.

I am learning the gnome machine, I like the new one better than the other for scanning wills, the new machine is more sensitive so it's easier to type in the information.

The way my day goes I am given stuff she writes what she wants to be done or tells me or both, and I go through it at first I avoided the things that made me nervous, now I just get them over with, oh gnome machine how I love you, it staples and does all, it makes my life easy.

The one girl and I are still trying to figure out how to enter information about an estate into Estate-a-Base, a lot of the times banks suck at giving you the information you need to enter the information you need into it, the interests rates were missing, and a bunch of other important things.They will not be available until Tuesday.

I've only had to make one phone call, she was polite, and said something about me making her day because I said have a great day or something, the joys of sounding like a kid on the phone.

Lastly, hmmmm, the school aspect of it all, I am had a hard time deciding what exactly to say with this part because honestly I am not a school type person, so whatever I say is simply from my point of view. The quizzes were fine they were straight forward. I didn't like the portfolios maybe if they were done differently it would have been ok.

Week 1 Post 1

My first three days have been pretty cool, other than the first initial nervousness, and getting into normal people sleeping habits. I really miss my naps.

Everyone at Dueck, Sauer, Jutzi & Noll are really friendly and helpful. The office manager wasn't there yet when I arrived, so I met the person training me she showed me around a bit we talked. Their break room is awesome it has almost anything you could want to drink. Then the office manager came in she showed me around again and introduced me to everyone, I'm still trying to learn everybody's name, they all use first names, even their emails are first names. The law firm is smallish, it has 17 support staff and 7 lawyers.The one lawyer is hilarious, we talked about the gnomes in the machine that does everything. The areas of law the practice are family law, litigation, corporate, real estates, alternative disputes, though I am not really sure what that is I'll ask when I'm less busy, and wills and estates which I am doing. The person training me is awesome, she knows everything.

The office is set out in different sections depending on what area of law you work in, it's kind of like a law warehouse though less warehousey, but that is the best way I can describe it.

The programs they use that I know of so far are Estate-a-Base, Fast Company, Teraview, Microsoft Office, and Wordperfect. I use Estate-a-Base and Wordperfect. I'm not so fond of it, but I'm slowly learning it, at least I know how to find and replace ctrl f (I think, I only know it when I'm looking at it). Estate-a-Base she taught me a few things to make life easier pressing F9 populates the assets table for you. Another girl and I are doing a web something for Estate-a-Base, I helped her fill in the information for an Estate she was doing.

Oh I forgot to explain the machine with the gnomes, it faxes, photocopies, scans, sorts, staples, and a bunch of other things. I was nervous using it, after the first few times it was simple, there are all sorts of secret passcodes and tricks to using it. The one person said don't feel so bad I don't even know how to do what you're doing. When she tried to help, but I did get it figured out.

There's also an electric stapler, I like that thing.

That's enough writing for now, I need to go to bed so I can stay on normal people schedule. Hope everyone else is doing well!!!!

I’m Meghan, obviously, I’m in the Office Administration Legal program, I am only blogging because I’m required to, I prefer not to have anything about me online, but C’est la vie. I’ve lived in Kitchener my whole life, not sure I like it here, Kitchener was better when I was younger.

I just finished my revised cover letter and resume, so now I have to start looking for a placement. I’m not entirely sure where I want to do my placement, I haven’t really looked yet. Looking for my placement is my next step, which I’ll start on Monday or Tuesday.

The type of law I want to work in is Corporate Law, it seems interesting and straightforward.

💙Meghan💙