Week 3 Post 1

Communication was one of the most important skills that I used every day during my placement. I used oral communication to speak with clients on the telephone to gather information or to answer their questions. I also used verbal communication to speak with the other staff members. I had to deal with the lawyer and the other law clerks in order to complete the tasks given to me. In addition, I used written communication in emails and letters to speak with clients, lawyers and other businesses that I needed to contact. I drafted my own emails and some letters using clean formatting but I also used conveyancer to produce communications as well. I have only used the email feature on Outlook. 

I have a notebook that I use to keep track of things I need to do and important dates and deadlines. I also use sticky notes that I can put in the files in order to remember important information.

I would say that one of my weaknesses going into my placement was my communication skills. I was very intimidated by the phone. I was very nervous to answer calls and talk to clients. For me, the best way to overcome this was to push through it and force myself out of my comfort zone. Once I got more comfortable and confident talking, it became a lot easier and now I am no longer nervous.

The current curriculum is good but it could benefit from a few changes. I think it would be better to break up the current legal courses into two sections. I would rather have a better knowledge of in litigation, family law or real estate than in Microsoft and electives. It would have been better if our Word and Excel classes were combine into one class each instead of having Advanced Word and Advanced Excel. I preferred our legal classes because I feel that is the information that was most useful during my placement. I did not prefer our Microsoft classes, Business Ethics, and Interpersonal Communications. Although I did find some of these courses interesting, I did not find that they were important during my placement.

I will continue to learn and develop by gaining more experience in the workplace. I have accepted a temporary position at Morris & Shannon LLP and I am very excited to continue to develop my office administration skills. I am also thinking about taking some of the Law Clerk courses in the future.