Barristers - secretarial services

legalsupport

Hi all,

I am looking for a bit of advice (constructive or otherwise!) from people who know the ins and outs of the daily life of a barrister.

I have a legal education and have worked in a few firms but have no qualification as of yet. I am looking to work for myself maybe as a legal secretary for a few barristers.

I am aware that many barristers have their own full-time secretaries. My question is are there many who cannot afford to pay for their own secretary but who may be interested in a secretary who works for a number of barristers and thus they only pay for what they get, e.g. two hours of typing, thereby enabling them to pay for a secretary only when they are in a position to do so?

I am just wondering whether this would be something that would suit the working arrangements of many barristers? I have in mind those who are working regularly but who may be in their first few years and not earning enough to pay a full salary, or even a part-time salary, but who would like their calls taken, or research done, or an office premises to send stuff to or work from.

Any opinions would be really appreciated!! Be brutal!!

Wolfe Tone

Is there not huge potential for conflicts of interest there?

Tom Young

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Is there not huge potential for conflicts of interest there?

No.

legalsupport

That did occur to me but I don't think there is any conflict of interest issue as I would only be carrying out administrative duties; I wouldn't be concerned with the substance of the barristers' advices.

bath handle

There is a lot of demand among barristers for typing.many pf them pay by them tape to have tjeir dictation typed. Others email sound files to typists. Some senior counss employees researchers but thete is liytlr or no demand for outsourced research.phone answering is notmuch in demand either.

Gazzetta

Often several barristers will use the same secretary as few will have the need for full-time secretary. You need to advertise in the Law Library. There adverts going up regularly so you will be up against a fair bit of competition, but most secretaries get their work based on word-of-mouth and recommendation. So getting the first one or two will be key. Bear in mind that alot of barristers do their own typing these days. those that don't are often turning around work too quickly to be able to sit down and type it out themselves.

Good luck,

nuac

Yes, I think there would be a demand for such shared services.

With modern comms facilities there are a lot of possibilities. I have heard of one solicitors' firm whose dictation goes overnight to India, returning by email in the morning.

legalsupport

Bath Handle, Gazzetta, Nuac - thanks for the helpful comments, it's really appreciated.

Do you know if there is much need for services other than typing? What about general admin work such as letter writing, phone calls, posting, photocopying? Do you think there would be any demand for shared facilities such as offices, along the lines of hot-desking, meeting rooms, computers with access to legal databases, etc? I know the law library offers a lot of this but is there any advantage to having an office to work from and your own business address without having to pay the full overheads as it would be shared?

johnnyskeleton

legalsupport wrote: »

Do you know if there is much need for services other than typing? What about general admin work such as letter writing, phone calls, posting, photocopying? Do you think there would be any demand for shared facilities such as offices, along the lines of hot-desking, meeting rooms, computers with access to legal databases, etc? I know the law library offers a lot of this but is there any advantage to having an office to work from and your own business address without having to pay the full overheads as it would be shared?

You're talking pretty much about setting up a type of chambers or rent an office system. That in itself is a somewhat controversial move.

In any event, there are some barristers who already share suites of offices with common secretaries and the like.

If you were going to offer such a service, you would probably have to take a fair amount of risk by, for example, renting out offices in the hope that people will rent them at a profit.

There is an abundance of empty offices in or around the four courts. This building has about 4 out of 40 offices filled. This one is entirely empty. They are looking for celtic tiger rents (for some bizzare reason, people seemed to think that barristers were foolish spendthrifts and they refuse to be shaken from this idea) without, in my view, much hope of attaining them.

I'm not sure that you are actually proposing setting up a shared office yourself, but it would seem to be a fairly risky project, unless you could get favourable terms from a landlord.

As regards secretarial work, just to be aware that barristers might want someone with a bit of experience of legal secretarial work rather than someone who is training to be a lawyer. If you're really interested in it, why not contact some of the existing secretaries in or around the four courts and ask them if you can do a few week's work experience with them? That will give you an idea of what is required, and it will also give you an opportunity to put your fliers around or find out on the grapevine if anyone needs a secretary.

As regards legal research, busy junior counsel often have devils who do this for them for free, or more junior counsel that they will pay to give them a leg up. So offering freelance legal research might not be an immediate hit.

One final thing - why limit yourself to barristers? Why not offer your services to solicitors as well, ether as a full time secretary or as a temp?

Gazzetta

legalsupport wrote: »

Do you know if there is much need for services other than typing? What about general admin work such as letter writing, phone calls, posting, photocopying? Do you think there would be any demand for shared facilities such as offices, along the lines of hot-desking, meeting rooms, computers with access to legal databases, etc? I know the law library offers a lot of this but is there any advantage to having an office to work from and your own business address without having to pay the full overheads as it would be shared?

That is a much different, and far more challenging proposition; and I would say you would need to convince a group of barristers to come into premises that you have identified as suitable. And if you don't know any then that is where you need to start.