Legal People are proud to be co-sponsoring this popular event to be held on Thursday 22nd March 2012, 10:30am to 4:30pm.

This event will be facilitated by Kriss Will of Kriss Will Consulting, a widely respected legal industry HR consultant, supported by a panel of leading HR experts including:

• Alison Baker, Partner – Hall & Wilcox
• Christine Roberts, HR & Office Manager – Aitken Partners
• Clare Valentine, Head of Human Resources – BDO
• Alison Beazley, People & Development Manager, Employee Relations – Freehills

At the workshop you will:

To download a brochure/application form: click on the following link: ALPMA HR Workshop Brochure 2012

Legal People

As long standing members of the growing Business Chicks community Legal People were delighted to be approached and look forward to partnering closely with Business Chicks for this event, which is expected to see nearly 1,000 people!

If you are interested in attending this event, the detail are:

• Date: Friday, 17th February, 2012
• Time: 7am to 9am
• Location: Palladium Ballroom, Crown Casino
• Purchase Tickets: Click Here

Having attended numerous Business Chicks events over the years they have done a wonderful job in attracting some inspiring guest speakers including Sir Richard Branson, Olivia Newton-John, Deborra-lee Furness, Napoleon Perdis, Dr Fiona Wood and many more.

So whether you are a Lawyer, Legal Secretary, HR or other professional in the legal industry Business Chicks is a great way to connect with business women in other industries.

About Business Chicks

Business Chicks a national community enriching the lives of women in business. They connect Australian business women through their online member portal, national events program, fundraising efforts, Latte magazine, intimate networking opportunities and other initiatives. They’re working towards their vision of having 250,000 members in our Business Chicks community by 2015. Join today and benefit by being part of Australia’s largest community for women in business! Our community is made up of women working in a variety of organisations – from small & medium-sized businesses through to large multinational corporations, as well as savvy female entrepreneurs running their own show. There are women from all industries and levels of expertise, ranging in age from 18 – 65.

About ALPMA

ALPMA is the peak Australian body representing managers and lawyers with a legal practice management role. ALPMA provides an authoritative voice on issues relevant to legal practice management.

Members of ALPMA provide professional management services to legal practices in areas of financial management, strategic management, technology, human resources, facilities and operational management, marketing and information services and technology.

The Association offers members:

• Key learning & development through its ‘free monthly training seminars’
• Various opportunities to earn CLE points
• Access to important industry information, best practice, know how and statistics via its ‘Knowledge Bank’
• Free desktop access to recorded seminars across the country via ‘Access ALPMA – seminars on demand’
• Key networking opportunities
• Discounted registration at any specialist ALPMA event [includes Webinars & The Legal Management Summit]
• Discounted enrolment to the Diploma of Practice Management
• Members Forum
• Job Bank
• Opportunities to make many financial savings throughout the year

ALPMA has a commitment to:

• Improve the quality of management for professionals engaged in legal practice
• Promote and enhance the competence and professionalism of legal practice management
• Represent professional legal management and managers to the legal community and the community at large

and works to:

• Develop and deliver programs that will promote professionalism in legal practice management
• Enhance the benefits of membership
• Work to increase the visibility and credibility of the Australian Legal Practice Management Association
• Develop strategies for the recruitment of new members and the retention of current members

For further details and registration/membership inquiries click on the ALPMA logo below.

If you are interested in becoming a member and would like to attend a complementary ALPMA lunchtime seminar with us, please contact Sharon Henderson on Ph. 9670 5051 or email: sharon@legalpeople.com.au. We have a strictly limited number of guest passes available.

Legal Salary Website!

www.legalsalary.com.au

Are you earning what you are worth? Want to find out?

Now you can…

Legal People have launched a new legal industry specific salary website where you can find out if you are earning what you are worth in REAL TIME.

This site was specifically developed for members of the Australian legal community (including lawyers, legal secretaries & assistants, law clerks/paralegals, practice managers and HR) to enable you to easily share legal salary data and help ascertain what people in the Australian legal industry are really earning, using an anonymous online platform.

Salary contributions to the site are driven by people just like you – so the more people that contribute their salary data the more beneficial this salary resource becomes for everyone! The site enables you to filter your salary search criteria by a range of variables such areas of law, years of experience, location, law firm &/or company size, gender, level of education, other benefits/perks, the number of people you supervise…. to name a few.

It’s FREE, completely ANONYMOUS and updated in REAL TIME. You can use the site to keep an eye on salary trends, check out your market worth before or after your next pay review, or log in to look for that new job. You can even receive email alerts when other people have entered their salary data in your area of expertise so that you can stay updated!

LegalSalary.com.au works on an honesty-based ‘get to give’ model whereby all salary data is entered by (and shared by) Australian legal professionals for the benefit of the entire legal community. Any inflated or inconsistent salary entries can be ‘flagged’ as suspicious by other members of the community or by Legal People and quickly removed from the system to ensure the accuracy of data is maintained. The site also makes use of the median (as opposed to the average) to report cumulative salary results, helping to lessen the impact of any ‘extreme’ salary entries.

One of the key differences of the site over the traditional ‘once a year’ salary survey is that salary data is continually added by site visitors on a daily basis, with the salary database updated in real time and available for instant searching. Lawyers can also search by their area of law/expertise whereas other traditional surveys tend to break down salary data only by level of experience and size of law firm.

Sharon Henderson, Partner of Legal People, explains that “as salary entries to the site continue to grow beyond the 1,294 we have already captured, our hope is that it becomes an invaluable and indispensable research tool that is constantly referred to by all members of the legal profession, whether it be job seekers, employees, Legal HR professionals and employers alike.”

Take a sneak peak, click on the link below, enter your details and see how you shape up! It will only take a couple of minutes.

Pass it on!

Always wanted to know what your fellow colleagues and friends are really earning in the legal industry but afraid to ask? Direct them to the following link: www.legalsalary.com.au and start comparing today.

Our new Legal Salary portal is proudly brought to you by

Never walk into an interview unprepared. Make sure you research the firm and the role thoroughly, before entering the room.

Obtain a copy of the position description/job post or ad before your interview day. Also check out the profile of the person/team the role is working for.

Prepare for behavioural type questions, you never know when they will be thrown at you in an interview. An example may be: Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?

If you are not sure how to answer a behavioural question, do not be afraid to seek clarification.
Remember there are no right or wrong answers. The interviewer is trying to determine how you behaved in a specific situation.

Some Helpful Tips:

• Do not be late!! If for some reason you are stuck in traffic or experiencing public transport delays, ALWAYS call ahead of your interview and explain the situation. When travelling to an interview you should always allow extra time for unpredictable delays. Arriving late is never a good look!!
• Presentation: First impressions do last. Always wear your best corporate outfit. Keep it simple, neat, tidy and sophisticated.
• Be positive and smile: If your not enjoying your current role for whatever reason, do not focus on the negatives. Be positive, this is what should shine through.
• Body language: Convey only positive body language. Stand tall, maintain constant eye contact and do not fidget during an interview!
• Turn your mobile phone off! Don’t risk blowing your chance by having your mobile on and ringing, interrupting the interview. Ensure the interviewer has your undivided attention for the entire interview.
• Do not forget your resume: It is good to come prepared. Also bring along any written references or referee details you may have.

The results are in! Based on our own placement data for the Y/E 2010, the following areas of law made our top 10 list for lawyer recruitment:-

1. Commercial Litigation
2. Property
3. Commercial
4. Personal Injury (Plaintiff)
5. Insurance (Defendant)
6. Family Law
7. Banking & Finance
8. Employment
9. Taxation
10. Government

Litigation roles lead the top 10 list this year. Mid & boutique law firms experienced strong growth in commercial litigation and were busy recruiting litigation lawyers, particularly those with 2-4 years experience to cater for increased work flow in areas such as back end banking & finance, insolvency and general commercial lit.

Commercial Property roles made a come back after dropping significantly in 2009. From January to July this year commercial property roles were in high demand and there was strong talent to match. Property lawyers with 3-5 years experience and Senior Associates were highly sought after. However, in the 2nd half of 2010, requirements for junior to mid level property lawyers has petered off, although demand for Senior Associates amongst mid tier law law firms is still strong and they are hard to find.

The result for commercial law making our top 3 was a little surprising as most clients have been indicating all year that their commercial departments have been steady but not booming. However upon closer analysis of our placement results, the commercial roles we have successfully recruited for this year have been in niche or specialist commercial areas such as franchising, hospitality & gaming, and superannuation – where firms have been seeking to boost their skill base. Boutique firms also took advantage of the lack of general and corporate commercial roles to secure quality talent out of the mid and top tier law firms.

Insurance & Personal Injury Law were both very strong this year with many plaintiff and defendant clients recruiting lawyers from 2-8 years. Family law remained steady with firms recruiting for mid level lawyers.

Banking & Finance roles are slowly starting to re-surface again from virtually being non-existent in 2009, although there is still along way to come from the peak of 2007/2008 where B&F Lawyers had the pick of multiple roles and sign on bonuses were popular. Demand for employment lawyers was strong in 2010, however quality employment lawyers were scarce.