There is something funny about September and that is, that even though in my case at least it is many years since I was at school and that even my children no longer follow this timetable, September always feels like the start of a new “work” year. It may be that everyone starts coming back from their holidays refreshed for the autumn or that we begin to get winter clothing out again but September makes me think about starting new projects.
I am hoping this “school year” is going to be an outstanding year for Jacksons – there is certainly much in the pipeline. We have lots planned included an exciting programme of seminars and our new breakfast club in Newcastle. All of the details of these events can be found on our website.
Jacksons have always carried out lots of training and indeed are CPD accredited. If you would like us to assist with any training requirements that you or your company have then please give us a call. We carry out training for many clients and referrers at their workplace, sometimes in tandem with other providers and always on a bespoke basis ensuring the training is geared specifically to the needs of the particular client or referrer. Recently, for example, Stacey West in our employment team has been providing training on drug and alcohol testing of employees using each company’s own policies and procedures together with Abdul Shakeel of DATS ( Drug & alcohol testing services) who carry out the actual testing for companies.
Additionally, we provide speakers to groups with regard to the personal legal services we provide – our matrimonial team have spoken at Women’s Institute meetings and our private client lawyers often speak to groups about why we should make a will and the benefits of having lasting powers of attorney for financial and health and welfare affairs. If you are a member of a group who would like to talk about the possibilities of a seminar, workshop etc. then please get in touch.
Many companies are also trying to provide a cohesive package for their employees and opportunities for their employees to access the services they might need without leaving their workplace. We can assist with this by attending business premises or centres and operating legal clinics at times to suit.
While we consider helping other organisations with their training needs, we must also consider our own! Traditionally solicitors have been required to fulfil their CPD requirements by the collection of points gained through training activities. In November this year there will be a compulsory move to a ‘need’ focussed training scheme whereby you assess each individuals training requirements, set up a an individual training programme and monitor progress through this. As a practice, we decided a year ago that this was a much more practical and productive way of meeting training requirements enabling us to train people in legal topics, new areas or specialisms within their area of practice but also business development and management skills. We opted therefore to adopt the new scheme early and are now in the final two months of the first year of this scheme. To date, we would say that we are very pleased with the results and the effectiveness of this year’s training and look forward to setting new training programmes for all of our lawyers in this autumn term!
