As law firms downsized, not only were attorneys let go, but support staff were given their walking papers also. The elimination of support staff meant many legal secretaries found themselves out of a job.Legal secretaries are still a valuable resource, but as more and more technically skilled lawyers enter the workforce are legal secretaries becoming obsolete? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010 – 2011 Edition indicates that the projection for administrative assistants and secretaries is expected to increase by 11% between 2008 and 2018, and “moderate growth in legal services is projected to lead to faster than average growth in employment of legal secretaries.” The BLS estimates a projected increase of 18% in legal secretaries (311,000 employment data) by the year 2018 from 2008 (262,600 employment data for legal secretaries). Legal secretaries are highly beneficial and are not becoming obsolete; however, they might be underutilized.Tap Into Your Legal Secretary’s SkillsTo get the most out of your legal secretary, you must utilize the secretary to his/her full potential and challenge him/her. A number of legal secretaries have a broad spectrum of experience, education and skills that the employer never really taps into. Most legal secretaries have much more than the required skills for the job. Probably more legal secretaries, than not, want the opportunity to prove that they can do more than what the attorney assigns.Once the attorney becomes aware or knowledgeable about the added skills and/or capabilities that the legal secretary can provide, he/she should challenge the legal secretary by assigning more meaningful (and challenging) responsibilities. (Be sure to communicate with your legal secretary since this presumably means more work probably at the same level of pay – until raise time, of course.) Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more. Get to know your legal secretary and tap into his/her full potential. Doing so will not only make the attorney more productive, but will keep the secretary busy and challenged. Ultimately this will lead to a rewarding and satisfying relationship for both the attorney and the secretary.It is important that law firms cross train secretaries in other functions (e.g., paralegal work, I.T. support, word processing support, project coordinator, content management, litigation support). Having other avenues in which to effectively utilize the secretary helps to increase productivity and enables the firm to get the most out of the secretary. A number of firms have moved to a 2:1, 3:1 or even 4:1 attorney to secretary ratio; however, this may not be enough or even prove productive.Increased Attorney to Secretary Ratios Can be CounterproductiveIn cases where a legal secretary may support one or two partners and an associate or two, the associate may feel that the secretary does not have the time to handle his/her work. As a result, the associate likely ends up doing the work in which the secretary should be doing. Assigning several attorneys to one secretary can present an impression (in the mind of other attorneys) that the secretary wouldn’t be able to get to the attorney’s work (at least in the time frame that the attorney needs it). Having attorney to secretary ratios of 3:1, 4:1 or even 5:1 can prove counterproductive. Secretaries may either be too busy to handle the workload of all the assigned attorneys or sit idle waiting on something to do (in this case, it is probably because each attorney assumes the secretary is busy and won’t give her much work). When you have an attorney with a billable rate of hundred of dollars, and he/she has to constantly make the copies, get the files or perform other related secretarial duties that is counterproductive. When the secretary sits idle because the associate doesn’t give the secretary enough work that is counterproductive.A legal secretary can provide support in a number of ways. It is up to the law firm (and the attorney) to make the most of the resources it has.The BLS Secretarial and Administrative Assistants Outlook can be found here.
Starting an Online Business – Ins and Outs of Your Venture
Internet or online business is a field that has gained a lot of publicity recently. There are great opportunities waiting for all kinds of people, no matter what industry they represent. There’s just one question to answer: how to begin? Starting an online business is not that difficult, yet it can be challenging if you don’t have some of the basic elements in place.Nowadays, the point of entry is much easier to reach as new entrepreneurs can start their businesses from a small corner of their homes, having only a computer and an internet connection. This big change from physical to virtual gives a good advantage for wealth seekers to reach multitudes of people with very little effort. It is because of this new resource that starting an online business endeavor is an attractive choice for people searching new ventures.When starting an online business, one must first be familiar with the internet itself and its business applications. This includes things like doing market research, conducting competition analysis, understanding how various web tools work, and becoming aware of the culture and trend of the internet as a marketplace.In doing so, it is essential to plan for a good concept, product, services and content. The internet is one fast busy business district, so making the content and concept of the business should mean taking full advantage of its capability. Selling goods to audiences all over the world is often the ultimate goal of many online businesses. Therefore, we should consider an interactive online shopping, a convenient global access, and a perfect showcase for people to obtain information about the company and its products. It is also important to achieve efficient means of communicating with clients and customers.One of the first pieces of online real estate every entrepreneur needs to have is a website. This basically deals with having a domain and finding a web host. The domain is a unique address on the internet that the business owner chooses. It is usually named after the actual business name of the company (or taken from the product itself) since some customers often type it in the web browser.The web host, in plain English, is a company that provides you with the service of hosting your website on their servers (nowadays, there’s no point in having your own servers sitting in your office). Very often, hosting companies also offer domain registration, which makes the whole undertaking a lot easier because you end up with just one company handling both your domain and your hosting. After you have your domain and hosting set up the next step is to have the website designed.Despite the fact that this is usually the most expensive part, it is not advisable to design the website yourself if you don’t have any knowledge in this field. The safest thing to do is to buy a premium WordPress theme and have it installed on your hosting account.Once the website is ready there are a couple of things yet to do. One of the most important ones is setting up a payment processing system. Fortunately, this is not that difficult thanks to services like PayPal. It is a highly recommended service due to its popularity around the internet and high safety standards. If you intend to sell digital products it is also advisable to deliver them online via a download link or an email attachment. This makes the whole process a lot quicker, and a customer can enjoy their purchase right away.Unfortunately the “if you build it they will come” phrase does not apply to online businesses. This means that you have to build the traffic to your website on your own. The purpose is to avoid your website to be wiped out by other websites. In order to don’t let that happen you have to learn some basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Having your website ranking highly in search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing is the best way of attracting a constant stream of new customers.In order to keep track of the transactions made, it is helpful to install a free and easy traffic analyzing tool such as Google Analytics. The statistics it provides will give you valuable information about what’s going on in your business in terms of pure numbers.Finally, in the business world, online and offline; honesty, credibility and integrity are important values that the consumers always consider. Gaining and keeping their trust is essential for that matter. Let us never forget that success doesn’t happen overnight. Starting an online business is never difficult as long as much dedication and hard work is put into it.
Multifamily Apartment Financing and Estoppel Agreements
Rental Income Might Not Be What the Owner is Representing?Estoppel agreements insure you that the rental income being presented will be delivered. Suppose you’re a prospective multifamily apartment buyer, and you purchase your first apartment building. The good news is that the apartments still have tenants. According to the lease summaries and rent rolls provided by the sellers, the tenants pay a combined $50,000 per month.Now the bad news. You first month rolls around and the all of a sudden your income is now a combined $25,000 per month! What happen?Okay, so what did the you do wrong? You and the commercial lender should have obtained an what is known as an estoppel agreement from all the tenants before making the loan.What the heck does estoppel mean? Estoppel is a a rule of evidence whereby a person is barred from denying the truth of a fact that has already been settled. An Estoppel agreement is a form given to the actual renter of the unit and filled out with the respective rent being paid.Estoppel agreements are used in various commercial properties where you would have people or companies renting space from from a landlord. It insures that the rental income records being produced by the seller are accurate and up to date. Some lenders will require this to be done as a condition of granting a loan on the property. Regardless of any paperwork or promises made by the seller of a property, a Estoppel agreement should always be fully executed and verified against any and all income statements.