Why subscribe for LawSkills Monthly Digest?

What do you do that using LawSkills Monthly Digest will help? One of the key reasons for being satisfied at work is personal development. Not only is it a requirement for lawyers to be and remain competent throughout their careers but it always provides confidence if you are fully aware of the developments occurring in the areas of law in which you practice or in which you are interested.

From 1 November 2016 the SRA expect you to: 1. Reflect on the quality of your personal practice by reference to the competence statement to identify your learning and development needs 2. Plan to and do address your identified learning and development needs 3. Record and evaluate your learning activity so that if the SRA conducts a regulatory review or receives a complaint about a competence risk you can demonstrate that you have taken steps to ensure your ongoing competence 4. Make an annual declaration to confirm you have completed 1-3 above

Within A2 of the competence statement, it says you must maintain an adequate and up-to-date understanding of relevant law, policy and practice.

LawSkills Monthly Digest is a tool which summarises all the key developments over the previous few weeks in the areas of Wills, Probate, Trusts, Tax and Elderly Client and drops a full report into your email inbox to read when convenient. It includes commentary, statutory and practice developments and recent case summaries with practice tips.

Receiving and reading LawSkills Monthly Digest will ensure you have a record of your compliance with competence statement A2 and will provide evidence should a regulatory review arise. More than this your work will benefit from the knowledge and reassurance you gain from having this powerful tool at your fingertips. It saves you scouring newsletters, digests, magazines, books, statutes, case law etc and brings it altogether in one place for ease of access.

What are the core attributes which you want to develop? When reflecting on your competence for the purposes of preparing your development plan you will have identified some attributes you wanted to develop – knowledge, skills or attitudes. LawSkills Monthly Digest will help you develop your knowledge. Change actually hurts the brain. The neocortex, the part of the brain responsible for executive functions and called on to undertake new, demanding and complex tasks, has limited capacity and can ‘run hot’ from dealing with continuous new activity. Lawyers’ brains are in danger of ‘overheating’ all the time as the law never stands still. Let LawSkills Monthly Digest ease the strain by saving you having to undertake the research to develop your knowledge.

Do you experience challenges today which LawSkills Monthly Digest will help you address? For those of you undertaking Probate work, the last two years have been difficult due to the radical changes effected by HMC&TS. LawSkills Monthly Digest has provided regular updates about the changes in practice and given practical advice about how to deal with them. It will continue to do so. For those practitioners preparing Wills, the corona virus has caused all sorts of practical legal difficulties. The requirements of self-isolation and social distancing created much debate over how to continue to provide an effective Will service which produces a valid Will at the end of the process. LawSkills Monthly Digest has provided advice and commentary on the practicalities of compliance with s.9 Wills Act 1837. LawSkills will continue to monitor the new temporary rules relating to video witnessing of Wills and report on those in the coming weeks.

LawSkills has been providing reliable support to private client practitioners for over 25 years and saw that the fear of making a mistake was never greater than now. The volume of material to keep under review can be overwhelming – let LawSkills Monthly Digest take the strain. Sign up for your subscription without delay and become part of the growing number of subscribers who find the service invaluable.

Gill Steel www.lawskills.co.uk | Twitter: @gillsteellaw LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gillsteel Gill has been immersed in Wills, Probate, Trusts, Tax & Elderly Client law for the entirety of her long career as a solicitor, trainer & consultant. Her website www.lawskills.co.uk curates articles and training information dedicated to the practitioner and there is a subscription page to sign up for LawSkills Monthly Digest dedicated to developments in Wills, Probate, Trusts, Tax and Elderly Client.

Dr Peter J Corr

BSc (Hons) MSc DClinPsy PGDip CPsychol AFBPsS

Dr Peter Corr is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years NHS experience and director of Bridge Psychology Services Ltd. He specialises in working with children and adolescents with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and other neurodevelopmental conditions, along with associated social and mental health difficulties. Dr Corr has provided expert assessment and opinion to the criminal, family, coroner‘s and civil courts as well as at tribunals and other legal proceedings. His specialist reports cover:

• Neuropsychological and Cognitive Functioning - including IG assessment, neuro-psychological assessment and profiling, memory assessment, planning and problem solving • Diagnostic Assessments - including level of learning disability, neuro-developmental conditions, mental health assessment

Functional and Adaptive Skills - including social skills, self care, managing social interactions • Capacity Asessment - including treatment decisions, for place of residence, for for college and employment • Capacity Relating to Court - fitness to plead, fitness to instruct a solicitor, fitness to manage the court environment • Full Generic Psychological Assessments - incorporating some or all of the above including level of cognitive functioning, mental health state, relational and attachment issues, adaptive skills levels

Assessments can be undertaken as pre-proceedings or to support ongoing or planned proceedings in court environments.

Tel: 07806 564 503 Email: office@bridgepsychology.co.uk Suite i, Business Development Centre, Stafford Park 4, Telford, Shropshire, TF3 3BA www. bridgepsychology.co.uk