Law Society

September 30th, 2008

Now you have set up your business, and you have got all the legal requirements in place you are hungry to get going.

you sit and compose letters of introduction to Financial Institutes, companies, Local Authority and every Solicitor in your area. very good BUT WAIT.

In your letter to the solicitors have you outlined the services you provide to the legal services. this is an area that takes some though, have you looked at the area,s of law that each solicitor may deal with, are you conversant with the relevant information needed to carry out any work put your way.

Here is a list of the area,s of law most solicitors cover.

 These are the areas of law and legal practice in which the Law Society is most active.

	Alternative dispute resolution
	Charity law
	Children law
	Civil liberties and human rights
	Civil litigation
	Clinical negligence
	Commercial law
	Commercial property
	Company law
	Competition law
	Computer and IT law
	Consumer law
	Conveyancing residential
	Costs
	Courts, tribunals and judiciary
	Criminal law
	Disability
	Discrimination law
	EU law
	Employment law
	Environmental law
	Family law
	Financial and investment services
	Fraud
	Immigration law
	Insolvency and bankruptcy
	Intellectual property law
	International law (non EU)
	Landlord and tenant – residential
	Legal aid – civil
	Legal aid – criminal
	Legal aid – immigration
	Mediation
	Mental health and incapacity law
	Older people
	Personal injury
	Planning law
	Practice management
	Professional regulation
	Tax law
	Travel and tourism
	Trust law
	Wills and probate

So now you have the list how many area,s have you explored before offering your services.

Posted in Legal Services | No Comments »

Today’s Top HR Tip…Start collating your evidence

September 30th, 2008

IT’S ALL IN THE PAPERWORK…

Yes, we know we’ve all done it – you’ve finally got a great job applicant in front of you after spending all morning interviewing every misfit under the sun, and before you know it the offer’s out of your mouth and they’re starting on Monday! Somehow that recruitment paperwork never quite gets done, and you’re ready to move on to the next pressing people problem.

Easily done we know, but unfortunately in today’s increasingly legislated work environment, such a lack of paperwork has the potential to leave you in a very risky position. Whilst we’re all for the paperless office, sadly when it comes to HR records, this is one area where a lack of paperwork will do far more harm than good.

Ask yourself this: If you haven’t got scoring criteria to prove it, how can you show that the decision not to appoint the only male applicant wasn’t because of his sex but because he scored lower than the successful applicant who just happened to be a woman? Or argue your way out of the £10,000 fine for employing an illegal worker, if you haven’t taken a photocopy of what you thought was an authentic passport?

A few minutes spent on carefully thought out paperwork now, can save hours, not to mention £s, later (remember there’s no cap on compensation payments for discrimination claims which can be brought even at the job advert stage!). It needn’t be anything fancy or long-winded – a simple tick-list can do the job quite nicely and will also ensure that you don’t have enough space to write anything rude or insulting about the candidates that could come back to haunt you!

To help you get a manageable paperwork system in place, Salgado Investigations recommend the following tips:

• Keep to one page per candidate and use bullet points with a space for a tick, cross or mark out of say 5
• Set out each of your essential criteria such as: degree in X, knowledge of Y, etc. as a simple tick box – they either have or they haven’t so why complicate things?
• Decide upon scoring criteria for testing key skills and capabilities, with say 5 as meets perfectly to 1 as little/no match and agree a cut-off pass mark before the interviews.
• Don’t forget to have housekeeping reminders to work through at the bottom, so you can ensure that you remember to ask about all those little details like booked holidays and notice periods; but more importantly, tick boxes to show you’ve double-checked their criminal records statement, you’ve seen and photocopied their proof of eligibility to work, and any essentials like driving licence or exam certificates.
• Complete one for each candidate and keep securely for 6 months just in case anything is ever questioned.
•  And finally, take great delight in shredding once the tribunal time limit’s passed!

Posted in Human Resources | No Comments »

Becoming a private investigator

September 29th, 2008

What is the work like?

Private Investigators carry out undercover enquiries for their clients, including solicitors, insurance companies, councils, private companies and individuals.

As a private investigator, you would ask questions and analyse information to carry out background research. Your work could also include:

• surveillance
• fraud investigation
• missing persons enquiries
• investigating insurance claims
• presenting legal documents (process serving)
• investigating commercial piracy
• personnel vetting.

You would typically work alone as a self-employed or freelance investigator. You would use a computer to process detailed reports and often maintain your own accounts.

What qualifications and experience will employers look for?

You may not need qualifications to start work as a private investigator. However, a good general education and experience in a security related field would be helpful. Business skills are also important because most opportunities in this area involve working as a freelance or self-employed investigator.

The Academy of Professional Investigation (API) runs a BTEC Level 3 Advanced Diploma in Private Investigation, which can be used as a first step into this career. With this qualification you may have an advantage when looking for work experience or paid work with an agency.

The World Association of Professional Investigators (WAPI) have details of local private investigators you could contact about gaining experience.

The Private Security Industry Act 2001, outlines a system for regulating the sector, which includes private investigators. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is working towards publishing full details of their plans to license private investigators. Check the SIA website for details.

A driving licence is usually essential for this work.

What further training and development can I do?

Once you are working as a private investigator with an agency, for example, you will usually receive training on the job from your employer. You can support this by working towards qualifications such as NVQ Level 3 in Intelligence Analysis.

There is a range of courses you could do to develop your skills and knowledge in this area, for example:

• The API BTEC Level 3 Advanced Diploma in Private Investigation can be done before or after you start work in this field.

Where can I go for more information?

PO Box 1293
Liverpool
L69 1AX
Tel: 0844 892 1025

Clair House
3-5 Clair Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 3DP
Tel: 01444 441 111

212 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9HG
Tel: 08709 099 970

e-LEGAL | Gathering, The UK’s 1st “open” private investigator discussion forum provides an on-line resource to private investigators, lawyers and members of the public.

Posted in Become a Detective | 2 Comments »

Salgado is looking for blog authors for THE PI’s DIARY

September 27th, 2008

The deal: You write articles whenever you want but they have to be on topic and relevant to our industry with a link to another part of my site.

What’s in it for you? You can contextually link back to your own website.

What’s in it for me? I get fresh content for The PI’s Diary

Posted in Legal Services | No Comments »

Top Tips for managing people problems

September 23rd, 2008

TOP HR TIPS FROM SALGADO INVESTIGATIONS…

1. Put everything in writing – contracts, policies, procedures, actions agreed, meeting notes, etc. etc. You may have to sacrifice a few minutes now, but believe us it will prove time well spent if it avoids any doubt at a later date.

2. It doesn’t pay to be nice! No, we don’t mean that you shouldn’t be friendly, polite or treat your employees well – just don’t make exceptions or excuses on the basis of wanting to “be nice” to them. It is a sad but only too often seen scenario, that in letting someone get away with being late one day, this opens the door to them being late each week; that by paying full sick pay to your star performer you’ve created a precedent for paying everyone else; and that by turning a blind eye to a policy breach for one ends up negating the whole policy which you may later want to apply to others. The moral of this story? Don’t be “nice” – be consistent and fair – it’s nicer to all in the long run!

3. Assume your employees know nothing! Not really as insulting as it sounds, but the safest way to implement concrete policies you can all rely on. If you don’t specifically tell someone something and have the document trail to show that they have been told it, you can pretty much assume that in the eyes of the law they can’t be expected to know it! If you not only make policies straight-forward, simple to read and clear to understand, but get employees to sign to say they’ve read and understood them, then everyone can know where they stand – problem solved!

4. Don’t put off ‘til tomorrow what you should be doing today! You can guarantee that the problem won’t go away, and that things really won’t improve even if left another week. All you can bank on is that you’ll have an even tougher time trying to resolve the issue, and in some instances may even have prevented yourself from safely tackling it at all. If you have a concern – act on it. That doesn’t necessarily mean disciplinary action but perhaps simply some constructive feedback and helpful pointers. Just like training a dog, feedback or corrective action needs to take place as close to the event in question as possible otherwise the poor creature will have no idea what they’re being chastised (or even praised) for! If you therefore see one of your employees do something you do or don’t like – have a quiet word with them there and then whilst it’s still fresh in everyone’s memories. If you do need to consider disciplinary action, then it’s even more important that this is tackled in a timely fashion, as leaving an issue unaddressed for several weeks would suggest to everyone else that it isn’t really an issue at all, making any punitive action you want to consider appear completely unjustified!

5. Take a deep breath and count to ten…gather your thoughts, gather your evidence, and most importantly – gather your composure! Whilst you shouldn’t be putting things off, you shouldn’t be rushing headlong into spur-of-the-moment decisions either. When you feel like you want to throttle someone (never recommended!) or throw the book at them, try to step back a minute and consider why that is. If it is because of what they’ve just done, fair enough; but if it’s because they’re a general pain in the b**t and this last incident was simply the final straw, then you need to tread carefully to ensure your response really does fit the crime. (Think juries not being allowed to know of past convictions and you’re along the right lines). Take time to properly gather your evidence, ensure that you have everything you need to present your case, and make arrangements for the best placed people to hold the necessary meetings, making detailed notes as you go. Again, as per Tip1, time wisely spent now in properly preparing for the action you want to take will pay dividends later, and could even mean the difference between a fair and unfair dismissal (and several £000)!

Posted in Human Resources | 1 Comment »