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Award-winning Edinburgh law firm, Anderson Strathern, has selected the Microsoft Office Specialist Programme
Thursday, 24 February 2005
Top Edinburgh Law Firm Selects Microsoft Office Specialist Programme
Becomes Testing Centre for internationally recognised certification
Edinburgh, Scotland, dateline…Award-winning Edinburgh law firm, Anderson Strathern, has selected the Microsoft Office Specialist Programme as the means to providing IT training for its legal support staff.
Jane Rutherford, training manager with Anderson Strathern, chose the Office Specialist Certification over other competing courses, including ECDL, based on the more focused and in-depth features offered by the Office Specialist Programme. As Rutherford explains: “ECDL was too generic whereas the Office Specialist Programme offered us a clear training path and content that was directly relevant to our staff needs.”
Anderson Strathern has been accredited as an Investor in People since 1998, and as such is committed to training and developing its people to a high standard in line with business objectives. The acquisition of an external qualification ratifies the knowledge of the participants and places it on a recognised measurable scale.
“In addition to providing the best training internally, the fact that the Office Specialist Programme is internationally recognised means we can provide our employees with genuine skills and career development,” says Rutherford.
As training manager, Rutherford decided that the best way to run the programme was to become qualified as a Microsoft Master Instructor and to set up a Testing Centre in-house. “This is highly convenient for running the programme, and the firm is fortunate in having a first class training facility in which to carry out the training and to administer the exams,” she says.
The benefits to employees are many according to Rutherford. “Our staff gain an externally recognised qualification, which in turn raises confidence levels with the product. A further benefit is peer recognition and the opportunity to raise their profile as a departmental expert in the field.
“Benefits to the firm include the fact that this programme helps us work towards our business objectives of being recognised as number one in Training, and in the promotion of IT skills to increase effectiveness of work and productivity. Clients benefit too by receiving well-prepared documents in good time.”
Anderson Strathern was founded in 1992, following the merger of two long established Edinburgh firms, J & F Anderson and Strathern & Blair. Both firms were very well regarded, having been in practice for over 200 years. The firm is highly rated in legal directories such as Chambers and the Legal 500. It recently scooped two awards at this year's Scottish Legal Awards for Best Legal Website and Support Team of the Year at a ceremony in Edinburgh's International Conference Centre.
Anderson Strathern has offices in three locations, the largest being in central Edinburgh at Rutland Court, and two branch offices in Haddington and Currie. There are 230 people at the firm, including 34 Partners.
