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ParalegalGateway's Paralegal Superstar August 2009: Chiquetta E. Simmons

By ParalegalGateway.com

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Chiquetta E. Simmons received her Paralegal Certificate from Watterson Business College (Deans List) in Charleston, SC in 1992. After graduation Chiquetta worked for two months as an intern for Judge William L. Howard, 9th Judicial Circuit Court and part-time for retired Judge Richard E. Fields. Post internship, Chiquetta began working for the Charleston County Public Defender?s Office where she worked for three years. She subsequently moved to Atlanta, Georgia where she continued to work for eight years

in various practice areas including Family Law, Torts - Personal Injury, Entertainment Law, Real Estate Law, Bankruptcy Law, Criminal Law, Juvenile Law, Probate Law, Corporate Law and Civil Litigation. In 2005, Chiquetta moved back home to Charleston, South Carolina and began working for Motley Rice LLC, in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, one of the nations largest Plaintiff?s Litigation Firm where she currently works on the Medical Team specializing in Pharmaceutical Litigation ? Product Liability (State and Federal Court). Chiquetta is an instructor in the School of Law (Motley Rice established in-house training program also known as Motley Rice University or ?MRU?, an in-house training for its employees) where she leads a class entitled ?What is Litigation?? for entry-level paralegals and/or legal secretaries. Additionally, she also joined CALA, Charleston Association of Legal Assistants in 2006 as a corresponding secretary. In 2007 Chiquetta was elected Vice-President of CALA and in 2008, she was elected President.

Chiquetta was interviewed by Carolina Paralegal News (NC/SC Lawyers Weekly Publication) for their March/April 2008 issue regarding her position as President of CALA, her plans for the 2008 year and her thoughts on the paralegal profession. During her first year as President, she has established a scholarship fund for paralegal students attending Trident Technical College and Miller-Motte Technical College. She also established CALA Day, which was held on May 31st. This is a tradition that will continue every year on the last Saturday in May is a day where the members and their families come together ato socialize and network in a fun-filled environment. Chiquetta and her Board Members recently hosted an all day Seminar on that included speakers and featured such topics as Immigration Law, Collaborative Law, Employment Law, Criminal Law and an Ethics Review Session. The seminar also allowed 6 CLE credit hours for the certified paralegals that attended. CALA was established in 1982 and has 112 members.

Chiquetta has been invited this to speak in 2009 at local paralegal colleges regarding the paralegal profession. She is a single parent of 2 children, (son Timothy, 14 (all honors/president of student council for the 8th grade/athlete), daughter Sade, 8 years old (A+ student and dancer)) and Ko-Ko our Yorkie-Poo. Additionally, she is also a full-time student at Southern Wesleyan University where she is studying to obtain her Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management and Chiquetta plans on taking the CLA exam with (NALA) National Association of Legal Assistants. One of her goals for CALA in 2009 is to establish a Paralegal mentoring program to assist the paralegals who are just entering the field. Her outside interests include relaxing whenever she can which entails a good book and kicking her feet up.

Source: ParalegalGateway.com

Full post as published by ParalegalGateway Blawg on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).