Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

How the Loss of a Legal Secretary Affects a Prosecutor's Office

Posted on October 17, 2010
Times are tough everywhere, but the Alleghan County Prosecuting Attorney?s office in Michigan is really feeling the blow after county commissioners voted to lay off a full-time legal secretary and cut the $39,500 salary for this position from the annual budget...

Paralegal Is a Face of Kroger's Breast Cancer Campaign

Posted on October 17, 2010
?Look up ? and live.? ~ Robert Thomson, husband of Susan ThomsonAs you know, this is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Smith's Food and Drug, a division of The Kroger Company, is sponsoring the "Giving Hope a Hand" campaign to raise $3 million for breast cancer causes, including Komen for the Cure races and the American Cancer Society - and Utah paralegal, Susan Thomson, is one of the faces of the campaign...

Legal Secretary Advocates for Safe Injection Practices

Posted on October 17, 2010
Nevada legal secretary Karen Morrow underwent a routine colonoscopy and endoscopy in 2008, but the consequences were anything but routine. She and many other patients contracted hepatitis C due to the alleged unsafe injection practices of the physician?s clinic...

Paralegal and Attorney Lead California Pajama Program

Posted on October 17, 2010
As a proponent of adoption via the state foster care system, and an adoptive parent myself, I am excited to read about The Northern California Chapter of the Pajama Program, lead by chapter co-presidents, paralegal April Fuchs-Smith and attorney Pallie Zambrano...

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Today's Quote: Another Example of Why I Hate Paper

Posted on October 17, 2010
It is a good thing that attorneys? work product is confidential.I had this Gestalt while cleaning my office, under the watchful eyes of Bert, my secretary. Bert is usually friendly and helpful, offering potato chips, salad croutons and French fries as motivational tools...

Paralegal Sues Law Firm for Sexual Harassment and Pregnancy Discrimination

Posted on October 17, 2010
A Utah paralegal who claims she lost her job due to her pregnancy will have her case heard in federal court. Jeanne Marshall filed suit in U.S. District Court for Utah against high-profile Salt Lake City personal injury firm Siegfried & Jensen, alleging that the firm ?has a bias against pregnant women in the office...

Paralegal Saves Historic House

Posted on October 17, 2010
The Wilkinson-Bible Cottage, built in 1832 and located in Brandon, Mississippi, was facing destruction until paralegal Christal Jenkins fell in love with it, despite its leaky roof and rotting wood. Jenkins did not see a home that was too far gone to restore; she saw a historical gem...

A Good Legal Secretary Is Worth Her Weight in Rubies

Posted on October 17, 2010
I may have mentioned in a previous post that I love to read obituaries. The good ones provide glimpses into lives well-lived and celebrate people who left their mark during their lifetimes.Mrs. Lena Cinnamond, late of Northern Ireland, died last week, but she was a legal secretary for many years and left a deep impression on the attorneys she worked for ? working until she was forced to retire in her 70s due to ill-health...

Legal Staffer Duty of the Day: Ordering the Bundt Cake

Posted on October 17, 2010
I like to make sure that I portray the legal support staff profession accurately here at Practical Paralegalism. Sometimes you have to do stuff that doesn?t strictly fall under traditional clerical, administrative, or paralegal duties.Like bake cakes for office parties...

Paralegal Angles for Fifth Visit to Oprah Show

Posted on October 17, 2010
Kansas paralegal Melodie Chrisman has an Oprah coffee cup given to her by ?the queen herself.? Chrisman has been unusually lucky in her applications to attend The Oprah Winfrey show ? she?s been four times.In 2002 she was a guest on an Oprah show about bullying...

Saturday LOL: What Happens When the Groom Picks the Wedding Cake

Posted on October 16, 2010
Since I featured a divorce cake awhile back for all my readers who work in family law (or have ever gleefully shed 180 lbs after one court date), I thought I'd share a wedding cake - with a fall theme.Oddee is another cool feed I subscribe to using Google Reader...

TGIF: Who Said Notaries Can't Rap?

Posted on October 14, 2010
One of our terrific associates, who was a super smart paralegal for eight years before she became a brilliant attorney, sent me the link to this video. I found myself noddin' my head, even though that uptight-looking white guy could have been talking about the gastronomic delights of gourmet escargots (raw snails) for all I knew, since I don't speak a lick of French...

If Miss Elizabeth Bennet Had an Inbox

Posted on October 13, 2010
This isn't strictly a paralegal-themed post - more of a "look at the cool stuff I get in my Google Reader recommended items box that I otherwise wouldn't see." But I know some of you love your Jane Austen as much as I do. Sometimes to de-stress from a crazy week at the law office, I will watch any movie version of Pride and Prejudice on DVD - and be grateful my only career options aren't 1) wife 2) governess or 3) spinster/poor relation...

Today's Quote: Jurors Creeped Out by Creeps - and Nerds

Posted on October 12, 2010
So we interviewed some jurors right after the trial--and were told by all but one of them that they were seriously annoyed by some of the sneers, body language, guffaws and antics of the fire-breathing "let's kick some ass" associates and paralegals in the firms helping the plaintiff and the co-defendant in and out of the courtroom...

Paralegal Profile: Deana M. Waters, ACP

Posted on October 12, 2010
Job Title: Advanced Certified ParalegalEmployer: Cook Schuhmann & Groseclose, Inc., the largest law firm in Fairbanks, Alaska with 8 attorneys.Years of Paralegal Experience: 10Education/Degrees: BA, History/English and AAS, Legal AssistingSpecialty Areas: Civil litigation, workers compensation, family law, debt collectionCareer Highlight: Which one to pick? Passing the Judgment & Analysis section of the CLA/CP exam, even if was the on the second try...

Qualified Legal Secretary Brings Out Simon's Softer Side on The X Factor

Posted on October 11, 2010
I'm blogging about Liverpool singer and single mom, Rebecca Ferguson, not just because she trained to become a qualified legal secretary at Bootle's Hugh Baird college, but because Simon Cowell was so sweet to her during her audition for United Kingdom television talent show, The X Factor...

What Lawyers REALLY Want from Paralegals: An Awesome Sense of Humor

Posted on October 11, 2010
Pennsylvania paralegal and Paralegal Pie blogger, Kim Walker, has a terrific new article at Lawjobs.com, "What Do Attorneys Wish Their Paralegals Knew?" But I think that the most desired quality might have been left out. Maybe because all the attorneys polled thought all the other attorneys polled had already said it, although the one who wants his paralegal to give him True Blood spoilers probably thought he said it...

Practical Paralegalism's Recommended Reading This Week

Posted on October 10, 2010
I blog for paralegals, legal assistants, legal secretaries, paralegal students, paralegal educators, and all the other legal professionals essential to the practice of law - as well as the attorneys who want to get to know us better. Once a week (or every other week when I get behind), I share links to a half dozen or so articles focusing on legal news and humor, practice tips and technology...

If You Win this Contest, You Get to Kiss a Prince

Posted on October 10, 2010
Well, Only If the Frog Turns into One...If you live in Waynesville, Missouri, you can win the opportunity to kiss a live frog. Don't laugh, it's kind of a big deal in Waynesville, which hosted its thirteenth annual Frog Fest yesterday. The festival has been held since 1997 to honor Waynesville's Frog Rock, "W...

Paralegal Accuses Florida Law Firm of Mishandling Foreclosures

Posted on October 09, 2010
You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that a foreclosure crisis is rocking the nation, with Bank of America recently stopping the sale of foreclosed homes in all 50 states, pending a large scale document review amidst accusations of mishandled paperwork...

Paralegal Is a City Sister Blogger and Foodie

Posted on October 09, 2010
Anyone who throws a dinner party which includes chocolate in every dish is a domestic goddess in my book. The menu included White Chocolate Mashed Potatoes. (I've made a note not to tell my kids about this.)Texas paralegal and law student Natalie (left in the photo) did exactly that, and also shares the duties at a sophisticated and popular food and entertainment blog, The City Sisters, with her sister, Emily...

Google's Video Doodle in Honor of John Lennon's 70th Birthday

Posted on October 09, 2010
One of the best art exhibitions I've ever been to was the John Lennon Art Exhibit when it came to North Carolina, so I am completely in love with the wonderful video doodle that Google created to celebrate his 70th birthday:Also, I'm going to confess to bawling like a baby when Kurt (as played by the incredibly talented Chis Colfer) covered the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on Glee last week...

Saturday LOL: It's Good Fun

Posted on October 09, 2010
It is almost mid-October, and I realized that I have not gone anywhere on vacation this year, mostly due to different family members' medical emergencies. My wonderful spouse knows that I'm close to an all work and no play meltdown; he suggested that I take the Cairn Terrier and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi to the beach for a few days of communing with nature, sans 14-year old girls...

TGIF: Best Belly Flop Ever

Posted on October 07, 2010
So many people have sent me the link to this video because they know I am owned body and soul by a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. (The Queen of England has had at least 30, and I'd love to give her a ring sometime to find out if hers have coprophagia, too.) But I keep watching it over and over, because it makes me laugh every single time, so I'm sharing it with you...

Great Client Expectations

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Pincus Family Law firm in Columbia, South Carolina grabbed headlines in several major legal news outlets today with its website truth in advertising - which is actually kind of refreshing.Check out "Client Expectations (Realistic or Unrealistic)" for yourself, but some of those expectations seem like the stuff of dreams for many overworked paralegals, as well as other legal staffers, who really try hard to provide excellent customer service, even when some people make that task anything from somewhat to extremely difficult...

When Recycling Is an Epic (and Ethics) Fail

Posted on October 07, 2010
Or, Oh, No, He Di'intOh yes, he did. Today it's an Indiana attorney in the hotseat, who decided it was time to discard 14 boxes of client files. We don't know how old the cases were, only that he decided to go green and recycle them.Sound like a good idea? Not so much...

Today's Quote: Fisher-Price Recall Increases Legal Hiring 189%

Posted on October 06, 2010
In Regina, a major law partnership recalled 10 paralegals, four ad writers and 20 telephone operators so that the firm could drop acne cream, coffee-cup lids and whatever else it had on the go to commence a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the estimated seven million North American families at past and future risk of PPIKPS, or "Protruding Plastic Ignition Key Poke Syndrome...

Paralegal Wins Texas State Bar Pro Bono Award

Posted on October 06, 2010
Lyla Malolepszy wears many hats as a legal professional. According to her LinkedIn profile, she's a paralegal for the Law Office of Donald Johnston in Sherman, Texas, as well as the Executive Coordinator for the Grayson County Bar Association.Yet she still finds time to log many hours a year as a volunteer paralegal for Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, a service commitment she's made since 2003 when she was pursuing her associate degree in paralegal studies...

Open Thread: One Thing Paralegals Can't Live Without

Posted on October 05, 2010
This week it was plaintiff's exhibit stickers. Our firm is involved in two trials, a fine time to run out of these hot ticket items. I've always hidden an emergency set in my - well if I tell you where I'll have to kill you - but foolishly fell for a co-worker's quivering lip and [possibly crocodile] tears a few weeks ago, and handed over the highly prized and nearly extinct stickers, secure in the knowledge that I could raid my boss's secret stash if I had to...

Attorney's Former Secretary Turns Out Not to Be 'Family'

Posted on October 04, 2010
When I have a relaxing meal with former co-workers, once in a rare while we'll share a pitcher of margaritas. Not once have they ever offered me a Percocet or a Xanax, although we have certainly commiserated over some stress-inducing times on the job...

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