Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Tell the ABA about Your Fave Blawgs by Peeps with No JDs

Posted on September 20, 2010
Okay, I admit I stole the idea for this post from TabletLegal, which is a completely fabo and well-written blog about Precious iPhat, I mean iPad use by legal professionals, but the post "Like TabletLegal? Tell the ABA" made me think for a minute about the unique niche I occupy as a blawger...

The Empowered Paralegal: Working with the Elder Client

Posted on September 20, 2010
The Empowered Paralegal: Working With the Elder Client by Robert E. Mongue is an insightful guide that any legal professional who works with an older population will find extremely useful. The book addresses practical concerns such as accommodating elderly clients, evaluating competency, and understanding estate tools...

Practical Paralegalism's Recommended Reading This Week

Posted on September 19, 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...

Paralegal Specialist Is Proud To Be the Biggest Loser

Posted on September 19, 2010
There aren't many times when you want to brag about being a loser. One of those times is when you beat 300 of your co-workers in a weight loss challenge.NewsBlaze reports that Spc. Tim Gallups, an Alabama native and Army paralegal specialist currently stationed in Iraq, won his unit's 10-week weight loss competition...

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Legal Secretary Turns Typewriter Keys into Stunning Jewelry

Posted on September 18, 2010
Or, Suddenly I Find Typewriters BeautifulAnne Jansen, a legal secretary at Armstrong Teasdale LLP in Clayton, Missouri, turns typewriter keys into unique jewelry that anyone would be proud to wear, even if you don't miss your crotchety old Royal or Remington...

Saturday LOL: What Do Paralegals Have in Common with Cookie Monster?

Posted on September 18, 2010
Besides an insane love of cookies, of course.I'm posting another music video today, not only because sometimes a catchy, upbeat, positive tune can bring me out of a funk. And it's not just because I think Will.i.am and Sesame Street are brilliant.It's because this song is about a lot of the personality traits that successful paralegals have...

TGIF: Paralegals Just Want to Have Fun

Posted on September 16, 2010
Earlier this week I did a post, perhaps sniping a bit, about a cute fictional legal assistant who looks 12. Maybe I'm a little jealous because I haven't seen 12 in a long time.Just how far away from 12 am I?My entire wardrobe from 1983 is in this video...

Paralegal Creates Website for the Things You Would Have Said

Posted on September 16, 2010
"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" ~ Stephen LevineAnd if you can't find that person you want to make amends to before you die, what would you do?Maybe you'd express your regrets at the website The Things You Would Have Said (http://wouldhavesaid...

Proof I Wasn't at the Mall Today

Posted on September 15, 2010
Today I got to do something I hardly ever get to do (outside of the office). In the words of one of my paralegal homies, I got to "school" an auditorium full of brand new attorneys at the North Carolina Bar Association's Practical Skills Course 2010.But I get "schooled" too when I speak to large groups, and today was no exception...

Today's Quote: Seriously, Why You Gotta Bring a Paralegal Into This?

Posted on September 15, 2010
Look, this isn't a paralegal getting slapped on the butt in the midst of a deposition at a Fifth Avenue law firm. This is an incredibly hot woman in a steamy room with a bunch of naked or nearly naked professional athletes. Under the circumstances, there ought to be a little flexibility in the definition of sexual harassment...

Clients Can Shell Out $300 Per Hour for a Legal Secretary in the Land Down Under

Posted on September 15, 2010
If this revenue-generating practice is not unusual in Australia, as alleged by Brian Bartley, chairman of the Queensland Law Society, then some law firms have found a way to turn $20 per hour legal secretaries into outrageously successful rainmakers who, with $300 per hour billing rates and earnings as high as $500,000 per year, would be more than welcome at many American firms, even in a down economy...

The Paralegal Voice: Spotlight on William P. Statsky

Posted on September 14, 2010
The latest edition of The Paralegal Voice, ?Spotlight on William P. Statsky: A True Expert on Paralegals? co-hosted by Vicki Voisin and me, is now available at Legal Talk Network.We welcome William ?Bill? Statsky, one of the foremost experts on paralegals in the country and the author of numerous paralegal and legal writing textbooks...

Paralegal Profile: Alyssa J. Mozingo

Posted on September 14, 2010
Job Title: ParalegalEmployer: RDU Paralegal, Raleigh, North CarolinaYears of Paralegal/Legal Assistant Experience: 11Education/Degrees: Justice & Public Policy, B.A.; Criminal Justice, M.S.Specialty Areas: Civil Litigation, Insurance Defense, Medical Malpractice, and Nursing Home DefenseCareer Highlight: Opening my own business in March 2010...

Why Don't Any TV Legal Assistants Look, Um, Real?

Posted on September 14, 2010
Or, Like Me?Exhibit A: (Pssssst, the pic to your right). This is Rhonda (Stephanie Lemelin) the legal assistant on ABC's new legal drama, The Whole Truth. She is 12 (okay, I made that part up). The actress describes her character, "They dress me in the cutest clothes...

ParalegaliPad: Touch It But Don't Touch It

Posted on September 14, 2010
When I saw this short clip from Modern Family, I totally related to the insanely deep-rooted desire to do anything to get my hands on an iPad. Now it's like the newborn heir to the throne, and I want to show it off to everybody - as long as they're wearing kid gloves...

Say It With a Bouquet You Can Eat

Posted on September 13, 2010
Or, We Finally Find a Good Reason to Clean Out the Firm FridgeMy standard for receiving bouquets has been forever changed by my co-worker's receipt of an Edible Arrangement today.No more posies only a domestic farm animal would find delectable. Now I want pineapple and strawberries covered in dark chocolate (which you may notice are now mostly missing from the savaged remains of the arrangement)...

Should a Legal Secretary Tell a Senior Co-Worker the Firm Plans to Let Her Go?

Posted on September 13, 2010
A legal secretary asks an advice columnist about a dilemma many of you may have experienced firsthand. When she was new to the job, a veteran employee and office manager of two decades - and a "lovely woman" to boot - showed her the ropes and helped her settle in...

Practical Paralegalism's Recommended Reading This Week

Posted on September 12, 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...

Paralegal Wins Trip to NYC in Recipe Contest

Posted on September 12, 2010
A trip to New York City to see a live fashion show would be a dream come true for this Project Runway fan. I wouldn't have had a prayer of winning that trip in Bertolli's Ristorante contest, because the closest I get to homemade ravioli is Chef Boyardee...

Does Disorderly Behavior at Home Affect Your Ability to Do Your Job?

Posted on September 12, 2010
I suspect the answer to that question should be considered on a case-by-case basis, but the city of Richland in Washington has placed a legal assistant for the city attorney on paid leave, while considering whether her recent arrest for disorderly conduct will affect her job performance...

TGIF: The Truth About Social Media Experts

Posted on September 09, 2010
I'm giving a presentation about social media at the North Carolina Paralegal Association's 26th Mid Year Seminar on Saturday - minus the two bottles of Chardonnay and the fistful of Xanax.

Today's Quote: Paralegals, You Want to Work Here

Posted on September 09, 2010
The first thing Christopher Walther admits is that before he joined the company, he wasn't an avid gamer, but now he is learning the ropes. He does, however, have attorneys and paralegals on his staff whose job it is to play games during the workday to identify and clear the hundreds of intellectual property rights issues his department faces each year as a developer and publisher of new games...

Practical Paralegalism's Guide to Paralegal Want Ads

Posted on September 09, 2010
People ask me all the time, "Why do you blog?" Duh. I blog to be helpful to my para-legal-hood (hyphens are in - see below). No, I don't get paid to do this, and I don't have any fat cat sponsors. (Because they might try to tell me what to write.) But who needs money, when you can have this much fun just reading the want ads?A Los Angeles law firm needs an experienced legal secretary but "no yellers" need apply...

Today's Quote: Take that Cart and Horse Out for a Test Drive

Posted on September 08, 2010
It would be great if the law schools seemed to care ? if they insisted that prospective students work as paralegals for a while and make sure they know what they?re getting into. But law schools are money-making concerns and they?re raking in cash the way things are...

Paralegal Profile: Dana Martinez-Jones, CP

Posted on September 08, 2010
Job Title: Corporate ParalegalEmployer: Health Care Navigator, LLC, Pensacola, FloridaYears of Paralegal Experience: 11Specialty Areas: DiscoveryCareer Highlight: When I worked in Tyler, Smith County, Texas, I was honored to be the recipient of the 2007 Legal Professional of the Year Award for Smith County...

CALDA Scholarship Honors Legal Document Assistant

Posted on September 08, 2010
A former president of the California Association of Legal Document Assistants (CALDA) and self-employed legal document assistant, Kathy Ricci, of Laguna Niguel, was known for her compassion, work ethic and expertise.Ricci died on May 15, 2010 after a 18-month battle with colon cancer...

Road to NALA CP Exam: I Eat a Whole Humble Pie

Posted on September 07, 2010
If you're reading this, and you passed NALA's Certified Paralegal exam, please stop everything you are doing right now, and just pat yourself on the back, or shake your own hand, or announce to everyone within earshot, "Dang, I am all that and a bag of chips...

Best Paralegal Assignment Ever: Researching Local Sushi

Posted on September 07, 2010
"I never eat sushi. I have trouble eating things that are merely unconscious." ~ George CarlinTruth or fiction? A paralegal for a fancy New York firm once received an assignment from a partner to locate the best sushi in town.No, not for a case - for the partner, because she couldn't find local sushi that met her exacting standards...

Paralegal Tweet: Needed One Wookie of All Trades

Posted on September 06, 2010
The old saying goes, "Give a Wookiee a knife and send him into a forest in the morning, and by evening he would have carved you a table to eat dinner on - and a house to put it in." Yep, sounds like first-rate paralegal material.

ParalegaliPad: Digital Office Blog Demos iJuror for iPad

Posted on September 06, 2010
The Internet provides endless opportunities to update your technology skills for free in the comfort of your own home. I spend about an hour a day going to what I've dubbed "iPad School," reading blog posts, especially those geared for legal professionals, and organizing resources and recommendations in my Evernote notebook titled "ParalegaliPad"...

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