Legal Staff Professionals of South Carolina

Upcoming events:

• The LSPSC 48th Annual Membership Meeting and Educational Conference is April 26-28 at the Downtown Marriott in Spartanburg. Officers for 2013-2014 will be installed on April 27.

Notes:

• For information about programs, services and membership in LSPSC visit www.lspsc.org

Charleston Association of Legal Assistants

Upcoming events:

• Membership meetings are the third Wednesday of each month. The luncheons offer opportunities for attendees to earn CLE credits.

• For more information visit www.charlestonlegalassistants.org

Legal Staff Professionals of Greenville

Upcoming events:

• LSPG’s next meeting is April 17 from 12:30 until 1:30 p.m. at the Poinsett Club and features the installation of 2013-2014 officers.

• LSPG’s regular membership meetings are the third Wednesday each month from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Poinsett Club. The meetings offer educational speakers and deliver one half-hour of CLE credit.  Contact Myra Culbertson at mculbertson@wcsr.com

• For information about joining LSPG and participating in it activities visit www.lspg.org

South Carolina Upstate Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• SCUPA holds its educational luncheon meetings on the second Thursday each month at 12:30 p.m. at the Poinsett Club, 807 E. Washington St., Greenville. More information is available at www.scupa.org

Legal Staff Professionals of the Lowcountry

Upcoming events

• Regular membership meetings are on the third Monday each month at 6 p.m. at Sunfire Grill & Bistro. The meetings offer educational speakers and webinars, one hour of CLE credit and a short business meeting. For more information contact Gina Hall at ghall@robsonforensic.com

Hilton Head Legal Staff Professionals

Upcoming events

• Regular membership meetings the second Tuesday each month at 6 p.m. The location changes monthly

Notes:

• The Hilton Head Legal Staff Professionals have donated $2,000 to its scholarship fund at Technical College of the Lowcountry.  The organization has also donated $100 to the First Baptist Church Shepard’s Closet in Bluffton, $100 to the Child Abuse Prevention Association in Beaufort and $50 to the Betsy Mosteller Medical Fund in Hilton Head. In 2012, HHLSP members participated in the American Heart Association’s Lowcountry Hearth Walk and raised $1,500 with a goal of raising $1,800 for the April 13, 2013 walk. www.lspsc.org

Legal Staff Professionals of Orangeburg

Upcoming events:

• Regular membership meetings are on the third Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. The location changes each month.   www.lspsc.org

Spartanburg County Legal Staff Professionals

Upcoming events:

• Regular membership meetings are on the second Thursday of the month at 1 p.m. at the Spartanburg Marriott at Renaissance Park.  www.lspsc.org

Legal Staff Professionals of the Midlands

Upcoming events:

• The Legal Staff Professionals of the Midlands meets the second Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, 1320 Main St., Meridian Building, 17th Floor, Columbia.  A presentation by a legal education speaker earns members a half-hour of CLE credit.  Meetings also feature a brief business session.  Bring your own lunch, and bring a friend too. Contact Jamie Early at 803-422-6813.

Palmetto Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• Regular membership meetings are on the third Wednesday each month from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Notes:

• Each spring PPA collects Easter baskets and  monetary donations for Epworth Children’s Home, Carolina Children’s Home and the Department of Mental Health.

• Membership in PPA is open to any paralegals employed by the public or private sector organizations providing legal services. Students may also join.

• Contact www.ppasc.org for more information.

S.C. Roster Administrators

Upcoming events:

• The S.C. Roster Administrators hold regular membership meetings the third Tuesday each month from 1 to 2:15 p.m. at various law firms in Columbia. Visit www.scrosteradministrators.org for details on upcoming meetings and events.

Notes:

• Membership in S.C. Roster Administrators is free. The organization focuses on learning from others using the South Carolina roster system and to teach others about the system.  Requirements for membership are an interest in the South Carolina civil court roster system and a willingness to share information and knowledge. Contact Laurie Jennings at Laurie@scrosteradministrators.org.

Alamance County Paralegal Association

Upcoming Events

• Regular membership meetings are on the third Tuesday of every month at 12:20 p.m. at Carver’s on Elm in Graham.

Asheville Area Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• Monthly Membership Meetings are the first Thursday of every month at noon at Loretta’s, 114 N. Lexington Ave. in downtown Asheville. Monthly meeting topics vary from meeting to meeting. They are posted online at www.aapaonline.net. First-time meeting attendees will be admitted free of charge.

• Roundtable meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month in a downtown restaurant from noon to 1 p.m.  Each participant is responsible for paying for his or her own meal and the topics vary from month to month. Visit www.aapaonline.net for details.

Notes:

• AAPA sends out a monthly newsletter full of information for paralegals. If you would like to stay informed on the latest events in the Asheville area legal community, please email Victoria Townley to be added to the mailing list.

Catawba Valley Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• CVPA meets monthly on the second Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Catawba Valley Community College Auditorium. Membership is open to paralegals, legal assistants, legal secretaries, attorneys, students enrolled in paralegal educational programs, educators, judiciary employees and employees of other recognized legal services.

• The next CPE program takes place April 9. For information about CPE or the association in general, visit www.catawbavalleyparalegalassoc.org

Notes:

• CVPA is seeking members to volunteer for a committee. Volunteering is a great way to network, meet other paralegals, and serve the profession.  Committees include: CPE, membership/benefits, website/publicity, newsletter, legal updates/ethics, community outreach, fundraising and social. Visit the association’s website to learn more.

Cumberland County Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• Monthly membership meetings are the second Thursday of each month at 12:30 p.m. at various locations. Visit www.ccpara.com for details.

• Mark your calendar for the Cumberland County Paralegal Association’s 22nd Annual Spring Seminar, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 13 at Methodist University. Topics include Ethics, Family Law, Worker’s Compensation, Incompetency and Guardianships, Social Media & Internet Research, and Violence in the Work Place. Breakfast and lunch will be provided as part of the registration fee.  Local vendors will be on hand to sell their wares and sponsored giveaways will be raffled through out the day. Visit the website at http://www.ccpara.com  or contact Angela Graack at algraack@mccauleyandperson.com for further information or registration forms.

Notes:

• The CCPA is looking for new members to get involved with our association and the local community.  The membership year begins May 1. New and returning members can access the membership forms online at our website at http://www.ccpara.com .

Guilford Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• GPA meets on the second Tuesday of every month in Greensboro or High Point. Meetings are open to attorneys, legal support staff and others connected to the legal profession. Visit GPA’s website at www.guilfordparalegalassociation.org for information on meetings, special events and continuing education opportunities.

• The association’s 7th Annual Spring Seminar will be held on Saturday, May 4 at the Koury Center in Greensboro. Approval is pending for 5 hours general credit and one hour of ethics credit. Registration is open.

Notes:

• GPA provided lunch to a Habitat for Humanity work crew on Saturday, January 19. Seven members participated.

Legal Support Staff of North Carolina

Notes:

• The Legal Support Staff of North Carolina is open to all legal secretaries, assisants, paralegals, attorneys and students.  The organization offers opportunities throughout the year to earn CLE credit, including at its annual meeting and fall seminar. Schedules for certification exams are also available.  LSSNC also has an awards program recognizing educational accomplishments. For more information visit www.lssnc.com

Metrolina Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• Monthly membership meetings are on the second Thursday of each month at noon at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 115 W. 7th St., Charlotte. The MPA also holds two CLE seminars each year, usually in February and September.

Notes:

• MPA awards a Paralegal of the Year Award to a paralegal who has demonstrated a commitment to professionalism and the advancement of the legal community. Nominations may be made by any MPA member or an attorney. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 1.

• Visit www.charlotteareaparalegals.com for information about meetings and the Paralegal of the Year program.

North Carolina Bar Association Paralegal Division

Upcoming events:

• The division offers a variety of CLE and professional development opportunities throughout the year, in person and via webinar.

• The next Paralegal Division Annual Meeting is May 10 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro.

• The NCBA Paralegal Division is offering free lunch and learning presentations in Davidson and Guilford counties this spring, targeting students. The program “Jump-Start Your Career” features Art Burke, a coach with the National Group. The presentations will be at Guilford Technical Community College and Davidson County Community College.

Notes:

• The NCBA Paralegal Division has nearly 1,300 paralegal and paralegal student members throughout the state. Continuing Education programs for CPE/CLE credit are available six to eight times a year.

• Interested in joining? Membership in the Paralegal Division is $50 a year and includes access to the NCBA career service department, discounts on all CPEs and CLEs and opportunities for membership scholarships and the Distringuished Paralegal Award.

• The NCBA Paralegal Division also offers scholarships for student members. The deadline to apply this year is April 5.

• Visit www.paralegaldivision.ncbar.org for news and information about upcoming meetings and programs.

North Carolina Paralegal Association, Inc.

Upcoming events:

• NCPA’s 33rd Annual Seminar and Meeting takes place April 4-6 at Wrightsville Beach.

Notes:

• The North Carolina Paralegal Association sponsors a mentoring program to develop and promote the career development and professionalism of future paralegals.  The program invites senior paralegals to share their knowledge of the profession and their areas of expertise with junior paralegals and students enrolled in a North Carolina paralegal program.

• Results of the NCPA 2012 Paralegal Utilization and Compensation Survey are posted on the organization’s website. The survey features responses from 155 paralegals.

• For more information about NCPA’s programming, visit www.ncparalegal.org

N.C. Advocates for Justice Paralegal Division

Notes:

• Educational information is available on the CLE calendar at www.ncaj.com

Raleigh-Wake Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• The Raleigh-Wake Paralegal Association will hold its next member luncheon/speaker meeting April 10 at 12:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn on Glenwood and 440.   For information becoming a member or the upcoming meeting, please go to www.raleighwakeparalegal.net.

Notes:

• The RWPA Bylaws provide membership to working paralegals, students, patrons, and anyone with up-to-date North Carolina Paralegal Certification status who lives or works in Wake County or Research Triangle Park. Meetings are held bi-monthly from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at the Holiday Inn across from Crabtree Valley Mall on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh. Guest speakers discuss topics related to the legal profession or to self-improvement.

• In addition to these member meetings, the RWPA sponsors an annual scholarship, provides e-mentoring services to students enrolled in area paralegal programs, runs a job bank listing for members, and hosts an annual CLE seminar open to those working in the legal field statewide. The RWPA also chooses several area charities and provides funds and/or services to those in need annually.  Social events and networking opportunities are also offered.

• Visit www.raleighwakeparalegal.net for information about membership and activities.

Research Triangle Paralegal Association

Upcoming events:

• The next luncheon meeting takes place on Wednesday, April 17, from noon until 1 p.m. at Myers, Bigel, Sibley & Sajovec at 4140 Parklake Avenue, Raleigh.

• RTPA holds bi-monthly lunch meetings hosted at area law firms or corporations that employ RTPA members.  Each meeting focuses on a variety of topics intended to encourage our members’ professional and personal growth.  Topics discussed at past meetings have included career counseling, paralegal certification legislation, paralegals as mentors, useful internet research tools, financial counseling, and stress management.

• For more information about membership, meetings, and activities visit www.rtpanc.org

I guess next we’ll learn that it’s illegal to force an employee to actually work at work.

This Alice-in-Wonderland ruling is compliments of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. The immediate beneficiary of the ruling is Rodney McMillan.

McMillan is a social worker employed as a case manager for the Community Alternative Systems Agency. The agency is part of the New York City Human Resources Administration. McMillan’s job duties include conducting home visits, recertifying clients for Medicaid eligibility and making referrals to other social service agencies.

McMillan’s employer is already pretty flexible when it comes to work hours. The agency’s flex-time policy allows employees to arrive anytime between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m., and workers are not actually considered late unless they arrive after 10:15 a.m. Employees may leave the office between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Case managers like McMillan are only required to work 35 hours per week minus their one-hour break for lunch, so all in all the job seems like a pretty good gig.

According to court records, McMillan suffers from schizophrenia. McMillan claims that the medication he takes to treat his condition makes him “sluggish” in the morning. As a result, he often arrives late for work, sometimes after 11:00 a.m.

For several years, the agency tolerated McMillan’s tardiness, but in 2008 his supervisors had had enough. The agency fined McMillan eight days’ pay for his late arrivals and took further disciplinary action to have him terminated. The city ultimately backed off, reducing the penalty to a 30-day suspension without pay.

But McMillan felt oppressed by his employer’s actions, so he sued the city in federal court for violating his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to McMillan, under the ADA, he was entitled to a reasonable accommodation in the form of a later start time. Specifically, McMillan claimed that he should be allowed to show up for work as late as 11:00 a.m., making up his hours by working later.

A federal judge with some common sense ruled in favor of the city, finding that the ability to arrive at work within a designated time period with some degree of consistency was an essential function of McMillan’s job.

But the 2nd Circuit somehow found fault with the district court’s unremarkable conclusion and revived McMillan’s lawsuit for further fact-finding.

“[I]f we draw all reasonable inferences in McMillan’s favor – as we must at summary judgment – it is not evident that a timely arrival at work is an essential function of McMillan’s job, provided that he is able to offset the time missed due to tardiness with additional hours worked to complete the actual essential functions of his job,” wrote Circuit Judge John M. Walker Jr. for a unanimous panel. (The case is McMillan v. New York City)

Michael G. O’Neill, McMillan’s attorney, told Reuters, that the “signature point” of the decision is that it “puts an end to the notion that showing up for work at a specific time is a central component of a job.”

I’m sure that knocking down that pillar of employment will just do wonders for the ability of American businesses to compete in the world marketplace.

Buel’s passion eventually took her all the way to Harvard Law School. She went to work in Boston for a legal aid group, and her boss said he’d write a recommendation to law school for her. She told him she wanted to go to Harvard, but he said she needed to be realistic and choose some other schools.

“I thought, ‘There’s one thing I know how to do: how to pray, how to focus on what I want,’” Buel says. “So I drove my beat up old Ford Escort past Harvard Law and just yelled, ‘You’re gonna let me in!’

“Then I got braver and went in. They had multi-colored lockers, my son liked the Syracuse Orange, so I said, ‘I want an orange locker.’ And the most amazing thing happened; they gave me a full scholarship and an orange locker.”

Buel teaches family violence and the law and criminal law at Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University. She is also founding director of the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice, operated by the law school, which provides free legal and social services support to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and sex trafficking. Buel conducts some law classes at the center and oversees the center’s Ruth V. McGregor Family Protection Clinic, guiding student interns to help clients.

Getting off welfare

Buel left an abusive husband in 1977 and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law in 1990. Between those milestones, Buel was getting another education — on the plight of domestic violence victims and the law.

She got off welfare with the help of training to become a paralegal. She worked in rural New Hampshire, but also left New England a couple of times to avoid her threatening ex-husband, working in Seattle and Denver. She spent seven years getting her bachelor’s degree, attending six different colleges, mostly at night.

Buel’s early inspiration to speak up for people who needed help came from her mother. A Holocaust survivor from Vienna, Buel’s mother came to the United States as a girl, but lost most of her family in the concentration camps. She supported seven children as a single mother. Buel’s father did not contribute regular support. Buel saw her mother struggle and experienced poverty with her four siblings and two cousins being raised with her.

“She was just so sweet, she did not know how to speak up for herself and people took advantage of her,” Buel says of her mother. “It just infuriated me, so I said I am going to learn how to speak up for poor people. My initial interest was around poverty law.”

The TV show “Perry Mason” became an inspiration, too. Buel says her family had no television, but when she was 12 years-old and babysitting for neighbors, she saw the fictional Los Angeles defense attorney on the screen for the first time.

“I had been to the mountain top!” Buel says. “This guy knows how to speak up for those who can’t do it for themselves. This is what the law can do.”

She noted that although there were no women lawyers on TV, even Mason’s secretary Della Street got into some of the action, so Buel envisioned working her own way up.

Buel had married her high-school sweetheart, “a typical Jekyll and Hyde,” she says. Even her mom was baffled when she left him, Buel says. He was a perfect gentleman in public. She stayed with him for three years after the violence began, but there had been verbal abuse earlier. When she left, she was able to go to her mother’s and step-father’s dairy farm in New Hampshire. Buel says she was lucky to have that safety net. Many women she’s encountered in her work don’t have the loving support she experienced from her mother.

Buel uses her own experience in her work to teach law students and offer services for victims of domestic violence, but she didn’t always see herself in the same place as the women she helped early in her career.

“I didn’t identify as a battered woman,” Buel says, until a mothers’ support group at her son’s daycare went from sharing childcare strategies to discovering that nine of the 12 women in the group were being actively stalked by an abuser.

“It was transformative to hear others with the same experience I had,” she says. Buel decided she wasn’t going to let the experience of abuse define her.

During her first term at Harvard Law, the court where she had worked providing legal aid continued to call, asking her to take “just one more case.” So Buel placed an ad in the student paper to ask for volunteers to help abuse victims. She says 78 students showed up at the first meeting.

“By the end of the year, we had 230 students providing legal assistance and 30 percent were men. We were able to do a lot of advocacy.”

As those students graduated and were hired by Boston law firms, 15 of the largest firms set up domestic violence pro bono projects, Buel says.

Proud to have been fired 

Buel sees domestic violence as a part the larger issue of human rights. She brings up the United Nations’ 1948 Declaration of Human Rights.

“Every human being has a right to be treated with dignity,” Buel quotes, sometimes in court, she says.

“I love the idea of integrating human rights into our discussions of what ought to be happening in the United States,” she says, “We are so good at pointing out the problems in China, Tiananmen Square. But women’s prisons in the U.S. are some of the worst human rights violators in the world.”

Buel narrated a documentary film about domestic violence, “Defending Our Lives,” which won an Academy Award in 1992.

“One of the things I’m most proud of,” Buel says, “is getting let go from the Suffolk County, New York, District Attorney’s Office for making that documentary.

“They told me, ‘You can’t be working on getting people out of prison, your job is to put them in.’ I said, ‘No, the prosecutor’s job in every state is twofold, to ensure justice is served and to ensure public safety. Neither of those is happening with these women in prison who are the true victims.’”

Buel’s boss told her if she was going to continue with that work, she couldn’t work there. She told him, “The person who signs my paycheck doesn’t get to determine my ethics.”

Buel is writing a book to be published next year, “Rethinking Abuse: Positive Rights for Abuse Victims,” by New York University Press. 

She graduated from Heritage Christian Academy, earned her paralegal degree from Johnston Community College and a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Mount Olive College.

Seagroves has wanted to be a lawyer as long as she can remember. Today, she is pursuing a law degree at North Carolina Central University Law School, while working full time as a paralegal at Kirk Kirk Howell Cutler & Thomas in Wendell—the firm that hired her as a runner when she was 16 years old.

CPN: What attracted you to the law, and when did you first start thinking about your career path?

CS: I have always been intrigued by the law, and my passion for the law has grown deeper over the years. I have never doubted this was God’s will for my life.  I took my first steps into a courtroom as a law firm runner before moving into a paralegal position. I earned my degree in the field, became certified with the N.C. State Bar, and became focused on going to law school.

CPN: What was your first job? 

CS: My very first job was as a customer service representative at our local Walmart.  I was introduced to the role of customer service and satisfaction which helped prepare me for the legal business, and is a skill I use daily.

CPN: Did you map out your career path or did you figure it out as you went along?

CS: I really did not map out my career.  Earning a law degree was always my goal but I’ve embraced every career opportunity in the interim.  From the runner’s position forward, I built upon my paralegal career and achievements. I’m excited to be furthering my career in law school, but I am also proud of my paralegal career.

CPN: How are you able to stick with it?

CS: I worked full time while earning both of my college degrees, and I still work full time while attending law school three nights a week.  I love my job.  It is a balancing act, requiring an enormous amount of dedication.  It also requires support from my employer, friends, family, and my husband, Daniel, who supports my work and my education. He has never complained about a missed dinner date, late night study session or my weekends at the library camped out for exams.  He encourages me, loves me, and holds my hand through all of it, and that makes all the difference.

CPN: Do you have any mentors or role models? 

CS: From my parents to the attorneys at my law firm, I have been surrounded by encouragement.  Camille Stell and Jackie Houser are two women who have meant a great deal to me, especially in my career journey. Camille is a confidant, a teacher, a friend, and most of all, a voice of support in every situation.  Jackie Houser was one of my paralegal professors at JCC and recently finished her law degree. Her determination and perseverance have been very influential.  Whether providing a voice of calm in the middle of an exam breakdown or a voice of reason when my social plate over flows, these ladies have my back and it means the world to me.

CPN: Describe the importance of setting goals.

CS: Goals are great to set and to continuously re-evaluate. Goals allow you to keep a sense of direction in life and regardless of the time it takes to achieve them, as long as you continue to work toward them, you’re moving in the right direction.

CPN: What goals have you set for yourself? 

CS: I am in my first year of my law school’s four-year evening program, so graduating is certainly a goal. And let’s not forget passing the bar.  Even beyond my degree, practicing law can help me reach new goals. New goals continue to evolve as I delve further into my law courses. I am not one to just settle.  I want to be my best and do the very best I can.

CPN: Do you have any advice for other women to advance their careers?

CS: Never forego even small opportunities; instead, seize them. Often the smallest things you do in your profession lay the foundation for your career.  For any paralegal considering law school, I caution that it is not something to enter into lightly; it requires a lot of time, dedication, and sacrifice mentally, emotionally, and financially.

CPN: What do you enjoy doing for fun and recreation?

CS: Before law school, I would have replied “walking the dog, or reading a good crime novel.”  Since starting law school, I never read as a pastime. Now I look forward to an actual meal that is not eaten in the car, or in a small corner of my desk.  I appreciate down time with my husband or friends.

CPN: Throughout your journey, what is one thing you have learned about yourself?

CS: I am too critical of myself.  Anything less than my very best is unacceptable. I have a tendency to measure “my best” in terms of concepts like position, achievements, or grades.  I have learned that doing my best means giving my all to my greatest ability.

With a keen interest in working with children, Pixley was determined to pursue a career in education. As a senior, she was accepted into The Community School, a program that gave students volunteer opportunities to match their career interests.  Pixley’s first assignment was in a group home for children.

Later, she found herself volunteering with her own kindergarten teacher, and she loved the experience.

In college, Pixley majored in social work and graduated in 1981 from Syracuse University after majoring in social work and minoring in psychiatry and children studies.

CPN: When did you first realize you wanted to work in the legal world?

LP: A previous boss encouraged me to go back to school in 1992. I thought I could pursue a paralegal degree and combine it with my social work experience and eventually work in family law. I went back to college taking classes two nights a week for two years, while working a full-time job. I graduated in 1994 from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT summa cum laude with an A.S. in paralegal studies.

CPN: Have you always been active in professional societies?

LP: I have been a member of the Research Triangle Paralegal Association since 2007, and I am currently serving as RTPA president. I’ve been a member of the North Carolina Paralegal Association and the North Carolina Bar Association-Paralegal Division since 2006. In 2012, I became the chair of publications of the NCBA-PD. I am serving on a committee helping to plan the annual Big Bar meeting in Asheville in June, where the NCBA-PD will be honored for its 15^th anniversary. I am also currently working on the NCBA-PD and RTPA annual career fair.

CPN: Have you always been in leadership positions in professional and civic groups? 

LP: Beginning in college and continuing through my adult life, I have volunteered and been associated with the Special Olympics. I have had the opportunity to meet and work with some extraordinary people, from Muhammad Ali to Ted Kennedy and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. But the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of my work has been the impact the Olympians have had on me.

CPN: Why is this involvement important to you?

LP: Involvement in any organization is vitally important to one’s development. It doesn’t matter what group you are involved in, as long as you are learning and growing from the experience, personally and/or professionally. We all bring our individual talents to the table and when combined with the talents of others, the results can be phenomenal

CPN: How has your involvement in professional groups benefited you personally and professionally?

LP: I have found the friendships that I have developed and preserved over the years to be the most enduring.  As I meet with my peers from throughout North Carolina, practicing in different areas of law and organizations, from large corporate organizations to small private practices, I am struck by our desire and willingness to help others.

CPN: Who were your role models?

LP: My late father, Gary M. Pixley.

CPN: How to you manage your time so you can do it all?

LP: Ask anyone, I’m a list person, constantly working off of a list! I also rely heavily on my Outlook calendar. I would be lost without it.

CPN: What do you like best about your job and your career?

LP: I currently work as the sole patent paralegal at my company. My position is autonomous and I’m fortunate to have a boss who does not micromanage. I have worked in various areas of law: corporate, wills and estates, contracts, mergers and acquisitions, trademarks, and patents. I enjoy working in intellectual property. No two days are the same.

CPN: What is the most challenging aspect?

LP: Some days you just want to ignore email and get some work done.

CPN: What are your hobbies?

LP: I love the outdoors. I find gardening to be therapeutic. I grow herbs, vegetables, and many flowers. I enjoy reading a good book. I love to cook and enjoy trying new and interesting foods. I enjoy travel and exploring new places.

CPN: What is your favorite way to spend the weekend?

LP: It depends on the time of year. I absolutely love the beach. I enjoy walking on the beach as the sun rises in the morning and as it sets in the evening. To me there is nothing more peaceful. I enjoy sitting in my backyard in the summertime with a good book.  Any time spent with my dog and loved ones is always special.

My friend, Karma, stuck around for a few months and then, like a desert apparition, faded into nothingness. Abandoned, alone, and broke, I quit, returning to the comforting chaos that is a law firm. This second stint at the rodeo would prove different, though, as I somehow managed to land a job in litigation support. Six months in, my old girlfriend Karma has decided to show back up.

Here I sit today, six months into what feels like an M.I.T. crash course of .dii file types, FTP transfers, data harvesting, load files, extracted text, and a hellish concept called delimiters that causes actual, physical pain to my body. Karma taunts me at every turn, smirking as I attempt to explain a review platform to an attorney who can’t type. The punches I threw at my frienemy, the IT guy, haunt me daily. I am one of them, now, and Karma can’t quit laughing.

Think of your Litigation Support Specialist as a bridge, a hidden bridge between two feudal nation-states deep in the Amazon rainforest. A rocky, cavernous divide cuts them sharply and the Litigation Support Specialist (i.e., me) stretches between them precariously. The ropes are worn and frayed, their surface stained with the blood and sweat of the brave who have crossed before me. I am standing awkwardly in the middle, seriously considering the quick and certain death awaiting me in the churning rapids below. A delirious attorney foams with anger on my right; a software engineer laughs maniacally on my left.

I spend my days deciphering a nearly incommunicable language from data technicians, unraveling cryptic emails and then translating that information to a format somewhat understandable by the general public. My nights are spent pondering how in the hell I am going to do just that and my dreams are typically haunted by staff members screaming obscenities at their computers while I huddle in a corner, crying like a child.

At least one vendor that I’m aware of mocks me on a daily basis. Who knew there was a distinct difference between ‘foldering’ and ‘saved searches’?  “Not I,” said the sacrificial lamb, “Not I.”

Don’t you know that a Citrix Receiver times out?…..Your Java is out of date!…..The system won’t let me in…..I have 23,491 emails I’ve printed out for you. I hastily throw myself on the alter, beg for mercy, take a big, fat, deep breath and start breaking down the wall bit by bit (no computer pun intended).

My short stint in Lit Support has taught me many things. I actually do know what an MD5 hash code is. I understand how to add users, assign rights and apply data group properties. I grasp the concept of near de-duplication and am currently hacking away at a strange phenomenon called SQL. For what little I have attained thus far, I thank my ever-patient boss, without whom I would surely have jumped off the cliff by now. Without his carefully thought-out and calmly delivered responses to my ceaseless line of questioning, I would be lost.

Of all the information I’ve acquired, though, the most valuable has nothing to do with geek speak and everything to do with being human. As I teeter on the rickety planks of the bridge of hell, I take words like ‘patience’ and ‘understanding’ deathly seriously. We are human. We are afraid. We miscommunicate, frustrate and break our promise to do no harm. None of us is without fault which is precisely why, as Litigation Support becomes an integral part of the practice of law, we need to take special care with every word and deed.

While attempting to cross the great divide with a new set of rules and a team of players that obviously don’t fit the legal mold, it is inevitable that our messages will drown in the roaring river beneath us.  Don’t assume that attorneys and database architects speak the same language. I can assure you unequivocally that they do not. Societal and technological evolution has set these two adversaries on a collision course ordained by fate (and Zubuke). Throwing yourself off the edge “Last of the Mohicans”-style is not an option, nor is crumpling into a panic-induced fetal position. How you choose to traverse this great divide is entirely up to you.

Those of us who have willingly chosen to work in Lit Support have volunteered to bridge the gap.  We have taken it upon ourselves to serve as mediators between tireless soldiers and worthy opponents. I look across the divide, beyond the foaming attorney, past the legal secretary waiting to devour my soul and spy my old friend, Karma. She cackles, a menacing grin snarling over her putrid teeth.

I’m beginning not to like her.

Walk slowly, ease into it, listen carefully, and, whatever you do, don’t look down.

Lindsay Valek is a litigation support specialist and writer in Columbia, S.C.

Many lawyers and firms are still reeling from the economic downturn of recent years while trying to figure out what the future looks like. Some firms are trying to figure out how to do more with less. Many paralegals have a bird’s eye view of the firm’s financials and they are worried. However, many lawyers and paralegals that are let go never see it coming.

Don’t be caught unaware. Look for red flags that your job may be in jeopardy.

Firm economics

• Failure/merger/down-sizing of your firm’s top client

• Signals from attorneys – have any rainmakers departed recently?  The trickle-down effect may be less business for the firm with a workforce reduction to follow

• Firm has lost or continues to lose its large clients, particularly those that historically have been the firm’s bread and butter

• Firm manager or supervising attorney suggests that you need to start bringing in some work

• Firm manager or supervising attorney advises the paralegal that in order to increase her billable hours, she must think of the attorneys as her clients. In other words, take them out to lunch, pitch your services and attempt to obtain assignments.

• Firm decides not to fill paralegal positions due to attrition or prior lay-offs

• Firm cutting back in other areas—no firm outings, limited staff and attorney functions, no lunch meetings, firm providing fewer meals to clients

• Firm discussions regarding billable rates and possible move to flat fee pricing (Clients may be making this call, but is the firm looking to make this more attractive with employees with less experience and cheaper billing rates?)

• Firm reduction in salaries, elimination of bonuses, no holiday gifts, reduction in perks such as staff lunches or appreciation events

Firm relationships are deteriorating

• Discord and division among the partners and between departments

• Backstabbing and loss of teamwork

• Employer has warned you about certain behavior and you haven’t made a change

• There is competition for the legal work – among paralegals and associates  – and the work isn’t coming to you

Change in relationship
with supervising attorney or team

• Change in job title

• Move from one legal team to another

• Move office (from nice office to less nice, to cubicle or to less desirable location)

• Employer’s words and actions don’t m atch (“we’re doing great” but they are visibly cutting expenses, your review was excellent but you’re not getting the same amount of work you used to get)

• Fewer assignments being delegated to paralegal, despite requests for work

• Sudden request and push for completion of projects— particularly if paralegal requested to do so is the only one with experience in this area

• Other partners in the firm no longer coming to paralegal seeking the paralegal’s assistance and/or expertise

• Shift in leadership in the paralegal’s department — if the partner for whom the paralegal works loses his/her leadership position (i.e. practice group leader), then the paralegal will lose her status as well

• Paralegal’s supervising attorney no longer making small talk or stopping by the office to chat

• Paralegal’s billable hours declining or flat (even if no fault of the paralegal and simply the firm’s inability to retain clients)

• Less experienced paralegals being asked to take on and learn more complex transactions (a sign they are phasing out senior paralegals)

• Paralegals being asked to assume paralegal functions from another department

• Lack of feedback on assignments, where all assignments previously received either corrections, praise or both

Firm’s reaction to changes

• Rumors of firm layoff

• Department or firm no longer conducting any meetings – no department meetings, no paralegal meetings, no firm meetings, except when absolutely necessary. This may be the firm’s way of thinking “no news is good news,” but generally this fosters gossip and more fear of the firm’s status.

Am I next?

• You are unhappy in your job (performance will be impacted and others will notice)

• Attorney requesting paralegal’s checklists, client contact information and procedures. This is the attorney preparing for paralegal’s dismissal or for his change in employment.

• Don’t dismiss that “gut feeling.” Don’t let paranoia take hold, but there is something to be said for listening to your instincts.

Tips

• Update your resume.

• Strengthen your networking relationships.

• Start a LinkedIn account, strengthen your LinkedIn profile and continue to add connections. A paralegal told me recently that she wished she had connected with clients on LinkedIn before she began seeing so many red flags at work. Now she worries that her attorneys will be suspicious if she starts reaching out.

• Get involved with paralegal associations or attend meetings to renew relationships and meet new people.

• Take a class or CPE in a new area to expand your skills.

• Make sure your soft skills are at peak performance. Soft skills include your communication skills, having a winning attitude, your ability to work well with a team, flexibility, initiative, strong work ethic. If you feel you need help in any of these areas, talk with a trusted mentor or advisor, seek a career coach, talk with a legal recruiter and get advice.

• Have a crucial conversation with your employer or HR director.

More advice

Anna Cates Williams, managing director of the Raleigh office of Special Counsel, Inc. has her finger on the pulse of the North Carolina legal market. She offers this advice:

• Be market savvy.  This includes being aware of how your firm stacks up in the market. The people who are on the forefront of hiring trends are the people who know about them.

• Pay attention to the attorneys, especially the rainmakers, at your firm.  Any departures? Retirements or pending retirements? Has your firm taken action to  replace/hire others?

• Consider the hypothetical counter offer:  I ask every candidate who is currently employed what he or she would do if faced with a new opportunity and a current employer counter-offered with a raise.  If there are already red flags, ask yourself if getting a raise is a logical response of the firm and if there are long-term prospects for you at an increased salary. If you think the firm would welcome your departure, you should be more than a passive job seeker. Be prepared in case they make the first move.

• Know who is in your corner.  This is not the same as knowing who will give you a good reference.  You need to know who will be pro-active for you when you find yourself without a job.  Once you know who that is, make sure they know how they can help you. Are they willing to make calls on your behalf? Provide job search tips? Keep them in the loop and stay in touch during your search. Also, make sure one of your first calls is to these cheerleaders when you get a job. Be sure to thank them for their efforts.

• Also, before you take a new job, do your homework. I commonly encounter candidates taking positions with firms that experience high turnover. They will say, “I had no idea it was like this until I got here.” Research job offers.  Using a simple LinkedIn search and basic math one could deduce that if 50+ paralegals have worked for a firm of 10 attorneys in the past couple years, it is likely high-turnover – and for a reason.

• Take charge of your own career.  If you aren’t, who is? There is no substitute for “fire in the belly.”  I am always looking for candidates with desire.  The quickest way to lose me in an interview is to tell me you are “open to anything.” Really? That’s almost always untrue.  Know what you want and work toward it.

Cates Williams ends with this advice, “Simply ask yourself, am I doing the best I can every day with a smile? If not, figure out why and change it. Otherwise, remind yourself that there is someone out there who will.”

The New Normal

Change is rarely pleasant, but change is here to stay.

Camille Stell is the Director of Client Services
for Lawyers Mutual. Contact her
at camille@lawyersmutualnc.com
or 800-662-884.

Before, when a lawyer would ask the paralegal, “Do you have the discovery finished?” the paralegal could see the smile on the face of the lawyer, feel confidence in giving the answer, and everyone went their separate ways until the discovery was done.

Imagine in today’s email-driven law firm the same question. The email goes out to an overly burdened paralegal who has a handle on the discovery but has an emergency going on. In comes the ding of the email, a tinny voice that says “you have email,” and the paralegal pulls up an email that says in the subject line: “Do you have the discovery finished?”

The paralegal tenses up, starts to feel angry that with all that is going on, the lawyer has to know about the discovery NOW!  The paralegal shoots off an email that says, “I’m doing the best I can!” This results in a flurry of emails between the two that gets off track, wastes time, and causes each to be frustrated with the other.

Simply put, the email tone is never on the sender. You can’t tell what the sender is thinking. The tone perceived is from the recipient.  If you are in a good mood or not under pressure, you would answer easily. If you are already frustrated, your face-to-face ways come into play and you respond in a negative way via email.

Email can work. It can be a tool of efficiency and a way to free up time for both lawyers and paralegals. There just need to be some ground rules put into play within the firm and an understanding of human nature.  The following are 10 rules I recommend:

Never discuss a person’s work performance in an email.

This is strictly a face-to-face conversation. If the law firm members, from the top to the bottom, believe this then they can never question what someone meant.

Emails are for relaying information on work.

With today’s wide use of e-discovery in almost all matters from email to Twitter to Facebook, seeking the firm’s email may not be that impossible. Finding personal email or comments between firm members can be a huge embarrassment. If you have conversations that are not firm business via the firm’s email, you may find your emails a subject of scrutiny.

Only send relevant email.

The biggest complaint we get in our firm surveys is the sending of an email to everyone when only a few are relevant. Or, a flurry of information-only emails that prompt a smiley face. Only respond if you are asked for a response.

Use the subject line to convey topic and urgency.

If you can tell someone in a quick glance how important the email is, it tells the recipient if it needs immediate attention or can wait. In today’s busy workforce this is crucial. Don’t assume someone sees your email immediately. Many people today are setting times to review emails so they can work uninterrupted.

Never send an email in anger.

Always step back if you feel that moment of frustration or anger because of something you perceived was said. Emails do not go away.

Keep emails brief and relevant.

Emails are not the place for long memos. Remember people tend to want to read and move on. If you have something more than a short paragraph or two, you need to think if it should be sent via attachment.

Don’t flood people with emails.

If you find yourself sending lots of emails during a particular time of day to certain people, you may want to ask for a face-to-face and go over all the questions at one time. Our world is hard enough without adding fuel to the fire in working together.

Keep the personal out of professional. 

Work email is not for gossip, secrets, personal comments between friends, etc. Again, emails don’t go away. Despite our thought that our email account is secret, the truth of the matter is it belongs to the firm.

Courtesy works.

 Please and thank you still work even in emails. Avoid confrontational words in email. Always read your email one time before you send it.

Who needs this email?

Before you hit send, think of who needs to see this email. In today’s time, it is so easy to quickly hit send that we forget we are just creating more emails for people who don’t need to see the email. Make sure you are sending to who you think you are. Don’t send a confidential email to someone else by accident. Be careful about “respond to all.”

Want to change email policy?  Call a meeting. Let everyone talk about the pros and cons of boundaries and what needs to be done. Then change the policy. Hold people accountable. Emails can be a blessing or a curse. And when the dreaded ding sound occurs, imagine the sender with a big smile on his or her face. It will help as you read the message.

Cheryl Leone is a principal in Catalyst Group, Inc, a national professional development company that provides high performance executive level strategic planning, management, and firm training for lawyers and law firms.  Leone speaks and writes under Law Firm Coach.  Catalyst is in Raleigh, N.C. For more information, go to
www.catalystgroupinc.com.