3 Must-Know Trial Notebook Tips

This quote is perfect for paralegals who assist with trial:

You were born to win, but to be a winner,

you mustplan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.

~Zig Ziegler

How do you prepare to win? Here are 3 tips:

1. Always assume every case will go to trial. This assumption means you will begin creating the trial notebook the moment the client retains the firm. Waiting until the week before trial may lead to omission of critical elements of your claim or failure to include evidence necessary to prove those elements at trial.

2. Organizing case documents begins at the initialclient interview. Case issues are formed with the information you gather during the first client meeting. Organizing documents in the very beginning makes it easier to develop the case theme.

3. A trial notebook is your trial blueprint. The mostimportant thing you can do is to organize it for quick and efficient access. The secondt hing you must do is customize it to fit the needs of the attorney trying the case.

This is just a sample of the information you must have to prepare a trial notebook. To get the tools, resources and information you need for an organized and systematic approach to assist with preparation of a case from the moment the client retains your firm until the verdict is handed down, join me and Christina L. Koch ACP when we present Trial Notebook Techniques and Strategies--How to Create the Ultimate Trial Notebook

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This 90-minute teleclass meets the requirements of the Certifying Board for Legal Assistants for the National Association of Legal Assistants for 1.5 hours of continuing legal assistant education to maintain the CLACertified Legal Assistant Credential. NFPA and NALS have indicated they issue credit for courses approved by NALA.
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For more information, follow this link.

Beverly Michaelis: T-R-E-A-T Clients Well

The January episode of The Paralegal Voice featured Beverly Michaelis, an enthusiastic supporter of Paralegals and a member of the Oregon State Bar who works with the Professional Liability Fund as a Practice Management Advisor.

The discussion with Beverly touched on many issues, including the number one cause of legal malpractice claims, important points for law office technology and training, issues with going paperless, and tips for avoiding key technology-related ethics errors.

It was great interviewing Beverly with my co-host, Lynne DeVenny, and the time just flew by so there were questions we were unable to tackle. Thankfully, Beverly touched on one of the most important questions in her recent post over at the Oregon Law Practice Management blog.

She very cleverly refers to T-R-E-A-T Clients Well:

T = Timeliness
R = Responsiveness
E = Empathy
A = Assurance
T = Tangibles

This is a great article. You should head on over to Beverly’s blog to get the full story and learn more about T-R-E-A-T Clients Well. Just follow this link.

And you can listen to Beverly's interview on The Paralegal Voice at Legal Talk Network. Thanks, Beverly!

The Death Bed Thief

This guest post is written by Julie Hall who is known as The Estate Lady. Julie is a professional estate liquidator and certified personal property appraiser. http://www.theestatelady.com. She has authored a best-selling book titled "THE BOOMER BURDEN: How to Deal With Your Parents' Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff", currently available on Amazon.com. Julie writes a weekly blog which is available at http://estatelady.wordpress.com, called The Estate Lady Speaks.

The Death Bed Thief

By Julie Hall, The Estate Lady

Exploitation can raise its ugly head in the midst of unsuspecting situations. Such was the case with the Garvey family (not real name).

Mom and Dad Garvey were about the nicest people you'd ever wish to meet. Their three adult children lived nearby; they loved to have all the grandchildren over for Sunday dinners. All of the children were successful, and the family often took vacations together. As Mom Garvey shared with me, she could not recall one moment of discord between her kids.

Dad Garvey was diagnosed with cancer at age 73, and the disease progressed rapidly. He had lived a good life, and faced his illness with grace and courage. Even as his strength waned, he loved having his family visit. But soon death was imminent and hospice was called in to assist him and his family.

That's when strange things began to happen.

One of his daughters became uncharacteristically possessive. She wanted to be at Dad's bedside around the clock. Normally a sweet and accommodating person, she would snap at her mother over the smallest thing. She accused her siblings of not caring enough for their dad, even as she tried to prevent them from being with him during his final days.

Eventually Dad Garvey passed away, with his wife and children at his bedside. But as the funeral director's hearse pulled up to take the body to the funeral home, the same daughter disappeared into the basement, while the others comforted one another in their grief.

It was a few days later that they discovered what the daughter had been doing. Apparently, while she was keeping vigil by her father's bedside, she was also surveying his belongings. When he died, she quickly grabbed the things she had stashed in the final couple weeks of his life. Mysteriously, even though Dad Garvey had prepared a will, it was never found.

This is a scary story, no doubt. But imagine, for just a moment, how different this story would have gone if the parents had given serious consideration to dividing their estate prior to infirmity or death. At the very least, they should have distributed a master list of what they wanted each child or heir to have, making sure that each child received a copy. The will should have been given to the executor or another trusted professional, so it would have been available upon death.

If every child knows the plan in advance, it will be much harder for one child to take the lion's share. Unfortunately, this scenario occurs every single day, because no one planned ahead!

© 2010 The Estate Lady

Paralegal Profile: Thirteen Questions for Cathleen M. Cummings FRP

1. Where do you work and what is your job title? I'm employed at High Stack Gordon where my title is Paralegal/Legal Assistant (or as I just told one of my clients when he said that my boss called me his secretary: "He calls me his secretary, I call myself a paralegal, but you can call me Cathie and I'll do my best job for you during our firm's representation of you.")

2. What prompted you to choose a paralegal career? My interest in law and history and the availability of a Bachelor of Arts degree through University of Central Florida.

3. What is your favorite part of your job? Finding the needle in the haystack to help my boss achieve the desired result for our client. Also when a client is truly grateful for the work done on their behalf.

4. What professional associations do you belong to? NALA, Paralegal Association of Florida, Inc. (PAF), Brevard Paralegal Association (BPA), and as a Paralegal member of Florida Bar Association and Florida Justice Association.

5. How has your membership benefited you? Education, education, education and networking, networking, networking! It's both what you know and who you know!!

6. Do you have any professional certifications? Yes, Florida Registered Paralegal (FRP) designation through Florida Bar Association.

7. What has been the highlight of your career? Acting as President of Brevard Paralegal Association (our local chapter under Paralegal Association of Florida). Our association has a membership of approximately 60 paralegals and has worked hard to be a significant member of Brevard's legal community. It was a great opportunity for me to meet so many members of our legal community. But the best part was meeting and interacting with my fellow paralegals and being their representative at the local and state level.

8. What do you see as hot trends in the paralegal industry? Definitely, I think the use of a virtual/f'reelance paralegal. Even in my small community, we have a few individuals who have thrived as f'reelance paralegals for the last few years. Also the use of social media as a research tool as an exchange for information and as a tool for mentoring.

9. Have you dipped your toes in the social media waters? Yes, I have joined LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn and Twitter were for the networking during recent job searches. My Facebook account is mainly for friends and family but I do remember that it is searchable by prospective contacts and employers. Plus, all of these resources are great search engines to find out information for on your clients and opposing parties.

Also I'm serving as publicity chair for BPA this year and hope to have LinkedIn and Twitter accounts opened for the association soon to spread the word about all of the good we're doing in Brevard County, Florida. (Note: Cathie's been true to her word and already set up the BPA account on Twitter. Follow the association: @BrevParaAssoc)

10. If someone contemplating a paralegal career asked you for career advice, what would your answer be? Continue to think of your career as ever evolving and don't be satisfied with the status quo. It can only get you in trouble. As someone who does not like change, I've had to embrace change and uncertainty in recent years and if I had taken the above advice to heart, it might not have quite as painful.

11. Is there a quote that inspires you? 'Go forth boldly in the directions of your dreams; live the life you've imagined.' ~Henry David Thoreau

12. You've enjoyed a successful paralegal career. To what single event or person do you attribute that success? I don't know that I can point to one single event/person. I've been very lucky to have had great mentors and peers to look to for guidance and inspiration.

Also I spent several years working for a successful firm that allowed me to take an active, and sometimes a guiding, role in the firm's representation in interesting and complex litigation.

13. What is the most important step a paralegal can take to keep his or her career interesting? Keep learning, take those continuing legal education courses and seminars.

Bonus...Just for Fun Fact: I love art and music and would love to work at a museum, maybe the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in my next life! In the meantime, I volunteer at Brevard Art Museum on weekends. Also I love going to rock concerts and have traveled far and wide to see my favorite bands, U2 and Police.

The Paralegal Voice: “Practice Management and Ethics Issues, Plus Choosing a Litigation Support Vendor”

The latest episode of The Paralegal Voice, “Practice Management and Ethics Issues, Plus Choosing a Litigation Support Vendor,” co-hosted by Lynne DeVenny and me, is now available at Legal Talk Network.

The first part of this episode episode features attorney Beverly Michaelis, Practice Management Advisor for the Oregon State Bar’s Professional Liability Fund, who discusses practice management, technology and current ethics issues for paralegals. She is followed by Shawn Siek, Vice President of ESI Business Development at Teris, who talks about what to look for, and how to hire, a litigation support vendor.

In this episode:

• The number one cause of legal malpractice claims
  
• Law office technology and training
  
• Getting started on going paperless
  
• Avoiding key technology-related ethics errors
  
• Top three considerations when selecting a litigation support vendor
  
• Negotiating volume-pricing and direct billing with vendors

The Paralegal Voice also thanks its sponsors: Teris, West Deposition Services, Clio and NALA, The Association for Legal Assistants/Paralegals.

Here are a few links to additional practice management resources:

Oregon Law Practice Management blog, http://oregonlawpracticemanagement.wordpress.com/

ABA Law Practice Management Section, http://www.abanet.org/lpm/home.shtml and ABA Law Practice Today, http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/

Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog, http://jimcalloway.typepad.com/

Lawyerist.com, http://lawyerist.com/

National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) ethics resources including the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Model Standards and Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegals. http://www.nala.org/

National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) ethics resources including the Paralegal Model of Professional Responsibility, guidelines for ethics and disciplinary opinions, conflicts of interest and ethics applications to paralegals, http://www.paralegals.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=330

NALS...The Association for Legal Professionals ethics resources including Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. http://www.nals.org/aboutnals/code/index.html

If you like The Paralegal Voice, please share the link with your friends and colleagues.

Do you have a request for a future show topic or a question for the hosts? Please send it to TheParalegalVoice@gmail.com.

Leadership Tip: Always Take The High Road

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The High Road is the path to leadership success. What is The High Road? Where do you find it?

The High Road is a leadership style that includes doing what is best for all of your members, always staying above the fray and never stooping to someone else's lower level. If you're on The High Road, you will handle sticky situations in a kind and ethical manner, not with retaliation and revenge.

Here are some tips for traveling The High Road:

Understand your organization's goals and values. If you take The High Road, you must have a clear understanding of the goals of your association. What is its mission? What is its long range plan for the next five or ten years? What are the needs and wants of your members?

As a leader, you must focus on these goals and values. Don't lose your focus and start chasing the goals of another organization. What they're doing is not your concern. Your job is to steer your association toward its own goals and meet your members' needs.

Don't waste your time and energy worrying about what other associations are doing. On The High Road, all of your time and energy should be focused on your own association. Every association is different and chooses a different path for delivery of programs and services to its members. So long as you are meeting the needs of your members to the best of your association's abilities, within its budget and according to industry standards, you are doing your job.

Learn how to handle criticism. Every leader will be criticized at some point. When you're on The High Road, you will listen carefully. Is it deserved? Does the person doing the criticizing have all the facts and background information? Give this careful thought. Weigh it. Leaders should have more information than anyone else about any particular situation...or should get it. This information is used to make the best decisions for all members. If the criticism warrants change, make the changes. If not, stay on your path.

Do the right thing. Leaders taking The High Road will set a good example and have the highest moral ethics. Remember that leaders are in the spotlight most of the time. They rise above gossip and petty behavior. While it may be difficult to do the right thing under pressure...leaders are human do want to please their members!...it's imperative that a leader handle pressure situations with class and dignity.

Don't be drawn into insignificant and pointless arguments. When someone pushes your buttons, your first inclination will be to push right back, to retaliate. A leader traveling The High Road won't escalate this situation with a negative response. You can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Your goal should be to do what is best for the whole.

My leadership experience has taught me that it's not always easy to take The High Road but it's something every leader should strive for. Taking The High Road requires confidence in your own abilities to lead, as well as confidence in the direction your association is taking. If you stay the course and follow The High Road you will achieve the best results for your members and your association during your term in office. Do you plan to travel The High Road?

©2010 Vicki Voisin, Inc. Do you want to use this article in your newsletter, ezine or Web site? You can so long as you include this entire blurb with it: Vicki Voisin, "The Paralegal Mentor", delivers simple strategies for paralegals and other professionals to create success and satisfaction by achieving goals and determining the direction they will take their careers. Vicki spotlights resources, organizational tips, ethics issues, and other areas of continuing education to help paralegals and others reach their full potential. She publishes a weekly ezine titled Paralegal Strategies. More information is available at www.paralegalmentor.com

Get On Your Way! (With Thanks to Dr. Seuss)

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

~Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss is my favorite philosopher. I find inspiration in his whimsical words of wisdom, particularly those in his book, Oh! The Places You'll Go where there is a message for everyone, regardless of age. This, of course, applies to paralegals.

The words of Dr. Seuss certainly relate to my paralegal career path, as well as my path with NALA:

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers,

Who soar to high heights.

We all travel down an unknown career path that begins with our education, continues with our work, and then is capped with all of the extras we add along the way...such as certifications, association involvement, speeches, articles, teaching, honors, and awards.

None of us knows the sights we will see or the heights we will reach, but we need to keep track of the road we take so that at the end of any given day we will be able to measure our achievements.

I learned this when I was asked to be an expert witness in a legal malpractice case. The lawsuit alleged a paralegal employed by a law firm acted outside the scope of her authority. The key issue was the unauthorized practice of law.Me? An Expert? I knew I possessed the required expertise but yikes! I had to submit a curriculum vitae (or 'CV' as it is customarily truncated) to demonstrate my professional qualifications and my knowledge.

Oh, dear...I did not have a CV! During the course of my career I have asked for dozens of CVs from potential expert witnesses, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever have a need for one myself.

I had the trusty (if rusty and dusty) résumé ready 'just in case' I ever decided to look for another job. Since the same law firm has employed me for more than 25 years, you can imagine that the résumé was reasonably up to date but had not been used often.

Trouble is, a resume is not a curriculum vitae. A résumé is a one or two-page summary of skills, experience and education. It is intended as a concise opportunity to capture a prospective employer's attention...a prospective employer who, statistically, will spend less than a minute reviewing it.

My résumé demonstrates that I would be a very good candidate for a paralegal position, but it does not prove that I am an expert in ethics for legal professionals. To accomplish this, I definitely needed a CV.'

Curriculum vitae' is a Latin term meaning 'course of life' or 'a running life'. Contrary to widely held opinion, it does not translate to 'padding your résumé'.

A CV is a longer, more detailed, and more complete summary of a person's education and work history. It includes teaching and research experience, grants and fellowships, accreditation, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, offices held, and other details.

Dr. Seuss I am not, but in my panic over the CV I did not have, I found myself wondering:

Where did I come from?

Where did I go?

How did I get here?

Does anyone know?

The threads of my professional life were scattered hither and yon. Notes were scribbled on dozens of legal pads and crammed in haphazardly labeled files along with newspaper clippings, copies of speeches and articles, flyers from seminars, and back issues of Facts & Findings and other professional journals. And, of course, I had many wonderful memories.

Pulling everything together to create my curriculum vitae was tedious and time consuming. I painstakingly collected and reviewed nearly 30 years of credentials that, when pieced together, demonstrated the expertise I had achieved during my caree

The result was a CV that surprised even me! There it was in black and white...everything I had done, the places I had been, and the people I had met. Dr. Seuss was right: I had soared to high heights and my CV offered proof that I knew what I knew.

My CV began with a professional profile followed by details of my education and work experience. Next came professional involvement in associations on the state and national level (my service to NALA looked very good there), honors, and awards. Then came the long lists of published articles and presentations that more than demonstrated my knowledge of ethics issues for legal professionals.

Absolutely no personal information is presented in the CV. There are no photographs, no salary history, and no references. The fact that my favorite pastimes are running and reading legal mysteries is not there. My ability to bake a cake that will knock your socks off is not mentioned. None of that speaks to my level of knowledge and expertise.

The point of all this digression into the Land of Seuss is that we are all off to great places and soaring to high heights. I cannot overstress the importance of keeping a record of where your career has taken you. This inspired another 'Seussism' of my own:

We get in our rut,

We put blinders on,

We forget where we're going,

We forget where we've gone!

You should begin the creation of your own curriculum vitae this very instant before you forget where you have gone. I can assure you that a nostalgic journey through 30 years of files is not fun. You can spare yourself this pain by taking a few simple steps.

First, keep copies of absolutely everything. This includes newspaper clippings, articles, pictures, notes, awards, honors, certificates, seminar flyers, etc. Put these in just a few files that have very general labels (e.g., "Articles", "Speeches", "Awards" etc.). Do not use too much detail or locating what you are looking for may become difficult.

Next, begin writing your own CV. I will not presume to tell you how to write it. There are many formats available on the Internet. You must, of course, represent your achievements honestly and accurately.

Then, after your CV is written, keep it current. In the computer age, this is almost effortless. Every time you do something, such as giving a speech or writing an article, add it to your CV.

My experience is a perfect example that it is never too late (or too early) to start your CV. You never know when you will be asked to document your expertise, so be sure to record your career journey with your curriculum vitae. Even if another soul never looks at it, your curriculum vitae is like a road map of where your career has taken you, and where you might be going.

As Dr. Seuss would say:

So...

Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

Or MordecaiAli Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting

So...get on your way!

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To view my CV, go to www.paralegalmentor.com

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©2009 Vicki Voisin, Inc. Do you want to use this article in your newsletter, ezine or Web site? You can so long as you obtain permission from NALA and so long as you include this entire blurb with it: Vicki Voisin, "The Paralegal Mentor", delivers simple strategies for paralegals and other professionals to create success and satisfaction by achieving goals and determining the direction they will take their careers. Vicki spotlights resources, organizational tips, ethics issues, and other areas of continuing education to help paralegals and others reach their full potential. She publishes a weekly ezine titled Paralegal Strategies. More information is available at www.paralegalmentor.com