Now, this is welcome news! Gaston College -- & the Advisory Board to the Criminal Justice & Paralegal departments -- presented awards on December 14th to honor two paralegals from North Carolina for their high ethical working standards: "Vickie Wiggins with Mullen Holland and Cooper P.A. law firm and Bobbie Little with the Jonas Law Firm, P.L.L.C., were recognized with Outstanding...
Well, it's a mixture of good news & cautionary tales, according to a survey by the Law Firm Group at The Citigroup Private Bank: "For law firms, 2005 is proving to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of year. After a robust 2004, firms posted lukewarm results for the first half of 2005.... However, business has picked up significantly in the second half. The net effect is a year that will...
As founder and President of Litigation Management & Training Services, Inc., Patricia S. Eyres, Esq., speaks internationally, consults with organizations on developing and enforcing effective policies, and trains managers to lead within legal limits. Her workshops focus on methods for preventing costly lawsuits or minimizing disruption when unavoidable claims occur. Her public sector...
Yes, this article, Paralegals make mark in insurance scams of the year, comes from Canada & fraudulent activity happens in all fields, but it's still a big disappointment to see news like this: One elaborate scheme saw a paralegal recruit people to file claims for phantom injuries sustained in supposed car crashes, while another paralegal tricked a client into allowing him to negotiate an...
Well, now, isn't this interesting! Blogging The Firm tells the story of "Opinionistas," an associate who anonymously publishes a blog detailing the inner workings of her life at large New York law firms: "...the internal struggles for power, the toll on personal lives, the obsession with billable hours." Gosh, sound familiar to anyone? One hopes her writing doesn't cause...
...or maybe a few more? Well yes, if you're talking about solo practices & small law firms. See these smart ideas for making Lexis/Nexis more affordable: 1) lexisONE®: "designed to meet the day-to-day practice demands of solo and small-firm attorneys, service is loaded with free resources" 2) LexisNexis AlaCarte!®: "offers the convenience of per document pricing -- no...
Now this is good news! St. Petersburg College in Florida recently made paralegal studies its ninth bachelor's degree. A feasibility study for the extended degree surveyed 100 employers before the program was launched. Not only did the firms & companies report needing more paralegals with improved critical thinking skills, over 75% said they would help students earn the newly expanded degree....
The Paralegal SkillWorks™ Conference will be held on March 16th at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco. This one-day conference, co-sponsored by Davidson Staffing, offers three intensive tracks for paralegals. Choose your classes and design your own seminar: litigation corporate/real estate IP These lively, interactive workshops address paralegal-specific assignment...
You have got to read The DuPont Legal Model, an article published in the November/December issue of Legal Assistant Today. It describes one of the best ways to utilize paralegal skills inside a corporate department (& with outside law firms), that I've ever heard of. Really! “From the attorney’s perspective, ‘The utilization model impacts the legal work favorably,’ said Ross...
I am talking about Pat Costello, whose profile page on Mediate.com I just happened to run across. Talk about smart career options! Ms. Costello has combined a strong educational background with remarkable experience & apparently branched out when key opportunities arose: “She has experience as a professional mediator, counselor, university administrator/faculty, research director, trainer,...