The Paralegal Technology Institute at LegalTech New York

 There's a brand new event that's occuring at LegalTech this year: The Paralegal Technology Institute at LegalTech in New York on Feb. 3-4 at the Sheraton Hotel.  They are even giving you the first day of LegalTech on Feb. 2nd for free. Why am I mentioning it here?  Probably because I am hearing from so many paralegals who are trying desperately to either hang on to...

Corporate Bankruptcy Boom Leads to More Jobs

  It's the old "good news and bad news" syndrome.  The bad news, of course, is that these tough economic times have led to more businesses filing bankruptcy.  The good news is, that someone has to handle those bankruptcies and that "someone" is a law firm. According to an article in the New York Lawyer, BigFirms such as Sidley & Austin, Skadden Arps...

Paralegal Represents Client in Court – Attorney Gets Censured

Any paralegal worth his or her salt knows that the first thing you cannot do is to represent yourself as an attorney.  Apparently, according to an article in The New York Lawyer, a lawyer and his paralegal thought otherwise. According to the article, Pomper sent his paralegal/secretary Larissa Sufaru to a hearing in Somerset County (New Jersey) Family Part on May 5, 2006,...

Working for a Non-equity Partner? Your Job May Be At Risk

Not everything is always public in a law firm.  Particularly, whether the partner you are working for is an equity or non-equity partner.  Paralegals don't always know or care, for that matter.  But this volatile economy has caused new meaning to the word, KNOW. If you are assigned to work for a non-equity partner, you might want to check around and find out whether that...

Newsflash: Juries Make Decisions Based on Emotion

Something we always suspected now has some scientific research backing it.  According to today's National Law Journal, science is now helping us understand how juries make decisions in crime and punishment. The articles states that: "Researchers from Vanderbilt University used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines to chart brain activity as subjects were...

New Paralegal Associations Started Through LinkedIn

Taking advantage of this new era of social networking, a smart paralegal has identified a need and filled it.  Robin Elizabeth Margolis, paralegal, realized that IP paralegals and e-discovery paralegals have positions that demand unique knowledge but no specialty associations existed to address their positions. Using LinkedIn, Google Search, and other Internet tools, she formed two...

It’s a Jungle Out There – More Layoffs for Paralegals

Gloomy news!  Brown Rudnick,Mayer Brown, Squire Sanders today all announced layoffs of staff including paralegals in San Francisco, Chicago and cities other than financially devastated New York. On the "good" side of things, Bryan Cave says no layoffs expected but no raises or bonuses either. Yikes! Mayer Brown lays off 55 staff, 33 attorneys; Squire Sanders asks 20...

Death of the Impromptu Phone Call

Most definitely, e-mail is killing the art of the phone call. But there is a new trend now that simply amuses me - and that is the sending of an e-mail to book an appointment to make a phone call.  It used to be that if you needed to call someone, you would simply pick up the phone and call.  If Mr. or Ms. SoandSo were in, they took the call (or not). You leave a voicemail and at some...

How a Paralegal Almost Screwed Up A Very High Profile Trial

Oh, I'm almost ashamed to print this.  But then again, it's not like it was my fault.  However, when someone from the profession screws up so badly that it hits MSNBC, well, that's not good. It seems that a juror who vanished during Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial told the judge Monday she lied about her father dying and flew to California to see horse...