What Does A Paralegal Do At Trial: Six Things Your War Room Must Have

March 2, 2016
Professional Development

What Does A Paralegal Do At Trial: Six Things Your War Room Must Have

By: Christina Roberts, CP

Going to trial can sometimes seem as if you are going to war.  You suit up – putting on your finest armor and best effort, yet sometimes you still hit brick walls all day long during a trial. Having a well-organized place to concentrate and collaborate during trial can calm the trial tension.  A “war room” basically serves as an office away from the office with all the comforts of the office back home.  Sounds simple enough, right?

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What Does A Paralegal Do At Trial: Pre-Trial Organization

January 28, 2016
Professional Development 3

What Does A Paralegal Do At Trial (Series)

By: Christina Roberts, CP

Most paralegals never get the chance to go inside a courtroom. That fact may be lost on most of the legal population.  Approximately half of the paralegals in the Civil Litigation job category of the National Association of Legal Assistants 2012 Job Analysis Study listed Trial and Pretrial work as important in their day-to-day activities. That could be because their cases never go to trial, or because the attorney may not realize how helpful a paralegal can be during pre-trial and trial. Preparation is key, but trial is the ultimate goal.

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Six Reasons Technology Is Important To Your Paralegal Career

September 21, 2015
e-Discovery, Professional Development, Technology

Six Reasons Technology Is Important To Your Paralegal Career

By: Angela Masciulli, ACP

 

Significant change is underway in the legal industry.  Technology is revolutionizing legal processes, court functions, and how many attorneys and firms work and manage cases. Judge and client expectations are evolving with new technologies too. Now is the time for paralegals to adapt to a rapidly changing legal market, not only to do their best in their current positions, but potentially expand their career.

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Back to School Series: Connecting the Dots

August 24, 2015
Professional Development
Much of early education is spent trying to tackle the skill of writing, specifically the intimidating task of the child’s name.  Parents and teachers may use any number of techniques to tackle this ability, including the most common method of connecting dot-to-dots on a lined paper tablet.  With due diligence and patience, the dots are slowly taken away and a child can begin to both recognize and trace their own name.    It is a big deal.  The significant milestone proves to be a confidence booster, of sorts.  Once a child has mastered the skill of writing, nothing is off limits.  The refrigerator, books, toys and even the wall in the bedroom soon display the acquired proficiency.

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Back to School Series: Class Rules

August 17, 2015
Professional Development

September is almost here and the new school year is upon us.  Although kids are the ones going back to class, attorneys and paralegals could use a curriculum refresher too.  Lessons learned in kindergarten are often forgotten, but are proven to be fundamental to the building blocks of success in life and business.  Legal professionals would do well to remember those early lessons.

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To Do or Not To Do

May 3, 2012
Professional Development, Technology

This article was originally published by Debra Bruce at Raising the Bar Law Practice Management Thoughts and Tips on December 13, 2011.  Debra is President of Lawyer-Coach LLC.   She draws on her extensive legal experience, as well as a degree in Psychology and well over 500 hours in training as a professional coach, to help lawyers improve their management skills, increase productivity and bring in more business.

The season is upon us! You know — the season of fa-la-la-la-la, holiday decorations, greeting cards, family parties, gift buying, travel plans, winter snow storms, and year-end business.  The list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on….too much to do and not enough time.  If you make it to January 1, then your knee deep in a different set of tasks headed into tax season.

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Electronic Briefs: Hyperlinking Your Way to A Positive Outcome

February 12, 2012
Professional Development, Technology
This article was originally published by Debra Bruce at Raising the Bar Law Practice Management Thoughts and Tips on January 12, 2012.  Debra is President of Lawyer-Coach LLC.   She draws on her extensive legal experience, as well as a degree in Psychology and well over 500 hours in training as a professional coach, to help lawyers improve their management skills, increase productivity and bring in more business.
 
A few months ago, one of my attorney clients called on his way home from a hearing to discuss the briefing schedule the judge had outlined for our case.  The judge had also clearly indicated his preference for electronic briefs with hyperlinks to the cited legal authorities.  I docketed the briefing deadline and began to research the additional steps required to provide the judge exactly what he wanted.
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PARALEGAL TIDBIT: Achieve job security by becoming indispensable to your attorney.

November 30, 2010
Professional Development, Technology
ServeNow makes tracking your citations easier

ServeNow makes tracking your citations easier

Today’s guest post contains great tips for paralegal job security.  I know these tips are valid because I have personally experienced the rewards of applying these practices.  I might add that they apply to traditional paralegals, freelance paralegals and virtual paralegals.

Thanks, Seth, for reminding paralegals of these important facts!

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11 Email Productivity Tips for Attorneys and Paralegals

November 19, 2010
Professional Development, Technology 5

Today’s digital world bombards us with communication from every side.  We still have regular old United States Post Office mail currently delivered Monday – Saturday.  We have email from multiple email addresses.  We get direct messages from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and any other social media network to which you belong.  We have instant messages, online chats, home phone and office phone voicemail systems, smartphones, texting, desktops, laptops, and iPads.  Is it ever going to end?  Probably not!!

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