I am very interested in immigation law so I decided to Interview Emily Cohen who is an Immigration attorney.
Early in her career as a private practitioner, she established the Immigration Law Center in Philadelphia. This organization's purpose was to serve as a resource to the community on immigration matters. Ms. Cohen is extremely committed to educating the community on the benefits and ramifications of legal immigration and has written and lectured extensively on the subject at both the university level and for corporate clients who continue to seek information on the growing implication immigration has on their business and human resource needs.
Ms. Cohen served as a Foreign Student Advisor at Temple University in Philadelphia and was a Legal Assistant at the Immigration Law Firm of Orlow, Rubin, Steel and Rudnick. She also served as an Immigration Caseworker at the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia and was accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals to represent individuals before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In 1992, she and Charles M. Honeyman, Esq., who has since been appointed a U.S. Immigration Judge, formed Cohen & Honeyman, a full service immigration practice.
Subsequently, she joined her practice with Fluhr & González, P.C. where she now leads The Immigration Law Center of Cohen, Fluhr & González, P.C.
1. Have you had a person that acted like a mentor in your life?
Answer: Emily first worked at the Naturalization Service Center. While she was there someone by the name of Gabe Labella was a mentor in Emily Life. She trained her in Immigration Law. When it comes to being a lawyer, her Mentor was Richard Steal. She worked as a paralegal for Richard Steal Esq. for 4 years.
2. If you had an extra Hour in the day what would you do with it?
Answer: Emily Cohen would love to become a comedian. She doesn’t have the time to work on her act. She would also like to learn Chinese fluently and finally put together her pictures into a photo album from when she taught and lived in China for three years. She would also like to write a screen play.
3. Law school, especially the first year, can be extremely stressful. How did you deal with it?
Answer: Emily worked full time and went to law school at Temple University at night. For her it was never about being # 1 or head of her class. She was already trained in Immigration law and knew that she wanted to become an immigration lawyer.
4. What are your typical job functions as a lawyer? Answer: As an attorney she is ultimately responsibly for everything the paralegal does. She reviews every thing before it is sent out to any client or submitted to the Government. If she does not sign it then it can not go out. To see clients (Rainmaker) and generate more business and be a resource to the community on immigration.
5. What Non law related goals do you have that you would like to accomplish in The next few years?
Answer: Emily is in the process of adopting a child from China. She also would like to become physically fit and she wants to complete a manuscript and submit it to a publisher.
6. What ethical obligation do you have to your clients? Answer: Sometimes clients want her to lie to the government to increase their chances of the immigration benefits of this country. Ethically she is an officer of the court and as desperate as they may be she can not lie for them.
7. How to you achieve a balance between work and your personal life? Answer: Another attorney once told her “You have to control your law practice, and not have it control you.” She has learned that it is ok to say No sometimes. She loves to write comedy routines.
8. What type of career paths have you made that pushed you to become a lawyer? Answer: Emily worked as a social worker. She got a chance to work one on one with clients. When she lived in China (in 1983) she really learned to appreciate everything that we have in the United States. When she first returned from China she took a few classes at University of PENN one included Asian Studies. She also worked for a Refugee Resettlement Agency where she was permitted to represent clients in court. If you work for this type of organization you can get a credit even if you have not attended law school and represent clients. So she got a lot of experience before she went to law school.
9. Do you have any advice for me becoming a paralegal? Answer: Emily told me to always work as hard as I can. Get as much education that you can about the type of law you are interested in. Being a paralegal is not easy. It is almost like being in school all day every day. Make sure that you work for an attorney that you will be able to have direct contact with.
In meeting my mentor, Stephen P. Barson, Esquire, I learned that being an attorney requires hard work, dedication and most importantly passion. Mr. Barson has been practicing for over 30 years now. His specialty is personal injury. I have learned that he has been very successful in his career because he has been diligent. His typical functions are interviewing clients, advising clients and corresponding with clients.
He also deals with settlement negotiations in order to achieve a beneficial outcome for his clients.
Mr. Barson reiterated the importance of choosing a specialty of law which I would be extremely interested in.
He further stated that ethics play a big role in your everyday life as an attorney. It is important to note, although it is the attorney's job to advocate for every client in search of a favorable outcome, one must maintain within the confines of ethics.
When it came to balance with work and personal life, he declared that is where he might of went a little wrong. When he began practicing as a sole practitioner, he increased his work load. In doing this, increasing his hours was inevitable. As a result, he found that he missed out on family time. As a sole practitioner, I can see how being in the office all the time was important. When working with a firm, you are guaranteed a salary. However, as a sole practitioner, you (the attorney) is responsible for all of the finances needed in order to run a practice of any kind. He further stated the importance of also acknowledging when one has "too many" cases and not enough time to dedicate to each one as needed. Unfortunately, is this event, some cases fall through the cracks.
I chose Mr. Barson as a mentor because he is extremely dedicated to his practice and his clients. I find Mr. Barson to be very diligent, disciplined and dedicated. As a result of all of these qualities, he has had a very successful and fruitful career.
My mentor is Nancy Williams from Ballard Sphar, a paralegal in the Litigation Department of the firm. Nancy and I met on a Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat team here in Philadelphia that we were both members of. In many key ways, she was one of my main inspirations for deciding to pursue paralegal studies. During our interview, I used an expanded questionnaire format to get a better idea of the nature of her work, her attitudes about the field in general and her specialty in particular, her advice for someone entering the field, and what she sees as emerging trends in paralegal work. What follows is a general outline of the questionnaire format I used, along with her responses.
YOU’RE A LITIGATION PARALELGAL…LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR TYPICAL JOB FUNCTIONS…
MONTHLY/QUARTERLY CASELOAD? It varies according to what cases Nancy’s working on, the nature of the case, and where it is in the case life cycle. All of her cases are Litigation cases, as this is her specialty. For example, at one point she was working on 8 active class action asbestos suits as well as 4 other cases and was putting in 80-hour workweeks. The asbestos cases were nearing trial status and the other four were still in the discovery process. Nancy gets cases in a number of ways: Sometimes attorneys she’s worked with in the past and has developed good relationships with, will come to her and ask if she’s interested and able to take on a particular case. At other times the Litigation Manager will send out an email reviewing new cases and asking if any of the litigation paralegals are interested in picking up a particular case. If no one comes forward, the Manager may assign specific cases to those paralegals that can “fit them in”. Occasionally Nancy will hear about a specific case, and will approach the lead attorney and offer her services. Finally, when a paralegal leaves the Firm, his/her caseload must be re-assigned among the remaining paralegals. When this happens, efforts are made to match up “like” cases with paralegals that may have already had experience on a particular type of case.
ADMINSTRATIVE: Most of the work Nancy does is documentation review for her caseload, making sure the documents are in order, filed properly in the case file, and with the courts. At her firm paralegals also are responsible for billing their time and often this requires not only keeping her time records up to date, but also parsing out whether the time is to be billed to the firm, or to the client. Other administrative responsibilities include handling all the billing from outside vendors such as copy services, equipment rentals for off-site meetings and depositions, as well as trial court equipment rentals (computer projectors, easels and the like). Finally, Nancy supervises a secretary and is responsible for managing the secretary’s workload as well as conducting her annual review.
RESEARCH/WRITING: (Use Lexis or Westlaw more? Or bound reporters? Do you choose the direction and scope of your research, or is it specifically assigned and directed by the attorney? What’s the time crunch like?)
Whether a paralegal does this specific type of work varies from firm to firm. In Nancy’s experience, paralegals in smaller firms have the opportunity to do more of this level work. At her firm (Ballard Sphar) the paralegals do not research cases and write drafts of complaints. The first and second year law associates do that work. In 11 years at Ballard, Nancy has only ever drafted one complaint and drafted answers in partnership with one associate during the discovery process with one particular client. That client had specifically asked for a paralegal to work on discovery answers in order to contain costs (obviously, having an associate do that work is considerably more expensive than having a paralegal do it). As more clients become pro-active in managing the costs of their own litigation cases, Nancy feels that how this work is handled at Ballard may begin to slowly change from the associate level to the paralegal level.
SPECIFIC TO LITIGATION: interviewing, preparing court docs, attending trials Prepping exhibits According to Nancy this again depends very much on the size of the firm and the type of case being handled. Generally she has very little client contact, unless it is a pro-bono case that either she herself has brought into the firm and gotten approval to work on with a junior associate – or one that a senior associate has brought in and invites her to work on. Most of her time is spent reviewing and organizing case documents; obtaining specific documents from clients; redacting documents (that is removing information from the documents that is not necessary for the case, or is privileged information); and Bates numbering the documents (a system of labeling/numbering documents that is used to identify your specific case documents). For trials she may be prepping the trial documents to identify who gets specific ones, or may mark them to clarify whether a specific document is to be admitted or not into the court records. Her job requires that she be familiar with and competent in applying the Civil Procedure Rules of Evidence. She may need to obtain the services of a translator for bi-lingual cases, as well as communicate with the trial judge’s assistant to ascertain the specific order and format the judge wishes to see on documents presented at the trial. Sometimes she will visit the courtroom where the trial will be held to “size up” the courtroom layout and find out if it is a totally electronic courtroom. She may need to find a secure place at the courthouse to store trial documents overnight. And finally, Nancy will often have the responsibility of notifying witnesses in a specific case of the date and time they are needed in court.
INTERACTION WITH THE ATTORNEYS YOU WORK FOR: A large part of Nancy’s job is “training the associates”, particularly the first years in the specifics of law practice in terms of “what needs to be done, what’s next and are we still on track” for a case. This generally revolves around the proper formatting of discovery answers, preparation of motions and so on. Often she will need to remind the associates of the necessity to check the cost of a particular action the associate may want to take on a case versus what the client’s outcome goals and cost considerations are. In some instances she may have to “gently redirect the Associate, or in some instances a Partner
DO YOU USE SPECIFIC TRACKING SOFTWARE (e.g.: ABACUS?)
Although the firm does have specific case tracking software, Nancy does not use it in her litigation work. Instead she will often use the Judge’s trial order (pre-trial or scheduling order). She also uses a large calendar as the trial date approaches, as well as an excel spreadsheet to track the case(s). Often she will need to obtain the attorney’s directions regarding the statute of limitations for a specific case. In such cases she may create timelines that she and the attorney in charge create.
WAS YOUR CURRENT FIRM YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT AFTER GRADUATING FROM YOUR PARALEGAL PROGRAM?
Nancy worked for a year with a Federal agency (FAA) before moving to Ballard. Originally she wanted to specialize in Administration law, and since she had a master’s degree and a background in aviation, in addition to her paralegal certificate, this seemed like a good option. The nature of the agency work did not live up to her expectations and she moved back to Philadelphia. She first temped at Ballard on a Federal case for six months organizing the documents and getting them out to the courthouse in Exton, only to find that the attorneys settled the case on the morning the trial was to have begun. She was then offered a permanent position in the Litigation Department and accepted it. Her first cases were “inherited cases from paralegals leaving the firm”. As she acquired a reputation for solid, competent work, she began to receive her own cases from inception from attorneys she had developed relationships with.
WHAT KIND OF IN-HOUSE TRAINING DID YOU RECEIVE WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED AS A PL?
Nancy was trained on Ballard’s internal document system (a computerized system for tracking case documents). She also attended courses offered by the IT department on excel, PowerPoint and advanced word applications. More recently the newly hired PL Manager had offered training on statutes, trial preparation, and a mandatory ethics class. There are also “webinars” for the IP paralegals that other PLs can access as well.
HOW CLOSELY WAS YOUR WORK SUPERVISED IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OR TWO? BY WHOM?
Communication at Ballard traditionally flows upward. This means that Nancy most often works on her own, and the onus is on her to keep communication flowing between herself and the associates and partners she may be working with on cases assigned to her. The Litigation PL Manager doesn’t’ supervise the work of the paralegals: he is there to function as an issue solver for either the attorneys or the paralegals.
WHEN YOU FIRST BEGAN WORK AS A PL DID YOU FEEL ADEQUATLY PREPARED? WHAT AREAS OF STUDY OR PRACTICE WOULD HAVE HELPED PREPARE YOU BETTER? Although Nancy had studied Administrative law as her elective option, she wound up in Litigation. Her prior work experience and general paralegal skills helped to offset any initial gaps in her litigation knowledge base. Nancy came to the paralegal field with a BA degree as well as a Master’s degree and a prior work history in the aviation field. She emphasized that in addition to having MS Office skills, being adept at PowerPoint is essential since many attorneys use that specific application.
SPECIFIC COURSES YOU WISHED YOU HAD TAKEN?
PowerPoint and advanced Excel.
COURSES YOU’D RECOMMEND I TAKE?
Know legal research and writing, civil litigation, ethics and know how to use the bound legal reporters. It also helps to narrow down the area of law you think you want to specialize in and take as many courses as are available in that area of law.
CAREER PATHS YOU’D RECOMEND FOR A NEW PL?
First, choose something that interests and excites you intellectually, because you’ll be spending a lot of time working at it! Although it’s not impossible to do, it is difficult for a PL to switch between specialties because of the learning curve involved, along with the experience requirements for certain positions.
AREAS OF PL LAW PRACTICE YOU’D RECOMMEND/WHY?
“Hot” areas of law practice that pay higher salaries are: Intellectual Property Law – a demanding area requiring significant attention to detail. Probably the highest paying and fastest growing law specialty. Financial (Corporate) Law and Real Estate Law Family Wealth Management (Wills, Trusts, Estates) Bankruptcy Law Legal Technology – this is a rapidly emerging field, as the move is towards greater use of electronic law practice both within law firms as well as the Court system. There are many opportunities both within law firms and with specific software developers and providers for PLs with a good knowledge base in law technology along with paralegal skills. For example, one good be in sales and support for a provider firm and work as a liaison to firms buying that specific software suite.
AREAS OF LEGAL PRACTICE TO AVOID/WHY?
General Litigation for two major reasons: 1. the workload is intense and often unpredictable, with the effect that the PL often has no control over the hours h/she works. It is extremely time intense and there are so many factors and people involved in the preparation before a case finally reaches trial stage, that you often have little to no control over. 2. the base pay scale for Litigation PLs is lower than other specialties, where the hours are often “lighter”. Having said that, it is possible to earn significant money in overtime pay.
ROLE OF LEGAL ETHICS?
FOR YOU: Nancy feels a responsibility to do things efficiently and economically, while achieving the same legal value for the clients. Often she will err on the side of the firm taking on charges, versus charging the client. This can become somewhat problematic in terms of “reigning in some of the associates who don’t question the cost benefit analysis of some of the choices they make in the handling of specific facets of a case. When an Ethical (or ‘Chinese’) Wall has been put in place on a particular case, the onus is often at the PL level to ensure that the wall isn’t breached. In one instance opposing counsel on a case had hired a law clerk that had worked for the Judge who was assigned to the case. This created a particular set of ethical conflict checks that Nancy (along with the attorneys on the case) had to carefully navigate.
ROLE OF LEGAL ETHICS FOR YOUR EMPLOYER?
At Ballard there has always been a Partner assigned the responsibility of handling ethics issues. Anyone in the firm may go directly to this partner if they have a specific legal ethics issue or question, for guidance. Nancy also spoke about a new trend in law firms to hire an Attorney whose client is the law firm itself. That person is charged with maintaining legal ethics. Finally, there is an Ethics Committee in place that handles any conflicts of an ethical nature.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE ISSUES:
When the caseload is very heavy and many cases are nearing trial, work/life balance often goes ‘out the window’. As an example, when Nancy was in treatment for breast cancer (on chemo) she continued to work. At that time, she had a major case going to trial and was putting in 18-hour days, and sometimes even sleeping at the office. She had a serious reaction to one of the chemo drugs and had to go to the hospital emergency room for treatment - - when she was patched up, she returned the next day to the office to continue working on the case. This was an exceptional instance, but it happened and she had to deal with it.
SET YOUR OWN SCHEDULE?
The balancing act is always between the amount of time it takes to do a particular task on a case, versus the ultimate case deadline, versus the other cases she’s handling versus the administrative work she’s still responsible for. If there’s a conflict, she’ll often put the administrative work on temporary hold, and will try to catch up either on the weekend, or when her caseload becomes more static.
SCHEDULE IMPOSED BY OTHERS?
Some attorneys may ask for a ‘drop dead’ task to be done, but she always needs to factor in her other cases and their deadlines. If she can accommodate the request without jeopardizing another case, she will (but not if it’s a “repeat offender attorney”!). If it’s a matter of ‘dueling’ attorneys (both want something ASAP), she will take a proactive approach and will try to speak with both attorneys to see if she can broker a deal on the critical deadlines. Getting the paralegal manager involved is a “last resort”, and is something she’s never had to rely on.
INPUT INTO WORKLOAD?
As much as it’s possible for her, she will have a fair amount of say in what new cases she takes on in relation to her current caseload. Nancy is the best judge of the tasks and deadlines required by her cases and if she can’t take on a case she will say so and support her position. It’s very rare that she is given another case to handle, if her call is that she can’t. Usually, this will happen when another PL leaves the Litigation Department and has an active heavy caseload to reassign.
My mentor is Steven A. Morley, Esq., from Morley, Surin & Griffin, P.C. He became my mentor before we were assigned this project, when I started working for him 4 months ago.
Interest/Background Mr. Morley has been interested in “Issues of Justice” ever since he was a boy, and this naturally led him to law. For seven years he was a senior trial attorney at the Federal Court Division of the Defender Association of Philadelphia and worked for a short time with Richard Sprague. The transition from Criminal Law to Immigration Law occurred when he realized that the two go hand in hand. Immigrants who are involved in legal issues are a special category all themselves. Because they are not citizens or legal permanent residents, law applies to them differently.
Criminal Law and Ethics When I asked Mr. Morley how he felt morally about defending criminals and repeat offenders, he told me about trends that he notices with his clients. Most are not “vicious sociopaths” as media depicts them. They usually have poor judgment and even poorer impulse control. Putting it this way, I realized that everyone deserves a chance for forgiveness and this is one of the purposes of our judicial system.
Work/Family Balance Mr. Morley answered immediately that he is constantly struggling to balance his work and family life. Even now that his children are grown, it is still a challenge. It was especially difficult when his children were young, as he was a family man committed to being home for dinner every night. For this reason, Mr. Morley told me that when he went into private practice in 1984, his did not grow as quickly as other practices around him. He puts in an average of 60 hours per week.
Free Time In the time that Mr. Morley does have, he enjoys going to movies, mostly foreign and independent films, and reading all types of books. If he really had more free time, he’d develop his passion for photography.
Did you yourself have a mentor? If so, how did they influence you? I was surprised to hear that Mr. Morley did not have any sort of mentor or professor that sort of guided him along throughout his early years.
If you had to “do it all over again,” would you change anything? Mr. Morley would have taken a break between college and law school, and immersed himself in different types of law. At this point working in Immigration Law, Mr. Morley would have tried to find a way to keep up with criminal law. He misses his comfort level with criminal law and feels that he is not as sharp.
What follows are the mentor questions typically asked by students: and the answers followed. Additionally, I have included the CCP questions related to the PLS program. 1. typical job functions.2. career paths3. role of legal ethics4. achieving balance with work and personal life.5. advice for you and your goals.
I interviewed Attorney Steven Lafferty. He graduated from Widener Law School. I attended this law school as well, and so it was particularly interesting to me to listen to his thoughts in light of the time span of ten years or more had expired between our student attendance. He spoke of his particpation in the mock trial events, as well as his mock trial awards. He decided to go to law school after receiving a Bachelors degree in hospitality services. He wanted to have more control over his career, which he could not find in the hospitality industry. Although he remains an admirer of hospitality. When he finished law school, he went to work for a defense law firm, which many students do, due to the more stable and higher income. However, after a couple years he chose to enter in the foray on the plaintiff's side. He prefers the trial atmosphere, although in my opinion, he is not dismayed when cases settle. He has many job functions, of which three are the most important. One is writing briefs, motions and memorandums. The other is communicating with clients and significantly the marketing side of this business. Also because he is a partner, he must appreciate the requirements of running a sucessful business and working with employees. He says that legal ethics play a part in how he advises his clients, especially when they disclose information that makes their claims false. His advice to my goal of returning to law school is one, to make sure that is what I really want and second, to figure out what kind of law I wish to practice. Lastly, he achieves balance between work and play, by going home at a reasonable hour, going on vacations and taking trips on the weekends. My relationship with my mentor is one of employee. I have worked for his law firm for three months. They practice primarily personal injury.
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE:
Yes, this experience improved my oral communciation skills. Somewhat. Practice makes perfect. Written Skills: Yes. Very much. Any opportunity to write improves one's skills. Particularly when the subjects are interesting. Did it improve my career awareness. Yes. I am curious and have asked many lawyers, law students questions, as well as reading the ABA student magazine and I have tons of law related articles emailed to me. This assignment gave me the opportunity to ask my questions in a more formal way. The best part of the mentor experience was having the chance to have my employer appreciate that I have goals. How could the mentor experience be improved. I thought it was very satisfactory. Yes, I will be in contact with my mentor after the course is over. I don't think he would be willing to participate as a mentor.
What follows are the mentor questions typically asked by students: and the answers followed. Additionally, I have included the CCP questions related to the PLS program. 1. typical job functions.2. career paths3. role of legal ethics4. achieving balance with work and personal life.5. advice for you and your goals.
I interviewed Attorney Steven Lafferty. He graduated from Widener Law School. I attended this law school as well, and so it was particularly interesting to me to listen to his thoughts in light of the time span of ten years or more had expired between our student attendance. He spoke of his particpation in the mock trial events, as well as his mock trial awards. He decided to go to law school after receiving a Bachelors degree in hospitality services. He wanted to have more control over his career, which he could not find in the hospitality industry. Although he remains an admirer of hospitality. When he finished law school, he went to work for a defense law firm, which many students do, due to the more stable and higher income. However, after a couple years he chose to enter in the foray on the plaintiff's side. He prefers the trial atmosphere, although in my opinion, he is not dismayed when cases settle. He has many job functions, of which three are the most important. One is writing briefs, motions and memorandums. The other is communicating with clients and significantly the marketing side of this business. Also because he is a partner, he must appreciate the requirements of running a sucessful business and working with employees. He says that legal ethics play a part in how he advises his clients, especially when they disclose information that makes their claims false. His advice to my goal of returning to law school is one, to make sure that is what I really want and second, to figure out what kind of law I wish to practice. Lastly, he achieves balance between work and play, by going home at a reasonable hour, going on vacations and taking trips on the weekends. My relationship with my mentor is one of employee. I have worked for his law firm for three months. They practice primarily personal injury.
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE:
Yes, this experience improved my oral communciation skills. Somewhat. Practice makes perfect. Written Skills: Yes. Very much. Any opportunity to write improves one's skills. Particularly when the subjects are interesting. Did it improve my career awareness. Yes. I am curious and have asked many lawyers, law students questions, as well as reading the ABA student magazine and I have tons of law related articles emailed to me. This assignment gave me the opportunity to ask my questions in a more formal way. The best part of the mentor experience was having the chance to have my employer appreciate that I have goals. How could the mentor experience be improved. I thought it was very satisfactory. Yes, I will be in contact with my mentor after the course is over. I don't think he would be willing to participate as a mentor.
Today I met with my mentor Terry Moore. She is a smart funny and wise paralegal with 20 years experience in the field. She currently works in a firm for air law. However, she has worked for other types of firms including defense firms. Today two of the other secretaries had called out, but Terry was committed to our meeting. Under the circumstances, I probably had a better idea of what a paralegal does today as I shadowed her around in the office for our entire interview. I watched her perform her duties as she answered my questions. I began the interview by inquiring about her typical job fuctions. After hearing a run down of duties including filing, responding, composing complaints etc. She informed me that she does everything except litigation. She jokingly told me that in her firm the younger paralegals are mostly paper pushers! Although, every paralegal has a big part in building a case. Each case requires a well-thought process on how to go about building it. When I asked her about career paths, I was informed that there are two different types of paralegals. One teyoe of paralegal specializes in litigation. This I was told pays more! They handle more of the filing aspect. The second is a general paralegal or “glorified legal secretary”. Terry does both with 20 years in the profession. She told me to keep in mind that different firms have different titles which still mean paralegal. For example, in her firm individuals are titled: legal assistants. As a legal assistant in her firm she makes 3x more that when she had as paralegal in another firm, and it was the exact same work. Legal ethics, to Terry meant, “keeping your mouth shut!” She said that as a paralegal she was required to take an oath as lawyers do. The information obtained in the job is very important to keep within the job. It jeopardizes everything to let any information out about a case, even just one personal thing about a client, or how much a case settle for etc. Aside from the confidentiality of information, being trustworthy is a must. Paralegals handle more than information, like money that must be handled properly. Terry has one motto for balancing work and her personal life: DON’T TAKE THE WORK HOME WITH YOU! She told me she gives work from 9-10 hours of her life a day. Then she leaves it at work to go home and concentrate on her family of a husband and two kids. Not having a workload enables her to do this. She said paralegals do take work home with them but she doesn’t advise this if you want balance in your life. She said that there are times during a case where you will naturally have downtime at work as well. Her advice for me was to study hard and try to get any type of job I can in the law field so I can obtain more hands on experience. One other bit of advice was to be my own back up person. There is a lot of responsibility in paralegal work and mistakes can happen with documents and money. Keeping track of everything I do creates resolution for potential problems. I am very happy I had my interview today.
Hi everyone, I came in to post my mentor assignment, and now I am kind of embarresesd because the 7 posts I read so far are really good. Well, here we go. My mentor experiment was very interesting. For starters, it was a little unorthadox due to the fact that my mentor is about 15 years younger than I am; however, that does not at all mean that my mentor is not "on the ball" in her profession. Allow me to introduce you to my mentor. My mentor's name is Laura Murphy and while I did not ask, I believe she is about 20 years old. Laura is a paralegel for Brian M. Felgoise, a solo practicioner in Jenkintown, Pa. The way I met Laura was through my next door neighbor who is Laura's boyfriend. Laura practices and assists Mr. Felgoise in personal injury law. This area interests me because it is an area that is looked at so differently, depending on who you ask. Ask someone who was injured on a job what they think of personal injury law and see how that same question would be answered by someone who was a defendent in a personal injury case. Then you will see what I mean. Back to my mentor: I interviewed my mentor while sitting outside my neighbor's house one evening. I asked her the questions that are part of the class assignment, and posted both --the questions I asked and Laura's responses to them: 1) What are your job functions on a typical day? Laura told her tasks vary from day to day, but the most important factor to everyday tasks is to make her boss's day "flow as smoothly as possible." To achieve this Laura does some of the following: contact insurance companys to establish claims, drafting and preparing compliants, obtain and communicate pertinent information from clients to her boss, Mr. Felgoise.
2) What type of career paths are there for paralegels? Laura explained to me that the career paths are limitless--criminal law, personal injury, employment, real estate, etc.. She also emphasized that the dicipline and organization required by paralegal work would be an asset in any endevour.
3)What role does legal ethics have in the paralegel's workplace? Ethics touch almost every part of a paralegels day-- from keeping certain matters confidential to putting your clients interests before your own. Ethics is a major part of the paralegal profession.
4) How would you suggest to achieve a balance between work and your personal life? Laura explained that if you are not interested in the area of law you are working in than there can't be a balance because a paralegal's job is very demanding and if you don't enjoy it, you will burn out quickly.
5)What type of advice could you offer me about a career in law? Laura suggested that I volunteer at different law firms to see if the "practical" practice of law is something that would interst me on a full time schedule. She also stressed that while at these firms ask questions. Not only will I learn something but it shows initative. Phew, hope I did not put anyone to sleep. Thanks for reading.
aMy mentor is Georgette Pinillos, Esq. of COHEN, FLUHR & GONZALEZ, P.C. Tia recommended her to me (thanks Tia!). Georgette is an immigration attorney.
I'll post a couple of the questions from the interview:
3. What kind of role do legal ethics play in your job? I consider myself a very conservative person when it comes to ethics. I believe fully in the duty of confidentiality. I have a great example of ethics at work. I had a client with a pending deportation case. He claimed that he was married to an American citizen. He was pursing a Green card and wanted me to represent him. I asked him questions about his relationship but he gave very vague answers. I questioned him about his wife�s status and he assured me that she was a citizen. As it came time for trial to prove the validity of his marriage, he gave inconsistent answers and was unable to tell anything about his wife�s daughter. I informed my client that I would not represent him anymore and filed a motion to withdraw myself from the case. I did not feel that I could ethically represent him anymore.
5. What advice could you give me to achieve my goals? You have a background in Human Resources, which will be very helpful as a paralegal. You deal with all types of personalities and staff at all levels of the firm. This can be a valuable tool to navigate at work. Don�t ever think that there is something you can�t accomplish. If you have the desire to do it, it can be done. Also, never burn your bridges. Maintain relationships with all your contacts and former employers because you never know when you will need them again. I find that although I struggle with this, networking is the key to new opportunities. It�s worth it to make an effort to put yourself out there and meet new people. I recommend that you keep everything-letters of recommendation, papers from your classes, graded tests. You will find yourself needing that information later. Lastly, maintain your priorities, strive to achieve that balance in life between work and home. It�s truly the keys to happiness.
My first networking event was a lecture. Part of the Owen J. Roberts Memorial Lecture Series, Aharon Barak, the Former President of the Supreme Court of Israel, gave a lecture called "The Battle Against Terror: The Judicial Role". The lecture was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and it was centered around the judiciary's need to combat the abuses of the executive and the passivity of the legislative branches of government.
My second networking event was also available through the University of Pennsylvania's School of Law. The United Law Students of Color Council hosted a lecture by Angela Oh that was open to the public. Her lecture was about diversity in the legal profession.
My mentor was Robert Dellavella of Dellavella & Associates; he is a private practice attorney in Northeast Philadelphia.
I elected to perform my interview with Mr. Dellavella over the phone for his convenience; although a practicing attorney, I discovered that my mentor is also very active in Philadelphia politics and is pressed for time during this upcoming mayoral election. He is a Democratic Ward Leader for the 55th Ward.
Mr. Dellavella's typical job functions surround interviewing and consulting with clients. He admits that he rarely has to go to trial and believes that many conflicts can be resolved without a judge. He said, "Most of my cases are small claims cases which are almost always settled out of court." When his cases do go to trial, however, his work becomes much more demanding. "Careful attention to detail," he said, "is crucial. Especially court deadlines, which is why the paralegal is the star of the show." Outside the courtroom, Mr. Dellavella has a very active political life that currently involves a lot of fundraising activities and communication with residents in his ward to pinpoint the most pressing concerns that his constituents have about their neighborhood.
Mr. Dellavella and I discussed his career path and my own possibilities. He mentioned that as an undergraduate he majored in Political Science "before it was fashionable" and always had an eye for politics. At Temple University's College of Liberal Arts, he tried to be involved in "as many government programs as possible except jail", noting his position on the school's debate team, student government, and pre-law society. All of these, he explained, helped him secure admission to law school and it would benefit me to do the same now while at CCP. He attended law school at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut where he received his J.D. Returning home to Philadelphia, he began both his private practice and political activism in the Mayfair section of the city. Through experience as an attorney and a politician, he has come to truly enjoy his career for all of its turns, and he eagerly looks forward to what the future might bring.
Although Mr. Dellavella works closely with other attorneys in his small firm, he takes it upon himself to handle ethical issues that may arise in any of the cases brought before his firm. "It's usually some small issue," he said, noting that his firm often double checks a potential client in case a conflict of interest arises. "It's happened before that we were about to take on a client without knowing that we had sued him once over a decade ago." Mr. Dellavella also makes clear his own personal conflicts of interest; he made a point of admitting that he has a weakness when dealing with criminals. He rarely handles a criminal case because he finds himself partially prejudicial against the accused. "I'm more comfortable as a civil litigator," he said, "and I leave any criminal work to my partners."
Humorously, Mr. Dellavella said that he has no advice for achieving balance between his work and personal life. "If I was just an attorney and just a husband, I would be fine. But running your own firm, being an active in city politics, a husband, and a father... it can be pretty tiring," he said. He did assert that in law school he made many sacrifices to accommodate the heavy work load, and that this work ethic continues for him today. "I try to make time for some sort of relaxing activity every day like watching the Daily Show or spending a little extra time in Starbucks. Anything to just get your mind off of everything," he said. This seems to be his balance. He admitted that after the election in November, he's immediately taking a vacation. "Someplace quite," he said.
Mr. Dellavella had some kind words of advice for me and my current career goals. I mentioned to him that I am very interested in state and local politics and that I have a real passion for federal law. He recommended to me that while I'm at CCP, I should try my best to excel at my classes, actively involve myself in the school, and take advantage of internship possibilities. These, he admits, will likely be very beneficial to me when I apply to a four-year institution. He recommended that I pursue a job "near the legal profession" in the interim. Mr. Dellavella believes that my education and my community involvement will be most beneficial to obtaining my four-year degree, my graduate degree, and securing my career beyond education.
I met with Mr. Dellavella on Friday, October 12 in his office in Northeast Philadelphia. I originally met him back in April when he successfully represented me in an Unemployment Compensation Board of Review hearing.
The first thing I noticed in Mr. Dellavella's office is that he is extremely untidy; without my stating so, he immediately clarified that because this is election season and he is a Ward Leader his office "looks like a bomb went off in it". There were innumerable banners, posters, and flags with various names of Democratic candidates cluttering up his office. It was amazing that either one of us could locate a chair. To further illuminate the hectic environment he was working in, the phones rang endlessly for the entire duration of our meeting. He certainly wasn't joking when he admitted before that he was "pressed for time".
What I found most surprising about the office was that it was very small. A lot of work is accomplished in such a tiny space. All of Mr. Dellavella's small claims cases, trial work, and political activism is based out of one tiny row home that has been converted into a few offices. His partners shared the second floor office space, while he works out of the main office on the first floor. The legal secretary, who is shared by all of the attorneys, works alone in the front of the building; there are no case reporters, and all of her legal research is done using software such as LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Mr. Dellavella and I reviewed the same topics we had previously discussed in our phone interview, and he reiterated his desire for a vacation. I was very impressed by the conditions in which Mr. Dellavella works. I, personally, am painstakingly organized and I am enamored by anyone who can function in such disarray. But personal opinions aside, Mr. Dellavella was very kind to speak with me over the past two months, and he has offered some valuable input into my goals at CCP as well as help me set some ambitious benchmarks to achieve in the future.
For one of the networking assignments, I went to the National Constitution Center to see the symposium webcast from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, called “An Enigmatic Court? Examining the Roberts Court as it Begins Year Three.” Featured speakers included Jeffrey Rosen, Joan Biskupic, Vikram Amar, Kathleen Sullivan, Dean Ken Starr, Professor Doug Kmiec, and Judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain and Steven Reinhardt, of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
There were two parts of the event. The first part was a review of the past two terms and looking into the future work in the third term. There was a discussion on Roberts’ role as Chief Justice to lead other justices as close to consensus as possible. There was some discussion on our favorite “Bong Hits for Jesus.” :)
The second part of the event was a Mock Trial on Constitutional Interpretation. The case tried was Parents’ Involved v. Seattle School District (2007). Judges O'Scannlain and Reinhardt acted as “witnesses.” The idea was to show how the justices approach and interpret cases.
My other networking assignment was through being in class on the Constitution Day for the presentation on the Guantanamo Bay cases. The cases discussed included Ex Parte Quirin, Rasul. v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld.
The discussion started with the World War II and the case Ex Parte Quirin. The importance of the case in connection to the Guantanamo cases is that it defined “unlawful enemy combatants,” and the distinction between an unlawful enemy combatant and an ordinary enemy combatant is crucial as to the constitutional rights of the Guantanamo detainees.
The other cases basically showed how certain new military laws have been shaped after 9/11. The new laws include Authorized Use of Military Force, a resolution signed by President Bush on September 18, 2001 empowering the President to use “all necessary force” against the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks, Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 depriving the U.S. judicial branch of the power to decide on Habeas Corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees, Military Commission Act of 2006 signed in wake of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld which allowed establishment of military commissions to try “unlawful enemy combatants.”
The Guantanamo cases also showed how hard it was for the detainees to assert their Geneva Convention rights to fair trial.
I have conducted an interviewed with Michael S. Henry, Esq., who specializes in the immigration law, and he answered my questions in the context of the work that we do in our office.
1. Typical job functions.
A paralegal working for an immigration attorney typically has the following responsibilities: 1) Conducts legal research 2) Drafts legal memos 3) Interviews prospective clients 4) Communicates with current clients 5) Handles appointment and hearing schedules 6) Creates to do lists 7) Prepares forms for the USCIS and drafts motions to immigration courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, or 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals 8) Attends immigration interviews.
2. Career paths.
Paralegals are needed in all areas of law, so eventually it is up to the individual what he likes most – litigation, intellectual property, real estate or something else.
Also, it depends on the level of expertise and work experience. Some aspects of law are more complex than other. Let’s say in the immigration law there are quite a few subcategories, such as labor certification, family based immigration, asylum, etc. If a paralegal handles family based immigration, there are not too many growth opportunities since it is relatively simple and does not require much expertise. Labor certification and asylum are, on the contrary, very complex areas of the immigration law requiring expertise and good research skills. A paralegal specializing in those areas may start out as a paralegal assistant and go up to the paralegal supervisor level.
As to where paralegals can find a job, that will be law firms, courts, any big companies with legal departments, for instance, insurance companies.
3. Role of legal ethics.
Legal ethics are the basis of client-attorney relationship. The outcome of a client’s case depends on how ethical the attorney is. For instance, it is crucial that the attorney is competent in the area of law the client is seeking advise about. The client must be fully advised about his rights and given the most accurate advice. Once retained, the attorney must work diligently for the case go as fast and easy as possible through all the stages of litigation. The attorney must chose the most efficient and least expensive ways for the client. Evidence to be presented in the case must be true for the candor towards tribunal and fairness to the opposing counsel. Communication with the client is very important lest client loses his trust in the attorney. People with legal problems often panic, so, it is very important to answer any questions they have about their cases. However, as it is often the case, it is necessary to distinguish when someone simply wants to talk and calls about something not particularly relevant to the matter. Attorneys cannot spend all the time talking to clients on the phone.
4. Achieving balance between work and personal life.
Most importantly, one must chose to do what he likes most. Then, it will be much easier to handle both career and family life, for when you like what you do, you do it fast and well. Also, when someone’s personal life is in a mess, it will be reflected on the work performance, so neither work nor personal life should be neglected.
In our firm there is work schedule flexibility. Our boss understands that all people have personal lives that are just as important as work, or maybe even more important. Many people work to make money to provide for their families, not for ambitious career goals, especially women. Whenever someone has a personal emergency or a family event, we are allowed to take the time off work, as long as we give an advance notice.
However, not every employer is flexible. Especially it is true for public organizations. For the people with inflexible work schedules it is very important to prioritize and organize their workload.
5. Advice for you and your goals.
It is necessary to always review your goals and challenge yourself. If you achieve your goals easily, probably there is not enough challenge. However, if you keep failing in achieving your goals, you’ve probably aimed way too high. Never shy away from a challenge. Don’t fall into a rut.
My Mentor is R. Leonard Davis, III of Drake, Hileman & Davis, P.C.
He has been a shareholder in the firm since 1987; Len has headed the following areas of legal practice in the firm: business, banking, corporate, estate planning, estates and trusts. Prior to joining the firm, Len was a Senior Attorney in the Mellon Bank legal department from 1983 to 1986. Prior to that, he was an associate with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath from 1980 to 1983.
Len received his law degree from Villanova University Law School in 1980 where he was an associate editor of the Villanova Law Review. He graduated from Eastern College in St. Davids in 1977 (B.A).
I chose Len because of our working relationship. I am currently working in banking in a commercial loan documentation department. The Bank uses a documentation system called LaserPro that Len is very familiar with. We use Len as an outside source for legal advice pertaining to certain types of loan transactions.
1. What are your specialized practice areas?
Len works in a small suburban practice and considers himself a generalist. He does have specific areas that he stays on top of. Those areas include Business, Banking, Corporate, Estate Planning, Estates and Trusts.
2. What are your typical job functions as a lawyer?
Len is one of the principles of the firm who does not report to anyone other than his clients. He went on to say that it is very entrepreneurial, like a small business. He currently does not have other attorneys that report directly to him, at least not yet. Len does basically everything including marketing and administrative work. For example, he is responsible for maintaining the library books, sending out bills, interacting with clients, performing legal work along with drafting. He does, however, have one paralegal and one legal secretary that he works with. He also referenced his job as kind of being a sole practitioner.
3. What ethical obligation do you have to your clients?
Len went on to describe ethics as very perplexing. You would think that you could follow a moral like code, but that is not the case. Morality is not equivalent with ethics. I then asked if I should memorize that PA Rules of Professional Conduct book. Len said that is the first time that he was asked that question and that he does not know anyone that did such task. He did advise me to become very familiar with the Rules. He also said that there is a standard for strong ethics and you have a duty to represent them zealously. Len concluded with saying that he does his best to follow and beware of the Rules. You have to be very careful, because you can accidentally violate a rule and get into big trouble.
4. Were you ever asked by a client to do something illegal?
Len stated that about 20 years ago, he was approached by a client and he remembered that it had something to do with taxes and that the client asked him to mischaracterize some income. He proceeded to tell me that he did not perform such an act. He is very careful when selecting clients. He stated that he can kind of judge people’s character and he tries to avoid those types of people and situations.
5. What were your career paths? What made you want to be a lawyer?
This was not a clean decision for Len. His father was an engineer and he always thought that he would follow his dad’s career path. Len was very good in math & science, but, when he went to college and discovered he was not as good as he thought once he took calculus and physics. Len went to speak to his school counselor and the counselor suggested that he try law. Len graduated with a degree in sociology and took the LSAT and applied to law school. To his surprise he was accepted and here he is today, 27 years in practice.
6. Have you had a person that acted like a mentor in your life? What impact did they have in your career choice, if any?
Len did not have a mentor relationship like I am experiencing with him now. His mentoring arrangements were all job related and with people “in house” that he sought to for guidance through his career. He tried to build relationships with the senior lawyers at past firms.
7. How do you achieve a balance with your work and personal life?
Len doesn’t believe that he has achieved an appropriate balance yet. The only way to do it is be deliberate about it. Establish a list of priorities and deliberately carve out space for what is important to you. For example, if a priority of yours is family, than he suggests not taking cases that might keep you at the office day and night all the time.
8. What are some of the things you like to do in your free time?
Len has many hobbies/interests outside the work place. Some include: bike riding, hiking, reading, writing poetry, and most importantly, spending time with his five children. Len has two boys and three girls. One of the most interesting extracurricular activity goals Len has set for himself is to climb the highest point in every state, except for Alaska; he says that is way too high for him.
9. Do you have any advice for me becoming a paralegal?
He advised me to be diligent and recognize that this “stuff” is new and out of my comfort zone. He also said to give it my all, don’t skim through classes. The more I know and have trained for will be make my job experiences that much more rewarding and enjoyable. Len believes that once I become a paralegal that I have an advantage because of my work experience and doing the work in certain legal areas and also for the high paced high volume I currently work in today.
Meeting with my mentor, Stephen P. Barson, Esquire, is not a difficult or unfamiliar task since I work for him. I do, however, recall the first time I ever met with him. I remember finding him to be brilliant in his line of work. He exuded intelligence, pride and most importantly, the love for the art of law. I knew when I met him he would be someone very good to learn from. And, as life has it, I have learned most of my (civil litigation/personal injury) experience from him.
He has been a patient teacher, one who was/is never unwilling or reluctant to show you the basic ropes of the industry. Working in a law firm can be very demanding and I have learned you must have your running shoes on at all times. What I mean by that is, first, you must be ready for any and all obstacles that come your way. Being prepared for anything usually makes it that more interesting. The fact that every case is different, every client is different and every situation is different, teaches you to learn a little more of everything. I have also learned that being proactive is certainly part of the paralegal’s job description. It is hard for an attorney to have a paralegal who does things only when asked. Taking on certain responsibilities could provide you personal knowledge that you would not otherwise gain by simply waiting on tasks to be assigned.
My primary experience with civil litigation and/or personal injury was based on Florida law, so coming to Philadelphia and tackling Pennsylvania law was a bit of a task and challenge. Mr. Barson made sure to teach me Pennsylvania procedure and how certain laws were applied to certain cases. He taught me that when in doubt, to ask. Asking would not only teach me the steps, but it would allow me to put that knowledge to test. He reiterated the importance of jotting down certain information I considered to be important because I would later find it to be helpful. So, for a long time, I took notes of everything. I now understand lawyers appreciate that.
A law firm could be a very inviting place for clients who are seeking the support of a lawyer to resolve a dispute, but for a paralegal, it can be a very demanding, fast-paced and nerve wrecking environment. On the other hand, it can also be a great place to realize it is what you enjoying doing most. Paralegals must be able to handle the stresses, responsibilities and work loads with little or no possible errors. We all know perfection is impossible, but we also know that when you really apply yourself in a job or in other personal relations, you can really excel. In my case, Mr. Barson has been a guide, a support system and a friend who has really influenced my decision in joining the Paralegal Studies program.
I just realized that I did not post the Networking Assignment. Here it goes.
Networking Assignment I: Constitution Day
Constitution Day was September 18, 2007. The class was divided into separate groups to discuss a few different cases in depth. My group discussed the Hamdan Case. Hamdan is a Yemeni National (U.S. non-citizen) who was captured in Afghanistan by Allied forces then handed over to the U.S. forces and went to Guantanamo Bay. I learned what Habeas Corpus is and how it did not apply to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, I also learned about the Geneva Convention which is basically a civilized way to deal with each others soldiers. The class was presented with a power point presentation that discussed the various other cases that were assigned to the other groups. Those cases were Rasul, Hamdi and Quirin and discussed what a military tribunal is and how they are different from regular trial court. We also learned about the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) and the AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force). I also learned about the three branches of government (judicial, legislative and executive) and their separation of powers. We also discussed the Detainee Treatment Act and how it requires inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and requires military interrogations to go “by the book”.
Networking Assignment II: Informational Interview
I conducted and informational interview with Coleen Jones, a commercial litigation paralegal at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. Coleen’s typical daily functions consist of drafting fact sections, summarizing deposition transcripts, calendaring court deadlines, preparing deposition kits and heavy client contact. We went on to talk about administrative duties and learned that she really does not do much administrative work except for organization. What she meant by organization was preparing for trial. Coleen organizes depositions into a commonly used system called Trial Direct. She proceeded to tell me that not all cases go to trial, but, she is responsible for being prepared in case they do. Coleen stated that the only formal training she received was in regards to the programs or systems they used. Paralegals are expected to know the court rules upon being hired and if there was a rule that she didn’t know, it was her responsibility to look it up. I am currently taking Legal Research and Writing I and asked her if she uses what she learned in college in her daily work and if she so, does she use a law library to conduct the research or Westlaw or Lexis. At her firm, the Associates perform all of the legal research, but, it really depends on the case and the attorney that she is currently dealing with. She does have a library at her firm, but, for the most part will use Westlaw to conduct her research. I asked her if she has a lot of interaction with the attorneys and she said yes, she has constant interaction and guidance from the attorneys. We discussed her role of legal ethics and the first words that pooped out of her mouth were “never to give the clients advice”. She also stated that if she ever has a question of ethics, that she could consult an attorney. She went on to say that paralegals have a duty to report unethical behavior. I concluded the interview by thanking her for her time and for the reasons that I am not interested in commercial litigation.
I was assigned my mentor Deborah Ann Crinigan by Mr. Freeman so I did not know what to expect when I emailed Ms. Crinigan and introduced myself and requested an appointment with her to conduct our interview. Ms Crinigan was going to be out of town until Halloween so I thought I would do some early investigative work and Google her. Here is her bio: Ms. Crinigan is a partner in the Subrogation/Property Department and practices exclusively in the field of insurance subrogation. She received her B.S. in 1990 from Mount St. Mary’s College and her J.D. and M.B.A. in 1994 from Temple University. She has been practicing since 1994 and is a member of the bars of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida but practices throughout a twenty-five state territory using the services of local counsel under a special program of the Subrogation/Property Department. Okay so when I read that bio I thought 1st what is subrogation? The Subrogation-Property Department specializes in property losses and also handles workers compensation, and healthcare matters. Subrogation is the substitution of one person in the place of another with respect to a lawful claim, demand or right against a third party, so that the substituted party succeeds to the rights of the other, or "stands in the shoes of" the other, with respect to the claim against the third party. Next thing I thought is wow this is going to probably be boring? I was wrong here is my interview: I arrived at the White and Williams building located 1650 Market St for my appt with Ms Crinigan and was immediately impressed. The offices occupy 5 floors of the high rise and Ms.Crinigan’s office is located on the 16th floor. I was escorted back to her office by her assistant Amy. Ms Crinigan and her Paralegal Marcia were able to meet with me together.
1. What made you choose this area of law? Ms Crinigan clerked for White and Williams and decided after clerking for several criminal law offices and DA office that this is where she wanted to work. Marcia who will graduate from law school in May does not know where she will work just yet. Ms. Crinigan did tell her during our interview that the partners wanted her to stay right there with them.
2. What made you choose Marcia as your paralegal? Marcia had several years experience working in a law firm, the firm she was working in was not a subrogation law firm but she showed that she was very capable of running that office and with her educational background I knew she could be trained to be very helpful and its worked out wonderfully.
3 Marcia what classes do you think I should take? Besides your Research and Writing classes, Civil Literature, and definitely and Internship I worked while I attended college so I was not able to do an internship but I think you need that field experience. Don’t forget to network its very important while in school to network because it will help when it comes time to look for a job.
4. Do either of you have children? Ms. Crinigan is single with no children and Marcia is married with children
5. What advice do you have for me? Ms. Crinigan suggest that I intern in several different areas before I make a decision in what field of law I want to work in, get as much education as I can with as many instructors with field experience as possible. Marcia told me to never give up and to just keep applying myself and do not worry about my age because many woman begin law careers after they have families or just decide to begin another career later in life.
Ms. Crinigan and Marcia were very friendly and laid back , remember at the beginning of this interview my first impression was that this was going to be a boring meeting but I was wrong. These ladies were laughing and fun and real easy to talk to. Ms. Crinigan and Marcia are very educated and have had every job you could have (their words) but they still seem to be down to earth everyday women. It was my pleasure to meet with them.
Your typical job functions, and the functions of paralegals you have worked with
I have largely done corprate work-doc reviews, SEC filings, contract drafting. This is tedious work and the support that paralegals do-the filing etc, is very, very tedious. Did this work in NY.
Your career path, and any adivice for entering the paralegal field.
I went to law school later in life as a second career after working in the securities business. Knowing what I know about you, I would approach your parlegal career differently-as we discussed, maybe working the GLBT angle. Doing corporate paralegal work is very, very stressful and tedious and not someting I would recommend for you.
The role of legal ethics for paralegals.
You should read the Rules of Professional Conduct. VERY IMPORTANT and not something that I would summarize in a couple of sentences. To be taken seriously.
Advice on achieving balance with work and personal life.
Sort of the same as described above. Non profit would pay less but would allow you to have your own life and would be less stressful.
Advice for me and my goals. My goals are to work for a non-profit as a paralegal (something in civil liberties), and continue on to finish my bachelor's and lay the foundation for law school. Any advice on what type of classes I should focus on in my undergrad to support that foundation and taking the LSAT would be much appreciated.
Take as many classes on legal issues as you can. Also, take alot of writing intensive classes as you can, as you will be writing alot. Read in all your spare time, since it it that that is the most time consuming. Learn to analyze the essential facts and issues of legal problems, so you don't waste time. Time manangement is essential, as you will be buried with assignments.
20 comments:
I am very interested in immigation law so I decided to Interview Emily Cohen who is an Immigration attorney.
Early in her career as a private practitioner, she established the Immigration Law Center in Philadelphia. This organization's purpose was to serve as a resource to the community on immigration matters. Ms. Cohen is extremely committed to educating the community on the benefits and ramifications of legal immigration and has written and lectured extensively on the subject at both the university level and for corporate clients who continue to seek information on the growing implication immigration has on their business and human resource needs.
Ms. Cohen served as a Foreign Student Advisor at Temple University in Philadelphia and was a Legal Assistant at the Immigration Law Firm of Orlow, Rubin, Steel and Rudnick. She also served as an Immigration Caseworker at the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia and was accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals to represent individuals before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In 1992, she and Charles M. Honeyman, Esq., who has since been appointed a U.S. Immigration Judge, formed Cohen & Honeyman, a full service immigration practice.
Subsequently, she joined her practice with Fluhr & González, P.C. where she now leads The Immigration Law Center of Cohen, Fluhr & González, P.C.
1. Have you had a person that acted like a mentor in your life?
Answer: Emily first worked at the Naturalization Service Center. While she was there
someone by the name of Gabe Labella was a mentor in Emily Life. She trained her in Immigration Law. When it comes to being a lawyer, her Mentor was
Richard Steal. She worked as a paralegal for Richard Steal Esq. for 4 years.
2. If you had an extra Hour in the day what would you do with it?
Answer: Emily Cohen would love to become a comedian. She doesn’t have the time to work on her act. She would also like to learn Chinese fluently and finally put
together her pictures into a photo album from when she taught and lived in China for three years. She would also like to write a screen play.
3. Law school, especially the first year, can be extremely stressful. How did you
deal with it?
Answer: Emily worked full time and went to law school at Temple University at night. For her it was never about being # 1 or head of her class. She was already trained in Immigration law and knew that she wanted to become an immigration lawyer.
4. What are your typical job functions as a lawyer?
Answer: As an attorney she is ultimately responsibly for everything the paralegal
does. She reviews every thing before it is sent out to any client or submitted to the
Government. If she does not sign it then it can not go out. To see clients (Rainmaker) and generate more business and be a resource to the community on immigration.
5. What Non law related goals do you have that you would like to accomplish in
The next few years?
Answer: Emily is in the process of adopting a child from China. She also would like to become physically fit and she wants to complete a manuscript and submit it to a publisher.
6. What ethical obligation do you have to your clients?
Answer: Sometimes clients want her to lie to the government to increase their chances of the immigration benefits of this country. Ethically she is an officer of the court and as desperate as they may be she can not lie for them.
7. How to you achieve a balance between work and your personal life?
Answer: Another attorney once told her “You have to control your law practice, and not have it control you.” She has learned that it is ok to say No sometimes.
She loves to write comedy routines.
8. What type of career paths have you made that pushed you to become a lawyer?
Answer: Emily worked as a social worker. She got a chance to work one on one with clients. When she lived in China (in 1983) she really learned to appreciate everything that we have in the United States. When she first returned from China she took a few classes at University of PENN one included Asian Studies. She also worked for a Refugee Resettlement Agency where she was permitted to represent clients in court. If you work for this type of organization you can get a credit even if you have not attended law school and represent clients. So she got a lot of experience before she went to law school.
9. Do you have any advice for me becoming a paralegal?
Answer: Emily told me to always work as hard as I can. Get as much education that you can about the type of law you are interested in. Being a paralegal is not easy. It is almost like being in school all day every day. Make sure that you work for an attorney that you will be able to have direct contact with.
In meeting my mentor, Stephen P. Barson, Esquire, I learned that being an attorney requires hard work, dedication and most importantly passion. Mr. Barson has been practicing for over 30 years now. His specialty is personal injury. I have learned that he has been very successful in his career because he has been diligent. His typical functions are interviewing clients, advising clients and corresponding with clients.
He also deals with settlement negotiations in order to achieve a beneficial outcome for his clients.
Mr. Barson reiterated the importance of choosing a specialty of law which I would be extremely interested in.
He further stated that ethics play a big role in your everyday life as an attorney. It is important to note, although it is the attorney's job to advocate for every client in search of a favorable outcome, one must maintain within the confines of ethics.
When it came to balance with work and personal life, he declared that is where he might of went a little wrong. When he began practicing as a sole practitioner, he increased his work load. In doing this, increasing his hours was inevitable. As a result, he found that he missed out on family time. As a sole practitioner, I can see how being in the office all the time was important. When working with a firm, you are guaranteed a salary. However, as a sole practitioner, you (the attorney) is responsible for all of the finances needed in order to run a practice of any kind. He further stated the importance of also acknowledging when one has "too many" cases and not enough time to dedicate to each one as needed. Unfortunately, is this event, some cases fall through the cracks.
I chose Mr. Barson as a mentor because he is extremely dedicated to his practice and his clients. I find Mr. Barson to be very diligent, disciplined and dedicated. As a result of all of these qualities, he has had a very successful and fruitful career.
My mentor is Nancy Williams from Ballard Sphar, a paralegal in the Litigation Department of the firm. Nancy and I met on a Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat team here in Philadelphia that we were both members of. In many key ways, she was one of my main inspirations for deciding to pursue paralegal studies. During our interview, I used an expanded questionnaire format to get a better idea of the nature of her work, her attitudes about the field in general and her specialty in particular, her advice for someone entering the field, and what she sees as emerging trends in paralegal work. What follows is a general outline of the questionnaire format I used, along with her responses.
YOU’RE A LITIGATION PARALELGAL…LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR TYPICAL JOB FUNCTIONS…
MONTHLY/QUARTERLY CASELOAD?
It varies according to what cases Nancy’s working on, the nature of the case, and where it is in the case life cycle. All of her cases are Litigation cases, as this is her specialty. For example, at one point she was working on 8 active class action asbestos suits as well as 4 other cases and was putting in 80-hour workweeks. The asbestos cases were nearing trial status and the other four were still in the discovery process.
Nancy gets cases in a number of ways: Sometimes attorneys she’s worked with in the past and has developed good relationships with, will come to her and ask if she’s interested and able to take on a particular case. At other times the Litigation Manager will send out an email reviewing new cases and asking if any of the litigation paralegals are interested in picking up a particular case. If no one comes forward, the Manager may assign specific cases to those paralegals that can “fit them in”. Occasionally Nancy will hear about a specific case, and will approach the lead attorney and offer her services. Finally, when a paralegal leaves the Firm, his/her caseload must be re-assigned among the remaining paralegals. When this happens, efforts are made to match up “like” cases with paralegals that may have already had experience on a particular type of case.
ADMINSTRATIVE:
Most of the work Nancy does is documentation review for her caseload, making sure the documents are in order, filed properly in the case file, and with the courts.
At her firm paralegals also are responsible for billing their time and often this requires not only keeping her time records up to date, but also parsing out whether the time is to be billed to the firm, or to the client.
Other administrative responsibilities include handling all the billing from outside vendors such as copy services, equipment rentals for off-site meetings and depositions, as well as trial court equipment rentals (computer projectors, easels and the like).
Finally, Nancy supervises a secretary and is responsible for managing the secretary’s workload as well as conducting her annual review.
RESEARCH/WRITING: (Use Lexis or Westlaw more? Or bound reporters? Do
you choose the direction and scope of your research, or is it specifically assigned and directed by the attorney? What’s the time crunch like?)
Whether a paralegal does this specific type of work varies from firm to firm. In Nancy’s experience, paralegals in smaller firms have the opportunity to do more of this level work. At her firm (Ballard Sphar) the paralegals do not research cases and write drafts of complaints. The first and second year law associates do that work.
In 11 years at Ballard, Nancy has only ever drafted one complaint and drafted answers in partnership with one associate during the discovery process with one particular client. That client had specifically asked for a paralegal to work on discovery answers in order to contain costs (obviously, having an associate do that work is considerably more expensive than having a paralegal do it). As more clients become pro-active in managing the costs of their own litigation cases, Nancy feels that how this work is handled at Ballard may begin to slowly change from the associate level to the paralegal level.
SPECIFIC TO LITIGATION: interviewing, preparing court docs, attending trials
Prepping exhibits
According to Nancy this again depends very much on the size of the firm and the type of case being handled. Generally she has very little client contact, unless it is a pro-bono case that either she herself has brought into the firm and gotten approval to work on with a junior associate – or one that a senior associate has brought in and invites her to work on.
Most of her time is spent reviewing and organizing case documents; obtaining specific documents from clients; redacting documents (that is removing information from the documents that is not necessary for the case, or is privileged information); and Bates numbering the documents (a system of labeling/numbering documents that is used to identify your specific case documents).
For trials she may be prepping the trial documents to identify who gets specific ones, or may mark them to clarify whether a specific document is to be admitted or not into the court records. Her job requires that she be familiar with and competent in applying the Civil Procedure Rules of Evidence. She may need to obtain the services of a translator for bi-lingual cases, as well as communicate with the trial judge’s assistant to ascertain the specific order and format the judge wishes to see on documents presented at the trial. Sometimes she will visit the courtroom where the trial will be held to “size up” the courtroom layout and find out if it is a totally electronic courtroom. She may need to find a secure place at the courthouse to store trial documents overnight. And finally, Nancy will often have the responsibility of notifying witnesses in a specific case of the date and time they are needed in court.
INTERACTION WITH THE ATTORNEYS YOU WORK FOR:
A large part of Nancy’s job is “training the associates”, particularly the first years in the specifics of law practice in terms of “what needs to be done, what’s next and are we still on track” for a case. This generally revolves around the proper formatting of discovery answers, preparation of motions and so on. Often she will need to remind the associates of the necessity to check the cost of a particular action the associate may want to take on a case versus what the client’s outcome goals and cost considerations are. In some instances she may have to “gently redirect the Associate, or in some instances a Partner
DO YOU USE SPECIFIC TRACKING SOFTWARE (e.g.: ABACUS?)
Although the firm does have specific case tracking software, Nancy does not use it in her litigation work. Instead she will often use the Judge’s trial order (pre-trial or scheduling order). She also uses a large calendar as the trial date approaches, as well as an excel spreadsheet to track the case(s). Often she will need to obtain the attorney’s directions regarding the statute of limitations for a specific case. In such cases she may create timelines that she and the attorney in charge create.
WAS YOUR CURRENT FIRM YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT AFTER GRADUATING FROM YOUR PARALEGAL PROGRAM?
Nancy worked for a year with a Federal agency (FAA) before moving to Ballard. Originally she wanted to specialize in Administration law, and since she had a master’s degree and a background in aviation, in addition to her paralegal certificate, this seemed like a good option. The nature of the agency work did not live up to her expectations and she moved back to Philadelphia. She first temped at Ballard on a Federal case for six months organizing the documents and getting them out to the courthouse in Exton, only to find that the attorneys settled the case on the morning the trial was to have begun.
She was then offered a permanent position in the Litigation Department and accepted it.
Her first cases were “inherited cases from paralegals leaving the firm”. As she acquired a reputation for solid, competent work, she began to receive her own cases from inception from attorneys she had developed relationships with.
WHAT KIND OF IN-HOUSE TRAINING DID YOU RECEIVE WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED AS A PL?
Nancy was trained on Ballard’s internal document system (a computerized system for tracking case documents). She also attended courses offered by the IT department on excel, PowerPoint and advanced word applications.
More recently the newly hired PL Manager had offered training on statutes, trial preparation, and a mandatory ethics class. There are also “webinars” for the IP paralegals that other PLs can access as well.
HOW CLOSELY WAS YOUR WORK SUPERVISED IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OR TWO? BY WHOM?
Communication at Ballard traditionally flows upward. This means that Nancy most often works on her own, and the onus is on her to keep communication flowing between herself and the associates and partners she may be working with on cases assigned to her.
The Litigation PL Manager doesn’t’ supervise the work of the paralegals: he is there to function as an issue solver for either the attorneys or the paralegals.
WHEN YOU FIRST BEGAN WORK AS A PL DID YOU FEEL ADEQUATLY
PREPARED? WHAT AREAS OF STUDY OR PRACTICE WOULD HAVE
HELPED PREPARE YOU BETTER?
Although Nancy had studied Administrative law as her elective option, she wound up in Litigation. Her prior work experience and general paralegal skills helped to offset any initial gaps in her litigation knowledge base. Nancy came to the paralegal field with a BA degree as well as a Master’s degree and a prior work history in the aviation field.
She emphasized that in addition to having MS Office skills, being adept at PowerPoint is essential since many attorneys use that specific application.
SPECIFIC COURSES YOU WISHED YOU HAD TAKEN?
PowerPoint and advanced Excel.
COURSES YOU’D RECOMMEND I TAKE?
Know legal research and writing, civil litigation, ethics and know how to use the bound legal reporters. It also helps to narrow down the area of law you think you want to specialize in and take as many courses as are available in that area of law.
CAREER PATHS YOU’D RECOMEND FOR A NEW PL?
First, choose something that interests and excites you intellectually, because you’ll be spending a lot of time working at it! Although it’s not impossible to do, it is difficult for a PL to switch between specialties because of the learning curve involved, along with the experience requirements for certain positions.
AREAS OF PL LAW PRACTICE YOU’D RECOMMEND/WHY?
“Hot” areas of law practice that pay higher salaries are:
Intellectual Property Law – a demanding area requiring significant attention to detail. Probably the highest paying and fastest growing law specialty.
Financial (Corporate) Law and Real Estate Law
Family Wealth Management (Wills, Trusts, Estates)
Bankruptcy Law
Legal Technology – this is a rapidly emerging field, as the move is towards greater use of electronic law practice both within law firms as well as the Court system. There are many opportunities both within law firms and with specific software developers and providers for PLs with a good knowledge base in law technology along with paralegal skills. For example, one good be in sales and support for a provider firm and work as a liaison to firms buying that specific software suite.
AREAS OF LEGAL PRACTICE TO AVOID/WHY?
General Litigation for two major reasons:
1. the workload is intense and often unpredictable, with the effect that the PL often has no control over the hours h/she works. It is extremely time intense and there are so many factors and people involved in the preparation before a case finally reaches trial stage, that you often have little to no control over.
2. the base pay scale for Litigation PLs is lower than other specialties, where the hours are often “lighter”. Having said that, it is possible to earn significant money in overtime pay.
ROLE OF LEGAL ETHICS?
FOR YOU: Nancy feels a responsibility to do things efficiently and economically, while achieving the same legal value for the clients. Often she will err on the side of the firm taking on charges, versus charging the client. This can become somewhat problematic in terms of “reigning in some of the associates who don’t question the cost benefit analysis of some of the choices they make in the handling of specific facets of a case.
When an Ethical (or ‘Chinese’) Wall has been put in place on a particular case, the onus is often at the PL level to ensure that the wall isn’t breached. In one instance opposing counsel on a case had hired a law clerk that had worked for the Judge who was assigned to the case. This created a particular set of ethical conflict checks that Nancy (along with the attorneys on the case) had to carefully navigate.
ROLE OF LEGAL ETHICS FOR YOUR EMPLOYER?
At Ballard there has always been a Partner assigned the responsibility of handling ethics issues. Anyone in the firm may go directly to this partner if they have a specific legal ethics issue or question, for guidance. Nancy also spoke about a new trend in law firms to hire an Attorney whose client is the law firm itself. That person is charged with maintaining legal ethics. Finally, there is an Ethics Committee in place that handles any conflicts of an ethical nature.
WORK/LIFE BALANCE ISSUES:
When the caseload is very heavy and many cases are nearing trial, work/life balance often goes ‘out the window’. As an example, when Nancy was in treatment for breast cancer (on chemo) she continued to work. At that time, she had a major case going to trial and was putting in 18-hour days, and sometimes even sleeping at the office. She had a serious reaction to one of the chemo drugs and had to go to the hospital emergency room for treatment - - when she was patched up, she returned the next day to the office to continue working on the case. This was an exceptional instance, but it happened and she had to deal with it.
SET YOUR OWN SCHEDULE?
The balancing act is always between the amount of time it takes to do a particular task on a case, versus the ultimate case deadline, versus the other cases she’s handling versus the administrative work she’s still responsible for. If there’s a conflict, she’ll often put the administrative work on temporary hold, and will try to catch up either on the weekend, or when her caseload becomes more static.
SCHEDULE IMPOSED BY OTHERS?
Some attorneys may ask for a ‘drop dead’ task to be done, but she always needs to factor in her other cases and their deadlines. If she can accommodate the request without jeopardizing another case, she will (but not if it’s a “repeat offender attorney”!). If it’s a matter of ‘dueling’ attorneys (both want something ASAP), she will take a proactive approach and will try to speak with both attorneys to see if she can broker a deal on the critical deadlines. Getting the paralegal manager involved is a “last resort”, and is something she’s never had to rely on.
INPUT INTO WORKLOAD?
As much as it’s possible for her, she will have a fair amount of say in what new cases she takes on in relation to her current caseload. Nancy is the best judge of the tasks and deadlines required by her cases and if she can’t take on a case she will say so and support her position. It’s very rare that she is given another case to handle, if her call is that she can’t. Usually, this will happen when another PL leaves the Litigation Department and has an active heavy caseload to reassign.
My mentor is Steven A. Morley, Esq., from Morley, Surin & Griffin, P.C. He became my mentor before we were assigned this project, when I started working for him 4 months ago.
Interest/Background
Mr. Morley has been interested in “Issues of Justice” ever since he was a boy, and this naturally led him to law. For seven years he was a senior trial attorney at the Federal Court Division of the Defender Association of Philadelphia and worked for a short time with Richard Sprague. The transition from Criminal Law to Immigration Law occurred when he realized that the two go hand in hand. Immigrants who are involved in legal issues are a special category all themselves. Because they are not citizens or legal permanent residents, law applies to them differently.
Criminal Law and Ethics
When I asked Mr. Morley how he felt morally about defending criminals and repeat offenders, he told me about trends that he notices with his clients. Most are not “vicious sociopaths” as media depicts them. They usually have poor judgment and even poorer impulse control. Putting it this way, I realized that everyone deserves a chance for forgiveness and this is one of the purposes of our judicial system.
Work/Family Balance
Mr. Morley answered immediately that he is constantly struggling to balance his work and family life. Even now that his children are grown, it is still a challenge. It was especially difficult when his children were young, as he was a family man committed to being home for dinner every night. For this reason, Mr. Morley told me that when he went into private practice in 1984, his did not grow as quickly as other practices around him. He puts in an average of 60 hours per week.
Free Time
In the time that Mr. Morley does have, he enjoys going to movies, mostly foreign and independent films, and reading all types of books. If he really had more free time, he’d develop his passion for photography.
Did you yourself have a mentor? If so, how did they influence you?
I was surprised to hear that Mr. Morley did not have any sort of mentor or professor that sort of guided him along throughout his early years.
If you had to “do it all over again,” would you change anything?
Mr. Morley would have taken a break between college and law school, and immersed himself in different types of law. At this point working in Immigration Law, Mr. Morley would have tried to find a way to keep up with criminal law. He misses his comfort level with criminal law and feels that he is not as sharp.
What follows are the mentor questions typically asked by students: and the answers followed. Additionally, I have included the CCP questions related to the PLS program. 1. typical job functions.2. career paths3. role of legal ethics4. achieving balance with work and personal life.5. advice for you and your goals.
I interviewed Attorney Steven Lafferty. He graduated from Widener Law School. I attended this law school as well, and so it was particularly interesting to me to listen to his thoughts in light of the time span of ten years or more had expired between our student attendance. He spoke of his particpation in the mock trial events, as well as his mock trial awards. He decided to go to law school after receiving a Bachelors degree in hospitality services. He wanted to have more control over his career, which he could not find in the hospitality industry. Although he remains an admirer of hospitality.
When he finished law school, he went to work for a defense law firm, which many students do, due to the more stable and higher income. However, after a couple years he chose to enter in the foray on the plaintiff's side. He prefers the trial atmosphere, although in my opinion, he is not dismayed when cases settle.
He has many job functions, of which three are the most important. One is writing briefs, motions and memorandums. The other is communicating with clients and significantly the marketing side of this business. Also because he is a partner, he must appreciate the requirements of running a sucessful business and working with employees.
He says that legal ethics play a part in how he advises his clients, especially when they disclose information that makes their claims false.
His advice to my goal of returning to law school is one, to make sure that is what I really want and second, to figure out what kind of law I wish to practice.
Lastly, he achieves balance between work and play, by going home at a reasonable hour, going on vacations and taking trips on the weekends.
My relationship with my mentor is one of employee. I have worked for his law firm for three months. They practice primarily personal injury.
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE:
Yes, this experience improved my oral communciation skills. Somewhat. Practice makes perfect.
Written Skills: Yes. Very much. Any opportunity to write improves one's skills. Particularly when the subjects are interesting.
Did it improve my career awareness. Yes. I am curious and have asked many lawyers, law students questions, as well as reading the ABA student magazine and I have tons of law related articles emailed to me. This assignment gave me the opportunity to ask my questions in a more formal way.
The best part of the mentor experience was having the chance to have my employer appreciate that I have goals.
How could the mentor experience be improved. I thought it was very satisfactory.
Yes, I will be in contact with my mentor after the course is over.
I don't think he would be willing to participate as a mentor.
What follows are the mentor questions typically asked by students: and the answers followed. Additionally, I have included the CCP questions related to the PLS program. 1. typical job functions.2. career paths3. role of legal ethics4. achieving balance with work and personal life.5. advice for you and your goals.
I interviewed Attorney Steven Lafferty. He graduated from Widener Law School. I attended this law school as well, and so it was particularly interesting to me to listen to his thoughts in light of the time span of ten years or more had expired between our student attendance. He spoke of his particpation in the mock trial events, as well as his mock trial awards. He decided to go to law school after receiving a Bachelors degree in hospitality services. He wanted to have more control over his career, which he could not find in the hospitality industry. Although he remains an admirer of hospitality.
When he finished law school, he went to work for a defense law firm, which many students do, due to the more stable and higher income. However, after a couple years he chose to enter in the foray on the plaintiff's side. He prefers the trial atmosphere, although in my opinion, he is not dismayed when cases settle.
He has many job functions, of which three are the most important. One is writing briefs, motions and memorandums. The other is communicating with clients and significantly the marketing side of this business. Also because he is a partner, he must appreciate the requirements of running a sucessful business and working with employees.
He says that legal ethics play a part in how he advises his clients, especially when they disclose information that makes their claims false.
His advice to my goal of returning to law school is one, to make sure that is what I really want and second, to figure out what kind of law I wish to practice.
Lastly, he achieves balance between work and play, by going home at a reasonable hour, going on vacations and taking trips on the weekends.
My relationship with my mentor is one of employee. I have worked for his law firm for three months. They practice primarily personal injury.
STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE:
Yes, this experience improved my oral communciation skills. Somewhat. Practice makes perfect.
Written Skills: Yes. Very much. Any opportunity to write improves one's skills. Particularly when the subjects are interesting.
Did it improve my career awareness. Yes. I am curious and have asked many lawyers, law students questions, as well as reading the ABA student magazine and I have tons of law related articles emailed to me. This assignment gave me the opportunity to ask my questions in a more formal way.
The best part of the mentor experience was having the chance to have my employer appreciate that I have goals.
How could the mentor experience be improved. I thought it was very satisfactory.
Yes, I will be in contact with my mentor after the course is over.
I don't think he would be willing to participate as a mentor.
Today I met with my mentor Terry Moore. She is a smart funny and wise paralegal with 20 years experience in the field. She currently works in a firm for air law. However, she has worked for other types of firms including defense firms. Today two of the other secretaries had called out, but Terry was committed to our meeting. Under the circumstances, I probably had a better idea of what a paralegal does today as I shadowed her around in the office for our entire interview. I watched her perform her duties as she answered my questions.
I began the interview by inquiring about her typical job fuctions. After hearing a run down of duties including filing, responding, composing complaints etc. She informed me that she does everything except litigation. She jokingly told me that in her firm the younger paralegals are mostly paper pushers! Although, every paralegal has a big part in building a case. Each case requires a well-thought process on how to go about building it.
When I asked her about career paths, I was informed that there are two different types of paralegals. One teyoe of paralegal specializes in litigation. This I was told pays more! They handle more of the filing aspect. The second is a general paralegal or “glorified legal secretary”. Terry does both with 20 years in the profession. She told me to keep in mind that different firms have different titles which still mean paralegal. For example, in her firm individuals are titled: legal assistants. As a legal assistant in her firm she makes 3x more that when she had as paralegal in another firm, and it was the exact same work.
Legal ethics, to Terry meant, “keeping your mouth shut!” She said that as a paralegal she was required to take an oath as lawyers do. The information obtained in the job is very important to keep within the job. It jeopardizes everything to let any information out about a case, even just one personal thing about a client, or how much a case settle for etc. Aside from the confidentiality of information, being trustworthy is a must. Paralegals handle more than information, like money that must be handled properly.
Terry has one motto for balancing work and her personal life: DON’T TAKE THE WORK HOME WITH YOU! She told me she gives work from 9-10 hours of her life a day. Then she leaves it at work to go home and concentrate on her family of a husband and two kids. Not having a workload enables her to do this. She said paralegals do take work home with them but she doesn’t advise this if you want balance in your life. She said that there are times during a case where you will naturally have downtime at work as well.
Her advice for me was to study hard and try to get any type of job I can in the law field so I can obtain more hands on experience. One other bit of advice was to be my own back up person. There is a lot of responsibility in paralegal work and mistakes can happen with documents and money. Keeping track of everything I do creates resolution for potential problems.
I am very happy I had my interview today.
Hi everyone,
I came in to post my mentor assignment, and now I am kind of embarresesd because the 7 posts I read so far are really good. Well, here we go.
My mentor experiment was very interesting. For starters, it was a little unorthadox due to the fact that my mentor is about 15 years younger than I am; however, that does not at all mean that my mentor is not "on the ball" in her profession.
Allow me to introduce you to my mentor. My mentor's name is Laura Murphy and while I did not ask, I believe she is about 20 years old. Laura is a paralegel for Brian M. Felgoise, a solo practicioner in Jenkintown, Pa. The way I met Laura was through my next door neighbor who is Laura's boyfriend. Laura practices and assists Mr. Felgoise in personal injury law. This area interests me because it is an area that is looked at so differently, depending on who you ask. Ask someone who was injured on a job what they think of personal injury law and see how that same question would be answered by someone who was a defendent in a personal injury case. Then you will see what I mean.
Back to my mentor: I interviewed my mentor while sitting outside my neighbor's house one evening. I asked her the questions that are part of the class assignment, and posted both --the questions I asked and Laura's responses to them:
1) What are your job functions on a typical day?
Laura told her tasks vary from day to day, but the most important factor to everyday tasks is to make her boss's day "flow as smoothly as possible." To achieve this Laura does some of the following: contact insurance companys to establish claims, drafting and preparing compliants, obtain and communicate pertinent information from clients to her boss, Mr. Felgoise.
2) What type of career paths are there for paralegels? Laura explained to me that the career paths are limitless--criminal law, personal injury, employment, real estate, etc.. She also emphasized that the dicipline and organization required by paralegal work would be an asset in any endevour.
3)What role does legal ethics have in the paralegel's workplace?
Ethics touch almost every part of a paralegels day-- from keeping certain matters confidential to putting your clients interests before your own. Ethics is a major part of the paralegal profession.
4) How would you suggest to achieve a balance between work and your personal life?
Laura explained that if you are not interested in the area of law you are working in than there can't be a balance because a paralegal's job is very demanding and if you don't enjoy it, you will burn out quickly.
5)What type of advice could you offer me about a career in law?
Laura suggested that I volunteer at different law firms to see if the "practical" practice of law is something that would interst me on a full time schedule. She also stressed that while at these firms ask questions. Not only will I learn something but it shows initative.
Phew, hope I did not put anyone to sleep. Thanks for reading.
aMy mentor is Georgette Pinillos, Esq. of COHEN, FLUHR & GONZALEZ, P.C. Tia recommended her to me (thanks Tia!). Georgette is an immigration attorney.
I'll post a couple of the questions from the interview:
3. What kind of role do legal ethics play in your job?
I consider myself a very conservative person when it comes to ethics. I believe fully in the duty of confidentiality. I have a great example of ethics at work. I had a client with a pending deportation case. He claimed that he was married to an American citizen. He was pursing a Green card and wanted me to represent him. I asked him questions about his relationship but he gave very vague answers. I questioned him about his wife�s status and he assured me that she was a citizen. As it came time for trial to prove the validity of his marriage, he gave inconsistent answers and was unable to tell anything about his wife�s daughter. I informed my client that I would not represent him anymore and filed a motion to withdraw myself from the case. I did not feel that I could ethically represent him anymore.
5. What advice could you give me to achieve my goals?
You have a background in Human Resources, which will be very helpful as a paralegal. You deal with all types of personalities and staff at all levels of the firm. This can be a valuable tool to navigate at work. Don�t ever think that there is something you can�t accomplish. If you have the desire to do it, it can be done. Also, never burn your bridges. Maintain relationships with all your contacts and former employers because you never know when you will need them again. I find that although I struggle with this, networking is the key to new opportunities. It�s worth it to make an effort to put yourself out there and meet new people. I recommend that you keep everything-letters of recommendation, papers from your classes, graded tests. You will find yourself needing that information later. Lastly, maintain your priorities, strive to achieve that balance in life between work and home. It�s truly the keys to happiness.
My first networking event was a lecture. Part of the Owen J. Roberts Memorial Lecture Series, Aharon Barak, the Former President of the Supreme Court of Israel, gave a lecture called "The Battle Against Terror: The Judicial Role". The lecture was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and it was centered around the judiciary's need to combat the abuses of the executive and the passivity of the legislative branches of government.
My second networking event was also available through the University of Pennsylvania's School of Law. The United Law Students of Color Council hosted a lecture by Angela Oh that was open to the public. Her lecture was about diversity in the legal profession.
My mentor was Robert Dellavella of Dellavella & Associates; he is a private practice attorney in Northeast Philadelphia.
I elected to perform my interview with Mr. Dellavella over the phone for his convenience; although a practicing attorney, I discovered that my mentor is also very active in Philadelphia politics and is pressed for time during this upcoming mayoral election. He is a Democratic Ward Leader for the 55th Ward.
Mr. Dellavella's typical job functions surround interviewing and consulting with clients. He admits that he rarely has to go to trial and believes that many conflicts can be resolved without a judge. He said, "Most of my cases are small claims cases which are almost always settled out of court." When his cases do go to trial, however, his work becomes much more demanding. "Careful attention to detail," he said, "is crucial. Especially court deadlines, which is why the paralegal is the star of the show." Outside the courtroom, Mr. Dellavella has a very active political life that currently involves a lot of fundraising activities and communication with residents in his ward to pinpoint the most pressing concerns that his constituents have about their neighborhood.
Mr. Dellavella and I discussed his career path and my own possibilities. He mentioned that as an undergraduate he majored in Political Science "before it was fashionable" and always had an eye for politics. At Temple University's College of Liberal Arts, he tried to be involved in "as many government programs as possible except jail", noting his position on the school's debate team, student government, and pre-law society. All of these, he explained, helped him secure admission to law school and it would benefit me to do the same now while at CCP. He attended law school at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut where he received his J.D. Returning home to Philadelphia, he began both his private practice and political activism in the Mayfair section of the city. Through experience as an attorney and a politician, he has come to truly enjoy his career for all of its turns, and he eagerly looks forward to what the future might bring.
Although Mr. Dellavella works closely with other attorneys in his small firm, he takes it upon himself to handle ethical issues that may arise in any of the cases brought before his firm. "It's usually some small issue," he said, noting that his firm often double checks a potential client in case a conflict of interest arises. "It's happened before that we were about to take on a client without knowing that we had sued him once over a decade ago." Mr. Dellavella also makes clear his own personal conflicts of interest; he made a point of admitting that he has a weakness when dealing with criminals. He rarely handles a criminal case because he finds himself partially prejudicial against the accused. "I'm more comfortable as a civil litigator," he said, "and I leave any criminal work to my partners."
Humorously, Mr. Dellavella said that he has no advice for achieving balance between his work and personal life. "If I was just an attorney and just a husband, I would be fine. But running your own firm, being an active in city politics, a husband, and a father... it can be pretty tiring," he said. He did assert that in law school he made many sacrifices to accommodate the heavy work load, and that this work ethic continues for him today. "I try to make time for some sort of relaxing activity every day like watching the Daily Show or spending a little extra time in Starbucks. Anything to just get your mind off of everything," he said. This seems to be his balance. He admitted that after the election in November, he's immediately taking a vacation. "Someplace quite," he said.
Mr. Dellavella had some kind words of advice for me and my current career goals. I mentioned to him that I am very interested in state and local politics and that I have a real passion for federal law. He recommended to me that while I'm at CCP, I should try my best to excel at my classes, actively involve myself in the school, and take advantage of internship possibilities. These, he admits, will likely be very beneficial to me when I apply to a four-year institution. He recommended that I pursue a job "near the legal profession" in the interim. Mr. Dellavella believes that my education and my community involvement will be most beneficial to obtaining my four-year degree, my graduate degree, and securing my career beyond education.
I met with Mr. Dellavella on Friday, October 12 in his office in Northeast Philadelphia. I originally met him back in April when he successfully represented me in an Unemployment Compensation Board of Review hearing.
The first thing I noticed in Mr. Dellavella's office is that he is extremely untidy; without my stating so, he immediately clarified that because this is election season and he is a Ward Leader his office "looks like a bomb went off in it". There were innumerable banners, posters, and flags with various names of Democratic candidates cluttering up his office. It was amazing that either one of us could locate a chair. To further illuminate the hectic environment he was working in, the phones rang endlessly for the entire duration of our meeting. He certainly wasn't joking when he admitted before that he was "pressed for time".
What I found most surprising about the office was that it was very small. A lot of work is accomplished in such a tiny space. All of Mr. Dellavella's small claims cases, trial work, and political activism is based out of one tiny row home that has been converted into a few offices. His partners shared the second floor office space, while he works out of the main office on the first floor. The legal secretary, who is shared by all of the attorneys, works alone in the front of the building; there are no case reporters, and all of her legal research is done using software such as LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Mr. Dellavella and I reviewed the same topics we had previously discussed in our phone interview, and he reiterated his desire for a vacation. I was very impressed by the conditions in which Mr. Dellavella works. I, personally, am painstakingly organized and I am enamored by anyone who can function in such disarray. But personal opinions aside, Mr. Dellavella was very kind to speak with me over the past two months, and he has offered some valuable input into my goals at CCP as well as help me set some ambitious benchmarks to achieve in the future.
Mentor Project
Networking Assignment
10/16/07
Constitution Day was 9/18/07 the class was divided into groups and we discussed the
cases. My group had the Quirin case and it was a very interesting article, I learned
what a military tribunal was and how our government will do what they want to
protect face. We were shown a slide show which explained the 3 branches of government
the rest of the class discussed their articles and I learned about the Rasul and Padilla cases
We discussed how the Geneva Convention was incorporated in 1949 and why.
While discussing the Guantanama camp we discussed Detainee Treatment Act 2
Why Habeas Corpus didn’t apply to Guantanama detainees and what Habeas corpus
Is. We also learned what the AUMF (authorization for the use of military force) was
and the terms of the AUMF. We also discussed the UCMJ( uniformed code of military
justice) which controls how we court martial our soldiers.
I just got my mentor today so once she gets back to me I can post my interview.
For one of the networking assignments, I went to the National Constitution Center to see the symposium webcast from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, called “An Enigmatic Court? Examining the Roberts Court as it Begins Year Three.” Featured speakers included Jeffrey Rosen, Joan Biskupic, Vikram Amar, Kathleen Sullivan, Dean Ken Starr, Professor Doug Kmiec, and Judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain and Steven Reinhardt, of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
There were two parts of the event. The first part was a review of the past two terms and looking into the future work in the third term. There was a discussion on Roberts’ role as Chief Justice to lead other justices as close to consensus as possible. There was some discussion on our favorite “Bong Hits for Jesus.” :)
The second part of the event was a Mock Trial on Constitutional Interpretation. The case tried was Parents’ Involved v. Seattle School District (2007). Judges O'Scannlain and Reinhardt acted as “witnesses.” The idea was to show how the justices approach and interpret cases.
My other networking assignment was through being in class on the Constitution Day for the presentation on the Guantanamo Bay cases. The cases discussed included Ex Parte Quirin, Rasul. v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld.
The discussion started with the World War II and the case Ex Parte Quirin. The importance of the case in connection to the Guantanamo cases is that it defined “unlawful enemy combatants,” and the distinction between an unlawful enemy combatant and an ordinary enemy combatant is crucial as to the constitutional rights of the Guantanamo detainees.
The other cases basically showed how certain new military laws have been shaped after 9/11. The new laws include Authorized Use of Military Force, a resolution signed by President Bush on September 18, 2001 empowering the President to use “all necessary force” against the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks, Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 depriving the U.S. judicial branch of the power to decide on Habeas Corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees, Military Commission Act of 2006 signed in wake of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld which allowed establishment of military commissions to try “unlawful enemy combatants.”
The Guantanamo cases also showed how hard it was for the detainees to assert their Geneva Convention rights to fair trial.
I have conducted an interviewed with Michael S. Henry, Esq., who specializes in the immigration law, and he answered my questions in the context of the work that we do in our office.
1. Typical job functions.
A paralegal working for an immigration attorney typically has the following responsibilities:
1) Conducts legal research
2) Drafts legal memos
3) Interviews prospective clients
4) Communicates with current clients
5) Handles appointment and hearing schedules
6) Creates to do lists
7) Prepares forms for the USCIS and drafts motions to immigration courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, or 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
8) Attends immigration interviews.
2. Career paths.
Paralegals are needed in all areas of law, so eventually it is up to the individual what he likes most – litigation, intellectual property, real estate or something else.
Also, it depends on the level of expertise and work experience. Some aspects of law are more complex than other. Let’s say in the immigration law there are quite a few subcategories, such as labor certification, family based immigration, asylum, etc. If a paralegal handles family based immigration, there are not too many growth opportunities since it is relatively simple and does not require much expertise. Labor certification and asylum are, on the contrary, very complex areas of the immigration law requiring expertise and good research skills. A paralegal specializing in those areas may start out as a paralegal assistant and go up to the paralegal supervisor level.
As to where paralegals can find a job, that will be law firms, courts, any big companies with legal departments, for instance, insurance companies.
3. Role of legal ethics.
Legal ethics are the basis of client-attorney relationship. The outcome of a client’s case depends on how ethical the attorney is. For instance, it is crucial that the attorney is competent in the area of law the client is seeking advise about. The client must be fully advised about his rights and given the most accurate advice. Once retained, the attorney must work diligently for the case go as fast and easy as possible through all the stages of litigation. The attorney must chose the most efficient and least expensive ways for the client. Evidence to be presented in the case must be true for the candor towards tribunal and fairness to the opposing counsel.
Communication with the client is very important lest client loses his trust in the attorney. People with legal problems often panic, so, it is very important to answer any questions they have about their cases. However, as it is often the case, it is necessary to distinguish when someone simply wants to talk and calls about something not particularly relevant to the matter. Attorneys cannot spend all the time talking to clients on the phone.
4. Achieving balance between work and personal life.
Most importantly, one must chose to do what he likes most. Then, it will be much easier to handle both career and family life, for when you like what you do, you do it fast and well. Also, when someone’s personal life is in a mess, it will be reflected on the work performance, so neither work nor personal life should be neglected.
In our firm there is work schedule flexibility. Our boss understands that all people have personal lives that are just as important as work, or maybe even more important. Many people work to make money to provide for their families, not for ambitious career goals, especially women. Whenever someone has a personal emergency or a family event, we are allowed to take the time off work, as long as we give an advance notice.
However, not every employer is flexible. Especially it is true for public organizations. For the people with inflexible work schedules it is very important to prioritize and organize their workload.
5. Advice for you and your goals.
It is necessary to always review your goals and challenge yourself.
If you achieve your goals easily, probably there is not enough challenge. However, if you keep failing in achieving your goals, you’ve probably aimed way too high. Never shy away from a challenge. Don’t fall into a rut.
My Mentor is R. Leonard Davis, III of Drake, Hileman & Davis, P.C.
He has been a shareholder in the firm since 1987; Len has headed the following areas of legal practice in the firm: business, banking, corporate, estate planning, estates and trusts. Prior to joining the firm, Len was a Senior Attorney in the Mellon Bank legal department from 1983 to 1986. Prior to that, he was an associate with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath from 1980 to 1983.
Len received his law degree from Villanova University Law School in 1980 where he was an associate editor of the Villanova Law Review. He graduated from Eastern College in St. Davids in 1977 (B.A).
I chose Len because of our working relationship. I am currently working in banking in a commercial loan documentation department. The Bank uses a documentation system called LaserPro that Len is very familiar with. We use Len as an outside source for legal advice pertaining to certain types of loan transactions.
1. What are your specialized practice areas?
Len works in a small suburban practice and considers himself a generalist. He does have specific areas that he stays on top of. Those areas include Business, Banking, Corporate, Estate Planning, Estates and Trusts.
2. What are your typical job functions as a lawyer?
Len is one of the principles of the firm who does not report to anyone other than his clients. He went on to say that it is very entrepreneurial, like a small business. He currently does not have other attorneys that report directly to him, at least not yet. Len does basically everything including marketing and administrative work. For example, he is responsible for maintaining the library books, sending out bills, interacting with clients, performing legal work along with drafting. He does, however, have one paralegal and one legal secretary that he works with. He also referenced his job as kind of being a sole practitioner.
3. What ethical obligation do you have to your clients?
Len went on to describe ethics as very perplexing. You would think that you could follow a moral like code, but that is not the case. Morality is not equivalent with ethics. I then asked if I should memorize that PA Rules of Professional Conduct book. Len said that is the first time that he was asked that question and that he does not know anyone that did such task. He did advise me to become very familiar with the Rules. He also said that there is a standard for strong ethics and you have a duty to represent them zealously. Len concluded with saying that he does his best to follow and beware of the Rules. You have to be very careful, because you can accidentally violate a rule and get into big trouble.
4. Were you ever asked by a client to do something illegal?
Len stated that about 20 years ago, he was approached by a client and he remembered that it had something to do with taxes and that the client asked him to mischaracterize some income. He proceeded to tell me that he did not perform such an act. He is very careful when selecting clients. He stated that he can kind of judge people’s character and he tries to avoid those types of people and situations.
5. What were your career paths? What made you want to be a lawyer?
This was not a clean decision for Len. His father was an engineer and he always thought that he would follow his dad’s career path. Len was very good in math & science, but, when he went to college and discovered he was not as good as he thought once he took calculus and physics. Len went to speak to his school counselor and the counselor suggested that he try law. Len graduated with a degree in sociology and took the LSAT and applied to law school. To his surprise he was accepted and here he is today, 27 years in practice.
6. Have you had a person that acted like a mentor in your life? What impact did they have in your career choice, if any?
Len did not have a mentor relationship like I am experiencing with him now. His mentoring arrangements were all job related and with people “in house” that he sought to for guidance through his career. He tried to build relationships with the senior lawyers at past firms.
7. How do you achieve a balance with your work and personal life?
Len doesn’t believe that he has achieved an appropriate balance yet. The only way to do it is be deliberate about it. Establish a list of priorities and deliberately carve out space for what is important to you. For example, if a priority of yours is family, than he suggests not taking cases that might keep you at the office day and night all the time.
8. What are some of the things you like to do in your free time?
Len has many hobbies/interests outside the work place. Some include: bike riding, hiking, reading, writing poetry, and most importantly, spending time with his five children. Len has two boys and three girls. One of the most interesting extracurricular activity goals Len has set for himself is to climb the highest point in every state, except for Alaska; he says that is way too high for him.
9. Do you have any advice for me becoming a paralegal?
He advised me to be diligent and recognize that this “stuff” is new and out of my comfort zone. He also said to give it my all, don’t skim through classes. The more I know and have trained for will be make my job experiences that much more rewarding and enjoyable. Len believes that once I become a paralegal that I have an advantage because of my work experience and doing the work in certain legal areas and also for the high paced high volume I currently work in today.
Meeting with Mentor - Assignment #3
Meeting with my mentor, Stephen P. Barson, Esquire, is not a difficult or unfamiliar task since I work for him. I do, however, recall the first time I ever met with him. I remember finding him to be brilliant in his line of work. He exuded intelligence, pride and most importantly, the love for the art of law. I knew when I met him he would be someone very good to learn from. And, as life has it, I have learned most of my (civil litigation/personal injury) experience from him.
He has been a patient teacher, one who was/is never unwilling or reluctant to show you the basic ropes of the industry. Working in a law firm can be very demanding and I have learned you must have your running shoes on at all times. What I mean by that is, first, you must be ready for any and all obstacles that come your way. Being prepared for anything usually makes it that more interesting. The fact that every case is different, every client is different and every situation is different, teaches you to learn a little more of everything. I have also learned that being proactive is certainly part of the paralegal’s job description. It is hard for an attorney to have a paralegal who does things only when asked. Taking on certain responsibilities could provide you personal knowledge that you would not otherwise gain by simply waiting on tasks to be assigned.
My primary experience with civil litigation and/or personal injury was based on Florida law, so coming to Philadelphia and tackling Pennsylvania law was a bit of a task and challenge. Mr. Barson made sure to teach me Pennsylvania procedure and how certain laws were applied to certain cases. He taught me that when in doubt, to ask. Asking would not only teach me the steps, but it would allow me to put that knowledge to test. He reiterated the importance of jotting down certain information I considered to be important because I would later find it to be helpful. So, for a long time, I took notes of everything. I now understand lawyers appreciate that.
A law firm could be a very inviting place for clients who are seeking the support of a lawyer to resolve a dispute, but for a paralegal, it can be a very demanding, fast-paced and nerve wrecking environment. On the other hand, it can also be a great place to realize it is what you enjoying doing most. Paralegals must be able to handle the stresses, responsibilities and work loads with little or no possible errors. We all know perfection is impossible, but we also know that when you really apply yourself in a job or in other personal relations, you can really excel. In my case, Mr. Barson has been a guide, a support system and a friend who has really influenced my decision in joining the Paralegal Studies program.
Gracie
I just realized that I did not post the Networking Assignment. Here it goes.
Networking Assignment I: Constitution Day
Constitution Day was September 18, 2007. The class was divided into separate groups to discuss a few different cases in depth. My group discussed the Hamdan Case. Hamdan is a Yemeni National (U.S. non-citizen) who was captured in Afghanistan by Allied forces then handed over to the U.S. forces and went to Guantanamo Bay. I learned what Habeas Corpus is and how it did not apply to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, I also learned about the Geneva Convention which is basically a civilized way to deal with each others soldiers. The class was presented with a power point presentation that discussed the various other cases that were assigned to the other groups. Those cases were Rasul, Hamdi and Quirin and discussed what a military tribunal is and how they are different from regular trial court. We also learned about the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) and the AUMF (Authorization for Use of Military Force). I also learned about the three branches of government (judicial, legislative and executive) and their separation of powers. We also discussed the Detainee Treatment Act and how it requires inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and requires military interrogations to go “by the book”.
Networking Assignment II: Informational Interview
I conducted and informational interview with Coleen Jones, a commercial litigation paralegal at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. Coleen’s typical daily functions consist of drafting fact sections, summarizing deposition transcripts, calendaring court deadlines, preparing deposition kits and heavy client contact. We went on to talk about administrative duties and learned that she really does not do much administrative work except for organization. What she meant by organization was preparing for trial. Coleen organizes depositions into a commonly used system called Trial Direct. She proceeded to tell me that not all cases go to trial, but, she is responsible for being prepared in case they do. Coleen stated that the only formal training she received was in regards to the programs or systems they used. Paralegals are expected to know the court rules upon being hired and if there was a rule that she didn’t know, it was her responsibility to look it up. I am currently taking Legal Research and Writing I and asked her if she uses what she learned in college in her daily work and if she so, does she use a law library to conduct the research or Westlaw or Lexis. At her firm, the Associates perform all of the legal research, but, it really depends on the case and the attorney that she is currently dealing with. She does have a library at her firm, but, for the most part will use Westlaw to conduct her research. I asked her if she has a lot of interaction with the attorneys and she said yes, she has constant interaction and guidance from the attorneys. We discussed her role of legal ethics and the first words that pooped out of her mouth were “never to give the clients advice”. She also stated that if she ever has a question of ethics, that she could consult an attorney. She went on to say that paralegals have a duty to report unethical behavior. I concluded the interview by thanking her for her time and for the reasons that I am not interested in commercial litigation.
I was assigned my mentor Deborah Ann Crinigan by Mr. Freeman so I did not know what to expect when I emailed Ms. Crinigan and introduced myself and requested an appointment with her to conduct our interview.
Ms Crinigan was going to be out of town until Halloween so I thought I
would do some early investigative work and Google her.
Here is her bio:
Ms. Crinigan is a partner in the Subrogation/Property Department and practices exclusively in the field of insurance subrogation. She received her B.S. in 1990 from Mount St. Mary’s College and her J.D. and M.B.A. in
1994 from Temple University.
She has been practicing since 1994 and is a member of the bars of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida but practices throughout a twenty-five state territory using the services of local counsel under a special program of the Subrogation/Property Department.
Okay so when I read that bio I thought 1st what is subrogation?
The Subrogation-Property Department specializes in property losses and also handles workers compensation, and healthcare matters. Subrogation is the substitution of one person in the place of another with respect to a lawful claim, demand or right against a third party, so that the substituted party succeeds to the rights of the other, or "stands in the shoes of" the other, with respect to the claim against the third party.
Next thing I thought is wow this is going to probably be boring?
I was wrong here is my interview:
I arrived at the White and Williams building located 1650 Market St for my appt with Ms Crinigan and was immediately impressed. The offices occupy 5 floors of the high rise and Ms.Crinigan’s office is located on the 16th floor.
I was escorted back to her office by her assistant Amy.
Ms Crinigan and her Paralegal Marcia were able to meet with me together.
1. What made you choose this area of law?
Ms Crinigan clerked for White and Williams and decided after clerking for several criminal law offices and DA office that this is where she wanted to work.
Marcia who will graduate from law school in May does not know where she
will work just yet. Ms. Crinigan did tell her during our interview that the partners wanted her to stay right there with them.
2. What made you choose Marcia as your paralegal?
Marcia had several years experience working in a law firm, the firm she was working in was not a subrogation law firm but she showed that she was very capable of running that office and with her educational background I knew she could be trained to be very helpful and its worked out wonderfully.
3 Marcia what classes do you think I should take?
Besides your Research and Writing classes, Civil Literature, and definitely and Internship I worked while I attended college so I was not able to do an internship but I think you need that field experience. Don’t forget to network
its very important while in school to network because it will help when it comes time to look for a job.
4. Do either of you have children?
Ms. Crinigan is single with no children and Marcia is married with children
5. What advice do you have for me?
Ms. Crinigan suggest that I intern in several different areas before I make a decision in what field of law I want to work in, get as much education as I can with as many instructors with field experience as possible.
Marcia told me to never give up and to just keep applying myself and do not worry about my age because many woman begin law careers after they have
families or just decide to begin another career later in life.
Ms. Crinigan and Marcia were very friendly and laid back , remember at the beginning of this interview my first impression was that this was going to be
a boring meeting but I was wrong. These ladies were laughing and fun and real easy to talk to. Ms. Crinigan and Marcia are very educated and have had every job you could have (their words) but they still seem to be down to
earth everyday women. It was my pleasure to meet with them.
Your typical job functions, and the functions of paralegals you have worked with
I have largely done corprate work-doc reviews, SEC filings, contract drafting. This is tedious work and the support that paralegals do-the filing etc, is very, very tedious. Did this work in NY.
Your career path, and any adivice for entering the paralegal field.
I went to law school later in life as a second career after working in the securities business. Knowing what I know about you, I would approach your parlegal career differently-as we discussed, maybe working the GLBT angle. Doing corporate paralegal work is very, very stressful and tedious and not someting I would recommend for you.
The role of legal ethics for paralegals.
You should read the Rules of Professional Conduct. VERY IMPORTANT and not something that I would summarize in a couple of sentences. To be taken seriously.
Advice on achieving balance with work and personal life.
Sort of the same as described above. Non profit would pay less but would allow you to have your own life and would be less stressful.
Advice for me and my goals. My goals are to work for a non-profit as a paralegal (something in civil liberties), and continue on to finish my bachelor's and lay the foundation for law school. Any advice on what type of classes I should focus on in my undergrad to support that foundation and taking the LSAT would be much appreciated.
Take as many classes on legal issues as you can. Also, take alot of writing intensive classes as you can, as you will be writing alot. Read in all your spare time, since it it that that is the most time consuming. Learn to analyze the essential facts and issues of legal problems, so you don't waste time. Time manangement is essential, as you will be buried with assignments.
I am interested in all levels of education and decided to find an education lawyer for my mentor.
Post a Comment