Bankruptcy
(Debtor/Creditor)
Consumers (Debtor – this is the person who is in
debt):
Do you have a heart for those who have perhaps fallen
on hard times?
Do you have the temperament of a
counselor?
Job Description
You will work one on one with debtors and assist them
through the paperwork.
Along the way, you will come to a very good
understanding of the forms (also known as “schedules”) which
must be filled out and filed with the bankruptcy court. There is a lot of data
entry in this field.
If
you are very interested in this field, download the “Client
Intake” forms at www.713training.com/intake_forms/index.html. Be sure to place an
“underline” mark between the word “intake” and “forms” in the
web address just
mentioned.
Click on “PDF Format” link. Before you download
the forms, be sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on
your computer. A
free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at www.adobe.com.
The intake forms will give you an idea of the
information needed from the client. As a legal secretary,
legal assistant or paralegal for the firm, some of your
responsibilities will be:
1. Forward intake forms to client for
completion;
2.
Call client
to check on progress;
3. Input information from intake forms
into bankruptcy software;
4. Review paperwork with your attorney
for accuracy, completeness and questions you may have;
and
5.
File
documents electronically with
court.
Another very helpful resource is Victoria Ring’s book,
“How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service”. This book gives a
wonderful, in-depth look inside this practice area and gives
you a leg up on the competition because of all the information
it provides. For
more information concerning Victoria
’s book, please
visit her website at www.victoriaringconsulting.com.
I truly believe her bankruptcy book gives you the best
training available today and that’s why I recommend it to
you.
In fact, many consumer bankruptcy firms across the
nation have utilized Victoria’s book to train new
forms processors within the
firm.
After reading this book and reviewing the different
forms, you will be able to discuss this area of law
intelligently with the law firm administrator or attorney in
an interview.
Real Estate
There are different types of real estate law
practices. One
may handle contracts for condominium purchases only. Several law firms I
know of handle commercial and residential real estate closings
from start to finish with the legal assistant or paralegal
handling all of the paperwork.
Assistant’s
Duties:
Completion of real estate forms utilizing specialized
software such as “Doubletime”. A partial list of the
forms you might prepare are: the HUD Settlement Statement, the
note, mortgage, and many
more.
Other duties a legal “staffer” may be required to do is
perform an abstract search under the guidance of their
supervising attorney.
Each loan package may contain over 100 sheets of
paper. If
you are a quick study, have an eye for detail, and love
crunching numbers, this may be the career for you. In fact, if you have
an accounting background, this practice area may be perfect
for you.
This type of law firm depends on volume and the legal
staffers in this field are usually operating under very tight
deadlines.
The good news is that seeing a real estate contract
from beginning to end can give you great satisfaction as an
assistant. You
learn so much from each facet of the process. You become an “ace”
detective/troubleshooter and an expert at solving
problems.
In some real estate practices, the attorney meets with
the clients and handles the closing, however, I have attended
my own residential closing where the paralegal handled the
closing procedure from start to
finish.
Personal Injury
Plaintiff Side
On this side of the fence, the injured party
(plaintiff) is represented by a law
firm.
The duties of the legal secretary, legal assistant or
paralegal may encompass the
following:
Assistant’s
Duties
Intake meeting with the client accumulating the facts
of the case.
(Both attorney and staff member may attend this meeting
together, however, the attorney may meet with the client alone
initially.)
Medical records and x-rays are ordered by the staff
member.
Once the medical records are received, the staff member
prepares a chronological (by date) summary for the attorney’s
review. Records
are often “Bates Stamped”. A Bates Stamp is a
device which allows the assistant to stamp each page in
numerical sequence.
Depositions of the doctors treating the injured party
are scheduled by the staff
member.
The assistant is responsible for organizing and
maintaining the entire
file.
You will speak with doctors and nurses involved in the
case as well as with the designated expert
doctor.
If the case is headed for trial, your attorney will
request you prepare or order exhibits which allows the jury to
better visualize the important points of the
case.
Defense Side
Law firms on this side of the fence may represent
nursing homes and/or various insurance companies.
Assistant’s
Duties
Maintains files, prepares correspondence and all legal
documents.
Coordinates date/time for
depositions.
You will speak regularly with the expert doctor or
his/her assistant to coordinate teleconferences or in-house
meetings with your
attorney.
Your attorney will ask you to prepare or order exhibits
for trial.
Maintains attorney’s
calendar.
Inputs attorneys’ time into accounting system
(primarily legal secretary and legal assistant
duties)
Medical records are ordered and then a summary is
prepared by date
(chronology).
In a practice where the attorney represents various
insurance companies, the amount of money the law firm makes
per case is usually based on a flat fee or a very low hourly
fee, so it’s imperative that the legal assistant and/or
paralegal (sometimes multiple staff members) work quickly, be
very organized and understand this area of law to be of the
most help to the attys.
If an attorney receives $65-80 per hour and the legal
assistant and/or paralegal are allowed to bill $35 per hour,
then the name of the game becomes how much volume (cases) can
the law firm handle.
And, believe me, the legal staffer will be doing most
of the leg work because this work brings in limited
revenue. The
attorney will reserve his or her time for the hearings,
depositions and the higher dollar per hour
cases.
When an attorney works a “flat fee” deal with the
insurance company, instead of a “per hour” rate, the attorney
will receive a few thousand dollars per case. If this is the deal
that’s been worked out, then as I’ve said, the legal staffer
will be expected to handle the case from start to finish in
order to be cost
effective.
Criminal
Practice
Are you mesmerized by the tv show, “Law and
Order”?
Do you visualize yourself investigating/analyzing the
scene of a crime?
Well, as a legal secretary, legal assistant or
paralegal I can almost guarantee you that you will not be at
the actual scene of the crime but you will be immersed in it
in many other ways.
Defense
Another great place to begin your legal career is with
your county’s Public Defender’s Office. Working in the “PD’s”
office will give you wonderful experience in compiling
information for the case, organizing it, preparing case
summaries, etc.
In fact, if the case is set for trial, you will be
instrumental in preparing for
it.
Defense – Private
Firms
This type of firm may handle many different types of
criminal matters or they may specialize in DUIs (driving under
the influence) only.
Take a look under the heading “Attorneys” in your local
yellow pages and you will see the different types of criminal
law practices.
Plaintiff (Public or
Private)
By “Public” I mean state prosecutors. Your state prosecutor
will be on the opposite side of the fence from the public
defender. The
state prosecutor’s office is another great place to begin your
legal career.
Usually the salary is much lower at the PD and state
prosecutor’s office, but the experience you come away with is
“golden”.
A private plaintiff’s firm will represent the party who
has been victimized or the party’s family in the case of a
murder, etc.
Working in the field can take an emotional toll on an
assistant but it has its rewards in that you feel you are
truly able to “connect” with your clients during a very
difficult time.
Your kindness and professionalism can have a great
impact on the client.
Assistant’s
Duties
You will:
1.
Prepare
legal documents, correspondence, reports and
forms;
2.
Establish,
organize and maintain all office files (electronic and hard
copy);
3.
Prepare
case summaries;
4.
Monitor the
calendar;
5.
Interact
with clients; and
6.
Make
lodging and travel
arrangements.
Highly confidential and sensitive information
may pass your desk in this practice (honestly, it’s all confidential and
sensitive information in the legal field). You have to be able to
let it roll off your back at the end of the
day.
Immigration
Practice
An immigration law firm can be very multi-dimensional
in the services it offers to its clients. The firm may offer
assistance with consular applications, initial petition,
extension of stay, change of status, labor certification,
family based petitions, employment based petitions, green card
lottery, asylum, cancellation of removal and naturalization
and citizenship claims.
Assistant’s
Duties
You will:
1.
Meet with
the client to obtain relevant
information;
2.
Prepare a
case summary for your
attorney;
3.
Continue
further investigation of the case as required by your
attorney;
4.
Prepare
the necessary forms to file with the various federal
entities;
5.
Prepare
correspondence to clients;
6.
Maintain
calendar;
7.
Organize
and keep file up to date.
Boutique Law Firms
(Ultra-Specialty)
Franchise Law
This can be a very interesting area to work in for the
staff member whichever side you work on. The “franchisee” is
the owner of the local business; the “franchisor” is the owner
of the parent company.
The differences between the franchisee and the
franchisor that bring them to a courtroom are, of course,
numerous but here are a couple of examples of what a “lawsuit
scenario” might be:
1.
The
franchisor announces to the local franchisee that he intends
to put in another business, restaurant or dealership within a
close proximity to the current business than is allowed in the
franchise agreement.
The franchisee decides to sue the franchisor over
“breach of contract”.
2.
The
franchisee refuses to abide by the rules of the franchise
agreement – maybe in the areas of training, restaurant
appearance or general operating procedures. The franchisor decides
to sue after numerous attempts to bring the franchisee into
compliance.
Assistant’s
Duties
Working in this field on the side of the franchisee can
take you all over the U.S. in your
research, legal filings and contacts. If one of your
attorney’s clients owns a franchise in California and they desire to file a
lawsuit against the franchisor, you will soon be dealing with
local attorneys in California
(unless your attorney is licensed in California, they will have to utilize
local counsel), and you will come to a thorough understanding
of the court system in California.
Working as a staff member on the side of the franchisor
will often give you exposure and contact with presidents and
CEOs of some very large corporations in the
U.S.
Working on either side of the fence will give you very
good litigation experience as well as experience in reading
and understanding franchise
agreements.
Some of the experience you will gain in a typical
litigation practice will
be:
1.
How to
prepare court documents (notices, motions,
etc.);
2.
How to
write letters to the clerk of
court;
3.
How court
documents should be formatted (court
rules);
4.
Deadlines
for filing court documents (court
rules);
5.
Where to
calendar important dates;
6.
How to
summarize a deposition;
Etc., etc., etc.
Mediation
A mediator is an individual who meets with parties on
both sides (plaintiff and defendant) to assist them in coming
to an agreement instead of heading off to court. Mediators are used by
individuals who are headed for divorce and want to avoid the
high cost of divorce attorneys. They are also used in
employee/employer disputes, insurance defense and product
defect cases and many, many other
arenas.
You do not have to be an attorney to be certified as a
mediator.
In many instances, the mediation is ordered by the
court. The
mediation is most often held at a “neutral” site, perhaps at
the mediator’s office where both parties feel comfortable in a
non-threatening
environment.
Assistant’s
Duties
Handle telephone calls from legal secretaries/legal
assistants to assist them in coordinating a date for the
mediation.
Keep your attorney’s mediation calendar up to
date.
Prepare new files for upcoming mediations and ensure
that a summary of the case is received from the attorneys in
time for your attorney to review before the mediation
begins.
Ensure that the facilities are clean before the parties
arrive (conference room, bathroom,
etc.).
Check to be sure that refreshments are available for
the parties (coffee, tea, soda, cookies,
etc.)
Greet attorneys and their clients as they arrive and
direct the parties to the proper conference
rooms.
If a settlement is reached at the close of mediation,
your attorney may require that you prepare a mediation
settlement statement for the parties’
execution.
After the parties leave, it is your job to clean up the
conference rooms and restore general order to the
office.
Bar Complaint/Attorney Discipline
Practice
Attorneys sometimes have complaints filed against them
by former clients through the local bar. Once the bar receives
the complaint, they notify the attorney and allow a certain
time period for a response to the
bar.
In many instances, if the complaint is quite
complicated, the attorney who was complained against will
contact an attorney to represent him who is well versed in
providing a response to the bar.
The complaints by the client usually revolve around the
attorney’s negligence of the case, misrepresentation, lack of
diligence, etc.
In my home state, if the local bar finds that the
complaint is valid, they will send it on to the grievance
committee who will assign an investigating member to delve
into the complaint
further.
The grievance committee then makes a recommendation and
sends it on to the Supreme Court for a final decision which,
by the way, cannot be
appealed.
Your duties as a legal assistant or paralegal for an
attorney specializing in this field may encompass some of the
following:
Assistant’s
Duties
Prepare a cover letter and representation agreement
outlining the terms of the representation and forward to the
new client. In
most cases, work will not begin on the attorney/client’s case
until he returns the executed agreement along with the
retainer check.
Interview the attorney/client for complete details
concerning the complaint.
(Note: in
this particular field, the attorney/client may feel a little
awkward talking to a staff member at first, but that will soon
pass.) If the new
client speaks to your attorney privately, then your attorney
will dictate a summary for the
file.
After both you and your attorney have had a chance to
thoroughly review and discuss the summary, it may be necessary
to contact the client by telephone or by letter to fill in
some of the blanks.
You may even request that the client compile some
additional documentation for forwarding to you and your
attorney for review.
The attorney will usually dictate a response to the bar
from the summary.
Several revisions to the response will be made. A draft “final”
response will then be forwarded to the client for review for
completeness. If
the client is agreeable, the final response is then forwarded
to the bar.
Bar Applicant
Practice
In my home state of Florida, law school students
have to fill out their bar application which is then forwarded
to the Florida Board of Bar Examiners (“FBBE”) for a thorough
review.
If the FBBE feels that some of the applicant’s
responses require much greater understanding and
clarification, they will send the applicant a “Notice of
Investigative Hearing”.
The FBBE advises the applicant as to exactly what
sections of the application are being brought into
question.
The applicant has a choice of hiring an attorney to
assist him/her in reviewing and possibly amending the
application and then appearing at the investigative hearing
together.
Assistant’s
Duties
You handle initial conversation with the potential new
client and prepare a summary for your attorney in memo
form.
If your attorney agrees to take on the new client, you
will then prepare a cover letter and representation agreement
for the potential new
client.
Upon receipt of the executed representation agreement
and the retainer check, work can begin on the
case.
Thoroughly review the application section by section
for your attorney and prepare a summary for his
review.
As the attorney directs, contact the client for
additional information.
Both you and the attorney will determine from the
client who he would like to appear as “live” witnesses at the
upcoming hearing.
Conduct preliminary interviews of the “live” witnesses
for your attorney’s
review.
Prepare a hearing notebook which contains the bar
application, amendments to the bar application, preliminary
interviews of “live” witnesses, letters of recommendations and
verification of volunteer
work.
Attend the investigative hearing with the client and
await the decision by the
FBBE.
Applicant/Rehabilitation
Practice
After a bar applicant has attended his/her
investigative hearing, a decision is reached within the next
week or so following the hearing as to whether they feel the
applicant should or should not be allowed to practice
law.
If they decide “yes”, the applicant simply fills out a
bit of paperwork and finds a judge to swear him in as a
full-fledged attorney.
If the panel decides “no”, the applicant must go
through a “rehabilitation” process which simply means that the
panel wants to see some major changes take place within the
applicant usually over a period of one to two
years.
An attorney who takes on a “rehab” applicant reads the
panels recommendations for the applicant’s rehabilitation and
then helps him or her achieve those goals.
