All Entries in the "Paralegal News" Category
Inmate Spit on Paralegal, Made Threats
An inmate in the Beaver County Jail is facing charges after county detectives said he spit on a paralegal. Leon C. Mills, 30, whose last known address was 254 Pennsylvania Ave., Rochester, is charged with aggravated harassment by a prisoner and making terroristic threats in the April 25 incident. According to Beaver County detectives, Mills [...]
San Jacinto College Paralegal Honor Society Inducts New Members
Nine students from San Jacinto College were recently inducted into the paralegal honor society at the school. To be inducted into the honor society, Lambda Epsilon Chi, students must maintain a 3.5 grade point average, demonstrate superior academic performance, be active members of the college’s paralegal club, and have completed two-thirds of the college’s paralegal [...]
Zimbabwe Paralegal Activist Feared Missing
A MINISTER has launched a desperate online plea for information about his political activist pal who left home on February 8 and never returned. Education Minister David Coltart says Paul Chizuze – a paralegal activist who has worked with Amani Trust, ZimRights, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace among other organisations – left his [...]
Paralegals Fight for Overtime Pay
The financial services industry has paid millions of dollars in back wages to loan officers it misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. High-tech companies have been forced to pay back wages to help-desk employees who were classified improperly as exempt computer professionals. Now paralegals are putting law firms on the hot seat with similar claims. “It’s an [...]
Cumberland County NJ Bar Association Awarding $4,000 in Paralegal Scholarships
The Cumberland County Bar Association (CCBA) and its Foundation (CCBF) will award $4,000 in scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year. Applications are now being accepted from Cumberland County residents for the CCBF Scholarship Program, aimed at promoting and supporting deserving students of the Cumberland County Paralegal Program at Cumberland County College and Law School Students [...]
Retired Paralegal Preserves County History
A retired paralegal volunteers hours of her time each week to maintain a growing collection of files and photos that document local happenings dating back to the early 1800s. She can be found at the Pickaway County Historical and Genealogical Library on North Court Street four days a week, and can help any researcher find [...]
Black Hills Paralegal Firm is Growing
A Minneapolis-based paralegal company is opening a new training facility here and beefing up its Rapid City operation to meet the growing demands of law firms that specialize in the field of intellectual property. Black Hills IP plans to open the downtown Minneapolis office next week and expand its office of 30 in South Dakota [...]
Paralegal Student Realizes It’s Never Too Late to Start Over
It’s never too late to start over, and 43 year-old Loganville resident Kristine Bratcher is evidence of that as she finds herself in her senior year at Emory University in a certificate program to become a paralegal. What all she does in a day to help put food on the table, continue her education and [...]
Dorr Named Paralegal of the Year
DOVER — The McLane Law Firm is pleased to announce that Nancy Dickinson-Dorr has been named Paralegal of the Year by the President of the Paralegal Association of New Hampshire, (“PANH”). Each year the President of the PANH presents this award to a nominated member of the organization who excels in promoting the paralegal profession [...]
Paralegal Student Gives Foster Child a Day of Thanks
Four-year-old Ty Collins has been with his parents since birth, but this Thanksgiving will be different. Stacy and Virgil Collins of East Naples adopted the boy, Virgil’s nephew, during an open adoption ceremony last week in Collier Circuit Court. “He doesn’t know anything else,” Stacy Collins, 29, said of their family. “To me and Virgil, [...]
Attorney Blames Staff for Error. Oops. He had no Staff!
A Rhode Island attorney has been ordered to perform 20 hours of pro bono legal work in family court guardianship matters to resolve a legal ethics case. It began with a billing dispute concerning several family court guardianship cases for children in the same family, the Rhode Island Supreme Court explains in a written opinion (PDF). Milan [...]
Paralegal Found Alive, Details of Disappearance Still Unclear
Roxanne Lawrence, the paralegal who disappeared from her Las Vegas office last Friday, has been found alive. According to police and family members, Lawrence was located on Friday. Authorities did not release information on where she was found or details on her disappearance. Family members handed out more than 500 fliers this week and traveled [...]
Family of Missing Paralegal Covers Ground Across Las Vegas
Family members of a paralegal who went missing from her office last Friday morning are not giving up hope. Loved ones are traveling all around Las Vegas and the surrounding area, hoping to find someone who saw something. Roxanne Lawrence’s relatives say they plan to cover as much ground as possible. So far, they’ve traveled [...]
CAN YOU IDENTIFY ME? is seeking local and national VOLUNTEERS.
If you are interested in helping victims of homicide, human trafficking, abuse, kidnapping, and families of missing loved ones this might be the right volunteer opportunity for you! We are currently seeking volunteers for help in the following areas: Research Writing Editing Online Administration Graphics Website Design *all volunteers must sign a confidentiality agreement and [...]
Paralegal Cooks Up A Great Idea
Our friends at Richmond BizSense recently interviewed Melissa Krumbein who is about to open Kitchen Thyme, a space that has two kitchens and equipment that people can rent and use to cook for their families or host an event or party. Krumbein has been stirring up the idea since December but recently leased a 3,500-square-foot [...]
Atlanta Paralegal Murder Cold Case Closed After Seven Years
John Ray was awaiting law school acceptance letters seven years ago. Ray was a role model for his family. He was a paralegal for the Fulton County conflict defender’s office and was a U.S. Army veteran who mentored youth in Atlanta’s Lakewood Heights neighborhood. His promising life ended on the night of May 16, 2004, [...]
Defining the Practice of Law (Iowa)
Nonlawyers may do tax work because tax work is not necessarily the practice of law. Comm. on Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Mahoney, 402 N.W.2d 434, 436 (Iowa 1987). However, over thirty-five years ago we described actions this court would consider the practice of law if performed by a suspended attorney. Comm. on Prof’l Ethics [...]
Paralegals Rock! (And Terry Mills Has an Album to Prove It)
Terry Mills launched her debut album last year and is on the verge of releasing a music video, but she isn’t quitting her day job. Mills has worked as a paralegal the past 30 years but has dabbled in music since she was a child, singing with her five siblings on road trips, playing the [...]
Nonlawyers Drafting Documents in New Jersey
Preparing corporate operating agreements, by-laws, resolutions, and similar legal documents is the practice of law and may only be performed by lawyers. Nonlawyers, however, may present to customers prepared, fill-in-the-blank certificates of incorporation, certificates of formation, statements of qualification, and certificates of limited partnership (collectively referred to as “certificates”) and type, transcribe, or translate the [...]
Legal Assistant asked to take Blame
For the past four years, New Jersey criminal defense lawyer John Koufos has been named a “rising star” by Super Lawyers magazine. And the New Jersey Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division recently gave him a professional achievement award. But the young lawyer has since been brought down to earth on charges that he seriously injured [...]
The Attorney–Client Privilege Is Not Limited to Communications Directly Between a Client and His or Her Attorney
The issue also arises as to whether the legal opinions may be shared with a non-attorney agent retained by the attorney to assist with the representation without losing their confidential status. It appears that they can, as such an agent would fall into the category of “those to whom disclosure is reasonably necessary for the [...]
Ohio Paralegal Denied Right to Represent Party in Divorce Case
The parties were divorced in 2005. Appellant filed a motion for reallocation of parental rights and responsibilities (which in the body of the motion was in fact a request for modification or termination of support) and a show cause motion on October 21, 2009. Appellee filed a motion for an increase in child support on [...]
New York Attorney Disciplined for Sharing Fees with a Nonlawyer and for Paying for a Referral
The Committee on Grievances found that the attorney accepted $5,000 from Client Roe’s family and did no legal work on his behalf; that the attorney shared legal fees with a nonlawyer, Inmate Doe, to compensate him in part for his “legal” work and for recommending the respondent’s services to other inmates. In re Saghir 925 [...]
Pro Se Representation Does Not Apply to Representing a Corporation in Court
In Washington state, with limited exceptions, individuals appearing before the court on behalf of another party must be licensed in the practice of law. Because a corporation is an artificial entity, necessarily its interests in a court proceeding must be represented by a person acting on its behalf. Representing another person or entity in court [...]
Nonlawyer Officer of a Texas Corporation Files Motion for a New Trial
Some cases suggest that a document filed in court by a non-attorney purportedly on behalf of a corporation is void. But, even though a non-attorney cannot represent a corporation, the Supreme Court of Texas has held that a non-attorney can perfect appeal on behalf of a corporation. A document filed in court by a non-attorney [...]
UAE’s First Filipino Paralegal Team to Publish User-Friendly Law Guide
The first team of Filipino paralegal volunteers in the UAE is publishing a guide to the laws and the rights of expatriate workers. “Filipinos are facing problems mostly due to an ignorance of the law,” said Areiz Macaraig, the legal adviser for the Filipino expatriate rights group Migrante-UAE. “The paralegal volunteers will work on a [...]
Paralegal Bonnie Sweeten Pleads Guilty to Fraud
Philly.com: After two years of courtroom denials, former suburban paralegal Bonnie Sweeten admitted Tuesday in federal court to a three-year series of frauds that cost law clients, her employer, and a frail former in-law close to $1 million. Sweeten, of Feasterville, whose faked 2009 kidnapping drew national notoriety, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to [...]
Improper Use on Nonlawyer Staff
Two-year suspension was warranted for Ohio attorney who, while acting as guardian for incompetent ward, withdrew all of ward’s assets from trust account but failed to use the assets for wards’ benefit, and allowed staff to prepare and file false statements concerning wards’ assets, in violation of numerous rules, including those prohibiting conduct that is [...]
Failure to Supervise Nonattorney; Allowing Nonattorney to Sign Attorney’s Name on Checks (NY)
Attorney violated disciplinary rule requiring adequate supervision of non–attorney employees by employing non–attorney office manager and, while attorney was seriously ill and absent from her office for several months, knowingly allowed employee to issue and signed his name on at least 17 checks from her attorney escrow account. In re Mednik 923 N.Y.S.2d 195 (N.Y.A.D. [...]
UPL in Rhode Island
That Low Cost Paralegal Services engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Rhode Island in violation of R.I.G.L. § 11–27–12 by falsely holding itself/herself out to Rhode Islanders, through internet advertising targeting Rhode Island, as competent and qualified to prepare legal documents for uncontested divorce and to assist with a child support problem, which [...]
Troubling Role of Paralegal in Billing (Washington State)
Troubling Role of Paralegal in Billing (Washington State) A review of Van Camp’s reconstructed billing statements is extremely troubling and illustrates the unreasonableness of this fee. In describing his process, Barber, the paralegal tasked with the reconstruction, testified he went through the file page by page, building a timeline and accounting for any possible work that [...]
Nonlawyers Doing Tax Work; Work Suspended Lawyers May Not Do (Iowa)
Nonlawyers may do tax work because tax work is not necessarily the practice of law. Comm. on Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Mahoney, 402 N.W.2d 434, 436 (Iowa 1987). However, over thirty-five years ago we described actions this court would consider the practice of law if performed by a suspended attorney. Comm. on Prof’l Ethics [...]
Bankruptcy Court Questions Naiveté of Debtor – When the Debtor’s Spouse is a Paralegal
Allegations in credit card company’s complaint, that Chapter 7 debtor ran up more than $3,700 in charges against her account in space of roughly one month, at time when debtor’s total unsecured credit card debt of more than $88,000 was in excess of her ability to pay it and when debtor, through her paralegal spouse, [...]
Failure to Supervise Nonattorney – New York
Failure to Supervise a Nonattorney Employee; New York The attorney is charged with failing to adequately supervise a nonattorney employed by her law firm, in violation of Code of Professional Responsibility DR 9–102(e), DR 1–104(d), and DR 1–102(a)(7) (22 NYCRR 1200.46[e], 1200.5[d], 1200.3[a][7] ). In or about April 2007, the attorney employed a nonattorney as [...]
Unethical Insurance Defense Work by Attorneys and Paralegals
Informal Opinion Number 2010-9, Philadelphia Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee (February 2011) The inquirer obtains litigation assignments from an insurance company. The insurance company is contemplating the centralization of many functions normally performed by those outside attorneys, like the inquirer, who are assigned to handle cases and defend insureds. The functions at issue include: (1) [...]
Paralegal Has Spent Her Life Helping
We’ll dispense with the usual buildup and establish this right away: Helen I. Nichols is someone to be admired. True, she has been honored for helping so many others, but official recognition is not what has motivated her all these decades. “I just feel that’s what I’m supposed to do,” she says. “What can I [...]
New Partner Sponsor Welcome: JP&R Advertising Agency
Please join ParalegalGateway in welcoming our newest sponsor JP&R Advertising. Since 1964 JP&R has been the only Legal Notice expert in the area specializing in all types of notice by publication including… Bankruptcy Notices Auction and UCC Lien Sale Notices Notices of Foreclosure and Sale Summons Citations Public Notices LLC Notices of Formation and more [...]
NY Personal Injury Attorney Sends Her Paralegal to a Hospital to Solicit a Patient
On February 28, 2005, respondent pled guilty to soliciting business on behalf of an attorney in violation of Judiciary Law § 479, an unclassified misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a conditional discharge. This conviction arose out of a sting operation targeting a medical clinic called the Medical Arts Center, in Queens County, whose manager ultimately [...]
Paralegal Gives Testimony on Will She Reviewed and Notarized
The will contest went to trial. At trial, the following people testified: … (5) Cameron, the legal assistant who had reviewed the 2009 will with Jacquelyn and notarized it. In re Estate of Bussler 2011 WL 796541, 2 (Wash.App. Div. 2) (Wash.App. Div. 2,2011) Bill Statsky www.statsky.blogspot.com
Paralegals Call For Legal Recognition in Indonesia
A paralegals guild has called on the Indonesian government to sanction it as a body providing legal aid for poor and marginalized people. Ismail Hasani, a member of the group Paralegal Indonesia, on Tuesday urged the House of Representatives to pass a bill on legal aid, which would give the paralegals legal standing. “Once the [...]
Wisconsin Suspended/Disbarred Attorneys as Paralegals
Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Rule 22.26(2) An attorney whose license to practice law is suspended or revoked or who is suspended from the practice of law may not engage in this state in the practice of law or in any law work activity customarily done by law students, law clerks, or other paralegal personnel, except [...]
Paralegal fees are subject to the same the hourly cap as attorney fees
Paralegal fees awarded to prevailing plaintiffs in a prison civil rights litigation were subject to same hourly cap under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) as attorney fees, even though that hourly rate exceeded guideline established by district court for paralegals working for court-appointed counsel, where award was below paralegal market rate in area. The [...]
Nepal’s First Paralegals are Making the Way for Justice
I will never again complain about my slow computer or the drawer that sticks on my desk. These amazing women are sitting on the dirt ground making justice a reality in their communities. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go prepare another round of pleadings this afternoon! In a dusty courtyard in [...]
Legal Marketing Summit: April 29th – May 1st, 2011, Atlanta, GA
Paralegals – set yourself apart from your competition and ask your firm to send you to this exclusive summit. Gain the knowledge and insight to assist your firm in increasing their business thus securing your position. Think outside the box and add another area of expertise to your resume – Legal Marketing! The Legal Marketing [...]
Paralegal is Award-Winning Screenwriter
In the spirit of the Oscar’s, we thought we would share this story out of Pennsylvania. Few county residents will watch tonight’s Oscar presentations with as keen an interest as 48-year-old Manheim Township resident Rick Hansberry. The amateur screenwriter, part-time disc jockey and full-time paralegal has three films to his credit, all of which debuted [...]
Attorney-Client Privilege on Confidential Communications Extends Beyond Attorneys
‘[The] privilege can extend to non-attorneys, as in the case of necessary intermediaries and agents.” Travelers of New Jersey v. Weisman 2011 WL 519920, 5 (N.J.Super.A.D.) (N.J.Super.A.D.,2011) Another example: private investigators. State v. Davis, 561 A.2d 1082 (NJ 1989) Bill Statsky www.statsky.blogspot.com
Company Engages in Unauthorized Practice of Law by Using Nonlawyers in Foreclosure Assistance
Company that assisted financially distressed homeowners in attempt to save them from losing homes to foreclosure, a director of the company, and an employee, who were non-lawyers, engaged in unauthorized practice of law by giving advice to homeowners in context of pending or threatened foreclosure proceedings, making representations to creditors on behalf of homeowners facing [...]
Weeds’ Guillermo Diaz to Play Paralegal In Shonda Rhimes Pilot
With so much talk surrounding the premiere of Shonda Rhimes’ new exotic doctor show Off The Map, most have lost sight of her other project in development. The still-untitled drama follows a fixer for hire played by Kerry Washington. It’s based on the life of crisis management consultant Judy Smith, a PR heavyweight who’s worked [...]
Thompson is First Paralegal to Join NBA
Always love hearing of ground breaking Paralegals who are paving the way. Congratulations Janet! A Charleston woman is the first paralegal to take advantage of an exclusive membership in the National Bar Association. That distinction goes to Janet Louise Thompson, or JT as she is known in Charleston. The NBA is now offering an exclusive [...]
Part-Time Paralegal Spends His Nights in a Homeless Shelter
This story is truly heartwrenching and inspirational. Despite his circumstances, this part-time Paralegal chooses to see the silver lining. Any day sober, even if it’s in a homeless shelter, is infinitely better than a day on the outside getting high, according to homeless resident Jeff. A paralegal by day, Jeff has been staying at Homeward [...]
