The Estrin Report

Is the National Law Journal Predicting Doom & Gloom for Paralegals?

The National Law Journal published an article the other day entitled "Ecosystem of Legal Services Is Evolving".  It was written by Mehul Patel who was previously the Chief Marketing Officer of a major San Francisco law firm who is now the EVP of Axiom Legal, a "new" type of contract attorney provider.  Only Axiom Legal does not claim to be a contract attorney provider. In fact, they are a law firm.  The article was written as a somewhat self-promoting piece which astounded me that the NLJ published it. However, it made some important points.

Axiom Legal's claim to fame is a very impressive website and a "new" concept.  Frankly, after over 16 years in the contract attorney business and having started one of the first paralegal temp agencies in the country, I had to laugh at loud at the marketing twist Axiom has put on its "new" concept.

Axiom has minimal physical overhead (lawyers work from home or at clients' offices), so it can charge half as much as traditional firms.  Primarily, they charge a flat fee or yearly salary and on occasion, an hourly rate. 

This is the same thing that temporary help agencies have done for years, particularly contract attorney agencies.  Temp agencies would place a contract attorney, preferably one with major firm background and top schools at a client for a certain length of time.  The only difference was, the contract attorney agency charged primarily an hourly rate, rather than a flat fee and placed both in the law firm and in the corporate legal department.  And, as little as 6-10 years ago, companies really didn't want a "virtual" lawyer.  They wanted the traditional law office.  So much has changed. 

Axiom apparently has selected to place primarily at in-house legal departments only, charge a flat fee instead of hourly; concentrate on the long-term temp or on an "as-needed basis" placement and claim that this is the "new" way that in-house legal departments have chosen to do business instead of hiring a law firm.  It's just a new twist on the old contract attorney job.  Well, God Bless 'em.  They jumped from a $4.4 million company to $31.2 million in a few short years. They must be doing something right.

Now, what has that got to do with paralegals?  A lot.  In addition to mentioning (once again) that law firms are outsourcing document review work to India, the article stresses that clients today want either lower fees or more bang for their buck.  If law firms cannot deliver either, clients are turning to alternatives.

The advent of e-mails, audio and video discovery has pushed up the need for more document review work, not diminished it as one may have orginally thought.  So, the "fear" factor is that paralegal work is going to go away.  I am here to tell you that paralegal work is not going to go away.  Document review, due diligence work may go away.  But savvy paralegals need to be on top of the latest trends.  Even if it's only the major law firms or top corporate law departments that outsource, expectations of all clients have risen. 

The best thing that you can do for yourself, your firm and your firm's clients, is to start inching up to the associate level and start getting yourself assignments that would have previously gone to first and second year associates.  It is clear that clients do not want to pay to train young associates.  But they sure don't seem to mind if a seasoned paralegal can do the job at a highly expert level for a lower hourly rate.

Those latest trends must push law firms to take a look at the assignment area of paralegals and for paralegals to start looking at their job descriptions and start upgrading assignments now.  If these trends hold true (and I believe they will), clients will expect low-level work to be done by the lowest cost-efficient competent level and everyone in the law firm to tackle work that cannot be delegated.

Paralegal Leads Union Protest of Pilot's Union Employees

Paralegals in a union????  Yep.  According to The Star-Telegram.com, protesters who marched Monday morning in Ft. Worth weren't airline employees, and airline management wasn't the target. This demonstration was conducted by employees of the Allied Pilots Association, and the managers being criticized are union pilots.

The Allied Pilots Staff Employee Association represents 23 employees who work for the pilots union, which is headquartered in Fort Worth near American Airlines offices. Members include paralegals, graphic artists, administrative assistants and other hourly employees.

Spokeswoman Kathy Schroeder, a paralegal, said the union has been working without a contract for nearly 300 days. She says the labor group agreed to concessions in their last contract, which was inked five years ago. She said the last contract, signed five years ago, included no raises, although the APA eventually did give pay increases that totaled about 4 percent over the past five years. The contract expired nearly 300 days ago, Schroeder said, but little progress has been made at the negotiating table.

"Right now, what we want is to restore our contract to what it was before concessions," said Kathy Schroeder, a paralegal for the APA and a spokesman for the staff union. "Right now the APA is refusing to restore any of the items we lost."

Go get 'em Kathy!  Paralegal rises to the challenge.  But what if paralegals at law firms had union contracts?  Would that ensure overtime pay; better benefits; a union rep to represent their grievances, a credit union, a labor hall to go to when they are laid off, contracts guaranteeing raises. a pension plan and more?  It's a thought. 

Let's Get This to the Paralegal - In India

Outsourcing to paralegals and attorneys in India remains a booming business.  In fact, Dupont, the model for progressive paralegal departments, outsourced so much work to LPOs (Legal Process Outsourcing) last year, that it saved the company over $500,000 in legal fees.

In an article in Time magazine this morning, Tom Sager, chief litigation counsel for Dupont, said, "There's been some internal resistance, and from the outside too, about working with providers thousands of miles away. But geographic separation is now a fact of life." Dupont outsources to Chicago's RR Donnelley, which uses facilities in India and the Philippines to review documents for the chemical giant.

Changes in litigation procedures are boosting momentum in the LPO trade. Amendments to federal rules require parties to share electronic documents, such as e-mail and Microsoft Office files.

That typically means both sides must review thousands of documents to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of confidential information to the other party. The service costs about $1 per page in India but can range from $7 to $10 per page in the U.S. "Some clients don't want to spend that much, especially if they don't even know how much their damages could be," says Conrad Jacoby, owner of efficientEDD, a legal-technology consultancy in Dunn Loring, Va and a frequent Paralegal SuperConference speaker.

What does this mean for paralegals?  The use of LPOs will probably continue to grow.  This is a clear trend of delegating to the lowest, most cost-efficient level.  It doesn't mean that the use of paralegals in the U.S. will be less frequent.  It does, however, mean that the type of work paralegals will be asked to do will change to more sophisticated assignments previously performed by associates.  Paralegals, it's time to get on that continuing legal education bandwagon and study-up!

Paralegal Positions in Foreclosures Go Wild

Talk about capitalizing on someone else's misery!  According an article in the The Tampa Tribune, law firms are scrambling for more staff, particularly paralegals, in an effort to meet the wave of foreclosures in hard-hit areas of the country.

One Tampa law firm, Florida Default Law Group, filed more than 400 foreclosure lawsuits in Hillsborough County in February alone, according to a Tampa Tribune review of Hillsborough County Clerk of Court records.

Foreclosure firms have ramped up their hiring. Jim Albertelli of Tampa-based Albertelli Law, estimated that the biggest firms in Florida have grown to as many as 200 clerks, paralegals, lawyers and other staff, based on the wildly increasing number of foreclosures coming across the transom.

Apparently, law firm efficiency has been tested by the increase in volume.  Outsourcing firms have risen to assist law firms, and I would assume that this causes even more positions to be created.

Typically, clerks, paralegals and other support staff do much of the legwork for foreclosures, such as setting the court hearings and, if necessary, coordinating a foreclosure sale of the property. A small number of lawyers typically oversee them.

For example, Albertelli Law of Tampa has about 30 people working on foreclosures in Tampa. Five of them are lawyers, though they get help from lawyers in the firm's other offices in Florida. In February, Albertelli filed 61 foreclosure lawsuits in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, according to clerk of court records.

Albertelli said he's hoping to increase staffing in his Tampa office on Harbour Island to 100 employees in the next several months to deal with his huge new caseload. Given the size of the foreclosure crisis in the country, I really can't think of a better classic example of "I've got good news and I've got bad news." 

Air Force Identifies Paralegal Field Going Back As Far as 1955

This is one of those trivia facts that you're not too sure what to do with but makes a difference in how you might perceive the paralegal field.

Most schools, articles, books, tall tales, and verbal chronologies of the paralegal field identify the field as starting in or around 1978 or so.  In fact, the first paralegal program at UCLA started about then.

However, in a solicitation for paralegal recruits, the Air Force states that in  1955, paralegals were recognized as their own career field and awarded their own Air Force specialty code. In 1979, the Air Force approved a Community College of the Air Force Associate Degree program.

The reason this impacts what we know about the field, is that we can no longer claim the field is all that new.  Identifying the position in 1955 makes this field over 50 years old and hardly the new field, "only 30 years old" as most of us seem to believe. Does that mean we should be further along in development? Does it mean that law firms were even slower then we thought to embrace the concept?  Does it mean that the public should be even more aware of proper utilization of paralegals?

On another note, if you're looking for a new employer, this might be attractive to you. Air Force paralegals assist attorneys in providing legal support to commanders, first sergeants and other key personnel on a wide range of legal issues such as international and operational law, civil law, military justice and claims.

In 2003, the paralegal apprentice course opened its doors to non-prior military personnel. New trainees are now given the opportunity to volunteer at basic military training. As part of the application process, new trainees are required to write a biography and be interviewed. The career field is highly competitive and only some of the best are selected.

The paralegal career field is all volunteer, consisting of about 1,440 enlisted Airmen, and is open to military personnel of all AFSCs. To be considered for selection, applicants must be able to type 25 words per minute, have a minimum general aptitude score of 51 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery examination and have no convictions by courts-martial, Article 15s or civilian court convictions. Minor traffic violations and similar infractions are not considered civilian court convictions. Reserve opportunities as an individual mobilization augmentee are also available.  For more information, call Master Sgt. Sandra Pfeffer at Edwards Air Force Base at: 277-4310.

 

   

 

The Case of the Pink Poodle

The Chicago Tribune reported today that there is an unprecedented rise in attorneys practicing animal law.

Once an area thought to be only for attorneys with either a heart or frankly, nothing else to do, The Tribune notes that "92 of the 196 ABA approved law schools in the country now offer courses on animal law, up from the nine that offered classes in 2000." Moreover, some top law schools, like Duke, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Northwestern, found that the price is right for building up their animal law program after each received $1 million from a foundation set up by Bob Barker.

Today's Law.com blog, Legal Blog Watch Alert, says that unfortunately, sometimes the appeal of an animal law case can bring out the beast in lawyers. Susan Cartier Liebel writes here about a case involving a Denver salon owner who was fined $1,000 by an animal control officer because she dyed her poodle pink, the official color to promote awareness of breast cancer.

Though the owner used organic beet juice which did not harm the poodle, she apparently violated a statute that prohibits owners from dying their pets.  Recognizing the public appeal of the case, two young lawyers agreed to represent the owner pro bono and asked another law firm to come on board to help with the PR aspects of the case. The firm declined -- and the young lawyers soon discovered why: the firm had poached the case of the pink pooch, arranging to represent the salon owner themselves!

I am frequently asked by paralegals what the newest areas of law are; where can you go to find jobs that appeal more to your personal interests and passions.  Use your imagination here, folks! Anytime you find a practice specialty heating up, you're bound to find lawyers who need paralegals in that specialty.  So, for those of you looking to get out of a job that's routine and repetitious, consider following this yellow brick road.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

What Gives Paralegals a Bad Rap- Lawyer Gets Suspended for Trusting Too Much - Again

This just sent chills down my spine.  Made my hair on my neck stand up.  Whatever the cliche, I had it.

The Maryland Daily Record reported that longtime lawyer Charles Jay Zuckerman said he has had it with private practice after a unanimous Court of Appeals on Monday suspended him a second time for mismanaging his client trust account, from which two successive paralegals stole more than $300,000.

Zuckerman failed again to oversee a second paralegal, who wrote checks payable to clients but endorsed by her husband. The paralegal,  Rhonda L. Elkins, pleaded guilty in February 2007 to stealing $170,000 from Zuckerman’s trust account between 2003 and 2005.  The first paralegal took $144,000.

Zuckerman got wind of the scheme in January 2006, when he learned Elkins had taken out a credit card in his name. Elkins was fired when she told Zuckerman she dipped into the trust account. Elkins was sentenced to five years in prison with all but one year suspended.

Zuckerman hired Elkins to clean up the financial mess left by Shannon Becker, her predecessor. Instead, she made checks out to friends and falsified the records.

“In the instant case, respondent [Zuckerman] delegated to Elkins the task of dealing with the consequences of the original theft in addition to management of the day to day operations of respondent’s trust account,” retired Judge Dale R. Cathell wrote for the court. “Again … he failed to correct his funds disbursement system, which allowed Elkins to steal in the same manner that the previous employee had.”

Zuckerman closed his practice in January 2007 and paid back clients. He served as an assistant attorney general in Baltimore City before going into private practice about 25 years ago.

“I’ve never taken a nickel from anybody,” Zuckerman said, adding that the two grievance proceedings were emotionally draining. “I was so stressed out I couldn’t even sleep at night.”

The court said Zuckerman’s poor hiring choices were just part of a general, repeated mismanagement of the client trust account.

Zuckerman did not notice the theft by Becker, the first paralegal, until an anonymous caller tipped him off. Becker pleaded guilty and received a 10-year sentence with all but three years suspended and was ordered to pay restitution.

In its Monday suspension order, the Court of Appeals said it considered several mitigating factors, including Zuckerman’s “own remedial measures to rectify the situation”.

The court’s action follows Judge John N. Prevas’ conclusion by clear and convincing evidence that Zuckerman violated rules of professional conduct governing competence, diligence, safekeeping property, overseeing non-lawyer assistants and misconduct.

While it is so rare that paralegals are out-and-out criminals, it's interesting that Zuckerman would consecutively hire two dishonest paralegals.  Is this akin to men and women who consistently end up attracting the "wrong" mate?  Is there a radar that zeroes in on a certain type of person?  How is it, that in all the law firms in all the states in all the world, these two paralegals walk into Zuckermans?

 

Five Dumb Office Practices

It took forever for law firms to get on the bandwagon to utilize computers back in the day when all of CorporateAmerica was pushing ahead into the world of high-tech.  Law firms reluctantly followed suit [sic] when three things happened:

1. Clients pushbacked and protested loudly that law firms were still on a manual system and doing things the "old-fashioned" way;
2. Lawyers got over the stigma that "typing" meant they were doing secretarial work;
3. Administrators and lawyers alike realized computerization did not mean the firm was going to lose billable time.  In fact, it probably meant they would be able to bill even more fees to the client.

In a Texas Lawyer article written by an anonymous secretary, five dumb office practices seem to linger in the law firm despite LegalAmerica bringing up the rear in the headlong plunge into the 20th Century:

1.  The e-mail tree nightmare:  Archiving, printing, filing into the physical file and entering e-mails into the electronic database can be an ominous task.  In one case, Ms. Anonymous has more than 700 e-mails waiting to be entered in addition to more than 3,000 e-mails already processed over the case's three-year life.

2.  Correspondence deja vu. A letter is received via fax, entered into the database and a paper copy filed. Three days later, a second copy of the same letter is received. But a good legal secretary never assumes two documents are identical just because they appear so at first glance. It takes a careful comparison to be sure.

If only we could have back all the time spent analyzing incoming mail to make sure it is, indeed, something already received by e-mail, fax or both. This doesn't even count the time spent sending the firm's lawyers' correspondence by two or three different means.

There was a time when new communication technologies remained untested and a little suspect, but that time is long past. If anything, e-mails and faxes are more reliable than physical mail.

3.   E-file, then refile. Opposing counsel e-files a lengthy brief and appendix with the court. Instantly, you receive an e-mail containing a link to the filed document, and print the file-marked copy. But three days later, a 6-inch stack of paper arrives in the mail from opposing counsel -- the same brief and appendix, not file-marked. It's trash that can't be thrown away. Somehow, it has to be to shoehorned it into your bulging file cabinets and sit there forever.

4.   The $2,000 typewriter. You ask your secretary to revise and prepare for filing a Microsoft Word document someone else created. Upon opening it, she finds a hodgepodge of hard returns, tabs, page breaks, manual numbering and direct formatting. She feverishly reworks the document, because she understand the pitfalls of treating Word like a typewriter, and has seen the embarrassment that can result. Then, she prays the original typist doesn't work on the document again before it's safely filed with the court.

Firms must acknowledge the time and money wasted by not providing adequate training to everyone who creates documents. It's time to stop this hemorrhaging of profits and make good word processing practices mandatory for all personnel.

5.  The paper chase. Your secretary sends a lengthy document to the printer she shares with eight other people. The phone rings, and a lawyer needs something, and she forgets her print job. An hour later, she checks the printer and her document has vanished. After a fruitless search of the piles of unclaimed print jobs littering the table, she gives up and sends her job again. This time, she rushes to the printer to claim her pages before they can disappear, and finds them mysteriously reordered. The only way she can ensure they're in the correct sequence is by printing them a third time.

When will the bean counters realize shared printers are more costly, not less? Aside from the reams of wasted paper, the gallons of toner and the needless wear on printer components, there are the hours staff and lawyers spend printing everything multiple times and sifting through stacks of unclaimed pages.

One foot in the current century is not enough. Firms must drag that second foot over the technology threshold and enter the Information Age fully and finally. Anyone with suggestions on how to effect that change can find Ms. Anonymous easily: "I'll be at my desk, printing e-mails, " she says. Is there any court that offers e-filing and still requires service of paper copies on e-filing registrants? Ms. Anonymous' words are harsh: "Lawyers who persist in this practice should have their computers confiscated."

No wonder there's an extreme shortage of legal secretaries.....Who wants to deal with this kind of stuff?

   

15 Minutes of Podcast Fame

Yesterday, Tita Brewster, President of the National Association of Legal Assistants and I were invited to speak on the topic of paralegals for the Podcast show, Lawyer2Lawyer.  This was the first time I've participated in this type of show.  (Yes, I've done radio & TV, video, newspaper, magazine articles but nothing so today.)

What an interesting experience!  We are now seriously looking into doing a Paralegal2Paralegal show about important topics of high interest to paralegals:  the current job market; trends; technology; cases affecting paralegals; human interest stories; profiles of courageous paralegals; paralegals working abroad; new or alternative careers; tips & techniques; and much more.

We would appreciate some feedback regarding your interests and whether Podcasting has caught on the paralegal and litigation support community.  In the meantime, here's the info on the show we were on:

Paralegals: The Backbone of the Law Practice

The work of a paralegal is never done. Although paralegals cannot offer legal advice to clients like attorneys, they are considered the backbone of the law practice. Join Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi as they explore the important role of a paralegal.  Lawyer2Lawyer welcomes Tita A. Brewster, Current President of the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) and Chere Estrin, CEO of Estrin LegalEd, to discuss a paralegal’s importance to a firm, the hurdles paralegals face, the Richlin Security Service Co v. Chertoff case and the growth of this legal profession.

Show URL:
http://www.legaltalknetwork.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=253

MP3:
http://websrvr82il.audiovideoweb.com/ny60web16519/LTN/C2C/C2C_031108_Paralegals.mp3

Windows Media Player:
mms://win40nj.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdsnjwin4287/LTN/C2C/C2C_031108_Paralegals.wma

Oh, Hollywood, Oh Hollywood.....

A new show on Fox TV starring Julianna Margulies is one of the few shows prominently featuring legal assistants as part of the legal team.  The show, Canterbury's Law, has been sent to reviewers for prescreening. 

Described as a "dark legal drama", the show stars Margulies as a convincing lawyer whose only true solace is her work. (I'm sure this doesn't sound like anyone we know.) Still, she lives under a black cloud that threatens to burst at any moment and overwhelm the show. Beneath that cloud, though, lives a cutting-edge character who blends a rough-and-tumble style outside the courtroom with a polished but assertive femininity once the trial begins.

Finally, shows are seeing the light and adding paralegals as part of the firm's regular cast.  I remember years (and years) ago attending a Los Angeles Paralegal Association seminar where the technical advisor for the show, L.A. Law was a keynote speaker.  When asked from someone in the audience why the show had no paralegals, he responded, "Because they have no love life."  Well, that much was true for me at the time.  However, I never forgot how the public must have perceived the life of a paralegal:  dull, drab and drudgery.

Fast forward to,ok, years (and many gray hairs) later where paralegals are not only part of the TV ensemble but we have the Hollywood Reporter describing the paralegal team as "Others in the Canterbury office are legal assistants Chester Grant (Keith Robinson), a straight arrow, and spunky Molly McConnell (Trieste Kelly Dunn)".

Ahhhh, Hollywood.  You do me proud.

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Paralegal Fees Case

Paralegal fees are once again up for discussion in the U.S. Supreme Court with the Court's Nov. 12 decision to hear the Richlin v. Chertoff case.  This is an important case for law firms and paralegals in promoting the further utilization of paralegals.

The issue before the Supreme Court in the Richlin case is pretty straightforward:  Under the Equal Access to Justice Act, can a prevailing party be awarded fees for paralegal services at the market rate for such services or should such reimbursement be limited to the actual cost incurred by the attorney?

After prevailing on the merits, Richlin sought an award of attorneys fees and other expenses under the EAJA for time spent over nearly nine years by its lawyers and paralegals. The Board found that the government's position on the merits was not "substantially justified" and awarded Richlin about $50,000 for work done by its lawyers.

The Board did not, however, award Richlin fees at the $50 to $95 per hour market rates for paralegals charged to Richlin over the course of the proceedings.  The Board searched the Internet for paralegal salary information and decided to award Richlin $35 per hour as a reasonable cost to the law firm awarding approximately $10,600 for about 300 hours of compensable paralegal time.

This practice discourages law firms from utilizing paralegals thus additionally hampering clients to receive lower cost legal fees.  What law firm wants to take a loss in profits? What incentive does the law firm have in utilizing paralegals if it cannot push this profit center towards profit? For those Negative Nancys who claim that the increased use of paralegals might result in the less efficient performance of legal services, remember: the attorney is ultimately responsible for the performance of the paralegal.  Therfore, there is no incentive to delegate work to a paralegal that is beyond the paralegal's capability or to the extent that it would be inefficient.

Oral arguments in Richlin are set fro March 19th with a decision expected by the end of June.

Where Is That Ethics Class When Ya Need It?

Here's a twist:  While many paralegals aggressively seek to expand their assignments, a New York lawyer gets disbarred for overusing his paralegals and running afoul of ethics violations.

According to The New York Law Journal, real estate lawyer Keith G. Rubenstein, eager to bolster his shaky finances, signed an unusual arrangement to serve as a front for a Queens personal injury practice owned by a non-lawyer entrepreneur who made his fortune in taxicab medallions.

The deal, which netted Rubenstein a mere $21,000, resulted in his disbarment. (Don't get out those violins just yet. Last year, he outbid Madonna on a $35 million Upper East Side townhouse).  He owes his fortune to his current job as principal of Somerset Partners, an investment firm that bought a Park Ave. office building for $509 million, a record price on a per-square-foot basis.

In May 2002, Rubenstein agreed to practice personal injury law as an employee of a Long Island City-based company owned by Mr. Garber called Gem & R Management Corp.

Under this agreement, Rubenstein served as attorney of record on scores of personal injury cases that were in actuality handled almost entirely by paralegals employed by Gem & R. The agreement gave Gem & R the right to accept or reject clients for Rubenstein, as well as establish fees. The client files would also be owned by Gem & R. For his part, Rubenstein received 10% of the fees.

Rubenstein testified that court documents were often filed without his review and that Gem & R paralegals generally dealt with clients and insurance companies. Because of the arrangement, Mr. Rubenstein said it was possible he was the attorney of record on personal injury cases of which he was unaware.  Apparently, the paralegals handled simply everything.

While the attorney is ultimately responsible for ethics violations, why didn't the paralegals know that they too were in violation?  Did they take classes?  Did they think that a code of ethics did not apply?  Were they caught up in a false sense of empowerment?  Were they afraid if they didn't participate, they would lose their jobs?  Or worse, did they simply not know that they could not sign pleadings, practice law or set fees?

Who's watching the pot?

Kudos to the DOJ for Acknowledging Paralegal Participation

Halleleujah!  Rarely do law firms or corporations acknowledge contribution of paralegals when a major case is won.  Paralegals may work until midnight for months giving up weekends, holidays and birthdays but how often do we see their names mentioned when attorneys take bows over a major win?  Going against tradition, the DOJ issued a press release today about a major win that also acknowledged the work and contribution of two of their paralegals.

A federal jury has found four former General Re Corporation Executives and one former American International Group Inc. executive guilty, following a five-week long trial. The Hartford, Conn. jury returned a verdict of guilty on all charges against all defendants contained in a 16-count superseding indictment stemming from a fraudulent scheme to manipulate AIG's financial statements.

At trial, the government presented evidence that the defendants engaged in a scheme to falsely inflate AIG's reported loss reserves, a key indicator of financial health. Evidence presented at trial established that when the investigation was disclosed to investors by AIG and through various media outlets between Feb. 14 and March 14, 2005, shares of AIG stock dropped from $73.12 to $61.92

"These convictions continue the string of successes in our crackdown on corporate fraud and our effort to restore integrity to our financial markets," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford, chairman of the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force.

Sarah Marberg and Amy Konarski get national and public recognition for their contribution to the win of this case.  Kudos to The Justice Department not only for fighting corporate fraud but also for the realistic and humane public acknowledgement about a very real team effort.

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New Magazine for Paralegals

A new and exciting magazine for paralegals will launch in June, 2008.  KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals is an outside-the-box, informative magazine balancing workstyle and life balance for paralegals.

Designed for paralegals in today's highly competitive market, the publication offers tools, tactics and strategies for a successful worklife and lifestyle balance.  Written by leaders in the field, just a few of the upcoming stories include:

• Famous TV Stars: What Fans Don't Know About These Former Paralegals
• Work Less, Earn More: Can You Ditch the 24/7 Stressful Routine?
• The 10 Most Influential Paralegals in the Country
• Trends Guaranteed to Change the Paralegal Profession
• Diversity's Little Secret:  Are Caucasian Paralegals Doing Enough to Support African-American Paralegals?
• Paralegals Succeeding Against All the Odds
• Your Network is Your Net Worth
• Wedding Cake Blues: When You Marry Your Job
• Navigating a Male-Dominated Industry
• New Case Law That Affects Your Career
• Why Litigation Support Managers in BigLaw Can Earn Up to $200k Per Year
• Can the IP Field Sustain Its Phenomenal Paralegal Growth?

The magazine will feature regular columns such as:

• TechKNOW - Technology Paralegals Need
• KNOW News is Good News - Happenings in the Paralegal Field
• Offbeat Things Paralegals Do To Succeed
• Advice from The Career Guru
• The KNOW List:  Books, Publications, Resources
• The Stress Doc Talks- Putting Passion Back Into Your Job
• American Paralegal in London
• e-Discovery for Paralegals
• KNOW More!  Investigative Techniques for Paralegals
• Corporate, IP, Investigative, Litigation, Personal Injury, BigFirm, SmallFirm, In-House, Technology, Compliance and much more!

To subscribe, please go to:  www.knowparalegal.com.

The Billable Hour: Albatross for Paralegals As Well

Practically every day, in one legal publication or another, you're going to read about how the billable hour will eventually meet its demise.  Whether this occurs in the next 10-20 years is questionable.  What we do know, is that CorporateAmerica is pushing back hard against inflated hourly rates including paralegal rates that can go as high as $250.00 per hour or more.

When news broke last fall that a few New York City lawyers had reached the US $1,000-an-hour mark (that’s US $16.67 a minute), a partner at a major firm in the city warned that the profession may have hit the “vomit point” with clients.

He was right: although the skyrocketing rates lawyers charge have been something of a joke for decades, several large U.S. corporations are no longer laughing. Some clients, it seems, are less willing to accept “open-ended, indefinite and unknowable liabilities when they walk into litigation,” says Lorne Sossin, a law professor at the University of Toronto. Now, to cash in on this discontent, a handful of boutique firms are beginning to offer alternatives to the billable hour, the industry standard since the ’60s.

An article in today's Maclean's, a Canadian national weekly. stated that charging by the hour—or in six-minute blocks—was originally meant to improve transparency. The problem, says Hugh Totten, a member with Valorem (latin for “value”), a new Chicago-based law firm that offers clients contingency fees (payable only if the result is favourable) and fixed fees, is that the billable hour “creates an incentive for endless litigation and for a complete lack of efficiency.”

This critical refrain isn’t new. In a 2002 report, the American Bar Association’s commission on billable hours blamed hourly quotas for driving young lawyers from the profession (an estimated 45 per cent of lawyers quit law by their third year), and for leaving little time for pro bono work. The commission identified several alternatives. While many private law firms provide options to favoured clients, most lawyers still work on the clock (91 per cent of legal work in Canada is based on billable hours). When asked how quickly firms are shifting from that model, Richard Stock, founding partner of Vancouver-based legal strategist Catalyst Consulting and frequent Paralegal SuperConference speaker, laughs: “Global warming is faster.”

Those paralegals in firms requiring 1800 billable hours per year are just as vulnerable to doing whatever they can to rack up hours as are associates.  The only problem is, there is no partnership carrot and most times, no upward movement on any career ladder.

Experts anticipate that the current economic downturn will lead to further belt-tightening and could force more companies to reassess deals with their lawyers. “The days of just writing cheques are coming to an end,” says Jay Shepherd, whose Boston firm, Shepherd Law Group, banned billable hours last year and doubled its 2006 revenue. “There is no other business that we don’t know the price of something before we buy it. Imagine getting on an airplane and being told they’re going to charge you by the minute. It’s crazy. Nobody would do it.”

In setting flat fees for work, however, paralegals will need to know how to complete assignments within the budgeted time.  Think about how you can bring the idea of flat fees to your firm:  start finding out how long it takes to summarize a deposition per hour (you can usually go somewhere between 12-25 pages per hour); review documents for attorney-client work product; form a corporation.  It may be a way to assist in better profits that in turn result in higher salaries (one would hope).

If paralegals can't reach partnership, don't move up a ladder but are required to bill the same as a 3-5 year associate, where do the boundaries kick in?  Anyone out there in a firm offering flat fees for paralegal work?  Let's hear how it's going.

Oops! There Go the Paralegal Jobs?

Finally, a firm that is honest about what it's doing.  Only, I'm not so sure this is good news for paralegals.  It may be good news for graduate students in India and for clients opting for lower cost legal fees.  It seems like you can have one or the other but never both.

Howrey has opened an office in India.  "It's not outsourcing," insists Robert Ruyak, managing partner and CEO of Howrey, describing his firm's new office in India. Of course, it's not lawyering, either, since an American firm practicing in India would violate Indian law. Instead, it's a new attempt by a U.S. law firm to cut costs by creating an office in India to handle document management in litigation, IP and arbitration matters pending around the world. Howrey is the first Am Law 200 firm to open an office in India to handle client work.

Like many U.S. businesses, Howrey hopes to take advantage of the growing class of well-trained -- and comparatively low-paid -- young Indian professionals. And Ruyak believes he can persuade reluctant clients, who will choose where their work is done, to embrace the venture. The question is whether they will do so.

We've written here many times about the threat of U.S. paralegal jobs being taken away by its counterparts in India.  Our attitude has been that outsourcing is here, it's not going away and it's time that paralegals take a hard, cold look at what's happening in the field.  However, it's our belief that if played properly, paralegals in the U.S. will only upgrade their assignment level.  Howrey has actually hired paralegals based in India as direct-hires to save costs.  This does not mean hiring American paralegals and sending them to India, folks.  This means hiring people from India, not necessarily trained paralegals, either.

It's just like if you had people working at home or in another location," says Ruyak. Much of Howrey's work is document-intensive litigation, intellectual property and international arbitration. And already, much of the firm's document management work is done by more than 200 employees, most non-lawyers, who work in an office in Falls Church, Va. It's not a huge leap, Ruyak hopes, to extend that work to India, where a paralegal would earn $20,000 to $25,000 per year, as opposed to $40,000 to $50,000 in the United States.

Come on, fella.  Just like if we had people working at home or in another location?  At $25k per year less?  Huh.  I don't think so.  Just be honest with the message.  It's really o.k.  Paralegals will deal with the situation just like 20 years ago when firms outsourced to the Philippines. 

However, paralegals need to come to the realization that outsourcing to India (or in-sourcing as the case may be), is here and not going away.  When asked, most paralegals will tell you that outsourcing does not affect them for whatever reason.  There needs to be a huge wake-up call to the community.

When BigFirms start to hire paralegals from other countries as the firm's permanent employees (not through an outsourcing company), the handwriting is on the wall.  Our advice? Get thyself crossed-trained and out of lower level document management assignments.  That work is going to cheaper labor and that cheaper labor is probably not you.

Ruyak concedes that clients "don't want to use outsourcing." But this, he repeats, will be different. "We will have our own people working on this. It's training, it's control, maintaining the security, the quality of the results." He adds that clients will have the choice of whether to use the Indian office to cut costs or to have their work done in the U.S.  Let's see:  $300,000 for the project or $30,000 for the same project.  Hmmmm.......I wonder what they'll choose.

Howrey partner Amit Saluja, an Indian-American corporate attorney hired last year from Hogan & Hartson, will be shuttling between his current office in Washington, D.C., and the new one in India to help hire and supervise new employees. The firm plans to hire recent graduates from Indian universities and top Indian students out of American colleges and graduate programs, who would train at the Virginia facility before returning home to India.

The office in India is just the first step in Howrey's long-term goal of expanding its support services worldwide. The firm hopes to eventually create similar offices in Europe and Asia. So far, though, it's just an experiment. (Meaning, if it falls on its face, no one has to take responsibility, it was only an "experiment".)  "We'll have to see how it goes," says Ruyak.

Stay tuned.

New Niche for e-Discovery: Special Masters

I'm telling you, when a field pops, it really pops.  Apparently, the increased use of electronic discovery has resulted in a new set of practitioners: e-discovery special masters.
According to The Daily Record, a special master is an officer of the court appointed to help with its proceedings, and may perform functions such as taking testimony or advising the court as a neutral expert.

“Essentially, you represent the judge and the court as an independent in evaluating technological disputes and electronic discovery issues,” explained Peter S. Vogel, chair of the Electronic Discovery and Document Retention Team and co-chair of the Internet and Computer Technology Practice Group at Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas.

Vogel, a partner at the firm, has worked on more than 20 cases with some form of an e-discovery special master. The role varies, explained Judge Shira Scheindlin, a U.S. District Court judge in the Southern District of New York and the author of several seminal opinions on e-discovery, including Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 229 F.R.D. 422 (S.D.N.Y. 2004).

Courts can appoint an electronic discovery special master “for a narrow dispute, such as a privilege review, or a broader task like supervising all discovery,” she said.

Special e-discovery masters have become prevalent because over the last few years, “the level of technical detail simply outgrew what judges and counsel could comprehend,” explained Craig Ball, a trial lawyer and technologist in Austin, Texas, who has served as a special master in approximately two dozen cases. “When neither the attorneys nor the court felt able to ask the right questions or understand the answers, that created the need for a technical special master,” he said.

While some tasks an e-discovery special master might take on are strictly technical, others require legal knowledge and expertise. A special master must “speak fluent litigator and fluent geek,” Ball said. “I couldn’t do what I do without both extensive trial experience and the training and background that qualifies me as a certified computer forensic examiner.”

The actual work performed can vary greatly depending on the case. “Sometimes I am a neutral examiner who sees both sides’ secret and privileged data to ensure that each side is getting what it is entitled to receive without compromising their opponent’s legitimate privacy and privilege issues,” Ball explained.

Alternatively, he said, “I may be a neutral expert advising the court when other experts can’t seem to find common ground.”  On a hands-on level, that means Ball may perform a forensic examination into a party’s electronically stored information, or he may help develop and implement search strategies to remedy a failed e-discovery effort.

And the use of e-discovery special masters will only continue to increase, Ball predicts.
“The demand for the service outstrips the ranks of experienced, technically adept lawyers.” Ball — who charges $500 per hour ($250 per hour for travel plus expenses) and assesses a $5,000 engagement fee credited toward the first 10 hours — said it’s possible to make a living as an electronic discovery special master.

“I made more as a trial lawyer, but enjoyed it less,” he said. “I charge a handsome hourly rate and am fortunate to have nearly all the work I can handle.”

So, listen-up everybody:  if you are a litigation support expert; an e-discovery expert; a paralegal with exceptional e-discovery skills, it only stands to reason that Special Masters are going to need assistance.  Start recommending a new position to accommodate them: e-discovery special masterette.  Or, Junior Master..... or ParaMaster.  Ok, so I'm not good at the name game but all kidding aside: don't overlook this opportunity to start assisting in this arena.  E-Discovery is not only exploding in terms of volume but in new positions with nice dollars attached to it if you're good.  Listen to your career instincts:  if you're savvy enough to spot and interpret the trends, now is the time to ride the horse in the direction its going.

Paralegal Falsely Posing As Lawyer Wins 50 Cases

Now here's an interesting situation:  Brian Valery, a paralegal working for Anderson, Kill, a pretty large firm in Washington, D.C. ups and decides he's going to tell his colleagues and supervisors that he's going to law school.  After a time, he decides he's going to let them know he passed the bar.  Impressed with his work and obviously in good with the partners, the firm hires Valery as an associate. 

All is going well for about two years.  So good, in fact, that Valery wins 50 cases for the firm. Come to find out, not only did Valery not pass the bar, he never even earned a law degree. Now, a New York judge has sentenced Valery to five years of probation.  He must also return the $225,000 he earned from insurance-litigation firm Anderson Kill & Olick and serve 100 hours community service, the New York Post reported Thursday.

If this weren't so serious, it might be funny.  Does that mean that you don't really need a law degree, that being a paralegal is sufficient?  I mean, 50 wins in two years is pretty darn impressive!  For every attorney who has ever put down a paralegal, take that!  And that!  We don't even know if Valery received paralegal training and certainly, asking him won't produce an acceptable answer.

It seems to me that the assignment level at which Valery performed as an "attorney " was actually that of a paralegal (since he had no law school degree).  Yet he was paid the salary of a staff attorney. The firm really ought to be looking at its job descriptions for attorneys.  Are its attorneys working at dummied down levels?  Should their work really be assigned to paralegals?  And, of course, should those paralegals be paid salaries at the staff attorney level?  How does the client feel to know that its cases were won by a paralegal?  Should they have to pay full fees for like-cases won by real attorneys in the firm?  Hmmmm.....Interesting questions. 

 

Paralegals Helping Women in Bangladesh

Paralegals exist in third world countries and are often the heroes of the villages.  A fascinating article in The New Nation, illustrates just how important paralegals are to one village in Bangladesh.  Banchte Shekha: Development Program for Women and Children was founded by one woman, Angela Gomes-a tall, vibrant women in her early forties in this country where thatch and bamboo huts dot the roadside and squatting women fan breakfast fires. The rising smoke sways and mingles with clouds of fog that hang over tiny ponds and paddieslaughs.  Gomes chats with the women as she helps serve a meal of porridge, chapatis, and papaya.

Many of these women have spent the night at Banchte Shekha-a safe haven for them from an abusive husband or in-laws. For others, Banchte Shekha-which is Bangla for "learning to live"-is part of a longer journey, a first step toward self-sufficiency and dignity. For all of them, Banchte Shekha offers hope, because one woman believed that poor village women could have better lives, even when they didn't believe it themselves. In the small village in Bangladesh where Angela Gomes grew up, women worked hard all day, but, she says, "they were treated like house servants-underfed, beaten, and mentally tortured. No one respected them, not even themselves. They had no solutions to their problems. Life just went on."

Gomes took the responsibility to develop various programs to assist women in need.  One of her strongest achievements was the training of paralegals.  The legal assistance program, has its origins in early confrontations between members and other villagers, usually husbands. If a man beat his wife, he might find himself surrounded by thirty or forty angry Banchte Shekha women who would gather to publicly denounce him. Often they would make him sign a paper saying that he would not harm his wife again. A man who tried to desert or divorce his wife, or take a second wife, had to contend with Banchte Shekha members who were supported not only by group strength, but a knowledge of the law.

In 1987 Banchte Shekha decided to launch the village-based paralegal program, and, with support from The Asia Foundation, this Legal Aid Cell has become one of the most innovative paralegal programs in the country. It is also the only one run entirely by women.

The volunteer paralegals are village women who receive training in Muslim family law on dowry, the marriage system, legal divorce, and inheritance. These paralegals provide information to members and other villagers about their rights, and they participate in the shalish, the village form of mediation in Bangladesh.

Until recently, women were not represented at a shalish, even when their own future was at stake. Their male relatives were supposed to represent them, and all the decisions were made by the village men. Banchte Shekha's paralegal program has helped change that.

Three hundred and fifty women have been trained so far as paralegals. They work under the direction of one of the earliest Banchte Shekha members, Rokeya Sattar, herself a village woman who was married at thirteen and abandoned at twenty-two with her four children.

The paralegals have proven to be very effective. By July 1991, they had settled 2,119 disputes at the village level and effected 2,382 marriages without dowry. Attorneys who have evaluated the program have been struck by the poise and confidence of the women as they put their cases before the shalish or hold their own in difficult negotiations.

The legal program has been further strengthened by Asia Foundation support that gives the women the money and the clout to say that they will take a case to court and litigate if mediation fails. In the first four years of the program they have won 278 court cases.

Gomes hopes Banchte Shekha will continue to grow and that other organizations will learn from their experience.

"We have never claimed that this is the only approach to development," she says. "Certainly there may be other ways. The problems of poor women in Bangladesh have been centuries in the making. By comparision, eighteen years is not a long time. But every day is a new day. We have to be creative to cope with the changes it brings."

I will never complain about no lemonade on the 44th floor; having to park a block away or not enough toner in the photocopy machine ever again.

The Economic Crisis: Yes, You May Be Affected

You can't get away from the news: the legal market is beginning to slow quite dramatically. Especially hard hit have been paralegals and attorneys working in the securities, finance and real estate sectors. Not to mention what's happening out here in Los Angeles with the continuing Writers Guild strike. Companies and law firms have begun layoffs of attorneys and paralegals and despite the roar of the government, there are no signs that the situation will improve anytime soon.

One paralegal recently wrote us that they will be attending our New York Paralegal SuperConference on Feb. 11-12th because "things here are so slow, there's not much else to do."  Great.  Just what we want to hear.

For those of you who are senior paralegals, you're probably reluctantly recalling what occurred in 2000- 2001. There was an economic boom ("the Internet bubble") that created a great deal of legal work and then came the crash causing much of the work (and jobs) to simply vanish.

Most recently, we had a real estate boom which created a great deal of legal work and has now gone away. This has affected the financial and real estate sectors the most; however, a lack of liquidity in the markets will likely have broad implications for most law firms. The availability of investment capital fuels spending in intellectual property, mergers & acquisitions, entertainment financing and more.

It is axiomatic that companies tend to spend more on outside services such as law firms when times are good than when the economy is in trouble. Even litigation caseload goes down (while bankruptcy work goes up).

According to BCG Attorney Search, what occurred in 2000-2001 in particular with corporate work, was quite shocking: Tens of thousands of corporate attorneys and paralegals lost their jobs. A significant percentage got out of the law completely after not being able to find work.

Corporate work came to a virtual standstill at most firms, particularly in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. What made this so absurd was that most firms did not call these layoffs and instead told many attorneys and paralegals they were being let go for performance reasons.  We've just begun to hear similiar stories from paralegals in cities such as Washington, D.C.

In a survey conducted by Estrin LegalEd in the Fall of 2007 of corporate law department paralegals, over 80% of the paralegals surveyed said that the current real estate crisis would not affect their employment.  If that survey were conducted today, it is most probable that over 80% would be would be quite concerned and scouring the want ads.

As an aside, if your work is good and you and others in your organization are being told there is a problem with your performance—look out. This is often a sure sign that the firm or company is experiencing serious economic problems. Firms typically do not lay people off—they let them go under the guise of performance-related problems.   No firm wants to signal economic problems to their competitor.  I suppose it's ok to signal they have a few quirks in their recruiting techniques.

Now is the Time to Aggressively Investigate What is Going on in the Market
Paralegals who come out on top when the market shifts dramatically are those who go “all out” in their search for information—they leave no stone unturned. They get cross-trained in several areas.  Are you a corporate paralegal?  Get cross-trained in litigation.  Create better research skills.  As trite as the saying goes, there is now real meaning in what we've heard for years: Make yourself more valuable to your firm - now.

Some paralegals believe they are too special or been at the firm for too many years to get laid-off.  They believe because they may know where all the skeletons are buried, they are immune to getting let go.   They are under some crazy impression that employers should give them plenty of advanced warning or let them in on the fact that serious downsizing might be coming down the pike. In reality, it just doesn’t happen that way. You are often broadsided, no matter what kind of caring, loving exit interview the firm may provide. And, the more senior you are, the harder it is to find a job in hard times.

The object is to stay employed and weather a possible recession. If you are not aware of what is going on in your firm and what alternatives you may have, believe me, your competition will. They will score the available jobs and you will be left out in the cold.  Chances are, as a paralegal, you have no real idea what financial shape your law firm is in.  Paralegals in public companies have more of an advantage as stock prices are posted daily but law firm employees are often taken by surprise.

If you are not currently actively seeking a position, now is the time to be aware of what is available in the market so you can be prepared if conditions at your current employer change. Stay educated.  Take seminars and learn new skills.  Stay on top of job opportunities. If you are currently seeking a position, it is important that you be as thorough as you possibly can in your search. You need to give yourself as many options as possible, just in case. Do not be a victim of the economy. Do the right thing: Take charge of your career and life.

Litigation Paralegals: Safe from Recession?

With the doom and gloom news about slow growth and possible recession swirling around us,  there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Wait!  It's not a train coming at us.  It's actually good news. 

According to a press release from Robert Half issued today, The hiring of paralegals is expected to remain steady as law offices continue to build teams to handle rising     caseloads. Litigation paralegals are sought by law firms who are managing an increasingly high volume of lawsuits.

Hallelujah!  Praise the litigation gods!  "Intellectual property, litigation, corporate and security, and bankruptcy law are generating a significant amount of casework and a steady
increase in demand for legal services," said Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal. "Many employers, particularly those at large and midsize law firms, are offering higher salaries to job candidates who possess the most sought after practice area expertise, certifications and technical skills."

The five in-demand positions for 2008, according to Robert Half Legal:

    -- First-year associates - Competition has intensified among large and
       midsize law firms for graduates from the nation's leading law schools.
       Job candidates who have finished in the top 20 percent of their class
       or possess experience within a specific practice area are highly
       sought.

    -- Patent attorneys - Demand is robust for attorneys with trial expertise
       at law firms specializing in intellectual property or the information
       technology, biotechnology and healthcare industries.

    -- In-house attorneys - To meet ongoing corporate governance requirements,
       companies seek experienced attorneys with regulatory compliance,
       corporate and security law, and commercial litigation backgrounds.

    -- Litigation paralegals - The hiring of paralegals is expected to remain
       steady as law offices continue to build teams to handle rising
       caseloads. Litigation paralegals are sought by law firms who are
       managing an increasingly high volume of lawsuits.

    -- Intellectual property legal secretaries - The shortage of experienced
       support staff remains acute. Legal secretaries with trademark or patent
       experience, including patent prosecution, are in strong demand.

So what if the company does legal staffing and probably wouldn't be so anxious to predict a year coming up filled with staff slashing or overall merging and purging.  It's good news for litigation paralegals in an otherwise shaky economy guaranteed to make you rein in your plastic money cards and batten down the spending hatches.

Where Were the Paralegals? BigFirm Sues E-Discovery Vendor

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Or, maybe it's happened and we just don't know about it.  A dispute between Sullivan & Cromwell and e-discovery vendor, Electronic Evidence Discovery (EED) has escalated into all out war as S&C files a suit in state supreme court in Manhattan while EED countersues in Seattle.

The original suit filed by S&C alleges that EED which the law firm had hired to provide document services on a major litigation, had consistently missed deadlines and prepared the wrong documents for production to opposing counsel. The firm asked the court to rule that EED was not entitled to $710,000 in outstanding bills.

That must have been some case for $710k in e-discovery bills.  EED has posted a press release to its website announcing the countersuit.  "We believe this matter is nothing more than a dispute regarding payment of a valid receivable,” said Dave McCann, president and CEO of EED. “We are disappointed that Sullivan & Cromwell has chosen to litigate this matter rather than negotiate in good faith, but we are prepared to ensure that the terms of our contract are enforced."  Well, yeah, I should think so.  A three-quarter million dollar receivable is quite a chunk.

Of course, I have a few questions that may be a little more relevant to our blog readers here:  Where the heck were the paralegals (on either side) whose job it was to ensure timely deadlines and a proper document production?  And, uh, geez, fellas, how the heck did you let the bill run so high without getting some payments in the interim?  Who was watching the pot here?

The case is being touted as one of the first disputes of its kind.  However, it seems to me that law firms have sued vendors in the past.  Anyone have some similiar stories they wish to share?

Paralegal in Middle of Conflict of Interest Controversy

It’s not unusual for a firm to use tough tactics when litigating a case. But tough tactics cost Patricia Dillman, (a litigation support manager who came up through the ranks as a paralegal) her job.

This story seems to be everywhere. 

After working under three bosses in less than a year, Dillman, the director of Holland & Knight’s litigation support group, decided to look for a fresh start. She settled on not only a different firm, Hughes Hubbard & Reed, but also a new city. Dillman accepted a $200,000 annual salary to move from Washington to Hughes Hubbard’s New York office.

In September 2007, Dillman put in her two weeks and prepared for the move. But then Hughes Hubbard informed her that because of a possible conflict, raised by Holland, there was no longer an offer. Dillman was out a job. She responded by suing her former firm for tortious interference in D.C. Superior Court in November, asking for $300,000 in damages.

Hughes Hubbard’s decision to rescind its offer stems from an oil spill off the northwest coast of Spain in 2002. The tanker Prestige sank, spilling most of its load of 77,000 metric tons of oil. It was Spain's worst environmental disaster, damaging the fishing and tourism industries. Hughes Hubbard is representing the American Bureau of Shipping in a lawsuit filed by the Spanish government in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Holland is representing the Spanish government.

But what I have an issue with is not so much that one firm may be using this paralegal as a pawn in the case but her own attorney has issued a statement that clearly underplays ethics and conflict of interest because Dillman is a paralegal. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Lynne Bernabei, Dillman’s attorney and a name partner at Bernabei & Wachtel. “The bar has an ethical concern with lawyers being stopped from moving from one firm to another firm. But Dillman was a paralegal.”

Excuse me???  The implied word missing here is "Dillman was [only] a paralegal."  Is this to imply that the bar has an ethical concern about lawyers but not paralegals?  If Bernabei is using the fact that Dillman was a paralegal, now litigation support manager, and not a lawyer and therefore not held to the same ethical standard, Dillman should get another lawyer - now.

Paralegals are held to the same standard.  Build your ethical wall or rescind the offer, take the steps to ensure the paralegal has no contact with the case but do not dismiss the paralegal's value to the firm, knowledge of the case or potential conflict of interest by virtue of the fact the paralegal is "only" a paralegal.  Has Bernabei not read up on any of the latest requirements for paralegals?  Scary.

It should also be pointed out that Dillman accepted a $200,000 position.  So for those paralegals who think they're limited in scope and salary, start thinking outside the salary survey. 

It turns out that Dillman only worked 15 hours on the case.  So whatever happens here will be interesting to watch.  Stay tuned.  I'm sure there's more.

Airlines to Appeal Passenger Bill of Rights

If you have ever spent more than 3 hours waiting on a tarmac, trapped in a huge metal contraption with screaming babies, no food, overflowing toilets and stale air, you will definitely view the Airlines as the Monster of the Century. 

Unbelievably, an airline industry trade group has filed a notice of appeal in its challenge to New York state's new law requiring better treatment of passengers sitting on grounded aircraft.

What does this have to do with paralegals?  Probably nothing.  What does this have to do with the rights of every traveler whether on business or pleasure?  Everything.

The Air Transit Association of America filed a notice to appeal last week's ruling by Northern District of New York Judge Lawrence E. Kahn. He ruled in Air Transport Association of America v. Cuomo that the pro-passenger law is not pre-empted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, as the airline industry group contended.

Let's see if I understand this properly: The law, which goes into effect on Tuesday, will require airlines to provide water, fresh air and working toilets to travelers stuck for longer than three hours on delayed flights. It allows the attorney general to seek civil fines of up to $1,000 per passenger per violation.

So, the airlines want to fly with passengers who have no water, unsanitary conditions, air that you can't breathe and 300+ people with no where to go to the bathroom.  You have a closed container full of elderly people, little children, people with medical conditions, anxiety-ridden folks and oh, yes, how about those stressed out pilots who have to fly the plane after sitting on the runway for 9 hours?  Hmmmmm......I think for that, I'll take the train.

Nonlawyer Contract Experts: New Wave for Paralegals?

A boutique business law firm for life sciences companies is luring clients with a lower-rate structure that relies on nonlawyer contract experts for template contract work.

Waltham, Mass.-based Faber Daeufer & Rosenberg has attracted more than 200 clients since its October 2003 launch.

According to an article from law.com, the firm began with two lawyers from Cambridge, Mass.-based drug maker Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., and was joined shortly by another Millennium lawyer and contract specialist and one law firm attorney. It currently has 12 lawyers, five contract specialists and two paralegals.

The contract specialists, who each has more than a decade of industry experience, handle "day-to-day contracts," like clinical trial agreements and material transfer agreements.

Legal consultant Marci Krufka, a principal with Altman Weil Inc., said she hasn't heard of firms using contract specialists, but firms are increasingly hiring nonlawyer professionals to complement their services. "Anytime firms can implement strategies that are innovative and can save their clients money, I know general counsel really appreciate it," Krufka said.

Contract Administrators are also paralegals who have learned a highly specialized niche area.  It is not unusual to find Contract Specialists in corporate law departments who were previously paralegals.  The Faber firm clients learned the firm's contract specialists bill at $220 to $280 per hour compared with $290 to $510 for the firm's attorneys.  Saving fees is always good news to the client.

It's good to hear that law firms attitudes towards utilizing nonlawyer professionals for routine work is expanding to new areas. 

Paralegals in China: Profession Develops from Toy Scandal

The toy recalls coming out of China apparently have more consequences than U.S. citizens seem to realize.  According to an article written in YaleGlobal online, not often noted in the uproar was that the toys shipped from China are mostly made by Hong Kong firms using cheap labor in China. Their factories in China make toys for big brand-name companies such as Mattel and Disney based on designs that the American corporations provide.

No mention has been made of the many hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers who labor under dangerous conditions, making toys and many hundreds of other kinds of export products. If lead paint is used, workers are the ones exposed to lead hour after hour. In numerous industries, all too often workers are exposed to noxious fumes and dangerous machinery. They are poor migrants from China’s countryside, and they endure work days averaging 11 hours, six to seven days a week, to earn take-home pay of $100 or less a month.

Most of the CSR (corporate-social responsibility) programs have made little headway in improving the conditions of workers who contract occupational diseases or are injured. Bosses simply discard most of them with scant compensation. Traumatized, they are in need of legal, moral and financial support. To secure adequate compensation requires them to run a gauntlet of legal procedures they can ill afford.

Increasingly, they have begun turning to people similar to themselves who have become paralegals. Many of these are former workers who had been injured or contracted occupational diseases and sued their bosses for compensation. After settling their own cases, they began helping others to do the same, and over time they have become increasingly conversant with the law and legal proceedings. In the Pearl River Delta region alone, there are now some 500 such paralegals, known in China as “citizens’ agents.” To support themselves, most of them charge a percentage of the compensation when a case is successful. Some register as a legal counseling service; others attach themselves to law firms, and yet others set up NGOs, (non-governmental organizations) though normally these need to be disguised by being registered as businesses.

By 2007, these citizens’ agents had become successful to the point of arousing open hostility from some manufacturers, and they had come to the attention of the provincial government. The authorities started to clamp down on their activities by disqualifying them from providing legal representation.

Huang Qingnan, a paralegal who headed a labor NGO, was brutally attacked in broad daylight by two thugs, who inflicted a number of vicious stab wounds. One of his legs was repeatedly hacked at and almost severed. At the time of writing, Huang is still in critical condition, and if he survives, may lose his leg. Huang was already badly scarred and deformed due to an industrial fire, which had led him to become a paralegal.

The assault against him followed on the heels of two recent daytime hooligan attacks against Huang’s NGO office. In the first of these, as a warning, several men destroyed the NGO’s doors with iron bars. In the second incident, a larger group of thugs wielding steel poles smashed the office and its equipment and threatened workers there seeking legal aid, while several local policemen looked on.

The brutality against Huang could herald the beginning of a new stage in the Delta’s labor history. It also puts new pressure on the major multinational corporations whose brand-name products, such as iPod, are produced in this area. The corporations do not want it said that their brand-name goods are produced in a lawless, repressive environment. The toy recalls may be only first of the publicity nightmares the companies will need to fend off.

Secondments: Everything Old is New Again

A brand new term, secondments, the transfer of employees from one organization to another on a temporary basis has sprung up in the corporate world.  The reality is, this lending of employees from law firms to in-house legal departments is not anything that's brand new.  It's been going on for years.

However, recently, secondments are gaining popularity with U.S. firms, as described in this National Law Journal article, Firms Lend Associates to Clients.  Historically used by London firms and their U.K. clients, U.S. firms are fast realizing that secondments offer a way to cement relationships between law firms and their clients, and to give associates a better understanding of the clients' needs.

Paralegals have worked as secondments for years now.  It is not unusual to have a law firm paralegal go to work either on a full-time, part-time or project basis at the client's location, particularly when working on discovery, document productions, corporate minute books or other document intensive projects. 

According to the National Law Journal, many of the firms that have instituted secondments have a global practice.  By sending attorneys to the offices of overseas clients, firms can reinforce an otherwise long-distance relationship.  And for associates, spending time in another country working essentially as an in-house counsel, offers a break from traditi