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Promoting the Profession of the Legal Assistants Through Education and Camaraderie

SNAP ShotPRESIDENTIAL RAMBLINGS

Recently, I came across a link on Facebook tit led 13 Things I Wish I knew Before I became a Lawyer

(http:/ /www.cosmopolitan.com/career/advice/a39774/things-i-wish-i-knew-before-i-became-a-lawyer/ ).

After reading the article, most of which I could wholeheartedly agree with, I came up with my own list of things I wish I had known before becoming a paralegal.

1. You may have just graduated with a paralegal degree/cert i f icate, but your knowledge is l imited. Attending a program to obtain your certif icate/degree in paralegal does not teach you how to be a paralegal. In the beginning of your career as a paralegal, it may seem like nearly every time you are assigned a task it?s something you?ve never done before and you are unsure how to complete the task. Don?t worry, the anxiety should subside after a couple of years after you?ve developed a decent understanding of the process and a practical set of skil ls.

2. Being a paralegal means being a writer. Granted, some lawyers do the majority of their own legal writ ing, but being a paralegal can be like writ ing a term paper every day on a variety of dif ferent issues; all of which have to be properly researched before the paper can be written. That also doesn?t include the memos, letter, emails, discovery requests, etc., that paralegals are responsible for drafting. Brush up on your writ ing skil ls! Communicating clearly and effectively is the greater part of the job.

3. You are going to loathe coming in to work if you don?t pick a f ield of pract ice that f i ts your personal ity. Before I started in family law, I did time practicing in

This Issue:

President's Note...................................... 1NALS July Meeting Invite...................... 3Treasurer's Report.................................. 4Job Bank.................................................... 5Seminar Speaker..................................... 7Seminar Door-Prizes.............................. 8Annual Seminar Flyer ............................ 9

ANNUAL SEMINARMAY 15, 2015

Nevada State Bar Association

@ 9456 Double R Blvd., Suite B

(see f lyer for details)

Off icers and Chairpersons

President : Amy Hodgson, ACP

1st VP/Educat ion: Sonita Harris

2nd VP/Membership/ Job Bank: Jennifer Salisbury, CP

Treasurer: Crystal Huss

Secretary: Christine Lamia

NALA Liaison: Erin Tieslau, CP

Parl iamentarian: Fay Miccile, CP

Student Liaison: Lisa Dee

Act ivit ies/Social Chair: Vacant

Fund Raising Chair: Lisa Dee

Newslet ter Editor: Erin Tieslau, CP

Website Editor: NEEDED!!!

Sierra Nevada Associat ion of Paralegal May 2015

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/advice/a39774/things-i-wish-i-knew-before-i-became-a-lawyer/





personal injury ? representing the plaintif f ; bankruptcy; and a small amount of civil l it igation. I found that none of those were a good ?f it? for me. It wasn?t until I started working in family law that I found a f ield I truly enjoy working in.

4. You should take notes. Your memory is not infall ible. I didn?t take many notes in high school or when obtaining my Associate degree, but as a paralegal, I take notes on everything from a telephone call with a client to a meeting with my employer. It?s hard to remember every single detail when you are juggling multiple cases, and sometimes an issue will resurface months or even years after the last t ime it seemed relevant.

5. You need to calendar ? everything. There?s no way you will remember everything you need to do, or when all of your deadlines and meetings and calls are. Put everything in your calendar as soon as it?s scheduled.

6. You need to keep an up-to-date to-do l ist . This is especially beneficial when you are starting to feel overwhelmed. Writing all your tasks on a to-do list will help you priorit ize them, and there is no better feeling than being able to cross something off the to-do list once completed (even if it usually means you are adding three new tasks).

7. Take care of yoursel f . You need to priorit ize healthy habits l ike exercise, getting enough sleep, and eating healthy (try to avoid the 3 p.m. munchies that stalk me). Take your vacation days. The off ice will stil l be up and running when you return. And, if you are sick, stay home!

8. Your work wardrobe is a uniform. What you wear to work will depend on the formality of your workplace. But chances are, the clothes you wear to work are not what you?d wear lounging around the house. I?ve noticed that if you want to be treated as a professional, it helps to dress like one.

9. Your of f ice wil l not look l ike the cover photo for a magazine. Paralegals sif t through a lot of paper, be it a document production, review of a f ile, or looking over f inancial statements. I spend the majority of my time alone in my off ice, reviewing documents, organizing documents, or printing documents which will then need to be organized. There have been times I have had to place a stack of documents on the f loor because I got pulled off one project and thrust into another one. If having a clean desk is of the upmost importance to you ? you may want to look into another f ield of work.

10. Don?t be shy. It?s okay to knock on someone?s off ice door and ask a question on a case you are involved in, or seek clarif ication on an assignment. It?s also okay to ask to take on additional responsibil it ies to try to further your career. If you don?t ask, you can?t get.

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Hodgson

President


Sierra Nevada Associat ion of Paralegals is on Facebook!

Like us on Facebook and keep up-to-date with what is going on with SNAP, f rom

general meet ings, upcoming events, and photos.

ht tps:/ /www.facebook.com/groups/154903284632632/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/154903284632632/


Washoe County Law Library

75 Court STreet, Room 101,Reno, NV(775) 328-3250

Nevada Legal Resources

Class at Washoe County Law Libraryhttp:/ /www.washoecounty.us/ index/display_outreach.html~details=8895

Washoe Legal Services

299 South Arlington AvenueReno, NV 89501

Telephone: (775) 329-2727Fax: (775) 325-5509

Free Legal services in Washoe County, Nevadahttp:/ /washoelegalservices.com

State of Nevada Bar

http:/ /www.nvbar.org

US Bankruptcy Court

http:/ /www.nvb.uscourts.gov/downloads/bugle-newsletters/2013/2013 03.pdf.


Dear Fel low SNAP Members:

NALS of Washoe County is planning on an outdoor joint meeting between NALS of Washoe County and SNAP for either July 15 or 22, 2015. The meeting will be held at the Idlewild Park in Reno and NALS is looking to have the Washoe County Sherif f 's Off ice K-9 Team come talk to us on the subject of the canine, its handler, and their training. The deputies will also provide a tactical demonstration with their dogs!

The details are stil l being worked on, but NALS of Washoe County will certainly let SNAP and its members know when everything has been f irmed up.

NALS of Washoe County will be providing box lunches from Costco (yummy!). In addition, 1 hour of CLE will be given. The cost would stil l be $18 and checks would need to be made payable to NALS of Washoe County. This will also be an opportunity for both organizations to do a litt le networking, while having fun and being educated at the same time.

Doesn't this sound fun!

***There are no Meet ing Minutes in this issue. Please look to next month for the November minutes.

Thank you. ***

http://www.washoecounty.us/index/display_outreach.html~details=8895

http://www.washoecounty.us/index/display_outreach.html~details=8895


SIERRA NEVADA ASSOCIATION OF PARALEGALS

TREASURY REPORT

April 1, 2015 through Apri l 30, 2015

NEVADA STATE BANK

Checking:

Beginning Balance $6,944.48

Income

4/1/15 Deposit

(February Late Lunch Payment) 90.00

4/1/15 Deposit

(March Lunch Meeting) 108.00

4/1/15 Deposit

(March Lunch Meeting) 501.00

4/22/15 Direct Deposit - Minerva Auto Pay

(C. Kline Seminar Payment) 99.00

Total Deposits $798.00

Expenses

4/1/15 Transfer to Scholarship

(1/2 Prof it February Lunch) 45.00

4/13/15 Check # 1226 (Written 4/6/15)

(Sierra Legal Duplicating - Seminary Flyers) 20.25

4/22/15 Check # 1227 (Written 4/21/15)

(Zozo's April Lunch Meeting) 375.00

4/29/15 Check # 1228 (Written 4/22/15)

(Cherry Bomb Catering - Deposit

Seminar Lunch) 252.57

Total Expenses $692.82

Ending Balance $7,049.66



Scholarship (Money Market):

Beginning Balance $4,228.07

Income

4/1/15 Transfer from General

(1/2 Prof it February Lunch) 45.00

4/28/15 Interest 0.11

Total Deposits $ 45.11

Expenses

No expenses

Total Expenses $0.00

Ending Balance $4,273.18

JOB OPPORTUNITIESThis section is designated for those job opportunities in the legal f ield.

SNAP welcomes all f irms and businesses employing paralegals to list their opening(s) in the SNAPShot or on our Web site (www.snapreno.com) free of charge.

Advertisements will run for one month on the Web site and appear in a single issue of the newsletter, or until the position is f il led. if you would like the ad to continue for an additional month, or position has been f il led, please let us know.

If you are interested in receiving email not if icat ion of Job Bank opportunit ies, please email Jennifer Sal isbury at jen4216@gmail .com.

Dear Members and Students:

This month SNAP has a couple dif ferent job opportunit ies for those of you who are looking for employment in the legal f ield. Please see the posted job posit ions for three

dif ferent law f irms.




CIVIL LITIGATION: LEGAL SECRETARY

Experienced legal secretary wanted for busy civil l it igation. Duties include general legal secretarial functions such as document preparation, f il ing, calendaring, scheduling and back-up phone duties. Excellent spelling, grammar and proofreading skills a must. Bill ing skil ls are required. Knowledge of Word Perfect, Word and bill ing software required. Must be familiar with electronic f il ing in both State and Federal Court. The ability to work well under pressure and attention to detail is a plus. Please send resumes to [email protected]; fax (775) 786-4160 or call Debbie at 786-3930.

FAMILY LAW: FULL-TIME PARALEGAL

Busy Family Law Practice seeking a Full Time Paralegal with at least 3-5 years of experience in Family Law. Pay commensurate with experience. Benefits provided. Please email cover letter, resume and reference list to [email protected] The position will start as soon as possible.

FULL-TIME LEGAL ASSISTANT

Lemons, Grundy & Eisenberg is looking for a full-t ime Legal Assistant to support one or more attorneys in the areas of construction defect, general insurance defense, bankruptcy law, real estate law, and general construction law. Legal Assistant job duties include assisting attorneys in maintaining confidential client f iles; including calendaring, meeting deadlines, bil l ing and preparing written correspondence, as well as preparing pleadings and motions to be f iled with the Court.

All candidates must possess excellent organizational skil ls, verbal and written communication skil ls, and acute attention to detail. Candidates must also demonstrate computer l iteracy with a strong knowledge of MS Word, MS Excel, Outlook, and Adobe. Legal experience will be considered but is not required.

All interested candidates must submit a cover letter, resume, and list of three references to Catherine Ammon at [email protected]. Please do no contact the f irm in any other fashion regarding the information contained in this posting. All inquiries must be submitted directly to Catherine Ammon at [email protected].

Benefits: Included

Salary: DOE


ANNUAL SEMINAR SPEAKERS

Speaker: Andrew Perwein & Grace But lerTopic: Heal th Insurance and the New Heal th

Care LawsACS Business Insurance Services, Inc. is an independent insurance agency and has been in providing insurance solutions to employers and individuals for over 30 years combined.

We specialize in employer and employee benefit solutions, individual and family insurance options and retirement and income protection. We strive to maintain our reputation for excellent service, competit ive insurance coverage and long term care for our clients.

ACS Business Insurance Services, Inc. is l icensed in Nevada, California, Arizona and Texas.

Speaker: Kimberly Surrat t , Esq.Topic: Surrogacy & Parentage and New Laws

Pertaining to Such"I started my career in insurance defense and then moved into family law. Insurance defense work was not for me although some days I do miss the complexity of learning about a new product for a product l iability case or getting to interview numerous miners regarding their mining practices. However, I have a good relationship with family law that is here to stay.

In 2004, during my f irst couple of months in family law, I took on my f irst surrogacy matter. It was a thril l. My Clients are stil l f riends of mine and I receive a Christmas card each year with a picture of the two siblings that I helped create. I knew at that point that I wanted a practice that concentrated in family formation. In the mean time, if I was going to continue contested family law matters I knew there had to be a better way for the clients. So, I formed the f irst meeting ever in Northern Nevada to develop Collaborative Law, an amicable no court divorce method. Within a few short months, we had a large group of professionals trained and we developed a non-prof it called Collaborative Professionals of Nevada.

Today, I am a fellow with the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology, American Society of Reproductive Medicine, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National LGBT Bar Association, Nevada Justice Association, and the National Family Law Advisory Council. I have been lobbying with the Nevada Justice Association since 2004. I have lobbied for the passage of the Nevada Domestic Partnership Bill, the Uniform Collaborative Law Act and numerous other family law and adoption statutes. I often speak on LGBT family law, assisted reproductive and parentage matters at conferences such as Lavendar Law and the Family Law Institute for the National LGBT Bar Association and National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys and the Nevada State Bar Family Law Conference."

Speaker: Just ice of the Peace Chris WilsonTopic: EthicsChris Wilson was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in Sparks Justice Court, Department 1, by the unanimous vote of the Washoe County Board of Commissioners on February 24, 2014, and was retained for the unexpired 4-year term in November 2014.

Judge Wilson comes to the bench from the Washoe County District Attorney?s Off ice after 16 years as a prosecutor. Judge Wilson was a veteran trial attorney who was assigned the most violent offenders; he had tried cases ranging from DUI death, embezzlement, robbery, rape, and murder.

Judge Wilson earned his Bachelor?s Degree in History from Humboldt State University, Magna Cum Laude, in 1993. Thereafter, he attended Santa Clara University School of Law and earned his Juris Doctorate, and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law.

Judge Wilson is a retired Major who served for over 26 years in both the U.S. Marines on active duty and as a reservist in the Nevada Army National Guard. He



commanded multiple units including M1A1 Tank Company and a Reconnaissance Company.

Speaker: Chief Judge Michael GibbonsTopic: Nevada Court of AppealsMichael Gibbons was selected as one of three judges of the inaugural Nevada Court of Appeals by Governor Brian Sandoval on December 17, 2014. He was named Chief Judge of the court by Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty. Judge Gibbons had served as a District Judge in Minden for twenty years at the time of his appointment to the Court of Appeals. He was elected to the District Court in 1994 and was reelected four consecutive times. Judge Gibbons has a lengthy record of judicial service having been elected President of the Nevada District Judges? Association in 2004 and 2005 and many other commissions and groups too.

Michael Gibbons began his legal career in Nevada in 1980 as a law clerk for District Judge Howard McKibben. Gibbons was named a Douglas County Deputy District Attorney in 1981. He prosecuted many high prof ile criminal cases and became known as a champion for victim rights.

Judge Gibbons sought to help the vulnerable as a judge through legislation and court programs. He was a founding board member of the Nevada State CASA Association (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) and a founder of the Douglas County SAFE Program (Special Advocates

for Elders). He was a certif ied youth soccer coach for ten years including coaching in an international tournament in Holland in 2008. He has been a certif ied soccer referee for twelve years and continues in that capacity in high school and youth leagues.

Judge Gibbons received his bachelor?s degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and his law degree from the University of Idaho College of Law. He is married, l ives in Gardnervil le and has

three daughters and three grandsons.

Speaker: Ira VictorTopic: New E-discovery RulesIra Victor has more than two decades of information security and digital forensics experience. He's performed signif icant work in payment systems, hosted enterprise mail, incident response, data forensics, and eDiscovery.

As a Data Clone Labs partner, Ira uses a client-oriented approach to legal consulting, rejecting the industry's customary reliance on programmatic and impersonal evidence-gathering. Ira works to understand the facts of each case, with an eye toward preserving client resources. As a member of Infragard, Ira undergoes regular FBI background checks.

Ira led on the team that developed and secured the e-commerce sales system for Macy's. Using Ira's work, the company became the f irst in the nation to offer a comprehensive, end-to-end gif t registry. Before launching Data Clone Labs, Ira worked at a high-security data center in The San Francisco Bay Area.

ANNUAL SEMINAR DOOR PRIZES

Reno Carson Messenger Service has kindly donated door prizes to be given away at the seminar. The prizes include gif t cert i f icates for i tems f rom the Lazet ich Ranch. Raf f le

t ickets wil l be provided to those who at tend the seminar. Tickets wil l be drawn toward the end of the seminar and the gif t cert i f icates provided to the winners. Winners wil l receive gif t cert i f icates for ranch items, such as, beef , poul t ry, eggs, etc. The winners

wil l then need to present the gif t cert i f icates to Johnno at Reno Carson Messenger Service to redeem their prizes.

You must be present to win.


SIERRA NEVADA ASSOCIATION OF PARALEGALS

Annual Seminar THE CHANGES IN NEVADA LAW

Friday, May 15, 2015 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This is a one-day seminar that focuses on some of the new issues in Nevada law, including health care, parentage, e-discovery and the Nevada Court of Appeals.

This seminar has been approved for 6.25 CLE credits, including 1.0 in Ethics.

9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Health Insurance and the New Heal th Care Laws - Andrew

Perwein and Grace Butler, ACS Business Insurance Services

10:00 to 10:15 a.m. Break

10:15 to 12:00 p.m. Surrogacy and Parentage and New Laws Pertaining to Such -

Kimberly Surratt, Esq., Surratt Law Practice

12:00 to 12:45 p.m. Lunch

12:45 to 1:45 p.m. Ethics - Justice Chris Wilson, Sparks Justice Court

1:45 to 2:00 p.m. Break

2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Nevada Court of Appeals - Chief Judge Michael Gibbons,

Nevada Court of Appeals

3:00 to 4:30 p.m. New E-discovery Rule - Ira Victor, Data Clone Labs

LOCATION: Nevada State Bar Association 9456 Double R Blvd., Suite B, Reno, Nevada

REGISTRATION FEES: $99 for members

$109 for non-members

$89 for students members

Lunch is included. Please make checks payable to SNAP, and they must be received no later than May 8, 2015, along with a Registration Form. Mail to: SNAP, P.O. Box 2832, Reno, NV 89505.

QUESTIONS: Sonita Harris at 775-786-5844 or [email protected]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REGISTRATION FORM

Name: __________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________________

Phone: __________________________________

Email: __________________________________

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