The Empowered Paralegal

My last post keyed off an article on common grammar mistakes I found by following a link in Paralegal Gateway LinkedIn discussion post by Barbara Liss. Today’s post keys off an article by Daphne Drescher, CP, on the Paralegal Society website  I found by following a link in Paralegal Gateway LinkedIn discussion post by Barbara Liss.  With Barbara as a resource, I may get away with no original thought at all for a couple of weeks!

The article is A Little Primer on Citation. As you might suspect based on the title, the article does a good job of setting out the basics of legal citation setting out a quick “anatomy of a case citation” lesson. Citations are part of legal writing. Like grammar, spelling, and punctuation, getting the citations right is an important part of any writing assignment completed by a legal professional. As Daphne states, “because if their citations aren’t uniform, they look…well…unprofessional.” So take a few minutes to follow the link and read the article. While there take a few more minutes to look around the Paralegal Society’s website. It’ll be worth the time.

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Now that’s I’ve shipped the The Empowered Paralegal Cause of Action Handbook manuscript off to Carolina Academic Press I hope to be able to attend more to this blog, although I have a lot of catching up to do on grading. Since I’ve been writing a lot, I’m especially focused on what other people have to say about writing right. (In looking at my own posts over the years I found that there are probably enough posts on the topic to create a category for discussion writing well in addition to the “Consequences of Sloppiness” category for examples of what can happen when one does not write well.)  One of the first discussion to catch my attention in this regard is a Paralegal Gateway LinkedIn discussion post by Barbara Liss of a link to “Common Grammar Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb” by Ilya Posin.

The article covers several common mistakes: 1. You’re vs. Your, 2. They’re vs. Their vs. There, 3. Lose vs. Loose, 4. It’s vs. Its, 5. Effect vs. Affect, 6. Alot, and 7. Then vs. Than, giving examples of each. Ilya gives this advice:  Edit your work, or ask someone else to glance at it for you. These errors may seem insignificant, but your intelligence will be questioned when these mistakes are discovered…and they will be.  One that I’ve notice cropping up more and more lately is “sell v sale,” i.e., people using the noun “sale” when  meaning the verb “sell” and the verb when meaning the noun.

One commentator responding to the article states, “Such a strong judgement. Erroneous typos happen. Makes us human.. Just saying…” It is true that typos occur especially in informal writing like this blog, but the misuse of words in their entirety is commonly not a typo but a misunderstanding of the meaning and correct use of the words themselves. Also, the article asks people to “edit their work.” While typos occur professionals do all they can to minimize them and must certainly make every effort to see that their work product – correspondence (including email), pleadings, memoranda, and the like use correct grammar. I frequently suggest that students and practitioners alike consult Grammar Girl’s website and subscribe to the podcast. The podcast lessons are short, clear, informative, and well-researched. Most of us can (and should) always learn a bit more and all of us can use refreshers!

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Last week a law professor lamented to me that it seemed students were less and less willing to engage in true critical thinking, perhaps reflecting the role models of some of our more prominent politicians. He pointed out that the legal profession was a service industry, one in which the primary tools are the ability to read with comprehension, write clearly and concisely, and think analytically and critically. This, of course, applies to paralegals as well as attorneys, and is the focus of much of the instruction here at the Ole Miss B.P.S. program. A recent LinkedIn exchange provides a good example of both side – remarkably non-analytical and non-critical thinking by one paralegal and good, solid analytical and critical thinking by another. Note how the second paralegal, Blake Ferger, keys in on language that indicates bias, seeks facts rather than accept conclusions, deals with the primary source and “the actual legal definition,” applies the law objectively to the facts, and even reads the footnotes – all things that are to be expected of a professional paralegal:

First Paralegal: Kidnapping and sex with a minor not grounds for deporting illegal immigrants

Hard to believe but a U.S. federal appellate court has stopped the deportation of an illegal immigrant convicted of kidnapping , ruling that it’s not necessarily a crime of moral turpitude.
The decision, issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is a 27 page opinion that is, in all honesty, quite hard to grasp. “This undoubtedly appears to be a difficult question at first glance,” it reads. “Kidnapping is a serious crime, and our instincts may be that it would meet the moral turpitude definition. Even for serious offenses, we must look to the specific elements of the statute of conviction and compare them to the definition of crimes involving moral turpitude.”
What? The definition of moral turpitude is: A phrase used in Criminal Law to describe conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals. Attorneys can be disbarred for moral turpitude but, it appears, convicted illegal immigrants can’t be deported.
The case involves Javier Castrijon-Garcia who entered the United States illegally in 1989 and is the father of three American-born anchor babies. He has twice been convicted for driving with a suspended license and in 1992 pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping. He received a suspended sentence of 300 days in jail and 36 months of probation.
Years after the kidnapping case, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earmarked Castrijon-Garcia for removal. He appealed but an immigration judge found that he was deportable because the kidnapping conviction is a categorical crime of moral turpitude. The Board of Immigration Appeals, the government’s final authority on immigration matters, agreed noting that it had previously listed kidnapping as an example of a crime of moral turpitude and that California’s penal code also defined it as involving moral turpitude.
But the 9th circuit disagreed, writing in its decision that precedent dictates that “non-fraudulent crimes of moral turpitude almost always involve an intent to harm someone, the actual infliction of harm upon someone, or an action that affects a protected class of victim.” The type of “simple kidnapping” that this illegal immigrant committed doesn’t necessarily involve such evil intent and harm therefore it doesn’t constitute moral turpitude, according to the San Francisco-based court.
The ruling orders the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is part of the Justice Department, to “conduct a modified categorical analysis” of the illegal immigrant’s crime. But the BIA has already determined that kidnapping is a serious enough crime that merits deportation, so the court seems to be ordering the BIA to make an exception or change the criminal code.
A few years earlier the 9th Circuit reversed a lower court ruling calling for the deportation of a Mexican immigrant convicted of having sex with a minor. In that ruling, the 9th Circuit claimed that while the crime violated state law and was unwise and socially unacceptable, having sex with a minor wasn’t base, vile or depraved enough to warrant deportation.

Blake Ferger • I would be interested to know the actual full circumstances of these cases. The phrase “anchor babies,” which has no basis in reality, is a huge flashing red warning that the author has an anti-immigrant ideology. For instance, was the kidnapping of one of the alien’s own biological children? Was the alien who had sex with a minor barely him/herself an adult? These are the kind of facts that would explain apparently unjust decisions which the author is attempting to exploit for outrage.

Anyone know of factual, unbiased background on the above cases? From somebody not pimping the “9th Circuit commie Californians LOL” angle?

Blake Ferger • Interesting, thanks. Well, as is usual with appellate decisions, it is short on facts and long on technicalities. The upshot appears to be, though the 9th Circuit was politer than this, that the Board of Immigration Appeals engaged in sloppy, lazy lawmaking (not surprising to anyone familiar with them), and rather than “ordering the BIA to make an exception or change the criminal code,” the 9th Circuit has actually told them to try again and do the job right this time.

The author was too lazy him- or herself to pull the actual legal definition of moral turpitude from the decision: “The Immigration and Nationality Act does not define the term ‘crime involving moral turpitude,’ but ‘courts and the BIA have generally defined [it] as comprising crimes that are inherently base, vile, or depraved, and contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed between persons or to society in general…. Such crimes are of two types: those involving fraud and those involving grave acts of baseness or depravity.” (Grave baseness or depravity is things in the realm of murder, rape & incest.) The California kidnapping statute in question requires neither fraud nor grave acts of baseness or depravity. It might seem weird that “kidnapping” could not involve that, but as an example, the decision cites the upheld kidnapping convictions of angry black students who compelled university administrators to walk with them for a few hundred yards to address their complaints of a coach beating a black football player in the middle of a game. When this is the kind of kidnapping that is covered by the statute, then it is impossible to say with certainty that it qualifies under the federal standard of moral turpitude.

Lots of other interesting stuff in there, like footnote 8: “Only the Fifth Circuit has decided whether kidnapping is categorically a crime involving moral turpitude, holding that it is not. Hamdan v. INS, 98 F.3d 183 (5th Cir. 1996) [interpreting a Louisiana simple kidnapping statute similar to the California statute at issue].”

In short, the decision is only hard to grasp if you avoid reading the actual decision and instead stick to the sensationalistic headline.

___________________________________

The COA opinion is here

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A recent post on the NYCPA LinkedIn discussion board linked to an article entitled “Top 10 Qualities of a Great Paralegal.” The article lists and explains these ten items:

1. Analytical Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Detail Oriented
4. Ethical Judgment
5. Great Writer
6. Interest in the Law
7. Interpersonal Qualities
8. Organizational Qualities
9. Research Skills
10. Tech Savvy

I agree that all of these are attributes that every good paralegal has, but I’d likely not classify all of them as “qualities,” but as “skills” as some of them are listed. And it is likely that my “top ten” list would be different. Certainly I would add to the list. In terms of skills I would at least add the basic skills of time, workload, calendar, client, and attorney relationship management to the list – the basic set of skills that form the basis for The Empowered Paralegal: Effective, Efficient, and Professional. For example, even the best writer and the best researcher are of little value to a law office if she cannot get the work done on time. In terms of attributes I consider qualities, those such as integrity, reliability, and the other components of professionalism come higher up the list than some of those in this list. Again, a great writer and researcher is a problem rather than an asset to a firm if he is unreliable or lacks integrity. In the end a law firm can teach improved writing and researching skills if necessary to a reliable paralegal with integrity but can do little to improve the reliability of a person with little integrity.

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The NFPA National Paralegal Reporter for December/January, among several articles worthy of reading announces the winners of the Thomson Reuters Scholarship Winners (Melissa Jurik and Anne Caitlin Griffin) and the Chancellor University Scholarship Winner (Shelly L. Bender.) Their winning essays are included.

Melissa’s “Our Mantra – Learn As Much As You Can” was particularly interesting to me as it relates to my recent post on professional self-assessment in which I made the point, “The professional paralegal strives to move beyond just “doing the job” – average or satisfactory work. So as we do our year end assessments, we should each ask ourselves, ‘Am I doing “A” work?’” While I was speaking of already practicing paralegals, Melissa applies the principle to paralegal students and newly minted graduates. She points out, “In that diverse group of students, there are a myriad of personalities and work ethics. Some have the mantra of ‘C’s get degrees’ and are doing just enough to get by, while a larger group of us are on a mission to learn as much as we can to make sure we are prepared to enter into the workforce.” She then argues in favor of completion of a voluntary exam such as The Paralegal CORE Competency Exam as a way of showing employers that the “individual has met the standards that are objectively established and verified by a third party.”

Those of you who read my previous post are aware that I agree with Melissa on the need for students to be doing “A” work if they expect an “A” grade. That can best be accomplished by adopting Melissa’s mantra: Endeavor to learn as much as you can rather than work for a passing grade. That same attitude applies to getting and keeping a job. It certainly applies to any paralegal who sees themselves making a career as a professional paralegal.

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ABAJournal.com posts today about a paralegal that was mistakenly given a part-time attorney’s paycheck and was shocked to see the attorney was paid more than the paralegal. The post entitled, “Paralegal Peeks at Part-Time Lawyer’s Check, Takes Pay Peeve to Advice Columnist
was posted by Debra Cassens Weiss, reports that the paralegal then wrote to the “Ask Amy” advice column to complain about pay inequity saying,
“I’ve made a lot of money for the firm. Because of all my hard work, the firm has hired two new attorneys (one is part-time). By accident my manager gave me the part-time attorney’s paycheck, and I was floored. She makes way more than I do!”

Weiss states:

Ask Amy replies that it’s possible the firm’s success is due to more than just the paralegal’s efforts, and it’s the marketplace that determines worth. “You are comparing apples to wheelbarrows,” the columnist writes.

She says the paralegal should negotiate for more money by getting a job offer from another firm and leveraging it into more money from the present employer.

Some of the commentors to the post think the last piece of advice is not good. What do you think? Once the paralegal realized the check was not hers, should she have “peeked” at the amount as is implied by the post’s title? Was it a good idea to air her concern in the “Ask Amy” column? Where else could/should she have gone for advice? What advice would you give her?

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Last Saturday the father of a friend, who is himself an attorney died. I only met his father a couple of time, but heard a lot about him. A few days ago, Judge Primeaux posted the following regarding Tom’s father’s professionalism and the role of mentoring. It is primarily addressed to attorneys, but applies as well to paralegals. After you read it, I’d like you to consider what role you can play as a mentor or a mentoree in one of the many mentoring programs supported by local paralegal associations. If your association does not have such a program, perhaps you can play a role in starting one.

Attorney Thomas Henry Freeland, III, of Oxford, died last Saturday…Mr. Freeland’s friends knew him as Hal. I did not know him, but from what I read about him he was one of those lawyers who set high standards for himself and demanded the same from those who worked with him. The respect he earned is clear in the comments on Tom’s blog.

One of those comments, by attorney Danny Lampley of Tupelo, brought me up short, and I hope he and Tom will forgive me for copying a part of it so you can read it here:

Small things I would overlook as an ignorant clerk were revealed to be important. I recall Hal crossing out incorrect phrasing in an acknowledgment and telling me the correct words to use; and he took the time to tell me why those words were better and explained how doing it one way would have an effect different from doing it the other way. I learned that just because everybody says “the law” is thus and such and “the cases say so” does not mean that is really “the law” nor is it necessarily what the cases said. I learned you gotta read ‘em and you have to understand what it is exactly that they say. I learned to always independently research an issue and to never assume that a rule is today what you thought it was yesterday. I learned how to be a lawyer; I only wish I could more often put it into actual practice.

Mr. Lampley learned how to be a lawyer from one who took professionalism seriously and who understood the care, devotion and attention that the law demands. Beyond learning the craft of lawyering, though, he learned the meaning of professionalism. And — this is important — there is a distiction between ethics and professionalism. Ethics requires that you practice in a way that conforms to both the letter and the spirit of rules of conduct. Professionalism is the style in which you approach and carry out those ethical requirements. Professionalism demands more than mere observance of the standards, Or, as Justice Mike Randoph told a gathering of chancery judges a few months ago: “The rules are the basic minimum. We expect much more than that.”

If you are a young lawyer, I encourage you to seek out a battle-scarred old warhorse who would be willing to be your mentor. If you are as fortunate as attorney Lampley, you will learn that mastery of the legal profession lies not in discovering the shortcuts, but rather in learning to love the hard work, devotion, attention to detail, study, creativity and long hours that it takes to achieve excellence.

Mr. Freeland left his family his own personal legacy, including two children who are, themselves, members of our profession. But far more than that, as those blog comments reveal, he left the legal profession richer by inculcating professionalism in those whom he mentored. I hope that someone will be able to write that about all of us when our days reach their end.

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Last February I did a post on the dearth of fashion advice for male paralegals. Not long after , I accepted an invitation to connect on LinkedIn from the LinkedIn group – “Well-dressed Professionals” and posted about that here. Today, Vicki Voisin, The Paralegal Mentor, posted an email from one of her readers, Todd R. Noebel, SPHR Manager, Professional Support Services, with McGuireWoods LLP in Richmond, Virginia entitled, “10 Wardrobe Must-Haves For Men.” The list is a good one:

1. Tailored Suit
2. At least 2 Freshly Pressed White Shirts
3. Comfortable, dress shoes
4. Blazer/Sport Coat
5. High quality briefcase/laptop bag in good repair
6. Sweater
7. Gray dress pants
8. High Quality Leather Belt – Black, cordovan and dark brown.
9. A Silk Tie
10. A Watch

The reasoning and further descriptions are available at Vicki’s website which you can reach by clicking here.

I actually made it through the last few years of my full-time legal career without the white shirts, but I practiced in Maine. They are indeed de rigor in many locations. Now I have the luxury of not having to wear a watch – there seems to be digital time displays everywhere and I have my cell phone chronometer to fill in the gaps.

So check out this list. Also, do use the advice from both my book, href=”http://theempoweredparalegal.com/?page_id=1791″>The Empowered Paralegal: Effective, Efficient, and Professional, and from Vicki and Charlsye’s book, The Professional Paralegal: A Guide to Finding a Job and Career Success

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In a post The Estrin Reportreprinted in the most recent issue of KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals Chere Estrin spells out “10 Ways to Sink Your Paralegal Career – Guaranteed.” My position is that a sinking paralegal career can be summed up by “unprofessional” and letting yourself be managed by events rather than managing them. Hence a good part of my motivation for writing The Empowered Paralegal: Effective, Efficient, and Professional,” providing (I hope) clear and concise information and techniques to be effective, efficient, and professional. Chere does a very good job here of emphasizing a “Top Ten” list, taking a paragraph or two to explain each, while summarizing my theory by advising that we all be the master of our own ships. I’m providing the link here. Just click through to the article or the magazine for the full article.

(The magazine has a number of worthwhile articles in this issue – as is often the case – including a good story on Marianna Fradman’s journey for a childhood in the Ukraine to President of the New York City Paralegal Association, one of the most active, vibrant, and professional such associations in the country.) Anyway, here’s the list:

Here are 10 top reasons why your career may be stalled, dead-ended or become routine and repetitious:

1. You Are Your Own Worst Career Manager

If you don’t watch out for your career and goals, no one else will and you may become a candidate for right-sizing, downsizing, merging or purging.

2. Breadth, Not Depth of Skills

You do not want to be a one-trick pony. In today’s paralegal field, there is a greater emphasis on the breadth of your skills not just on the depth.

3. Don’t Be a SMEL (Subject Matter Expert on Life)

We all know these folks – the ones who have the answer to everything. They’re annoying, really.

4. Not Being a Tall Tree

You want to be noticed in a positive manner. Do not try to blend into your paralegal department to avoid attention.

5. The Living Resume

You’ll hear over and over to keep your resume up-to-date. There must be a good reason.

6. The Written Word (and Picture) Remains

What you write in emails and instant messaging can be used both for and against you.

7. Don’t Burn Those Bridges

What a temptation it is to “tell all” in the exit interview! Telling your boss and colleagues what you really felt about them, particularly when you’re angry, is a potential future career buster.

8. Don’t Disconnect or Isolate

The reach of social networks and professional sites should not be underestimated – even for paralegals. Take a look at LinkedIn.

9. Technical Complacency, Ignorance or Denial

Never make the assumption that you have all the computer skills you need. New technologies are emerging at a furious rate and to remain relevant, you need to learn these new skills.

10. Lack of Soft/People Skills

In today’s market, paralegals that assume simply having updated skills will give them a ticket to career advancement, have their heads buried deep in the sand.

Above all, be responsible for your own career. Being the master of your ship instead denying what’s going on at the helm, guarantees a move forward in a growing, changing and fantastic journey.

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While in New Orleans at the AAfPE conference last week I had the opportunity to go through The Professional Paralegal: A guide to Finding a Job and Career Success,” a new book by Charlze Smith Diaz and Vicki Voisin, The Paralegal Mentor. It is a really good book for those starting out on a paralegal career and not just because it includes a screenshot of this blog (See page 33.) It covers a full range of topics from internships through preparing resumes, interviewing and negotiating a job to practical information on starting a job, organizing your time and organizing your office. I especially like the “Checklist for Success” at the end of chapters and the “In Practice” block liberally sprinkled in the chapters. All-in-all a good companion book to The Empowered Paralegal: Effective, Efficient, and Professional!”

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