Showing posts with label paralegals. Show all posts

Today I was invited to sit in on the Sacramento Valley Paralegal Association’s monthly CLE luncheon. I was unable to attend, so I sent my right-hand person, Erin Sierchio. Here is her recap of the event:

Nearly 20 SVPA members attended today’s Sacramento Valley Paralegal Association meeting, which was held in the conference room here at Parasec’s Sacramento office. The featured speaker was Gregory Axten, CEO of American Geotechnical, who gave an unexpectedly interesting presentation on "Diagnosing Soil Problems."

Mr. Axten is a civil/geotechnical engineer with more than 37 years of experience in the fields of soil engineering, foundation engineering, geology, materials engineering and hydrology. He has acted as an expert witness for problem analysis and dispute resolution in nearly 100 trials.

One of the interesting tidbits that Axten discussed was the impact landscaping, and trees in particular can have on soil and therefore on structures built nearby. Tree roots can lift foundations and slabs as well as create soil shrinkage so it’s important to consider this when planting them near structures. When determining where to plant trees, Axten suggested that we estimate that the roots will grow to extend out from a tree at a distance equivalent to the tree height, and simply trimming a tree will not stop the roots from growing!

Axten also discussed common indicators of structural problems, such as cracks and separations, slope movement, wall tilt, soil features, seepage and poor drainage. Axten was able to illustrate – in layman’s terms – how analyzing soil samples, investigating damage, and running field and laboratory tests can help determine what caused specific structural damages. It’s his keen eye and expertise in identifying these problems that have led people from the legal community to seek out his assistance with cases.

It’s a beautiful Thursday afternoon and I just finished speaking at the Santa Barbara Paralegal Association (SBPA) luncheon in sunny downtown Santa Barbara. The event marked the association’s annual meeting, during which they held elections for next year’s officers and listened to me speak for an hour on “Legal Ethics and Corporate Officer Fraud.”

There was a great turnout at the event, with somewhere between 35 and 40 members in attendance. The group was very friendly and I didn’t catch a single person sleeping during the presentation. I’d love to think that it is because of the quality of my presentation, but I can’t quite be sure.

The meeting was held at the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust Community Conference Room, which is a beautiful facility and perfect for meetings of this type. Sandwiches and salads were served, the elections went smoothly and the results announced after the presentation. The results of the election should be posted on the SBPA website (www.sbparalegals.org) in the near future. I can guarantee they haven’t had time to update the site just yet!

I want to extend a warm thank you to this great association and group of paralegals for a very warm welcome as well as for their attentiveness and questions. I look forward to having the opportunity to speak with SBPA again soon!

For the past month and a half, I’ve been putting together a new ethics-geared continuing legal education seminar entitled Legal Ethics and Corporate Officer Fraud. Researching and preparing for this seminar was fun for me for a couple of reasons:

First off, this is the first ethics seminar I’ve developed, so getting it right was important. And secondly, I find the subject matter extremely interesting and there is so much fraudulent activity currently out there that I had fun sorting through the information.

Wednesday evening I presented the seminar for the first time to the Los Angeles Paralegal Association (LAPA) Corporate/South Bay Section. My thanks to the folks at LAPA for allowing me the opportunity to provide this seminar to their members. This was a great group of people who expressed a lot of interest in the topic and who, I hope, received some good information and thought provoking ideas.

Corporate officer fraud is extremely prevalent in the news these days. As a result, I was able to provide a number of examples of recent cases, all of which included involvement in the fraud by in-house or outside counsel.

The issue for attorneys and paralegals is what action should they take if they become aware of or suspect that corporate officer fraud is taking place in a company they work for or represent. Obviously, attorney-client privilege plays a huge role in the possible actions that are available to an attorney. I discussed the possible options and the issues that should be considered in these circumstances as well as the applicable rules and regulations which may apply.

I thoroughly enjoyed giving the presentation and again want to thank LAPA for inviting me!

We’re a couple of months into the new year and chances are good that many of us have already broken some of our New Year’s resolutions. Don’t fret; it’s never too late to start evaluating our daily routines and habits in an attempt to improve our lives. Why not start by developing some work habits that can save you time and relieve stress? My company, Parasec, has developed 10 tips for cultivating your vendor relationships. We suggest that you print this out and use this as a guide for helping you maintain a happy, beneficial relationship with all your vendors. This is one resolution that pays to keep!

1. Understand That Service is Not “Selling” – Don’t fall into the trap of vendors who are obviously just trying to sell you more services than you need. Take the time to communicate your needs and expectations – a truly service-oriented vendor will be genuinely interested in understanding your needs so he or she can successfully address them in an appropriate manner.

2. Establish a Partnership - Talk about your basic expectations and educate your vendor about your firm’s culture and your own work process. This will help establish clarity in your working relationship. Get any questions or concerns addressed up front, and communicate that teamwork between the two of you is key in getting the job done.

3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! Legal professionals must provide vendors sufficient information to get the job done adequately. Share information with your vendor so they will understand how they can best serve you, even if you don’t think a particular detail will make a difference. Ask your vendor to re-iterate your request back to you to make sure what you have said has been heard correctly.

4. Be Honest, and Expect Honesty in Return - Provide honest details in establishing true, accurate deadlines whenever possible and giving precise details as to what the finished product or solution should look like. This will ensure that your vendors can assess whether they can help and under what terms. By the same token, you’ll want your vendor to be honest enough with you to bring up possible problems, limitations, or alternatives – even if it means referring you to another resource if necessary to meet your parameters.

5. Plan Ahead - Either out of skepticism, lack of time or inexperience, many legal professionals don’t get their vendors involved early enough in the process. Planning ahead can help ensure that your project goes smoothly and that important deadlines can be met.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions - Some legal professionals don’t realize that as much experience as they might have, vendors often have more experience and knowledge in their specific specialized areas. Vendors’ knowledge can be invaluable because they deal with certain situations daily that some legal professionals encounter much less frequently – say only once a week, once a month or even once a year.

7. Demand Quality Control – Your vendor should have a quality-control process in place. Even the slightest error on documents submitted to agencies may result in delays and unexpected results. Inquire as to what kind of quality assurance your vendor offers.

8. Expect Pro-Active Error Resolution – Even with systems in place to ensure a job well done, mistakes occasionally do happen. Any vendor that says otherwise is being unrealistic, and is unprepared or reluctant to be flexible when an error occurs. It’s important that your vendor handles the situation properly. A vendor should practice pro-active problem solving with clients, and have procedures in place that allow its staff to make amends for any problem resulting from a mistake.

9. Rely on Your Vendor For New Resources - Ask your vendors to remind you of their other services that you might not need as frequently, or that you currently fulfill via a different vendor. If you have established trust with them, and they know how you like to work, it’s easier for you to work with fewer vendors. Often times if your vendor can’t provide the service themselves, they will happily suggest another resource who can. If you trust your vendor, chances are good that you can trust their recommendations.

10. No-Surprise Pricing – There should never be surprises when it comes to what services you’re getting for the price you are paying. Make sure your vendor is providing you with an itemized invoice, so it’s clear what you (and ultimately your client) are paying for – including document fees and service charges. A breakdown approach to invoicing can save you from paying for services you may not have used.