Certified Paralegal Best

Patricia Winters
4567 9th Avenue, Hartford, CT 05493 / Tel# (702) 555-2339 Email: pwinters@myisp.com

Certified Paralegal

SUMMARY

Certified paralegal with 14 years experience providing legal support and research. Demonstrated expertise in family law, wills, trusts, and estate planning. Ability to use computer technology for thorough research and rapid, accurate preparation of court documents. Expertise includes the ability to compose clear and concise summaries of findings, draft motions, and prepare settlement agreements. Advanced computer knowledge and skills.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

· Legal Documents
· Research Summaries
· Computer-based Research
· Custody
· Adoption
· Microsoft Word
· Wills
· Trusts
· Lexis-Nexis
· Estates
· Divorce
· WordPerfect

EXPERIENCE

BRADFORD FAMILY LAW SERVICES, Hartford, CT
1997 - Present
Certified Paralegal
Prepared support documents and recommendations for hearings and trials. Directed research efforts to locate all related case law, summarizing and prioritizing the most relevant precedents for attorney review. Drafted legal arguments, agreements, affidavits, motions, and pleadings.
· Trained legal secretaries and researchers in electronic filing and archival procedures.
· Created databases of firm’s family law cases; including adoption, child abuse, divorce, domestic violence, guardianship, marriage, and power of attorney; to streamline record retrieval.
· Updated and improved the firm’s online library of standard templates to ensure compliance with latest legislation and regulations.
· Developed an on-line network of support referrals to assist clients.

GOLDMAN AND FRANK, Hartford, CT
1996 - 1997
Paralegal Intern
Drafted legal agreements for review by attorneys. Directed case research and composed summaries of findings. Researched case histories in family law, including wills, trusts, estates, probate, pre-nuptials, separation, and custody cases.
· Completed a 6-month internship supporting 12 attorneys specializing in Family Law. Received commendations for outstanding performance from all 12 attorneys.
· Implemented a standard research method to assist in quickly scanning research findings.
· Designed and delivered workshops to train research staff on advanced uses of computer databases and research techniques.

REED AND ASSOCIATES, Fairfield, CT
1993 - 1996
Legal Research Assistant
Conducted legal research as directed by attorneys, using traditional methods and computer-based techniques. Analyzed court transcripts, filings, and background documents to develop leads for further research. Prepared research reports and presented findings to legal team. Studied current cases to identify search keywords for related case law.
· Introduced the firm to the use of Lexis-Nexis for additional legal research.
· Trained other research associates to conduct computer-based research.
· Developed and maintained a common keyword dictionary to assist others in searching.

REED AND ASSOCIATES, Fairfield, CT
1988 - 1993
Legal Secretary
Edited and typed legal documents, including motions, contracts, briefs, client forms, settlements, wills, trusts, and complaints. Scheduled appointments, depositions, and conferences, coordinating schedules of multiple parties. Recorded and typed meeting minutes.
· Devised and implemented filing system using client color-coding to aid retrieval.
· Developed word-processing templates to decrease the time to produce standard documents.
· Organized research notes and transcribed to electronic format reducing space needed for files.

EDUCATION

Paralegal Certificate, 1996
Southern Connecticut College, Fairfield, Connecticut

Coursework included:
Contracts, Torts, Business Law, Property and Creditor's Rights, Family Law, Evidence, Civil Litigation and Discovery, Wills, Trusts, Probate Administration, Law Office Management, Legal Writing, Legal Research.