Law Office Management Ch 1 & 2 – Flashcards

a firm that employs more than 1,000 attorneys and have branch offices all over the world.

crimes, committed on the internet, including hacking and fraud.

The working environment of a law firm, consisting of intangible elements such as the social environment, employee relationships and attitudes.

experienced manager who is hired to manage a law firm and has the authority of a managing partner.

a committee comprising the heads of the various committees in a law firm.

an attorney who practices law alone. A sole practitioner does not employ other attorneys.

an attorney who does not specialize but accepts cases in all areas of law.

an attorney who works for law firms on an assignment basis or as an independent contractor.

contracts his or her services out to law offices and works under the supervision of an attorney.

a person who does law related work for the general public without the supervision of an attorney.

they bring in the clients that provide the firm with work. an attorney responsible for client development for a firm. ex. corporate attorney senior member of the firm.

either a partner or sole proprietor. Owners of a partnership are not considered firm employees who are entitled to a salary. they are paid out of firm profits.

is the captain of the legal team.

an employee of a law firm who has no advancement opportunities.

an attorney affiliated with a firm on a part-time basis. ex. retire attorney

attorneys are employees of a firm and are not entitled to a percentage of the firm's profits. They are paid a salary for their work. They may be eligible for partnership in a firm after employed for a certain length of time.

National Association of Legal Assistants a legal assistant or paralegal is a person qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.

National Federation of Paralegal Associates

Certified Legal Assistant/Certified Paralegal

is a law student usually in the second or third year of law school who works for a law firm on a part-time basis. duties: performing legal research, writing memorandums of law and preparing case briefs.

responsible for all clerical task, some paralegal work and some management duties, indexing documents and scheduling depositions.

is responsible for answering the telephone and greeting clients. Client's first contact with a law firm.

manages the most valuable tool in a law office: information. Information resource managers or information systems directors. Assist attorneys and paralegals in their research projects.

is calculated by the total number of attorneys employed by the firm including all branches. small firm - 3 to 4 attorneys med firm - depends on the area - entrepreneurial clients large firm - local, regional, national and international firms - are formal and highly structured. mega-firm - 1,000 or more all over the world.

Laws have become more complex. It has become increasingly difficult for attorneys to keep abreast of the many changes. This has forced attorneys to specialize in a particular area of law. Specializing help attorneys determine the firm's clientele and its need for staff, equipment and materials. They earn more money then non-specialists.

Paralegals specialize in the same areas as attorneys. They have learned their specialties on the job by working for a specialist.

1. autocratic - one person makes all the decisions for the firm. Found in small offices with one employing attorney. In small offices with more than one attorney the autocrat is the attorney who formed the law firm. In larger offices, an autocrat makes all the decisions and an office manager implements them. 2.democratic - two types of governance; those in which all attorneys in the firm have a vote on management policy and those in which only owners of the law firm have a vote in management policy. Actual management duties are accomplished through democratic management. 3. managing partner - one of the owners of a firm is designated the managing partner and is responsible for managing the firm. The person delegates duties to paralegal, secretary office manager to carry out the decisions. 4. committee -members rotate from committee to committee to participate in the various areas of management. Management committee generally consist of 5 to 7 members and may comprise of senior partners on a mixture of senior and junior partners, office managers and paralegals. 5. combination - is one that uses two or more management styles at the same time such as managing partner and committee or democratic and committee.

sole proprietorships, partnerships, professional corporations, limited liability company, boutique firm, office-sharing associations, legal clinic

means a law firm is owned by one attorney, small office, do not specialize in a particular are of law. Common law practiced - family law, real estate, torts and personal injury, criminal defense and probate and estate planning.

is a law firm form by 2 or more attorneys, work cooperatively on cases that are taken in by the firm and the partners share in the profits. Each partner is liable for the decisions and conduct of the other partners including partners that commits fraud or engages in unethical conduct, the other partners may also be liable.

a law firm or an individual lawyer who wishes to incorporate. All attorneys including the shareholders are employees of the corporation and receive a salary for their work. Shareholders receive dividends according to the profitability of the corporation and the number of shares they own.

is owned by its members.

a law firm that offers services in one area of law only. Attorneys specialize in only one or possibly two areas of law. example - gov't contracts, domestic law, taxes patent law, estate planning, workmen's comp etc.

suite concept - attorney leases out an entire floor of an office building and builds individual offices in various sizes. Lawyers rent office space, copier etc. billed monthly. firm concept - rents a vacant office in an established firm. Attorney may arrange to do work for the law firm in lieu of paying rent. Attorney has access to secretary etc.

for the purpose of providing low-income people with free or low cost legal services. They are established to provide equal access to justice for the poor who cannot afford a traditional attorney.

-an opportunity to try out potential hires -less administrative work -ability for small firms to accept bigger cases without hiring additional personnel -staff attorneys relieved from mundane work -positions covered by attorneys who are out on sick leave/vacation -reduced employee costs such as benefits and employee training -sole practitioners able to supplement their practice

Legal and business issues have increased companies legal demands. To meet these demands companies hire their own attorneys to meet their legal needs. Corporations create their own law firms and hire their own attorneys and support staff to work exclusively on the corporations matters. They are centralized located in corporate headquarters. -outside counsel a private law firm retained to do legal work for a corporation -in-house counsel an attorney who is an employee of a corporation and works in the corporations legal dept. -general counsel an attorney in charge of a corporate legal dept.often an officer of the corporation.

-insurance underwriter -recruiting coordinator -rehabilitation counselor -corporate personnel director -consultant -commercial arbitrator -legal software trainer -sales representative -litigation consultant -real estate broker -civil rights analyst -employee benefits manager -writer -teacher -stockbroker

In 1989, State legislatures, attorney organizations and the U.S. Supreme Court set forth the definition of a paralegal. The various national, state, and local paralegal associations developed their own definitions of a paralegal. NALA - National Association of Legal Assistants defines a legal assistant or paralegal is a person qualified by education etc to performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. In 2002 NFPA - National Federation of Paralegal Associations amended its definition to exclude the term LEGAL ASSISTANTS from its definition - a paralegal is a person qualified through education training work experience legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily but not exclusively performed by lawyers. - 3 common elements -paralegals have received specialized training through formal educations or experience -paralegals work under the supervision of an attorney -paralegals perform substantive work in assisting an attorney

legal adm - responsible for making major decisions for the law firm. office man - is under the direction of a legal adm or managing partner and does not have the authority of the legal adm. differences -an administrator attends all partnership or committee meetings, although the administrator has no right to vote on issues -an administrator has the authority to hire and discharge staff personnel and administer salaries within approved guidelines. -an administrator has the authority to make major purchases of furniture and equipment and to make financial decisions for a firm. similarities

is a senior paralegal with many years experience. Responsible for supervising paralegals and may also do paralegal work.

small firms - duties in addition to paralegal work, such as office management and clerical work. The attorney supervises the paralegal. Paralegal have fewer opportunities to advance. large firms - duties are narrow and structured. Paralegals specialize and focus his or her concentration on a few duties and areas of expertise. Paralegal may have many supervisors, paralegal manager, legal administrator, supervising attorney and managing partner. Larger firms create paralegal programs that have levels, or tiers according to education, experience and seniority.'

-Law Librarian-manages information -Calendar Clerk - keeps track of all court hearings dep, & imp dates -Paralegal Assistant- finding files, doc, photocopy, general file main -Legislative Analyst-tracks leg that affects clients -Investigator-examine cases & interview witnesses -Messenger-courier or runner errands for firm -Process Server-serve documents -Case Coordinator-managing case-staffing, timetables, supervise -Clerk-clerical & adm assignments -File Clerk-responsible maintaining firm's filing

-Attorney service -Paralegal service -Employment agency -Bonding company -Records Search Company -Consultants

- private law - private industry - government agencies

-size - small, med, large, mega firms -specialty - specialize in particular areas of law -management style - autocratic, democratic, managing partner, committee and combination -form management - centralized is managed by one source. decentralized is managed by segments.

1. Sole Proprietorship - owned 1 attorney 2. Partnership - 2 or more attorney 3. Professional corporations - incorporated same profession 4. Limited Liability corp. - shields of liability of owners 5. Boutique firms - 1 or 2 specialties , gov't taxes 6. Office sharing associate - suite concept attorney lease office pay rent and firm concept - rents office in establish firm to get hired 7. Legal clinics - low income with free or low cost legal service