Carolina Paralegal News January 2023

‘A TOTAL WOW MOMENT’

South Carolina Paralegal Terri Coker re ects on receiving NALS mentorship award

Terri Coker was overcome with emotion when she realized she was receiving a national mentorship award from NALS – the National Association of Legal Support Sta at its annual conference last fall in Charlotte.

She remembers the windup leading to the big announcement during a luncheon, taking notice as the announcer began describing all the award-winner’s achievements. And it slowly started sinking in.

“By the time she listed the winner’s fourth achievement, I allowed myself to believe it was me, and I immediately turned to mush,” Coker said, laughing at the memory during a recent Zoom interview. “I didn’t even know NALS had that award.”

Coker is a litigation paralegal at Bannister, Wyatt & Stalvey of Greenville, a job she has held for a decade. She started her career

in corporate law, and to say she loves being a paralegal is an understatement.

“A er I started the litigation job, I have not looked back. Not one single second. I love what I do,” she said.

She also loves her boss, Bill Bannister, the rm’s co-founder, going strong at 83.

“Mr. Bannister still practices full-time, and is just as sharp as ever,” she said. “He has two sons who are also attorneys at the rm – James W. Bannister and Bruce W. Bannister who is in the South Carolina

House of Representatives.”

Bannister & Wyatt is a rm of 10 attorneys, and Coker appreciates that her boss shares her devotion to education and service to the legal profession, including mentoring young paralegals and students.

Her passion for paying it forward goes all the way back to her childhood.

Coker, 58, is warm and folksy. A few minutes of chatting is all it takes to become her friend.

She was born in Alabama and grew up in Greenville, as an impressionable youngster who was in uenced by musicals like Hello Dolly. She wanted to grow up to be a singer and an actress.

But by the time she reached high school, more practical dreams took root.

She had watched two of her teachers move on to lo y positions in law and gov-

“Receiving that award was a total wow moment because I believe that when you’re doing something you’re passionate about, that by itself is your reward. I feel like I have come full circle, and it’s pretty awesome.”

OVERHEARD AT THE WATER COOLER

Your 2023 plan for recruiting paralegals

We are in an extraordinary hiring time with the pandemic:

can’t write, but because they want a job quickly and they don’t want the additional hassle of preparing the writing sample. While recent graduates are likely to have a writing sample ready, experienced candidates most likely will not.

• 3 million women left the workplace in 2020, leaving the U.S. with 10 million available jobs and 9 million available candidates

• One in 3 labor force participants in the U.S. is a millennial

• 65% of employees claim their stress levels have skyrocketed over ve years

• Happy employees are ve times more likely to stay

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about hiring paralegals. While there is no one way to recruit and hire, here are my best practices for hiring paralegals.

Hiring Trends

Law rms are known for being notoriously slow in hiring. One of my favorite jobs took me ve months to get a er making the initial contact. I was employed at the time, but ve months is a long time to wait. Job candidates tell me they can go weeks or even months without hearing a status update from a potential employer. While I was willing to wait ve months, this scenario is unlikely to work in your favor in today’s employment climate.

Candidates are hard to come by and they move fast. If you have a long hiring process, the candidate is likely going to take another o er that comes in faster. If your requirements are more stringent than another rm, they’ll likely take the other o er. As an example, if all other things are equal and you are the only rm to require a writing sample, the candidate will choose the other rm. Not always because they

Many law rms hire slow and re slow. In today’s market, if you don’t hire fast, at least try to hire faster. And by 90-days, you should have a good sense of whether a candidate will work. If not, don’t put o the inevitable, release them a er a 90-day trial period before you’ve invested too much time and resources down the wrong path.

Online Recruiting

Post your jobs on LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter or other online job options. Your post can be as formal or as informal as works for you. Some rm members post on their personal LinkedIn account, “My rm is hiring, this is a great place to work, send me your resume if you’d like to join the team!” If you are trying to decide the appropriate message for your rm, view how other companies and rms are posting jobs on the various platforms.

Also, post your position on job banks or career centers o ered by paralegal schools, paralegal associations, and bar associations, such as the NCBA Career Center.

Recruiters

Recruiters are o en a last resort for some law rms because of the fees. However, when your time is money, working with recruiters is an investment in your rm. You don’t need a recruiter to hire an entry level candidate but working with a recruiting rm to hire an experienced or specialized paralegal can provide you with access to candidates you otherwise might not have had.

A recruiting rm has access to a database of candidates, as well as having recruiters search for candidates directly or through their network of contacts. Recruiters can provide background searches, personality tests or skills testing, as

well as the rst round of interviews. If you work regularly with recruiting rms, they will begin to know you, your rm, and the type of candidates who would be good ts. Many recruiting rms also o er to refund fees if the candidate does not last a minimum amount of time in the job.

Paralegal Programs

Some rms don’t want to invest in recent graduates. However, the inside of the classroom today looks different than 30 years ago. It’s always been true that many paralegal students are second career students. While they may not have written a motion or searched a title, paralegal school is a di erent learning experience from law school. Law school tends to be more theoretical while paralegal school is practical. You learn to dra the document, how much the ling fee will be, and how to get to the courthouse. Yes, hiring a recent graduate may require more time investment from you, but take the long view that this is an investment in your rm.

Invest the time to develop a plan for training and a training manual outlining the rm’s process and procedures. Your rm doesn’t have those? en train the paralegal and ask them to develop the training plan for the next new hire.

Internships

Working with paralegal programs to hire interns is a great way to introduce your rm to the school and to start meeting students who you might end up hiring. Sometimes, students can get classroom credit for internships, other times, you may need to pay a salary, but either way, this can be a great way to get additional help for the o ce, meet potential job candidates, and contribute to the education of another legal professional.

e ABA has a directory of ABA Approved

n NCBA Paralegal Division and Family Law Section

Schedules advice clinic in Guilford County

e N.C. Bar Association

Paralegal Division and the Family Law Section is partnering for a Pro Se Custody and Family Law Advice Clinic in Guilford County.

e clinic is set for February 11, 2023 from 9 a.m. to noon at Elon Law School.

e Paralegal Division is recruiting paralegal volunteers for virtual intakes. e Family Law Section will be recruiting volunteer attorneys and Elon Law School students for the day of the clinic.

On the day of the clinic, paralegal and law student volunteers will be paired with attorney volunteers to assist eligible clients to complete forms speci c to their legal need or to provide advice only regarding their legal situation.

is clinic is modeled on an April 2021 clinic in Wake County.

is pilot clinic was held at the Blanchard Community Law Clinic and successfully served eleven clients by answering their family law questions and dra ing pro se custody packets for several of them.

Visit the Bar Blog for more information and sign-up forms https://bit.ly/3PKxEZ3

n Horton & Mendez expands office and hires new staff

Horton & Mendez a Wilmington-based law practice focusing on personal injury andwrongful death, has moved to larger o ces to accommodate its expanding

CAROLINA PARALEGAL NEWS BRIEFS

practice. With this move at 6105 Oleander Drive, the rm recently hired Leigh Hicks and Catherine Holland.

Hicks joins the rm as a case manager. Holland joins the rm as a paralegal, having previously served as a paralegal at a large insurance defense rm. She has been a litigation paralegal for 10 years.

n Ward & Smith human resources coordinator joins Durham Tech Paralegal Advisory Committee

Last fall, Durham Technical Community College appointed Ward & Smith human resources coordinator Jessica Denoyer to a two-year term on its Paralegal Technology Advisory Committee. e committee provides guidance and advice on the paralegal program at Durham Tech, helping to ensure that it meets the needs of students and the community. Durham Tech is one of many regional community colleges and high schools Ward and Smith has partnered with since 2021 for the rm’s Sta Internship Program, which provides students with exposure to the many facets of the legal profession and hands-on experience in a law o ce.

n Leunora Ward receives state paralegal certification

Cran ll Sumner has announced that Leunora Ward is a

North Carolina Certi ed Paralegal (NCCP) a er passing the paralegal certi cation exam through the North Carolina State Bar.

Ward is a Nurse Paralegal based in the rm’s Charlotte o ce. She has more than 20 years of medical-surgical, cardiac, hematology, and pediatric experience as a registered nurse and is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

n NALS of North Carolina Membership Meeting–open to guests

NALS-NC invites legal support sta to participate in a virtual meeting on January 23 to learn about CPE/CLE opportunities in 2023. Topics include information about a free CPE webinar in legal ethics and a free CLE from the NALS national on-demand library. Participants will also learn about the state chapter’s history and its vision for the New Year. e meeting starts at noon. Visit https://www.nals-nc.org/ meetings-education to learn how to join the meeting.

n LSPSC membership and education meetings coming in 2023 Legal Sta Professionals of South Carolina have membership and education meetings coming up. On January 21, join the association in Columbia for their

Winter Membership Meeting and CLE. LSPSC will also hold its 58th Annual Meeting and Education Conference at Hilton Head April 22-23. Visit http:// www.lspsc.org/Calendar.html to learn more.

n LSPG schedules lunch & learn meetings

Legal Staff Professionals of Greenville holds regular lunch and learn meetings on the third Wednesday of every month from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Poinsett Club. “Lunch & Learns” provide educational speakers and offer one-half hour of CLE credit. For reservations, speaker information, and/or menu selections, contact Tara Jean Brown, PP, PLS, SCCP at 864.271.7940 or Tara@ davidgreeneattorney.com. Visit http://www.lspg.org/Calendar. html

n 2023 NALA Conference & Expo

NALA, the Paralegal Association will hold its 2023 Conference July 12-14, 2023 at the Westin Copley Place in Boston. Visit https://nala.org/education-5/nala-conference-expo-2023/

n 2023 NALS Conference

The National Association of Legal Support Professionals will hold its 2023 National Conference in Houston August 21-23 at the Hotel Derek. The association is seeking speakers and has posted a call for presentations. Visit https://www.nals.org/ page/2023conference.

McKela Simon strives to grow as a paralegal

Growing up in Lamar, S.C., a small town in the Pee Dee Region of the state, McKela Simon enjoyed life in a large family with both parents and eight siblings. She was attracted to law at a young age.

“I grew up interested in the legal system,” she says. I was fascinated by the real life situations I saw in the news, and lived with in my own family.”

She most enjoys working behind the scenes in roles vital to the work attorneys do every day.

A er earning an associate degree, she went on to get her bachelor’s degree from South University.

She is working on her Master of Law degree from Regent University while working full time at Poulin | Willey | Anastopoulo as a litigation paralegal, focusing on personal injury and workers’ compensation.

She aspires to advance in her career to the rank of senior paralegal or even a paralegal supervisor.

I became a paralegal because. e reasons I want to be a paralegal are both professional and

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Paralegal Education Programs - Approved Programs Directory (americanbar.org).

e NC Paralegal Association has a list with 36 paralegal programs located in North Carolina - Paralegal Educational Program Listings (ncparalegal.org)

Maintain a pipeline of potential job candidates. Internships are one way to accomplish this, another is to hire college students who are considering law school. While this may result in a candidate who will only be with you for a few years, you may nd the student decides to attend paralegal school instead of law school, or you will gain an introduction to a potential lawyer hire. Look for non-traditional candidates. Anyone who has worked in customer service will know

personal. I am driven to help the general public which in turn is helping me. My work as a paralegal has helped me enhance my communication and people skills. I was drawn to this area because I can advance with my law rm along with my career and I am learning as I go.

Favorite aspect of work. My favorite aspect of being a paralegal is having the opportunity to make a di erence by improving our clients’ quality of life.

Advice to those considering the profession. e rst thing I would tell a future paralegal is to avoid excuses and develop a plan by identifying both short- and long-term goals that will lead to success. Always ask questions because no question is a stupid question. Also, I would say always be assertive. Never rely on guesswork because having to re-do work only hinders your completion of the next tasks.

Others may not know. I strive to be humble. I do demonstrate pride in myself, but not to put others down.

In my spare time. I sometimes read or review cases I worked on the week before. I go to net-

how to deal with clients, whether they worked in a call center, a restaurant, or retail job. Also, people who have worked in other professional services such as nance or accounting will have many transferrable skills. e legal skills can be taught on the job or by sending the employee to take paralegal classes or CLE programs.

Also, look for candidates who may not be looking for you. Some high school students or college students have never been exposed to the legal eld. Hire them in to answer phones, scan documents or other administrative tasks. You may help someone discover a new eld of interest and if you are lucky, perhaps they will continue to work for you while attending school and join your rm a erwards. Local schools are always looking for working professionals to come into high schools, colleges, or

Simon

working events. I spend time with my family. I also take classes to advance my paralegal skills. Work/life balance. I leave work at work, and I leave home at home. And I practice self-care. I make sure I engage in productive personal activities and avoid taking professional problems home.

job fairs to encourage students.

Recruiting is a multi-prong e ort. Commit your ideas to a written plan with implementation dates. Interviewing candidates for summer positions may happen in the winter semester of classes. Working paralegals who have completed paralegal programs may be ready to look for new jobs in May or June as they approach graduation. Online recruiting is available anytime but creating the job description and posting it takes time. View these e orts as investments in the rm and you will see results over time.

Camille Stell is the President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services and the co-author of the newly published book, RESPECT – An Insight to Attorney Compensation Plans available from Amazon. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at camille@lawyersmutualconsulting.

Medical records certification paves a path to law firm career

Mother of ve children, native of El Monte, Calif., and paralegal at the Solomon Law Group in Columbia, S.C., Cassandra Furtick followed a winding path into her career.

She spent most of her growing up years in Swansea and graduated from Swansea High School where she played in the band.

“ rough music, which was a big part of my life, I was able to play in the marching band, jazz band, regional band, all-state band, and I even played in the governor’s all-state band,” she says.

She graduated from Fortis College with a medical assistant certi cation, intending to work in the health care eld, but found that getting her foot in the door was more di cult than she imagined. en she interviewed for a position handling medical records for the Solomon Law Group and never looked back.

“I have worked my way from medical records assistant to litigation paralegal, regularly assisting clients with personal injury claims, and becoming a key professional in that process,” she says.

Furtick also co-owns Furtick Creations, a small business that makes personalized and customized gi s ranging from cups and t-shirts to cutting boards. Her entire family are business partners, and she views this as an investment in the children’s future.

Focus area: I am a personal injury litigation paralegal. A er losing someone very close to me, I wanted to make a di erence. I have found that this is an area that not only satis es that desire, but also allows me to help make a di erence in our clients’ lives. Working in personal injury, I not only assist our clients in their time of need through treatment, recovery, and resolution of their claims, but many of my clients become like family. We help them ease the emotional toll these cases take on them

and help them navigate life a er the claim. Our goal is to make this process as easy as we can so they can focus on healing. Seeing our clients smile at the end of their cases makes everything worth it.

Motivation: It does make it a lot easier to come to work for an employer who treats you with respect and has the same vision for the community that you do. It is rare to nd someone like Carl Solomon who is as equally invested in me as a worker as he is as a person. At the end of the day, I o en spend as much time at work as I do at home, so loving where I work is important. Having a place to come to, where I enjoy what I do, makes it easier to get up and go to the o ce.

Challenges: In the legal eld and medical eld, there is always a constant change. One day you may speak to a provider at one location, and the next week you will nd that the company is now owned by someone else. e law is also changing by the day. With that being said, I enjoy a challenge. I love the fact that I am always learning, and no day is ever the same.

Great customer service: Delivering what you promise to deliver, and being a nice person is my de nition of great customer service. You never know what your clients are going through. What you see in records is not always the totality of their case. Each person handles their personal incidents di erently. Our clients have hired us to do a job, we take the responsibility very seriously, and we deliver on our promises with compassion and kindness. at kindness also extends to our community. A smile and a kind word doesn’t cost anything.

Early ambitions: I was always interested in learning and loved every bit of school. I was determined to be a math teacher when I was a little girl. In middle school, my goal changed

to becoming a band director. It wasn’t until my early 20s that I decided on my career path, and in my late 20s I found my love and my true career. As a paralegal, I still get the satisfaction of teaching seminars on medical records and even train paralegals. I love that I can combine my love for teaching and my love for the legal eld.

Advice to teenage self: Hang on and everything will work out. Don’t try to take any shortcuts. Everything you go through will make you who you are. ere are many lessons to learn throughout life. You may not see it immediately, but in the end you are happy.

Down time: I spend down time crocheting. I love to make blankets, especially Afghan blankets. I also enjoy creating personalized gi s for my customers. We work in a high stress environment, so having something that is relaxing to take my mind o things can really help me manage my stress level. Plus, it adds a special bonus of seeing other people happy when I share one of my creations with them.

MOMENT / ‘... I have come full circle’

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ernment.

“One was my English teacher who was resigning from teaching to become the administrative assistant to then Governor Carroll Campbell,” she said. “And I thought ‘wow, to go from English teacher to the governor’s ofce is amazing.’”

Her next inspiration came a few years later when another of her English teachers was appointed as a magistrate judge.

“I thought, there is something going on here, and I want to be a part of it,” she said.

At the time, Coker was a student in a vocational school, studying to be a cosmetologist and was a member of the school’s chapter of Vocational Clubs of America. She was also on the school’s parliamentary procedure team, and participated in competitions all over the state, even making it to the nationals.

“We won second or third place at nationals, and I knew right then I no longer wanted do hair for a living,” she said. “Instead, I wanted to work in a professional environment.”

Coker’s rst job out of school was as a word processor at Daniels Construction, now known as Fluor Enterprises in Greenville. She progressed to the company’s legal department where she worked for the corporate attorneys.

“ ere’s nothing that makes you feel more highfalutin than working in an o ce with 12-foot mahogany walls,” she said, laughing.

Along the way, Coker made her way out of her corporate workplace and into law rms. She admired Ann Armstrong, a fellow paralegal who also taught continuing education classes and inspired her to seek a paralegal education.

“At the time, I was a single mom with a daughter just over the age of 3, and the only place I knew of where I could get a paralegal-focused education was in Atlanta, and that was completely out of range for me,” she

said.

During the 2008 recession, Coker found herself laid o from her job at a solo practitioner’s law o ce and landed a new part time role in another rm. It wasn’t enough for the high-achieving paralegal.

“To go from a full-time job to working half days, I wondered what on earth I was going to do with the rest of my time,” she said.

She discovered that Greenville Technical College had started o ering an ABA-certied paralegal curriculum, so she lled her extra time with schoolwork and got the education she had been dreaming of for two decades. It was an eye-opening experience.

“I remember sitting in class at the age of 40, looking around at my fellow students, and I knew I had to pull out all the stops to be competitive with the younger crowd,” she said. “So I did everything I could to maintain the highest GPA possible.”

She earned her paralegal certi cate and holds both state and national certi cations. She’s active in both Legal Sta Professionals of South Carolina and Legal Sta Professionals of Greenville, both NALS chapters, and she holds leadership positions in both organizations.

Along with her education, came her passion for mentorship.

A partnership between Greenville Tech and two local paralegal associations–LSPG and the South Carolina Upstate Paralegal Association, gives working paralegals the opportunity to mentor and advise students.

At the start of each semester, students can interview the paralegals to learn about their jobs. At the end of the semester, the paralegals turn the tables and conduct mock interviews with the students to prepare them for the job market.

By the time the students graduate, they have a good idea of what it is like to be a professional paralegal, and enough experience to start their careers.

For Coker, mentoring is like a ministry.

“I get such joy from meeting the new students,” she said. “To me, mentoring means encouraging them, pouring my knowledge into them, and being a go-to person so they can count on me.”

For Coker and her law rm, mentorship has paid o in a tangible way.

Last year, she conducted a mock job interview with a student named Yenli Gaytan.

“She was so impressive, and as a matter of fact, she won the NALA Paralegal Student of the Year Award for 2022,” Coker said. “ at was huge.”

A few months ago, Coker learned her rm was planning to hire a paralegal and seeking a young person right out of college.

“I told them, ‘I’ve got just the one for you,’” Coker said. “We hired her right away, and the rm has let me take her under my wing and teach her what it’s like in the real world.”

Even in Coker’s own family, her passion for her work is making a big impact and may just be the best result of her mentorship e orts so far. Her own son is planning to enroll in Greenville Tech’s paralegal program and follow in his mother’s footsteps.

“He’s 25 years old, and he asked me a few weeks ago to tell him about what it’s like to be a paralegal,” she said. “ e college is offering free tuition for the spring semester, and he’s getting his ducks in a row to enroll.”

When Coker looks back on her national mentorship award, the talented paralegal she hired for her rm, and her son who wants to follow her career path, she realizes the impact her work is making on her profession.

“Receiving that award was a total wow moment because I believe that when you’re doing something you’re passionate about, that by itself is your reward,” she said. “I feel like I have come full circle, and it’s pretty awesome.”

Teri Saylor is a freelance writer in Raleigh, N.C.