On Monday, both Mr. Levine and our paralegal were gone, so it was just my on-site mentor, her husband (who was recruited to help out), and me in the office. For a large portion of the day, I was on the computer and answering phone calls. The phones weren't too crazy, thankfully. My main purpose for being there was to help my on-site mentor as much as possible. I don't know how to do even half of what the paralegal does, but I knew enough to help with standard office stuff, like scanning papers and drafting subpoenas to be sent out (mostly for personal injury cases, but for family law cases as well).
On Tuesday, both Mr. Levine and our paralegal were gone again, but this time it was just me and my on-site mentor in the office until it was time for me to leave, at which time her husband arrived to help her answer phone calls. Again, most of my day was spent answering the phone and helping out with basic stuff. I did, however, get a change to view a lot of blogs of my fellow classmates and I was elated to see how well everyone's projects are turning out. I even made a major life decision based upon a quote that I found on my classmate's blog. Here's a link: http://dariabazzi.blogspot.com/
I also filed all the papers that had been piling up since our paralegal left. This process included sorting the files by client, then by date, and putting them in our folder of files to be put into the clients' binders. There were so many papers! But it was fun. I secretly love organizing (shh dont tell).
On Wednesday, Mr. Levine was still gone. However, our paralegal was back! Yay! She told me and my on-site mentor all about her trip to China, which was fascinating. In addition to this, my big project for the day was actually putting the filed papers into their respective binders based upon the client. Within these binders, there are tabs that are used to sort the client's paperwork. These tabs are labelled: client information, minute entries, letters, client's emails, husband's discovery. wife's discovery, exhibits, DPL notes, husband's pleading's, wife's pleadings, costs, etc... It took some guesswork and guidance but it took me literally all day. Minus conversation time. But hey, it was my first time doing that and I'm sure I'll be faster at it next time! :) I answered the phone all day as well, and ended up filling out some preliminary paperwork for a client over the phone, which was neat. Usually, the phone calls consist of people telling me that they want to speak to my on-site mentor about something, so this was an interesting change of pace.
See you next week!
Oh my goodness it's so impressive that you're keeping up with all this! And I definitely think that liking to organize is a good thing :) Do you know what the conference in China was about? And what does DPL stand for? In any case, it's so exciting that you're getting to do all this and I hope you get to do more as time goes on!
ReplyDeleteThank you Daria! Enjoying organizing is definitely not a bad thing (it can be really nice most of the time). The conference in China was actually a "jail-breaking" conference. You know how you can "jail-break" your iPhone? Apparently it's a really huge thing in China. DPL stands for Dennis P. Levine (I work at the Dennis P. Levine Law Firm). So "DPL notes" are just his notes that he writes for cases. Thanks Daria, you're so great. :)
DeleteMaybe if you pursue this field as a career, you might end up in China for a week! How goes the social media case researching though; are you pretty much done with that?
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteThis is Tanner from Lutheran High School in Parker Colorado again! I am enjoying reading your blog! Even though I have not been keeping up with it as much, going back and reviewing, your detail and word choice makes it feel as though that I am almost in the office with you. It seems as though you are really liking this internship. Do you ever feel as though going into the office is a drag? So far what is the biggest thing that you have learned from this internship?
Hi Megan My Name is Nathan and I am a student at Lutheran High school. It is interesting that social media is playing a role in family law cases. Are there any laws about when social media can be used and cannot be used as evidence. And what kind of post are most useful as evidence written or pictures?You have mentioned that often times all you do in the office is answer the phones and file papers, what daily experience in the office do you believe you are benefiting from the most or do you believe that the daily work is worth the experience of sitting in on a case like you described in an earlier post/
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