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The Reporter E-Letter Articles

04Feb2019

Law Firms are Switching to Cloud-Based Software in 2019

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By Nicole Black Earlier this month, I shared the top signs that it’s time to upgrade your law firm’s law practice management software. In case you missed it, here are a few surefire indications that your law firm’s software is due for an upgrade: You’re cobbling together several systems instead of one You still have endless stacks of paper around your office Your software looks like it was designed in the ’90s (and probably was!) You still have to maintain a server (probably located in your office’s closet) to run your software Support for your law practice management software has been discontinued Your software doesn’t leverage new technologies such as online billing and instant credit card payments Your software doesn’t have automatic updates that include new features.
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07Jan2019

Building Professional Confidence: Why and How

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By Jennifer Anderson Perhaps more than any other profession, the legal industry requires a certain degree of confidence. Want to convince a supervising attorney that you can handle a greater degree of responsibility? You’ll need confidence. Want to convince a client that your firm is the best one to handle their legal matter?
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12Nov2018

Check Out Some Secure Communication and Collaboration Tools for Lawyers

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By Nicole Black Regular communication with clients is one key to effective legal representation. Clients have to be regularly apprised of the status of their cases, and lawyers have an ethical obligation to do so. Of course, as is the case with most aspects of practicing law, technology has necessarily impacted the means and methods of client communication.
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22Oct2018

Five Ways to be a Standout Employee in Your Law Firm

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By Jennifer Anderson, One Legal People who have never worked in the law firm environment have no idea how stressful it can be.  In addition to all the normal work pressures, law firms are filled with people who are innately competitive.  Regardless of your practice area, the stakes are high on every project you touch. 
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01Feb2018

Teamwork and the Changing Role of Legal Secretaries

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WHAT IS TEAMWORK?
Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision  It is less “me” and more “we.” Teamwork improves efficiencies and manages workflows. It also builds camaraderie, which makes a cohesive unit. Teamwork affords an opportunity to meet and work with new lawyers, paralegals, and other staff.
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05Dec2017

Best Practices for File Naming: Keeping Track of Legal Documents

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By Lindsey Dean You’ve just created an important document and need to save it where it can be easily found and reviewed. You want it to be grouped with other documents in the case, yet easily identifiable as its own file. How should you name your documents to keep things organized and accessible before,
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14Nov2017

Top Tips for Getting Along with Colleagues in your Law Firm

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[This article was originally posted at onelegal.com and is printed here with full permission of the author.] Getting along with colleagues can sometimes be easier said than done.  While everyone’s job is focused on the practice of law, personal differences sometimes outnumber similarities, and disparities in temperament, work ethic, efficiency, and general work habits can cause friction among colleagues and undermine the success of the law firm.
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06Jul2017

Proud to be a Legal Secretary

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A voice on the telephone recently asked me, “Are you his secretary, or do you prefer to be called his administrative assistant?”  I told him, “I am his secretary and very proud of it.”  You could hear the relief in his voice as he replied, “Thank goodness.  I can deal with a real person,
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09May2017

How to be Assertive

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Assertiveness is a direct, honest, and respectful way of behaving and interacting with others.  It is seen as one of the most desirable forms of human behaviour as it leads to honest and healthy relationships.  As a legal secretary, the ability to be assertive will help you greatly in your career to communicate effectively with your colleagues and boss.
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09May2017

Fun, Healthy, and Easy Snacks

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Sometimes just getting through the day can be a struggle: Maybe you lost your shoe in the morning or the morning commute is exceptionally grueling or perhaps your printer won’t connect to your computer. On days like these, a little treat can go a long way in improving your mood. Think of an ice cream cone in the LA sun or a pop tart in the mid-morning slump.  
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10Apr2017

Scheduling with Us

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It’s easy to schedule a court reporter, interpreter, or videographer to appear at your next hearing, trial, or deposition. We take pride in a simple, no-nonsense process to get you the professionals you need. For your convenience, we offer several ways to schedule: Schedule Online On the home page of our website,
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27Mar2017

The Changing Role of Legal Support Staff

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Recent advancements in technology used by law firms have blurred the lines between legal assistants/paralegals and legal secretaries. What were once two separate and distinct positions now overlap, and both jobs have changed significantly. Traditionally, the terms legal assistant and paralegal were used interchangeably, with both referring to a nonlawyer legal support staff member who,
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23Jan2017

Airman Wins Air Force Paralegal of the Year

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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan  An Airman from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing legal office recently won the title of Air Force Paralegal of the year, proving she is the best legal aide in the Air Force. Master Sgt. Natasha Hoglund, 455th AEW legal office superintendent, demonstrated excellence throughout the year earning her this prestigious award. 
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18Dec2016

A Well-Rounded Life

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Tom Crites is a present-day Johnny Appleseed who has planted 2,000 plumeria trees in and around Savannah, Georgia, hoping to establish the glorious flowers in the town he loves. So it’s hard to imagine him jetting across the world during his 49-year career, away from home sometimes 300 nights a year. 
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24Nov2016

Seven Microsoft Word Hacks Every Legal Professional Should Know

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Microsoft Word is one of those programs that you instinctively think you’re a master in because you likely use it almost every day of your life.  Certainly if you had asked me, after having worked with Word for well over a decade, whether there was anything else I could know, I’d have said a firm “no.” If,
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19Oct2016

How to Mind Map

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Mind mapping is a very powerful technique for promoting creative thinking and improving memory.  Developed by Tony Buzan, it has become a very widely used tool, primarily because it is such a visual way of planning or remembering things.  So if you need to plan or remember something, here are the top ten tips for creating and using a mind map: 1.
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21Sep2016

Workplace Bullying

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Workplace bullying is a serious problem which affects many individuals on a daily basis.  Sometimes people are not even aware that they are being bullied or are too afraid to speak up out of fear of being fired.  Did you know that workplace bullying can have a direct impact on your work performance and can hinder your career? 
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27Jul2016

Six Quick Soft Skill Tips for the Office Professional

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Office and administrative professionals go go go all day. They come in the morning, check their email, then dig right into the tasks of the day. These tasks may vary from dealing with their manager or peers, creating documents and spreadsheets, coordinating projects or events to one of many other specialized projects.
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26May2016

When and How to Say “Enough”

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It is not unusual these days for people to use “bad” language, personal insults, and belittling phrases when they are frustrated, under pressure themselves, or don’t feel things are being done quickly enough. This especially happens on the telephone where a caller’s verbal attack can be highly offensive and may overstep acceptable and manageable boundaries of anger.
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20Apr2016

Mentoring: A Practical Way to Pay It Forward

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Recognize those who supported you by supporting your junior colleagues When you look back at your first few years of working as a Secretary, do you recall the times when you felt that you had really learned something? Those times when you mastered a skill or dealt with a person in a way that spelled out to you (and often to others,
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20Apr2016

Social Media Etiquette: Five Ways to Be Appropriate at Work

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While it’s true that most employees know proper etiquette for using social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, there are many who don’t. In fact, a recent survey from email security firm Proofpoint finds seven percent of organizations have fired an employee because of activity on social media sites. Ouch! And another 20 percent said employees have been disciplined over social media activity.
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23Mar2016

Thirty Days to Success

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A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial. This is a concept I borrowed from the shareware industry, where you can download a trial version of a piece of software and try it out risk-free for 30 days before you’re required to buy the full version. It’s also a great way to develop new habits,
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23Mar2016

Captioning the Super Bowl

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For most people, the only stress associated with the Super Bowl is whether their team wins or loses. However, for Paula Arispe, Octavia Brandenburg, and Stefani Tkacs – all captioners with the National Captioning Institute – the Super Bowl provided them an opportunity to showcase their captioning skills. “Despite the anxiety of knowing that it’s a huge event and that everything needs to go as perfectly as possible,
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24Feb2016

Do You Truly Give 100 Percent at Work?

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If you took any employee to one side and asked them whether or not they believe they truly give 100 percent to their work, I wonder if they would answer affirmatively. Let’s try to delve into the inner depths of our beings here and evaluate just how committed you really are to your work.
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24Feb2016

The Happiness Avoidance Problem: You Sure Do Know What You Don’t Want

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We all want career happiness. So why, for some people, is it so hard to get? It is remarkably sad that so many people end up devoting their careers to jobs that don’t make them happy. They don’t start out that way, of course. It just ends up that as they get further along in their chosen job they discover they’re not very happy.
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20Jan2016

What do Lawyers Want from Their Legal Secretaries and PAs?

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On one level, there are as many answers to this question as there are legal secretaries and lawyers. Every working relationship is different, and most of us will have found out that what perfectly suits one relationship doesn’t work at all in another. However, as someone who has worked both as a Legal Secretary and as a lawyer,
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23Dec2015

How to Introduce Yourself to Others at a Business, Social, or Networking Event

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Knowing how to introduce yourself to others and engage in conversation is a vital part of business, social, and networking etiquette. Using a process and employing a strategy will help reduce anxiety and increase your confidence. First, try to arrive to the event early. It’s not so daunting to walk into a room and approach people and introduce yourself if the room is not so crowded.
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23Dec2015

Being an Achiever

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You become an achiever by achieving your goals. If you achieve your goals, you’re an achiever. If you don’t achieve your goals, you’re not an achiever. This is a simple, binary way to think about achievement. To achieve means to reach, attain, or accomplish. What you choose to reach, attain, or accomplish is up to you.
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18Nov2015

Seven Delegation Tips for Administrative Assistants

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For admins, delegation can be a challenge. It’s hard to delegate when you’re not the one in charge, and most admins are accustomed to being the ones delegated to. To a certain degree, both of these things may be true. But there are still ways to get help from others even if you’re not in a position of authority or leadership.
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21Oct2015

Stressed at Work Anyone?

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“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn It is Monday morning and you can feel every bone in your body begging you not to go to work. You are tired, exhausted, and need every minute of sleep you can get. For the past couple of months,
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23Sep2015

Tips to Stay on Track and Reach Your Goals

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Working as a Legal Secretary will require you to be extremely focused and organized in order to adhere to tight deadlines and to keep up with the fast-paced legal industry. Dividing your work or objectives into specific goals is an important part of managing your workload and achieving your overall ambitions.
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23Sep2015

Five Powerhouse Strategies for Creating Administrative Peer Power

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Coming together is better than fighting for your own agenda. When you are trying to create change, whether in a process or for the administrative community in your organization, it is much easier to be persuasive when there is a group. There is strength in unity. Whether there are two administrative professionals in your office or 200,
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19Aug2015

How to Identify Your Weaknesses

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We are often much better at identifying our strengths than looking objectively at our weaknesses, but knowing the areas in which we struggle most is usually the most beneficial piece of information we can have in terms of improving our performance. Whether you are not receiving the marks you were hoping to achieve on a course or not getting the recognition or results you want in the workplace,
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19Aug2015

How to Stay Motivated During the Hot Summer Months

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Social media is blowing up with pictures of all your friends at the beach, you can’t get a solid night’s sleep due to your antique AC unit, and it seems like there is a long weekend every other week. Summer is definitely not the easiest time of year for anyone to be productive,
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21Jul2015

Why Can’t Electronic Reporting Replace Steno Reporters?

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Stenographic reporters have the capability to provide realtime. Realtime is a process that instantly captures the spoken word so that judges, law clerks, court clerks, parties to a proceeding, jurors, and members of the media, as well as those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, have immediate access to a transcript. Realtime feeds can be accessed remotely and by multiple devices,
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10Jun2015

Comfortable with Uncomfortable

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I don’t believe in fads. Usually, I’m too tuned out from them to notice, but even if I were aware I think I’d still turn the other cheek and let the trends roll off my face like rainwater sloshing off impervious surfaces and into the gutters. For this reason, I avoid all diets and “get fit quick” pledges and opt instead for routine fitness.
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10Jun2015

Nine Ways Smart Admins Nurture New Ideas

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Most of the people in your office do a good job, and many of them excel. To really stand out, you need to be known for something beyond your job description. Think of the most successful admin or assistant you know–someone you emulate or who is doing what you’d like to do.
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06May2015

Benefits of Joining a Professional Organization

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Joining a professional organization is extremely important to your career if your main goal is to learn, grow, and network with other like-minded individuals. It exposes you to things you might not have been aware of and keeps you informed about current trends within the marketplace. I have heard many complain about not getting much from the professional organizations they join.
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08Apr2015

An Oh-So-Different, Effective Approach to Strong Cover Letters

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Cover letters are usually boring. About 98 percent of the time it’s entirely possible that your cover letter is just like the last one that the employer read. In fact, while not word for word, I’ll bet it goes something like: To whom it may concern: “I noticed your ad for a litigation paralegal.
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08Apr2015

How Technology Has Changed the Legal Secretary Role

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Most jobs have been subject to changes over the past few decades as we race to keep up with constant advances in technology. Many technological developments have made life easier, but we need to be aware of how to work with them and stay vigilant. Tools like spelling and grammar checks are extremely useful,
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11Mar2015

How to Stay Healthy and Fit at Work

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Do you spend eight hours a day at work on an average? Do you find it difficult to take out time for exercise to stay fit? Is your busy and hectic schedule taking a toll on your health? Do you feel stressed out at work? Do you often suffer from backache,
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11Mar2015

Everything Old is New Again … Well, Sort of

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In approximately the 8th century B.C., the Greek poet Homer said, “The journey is the thing.” That is evident when we look back and consider what got us from where we were to now. Recently, I found an old secretary’s manual from 1975. This is from the days of manual typewriters,
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05Feb2015

Optimum Customer Service Skills

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Working as a legal secretary will often mean dealing with clients and customers. As is the case with any service industry, it is imperative to show these clients the highest level of customer service skills at all times, especially considering how handsomely they may be paying for their legal advice and support.
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