Transforming Legal Profession To Legal Services (Legal Industry Analysis)
Vol 4, Issue 2 - 03-05-15
1. Page 1
HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
An Affiliate of the National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc.
Table of Contents
Go Texan social................... 1, 7
Paralegals in Big Law.............. 2
Sustaining members................. 5
Spring CLE.............................. 6
Calendar of Events................... 8
Committee members................ 8
Houston facts ........................... 8
HWAC Race............................ 9
Brown Bag CLE .................... 10
Paralegal Ethics handbook..... 11
TBLS new website................. 11
Houston Paralegal Association
P.O. Box 2466
Houston, Texas 77252
www.hpatx.us
Important notice:
When you register for an event or
renew your membership online,
always use the same email address
that is currently on file in your
Profile. If a different email
address is used, the system will
create a second account for you,
which will generate messages that
you have not paid or that your
membership has expired. Thank
you for your attention to this
detail!
Thank you!
Thank you everyone for
coming out and making the
Go Texan Happy Hour at
Tejas Grill & Sports Bar on
Feb. 19 a success!
For more photos, see p. 7
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HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
By 2009, the Great
Recession caught up with
attorneys-at-law, starting the first
mass layoffs in a profession once
thought recession-proof. By most
accounts, law firms mainly
thinned their support staffs,
although the lock-step process
for associates to make partner in
their 8th or 9th years at a firm
was now history. Many partners
were “de-equitized,” asked to
work more billable hours, or
asked to retire—leading to an
exodus of established partners
starting their own offices and
taking their clients with them.
The business of law would never
be the same. And how did many
firms explain the end of Big-
Law’s golden age? … A
meteorite named Technology.
Nearly anyone who has
worked with the defense bar or
outside counsel understands that
attorneys usually inhabit a
dimension called the Billable
Hour. Lawyers in the Billable
Hour usually cannot predict costs
of legal services, and the longer
they take to wrap up a case or
deal, the more the client pays.
The fact that we still have the
billable hour—while ignoring or
under-utilizing countless
advances in technology that lead
to more efficient workflow,
predictable legal spend, and a
real-world focus on productivity
rather than hourly totals—speaks
volumes about the romance
between law firms and the billable
hour. Yet, “technology” is often
singled out as the bad guy behind
the need for reduced head counts
and outsourcing solutions.
Bearing in mind Big-Law’s
love for the billable hour, it should
not surprise us that non-billing,
soft-target support jobs underwent
the most change and restructuring.
And the role that’s endured the
most change may likely be: the
paralegal.
The American Bar
Association does not distinguish
between paralegals and other
legal assistants, giving this
definition: “A legal assistant or
paralegal is a person, qualified
by education, training, or work
experience who … performs
specifically delegated
substantive legal work for which
a lawyer is responsible.” The
ABA and I do not see eye-to-eye
on this definition.
This Present Revolution
Not that long ago, nearly
every lawyer had his own
dedicated secretary, and each
office had at least one paralegal.
It was unusual to see a legal
Paralegals in Big-Law: Unsung
Heroes of the ‘New Normal’
Continued on page 3
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HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
secretary working directly with
more than one lawyer. A lawyer
needing to have something done
often would say, “my secretary
can handle this” or “my secretary
will let you know when this is
ready.” Not many years ago, I
can’t recall hearing the phrase
“the secretary” or “one of the
secretaries”—just “my” secretary.
After the Great Recession
and a lot of layoffs, a ratio of four
or five lawyers per secretary
became more common. Those at
law firms tasked with speaking to
the survivors of mass layoffs
would often say that a seven-to-
one secretarial share was around
the corner. By necessity, the Great
Job-Responsibility Shift followed.
By 2012, most of the Am
Law 200 had decreed their
lawyers proficient with software
such as Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint, and that they hardly
needed secretaries or even a word
processing department any more.
Yet I knew associates who did not
know how to log into their
computers and would phone
assistants to log them in while
they were coming up in the
elevator. Some legal secretaries,
usually the ones assigned to more
seasoned partners, were rebranded
as “professional assistants” with
timekeeper numbers so they could
start tracking and billing their
time. Other secretaries and word
processing staff were assigned to
a resource center overseen by a
manager; while saying this was
forward-thinking, these firms
were actually recreating the “steno
pool.”
Some law firms offered
buyouts to legal secretaries that
included lump sums of $25,000,
up to 26 weeks’ pay, and
subsidized health insurance for up
to 18 months. One firm offering a
much less attractive package
retired around 40 secretaries, for
a one-time severance payout
conservatively estimated at $1.4
million. Another firm’s very
attractive buy-out had about 30
accept, costing the firm well over
$2 million. This was a time when
some firms were seeing double-
digit increases in gross profits
and profits per partner (PPP).
Some who took buyouts rode off
into retirement, while others
secured jobs at competing law
firms. However, some secretaries
with about 10 years’ experience
who left firms with a nice check
were rehired within six months.
The Forgotten Paralegal
While millions were spent
on reducing headcount,
paralegals were mostly
overlooked in the training
budgets, with an assumption they
would keep up on their own with
the ever-changing technologies
driving all this change. Paralegals
were now expected to do
associate-level work, such as
first-pass document review, more
in-depth legal research, attending
trial, and summarizing the
transcript of the day’s testimony.
Some paralegals were even
expected to create graphics and
present videos and documents at
trial.
At the same time, work that
had been almost exclusively for
paralegals was now done by the
new “technology experts”
previously known as attorney
Continued on page 4
Continued from page 2
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HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
paralegals—who often spent their
days working with title
companies completing closing
checklists and preparing closing
binders—had a difficult time
metamorphosing into litigation
paralegals—who often work in a
file room preparing witness
binders for deposition and trial.
Some paralegal disciplines
involve travel, while others have
more predictable business hours. I
was once tasked with cross-
training a paralegal on document-
review software, so she could be
involved in a large litigation
matter. This person was very
competent with wills and estates,
but struggled with reviewing
thousands of discovery
documents and creating an index
of privileged documents.
What can be even more
amazing is how a paralegal that
bills 1500 hours per year at even
$250 per hour makes an employer
$375,000 annually, before
partners start discounting their
clients’ bills. With a high-end
salary of $75,000, a paralegal
often generates higher profit
margins for the firm than most
associates. We must remember
that associates have higher hard
and soft costs, including
insurance, membership dues,
continuing education, and
investments in marketing and
promoting their services inside
and outside the firm. On the other
hand, paralegals often pay
professional association fees from
their own pockets, attend brown-
bag “lunch and learns,” and do
Continued from page 3
associates. This often ended in
problems such as collecting and
Bates-stamping documents
outside of a database, which
prevents any track-back system
to the original documents—
something a paralegal would
avoid with a load file and coded
fields. Associates were also now
working with huge,
multifunctional devices on their
desks, doing tasks formerly
performed by the drastically
reduced ranks of legal
administrative assistants,
formerly known as legal
secretaries. Some associates
would work a loophole where
they could use a partner’s
professional assistant when
doing work for the partner.
During the shuffles in job
titles, responsibilities, and
expectations, most paralegals
were in a limbo without clear-cut
job duties, while now billing 1500
hours a year to justify their
employment. To “reward”
paralegals’ work to both generate
revenue and modify their work for
the new normal, some firms cut
paralegals’ pay by 20%, with
incentives to recoup their former
incomes by meeting higher
billable-hour marks.
Due to these and other recent
events, there has been a “time
famine” for associates who are
looking to make partner as well as
for paralegals in certain niche
disciplines. This scramble for
billable time has led to a loss of
mentoring and a resistance to cross-
training of paralegals, leaving the
paralegals once again to fend for
themselves.
In addition, paralegals’
practice specialization does not
lend itself well to cross-training.
For example, when real estate work
dried up, the practice’s
Continued on page 5
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HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
GET READY FOR THE BEACH!
HPA's Annual Spring CLE Seminar
New this year! CP Exam Review
Join us at the historic Hotel Galvez & Spa in Galveston, Texas on Friday, April 24, 2015 for
our annual Spring CLE Seminar.
When: Friday, April 24, 2015
Time: 8:00 am - 4:45 pm
Where: Hotel Galvez & Spa
2024 Seawall Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77550
(409) 765-7721
The popular Social will be Thursday, April 23 in the East Parlor from 6 – 7:30 p.m.
A block of rooms has been reserved for our event at Hotel Galvez & Spa. The room rate is
$140 on Thursday night for a double room, if booked by March 27, 2015. To reserve a
room, please contact the hotel Reservations Desk directly at 409-765-7721. Please say that
you are attending HPA's Paralegal Seminar to get the room rate.
We have created a "Roommate Search" topic on the Forum page for those looking to share
expenses.
8. Page 8
HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
2014-2015 Officers and Committee Chairs
President
Gina Holder
President-Elect
Montye Holmes, CP
1st VP – CLE Chair
Kimberly R. Henry, MA
2nd VP – Membership Chair
Rhonda Harshbarger, CP
3rd VP – Public Relations
Chair
Stephanie Rodriguez, ACP,
TBLS-CP
Treasurer & Finance Chair
Linda A. Carrette, MBA, CP,
TBLS-CP
Secretary
Angella C. Bailey
Parliamentarian
Nichole Moore
NALA Liaison
Carla Valenzuela, CP
Website Chair
Ruth Conley, ACP
Seminar Committee
Mary C. Shiloh,
TBLS-CP and Patti
Burns
Newsletter Chair
Diane Mathews
Houston Facts
Things you might not know about the Bayou City
Q: Houston has the ______
largest Hispanic and
Mexican population in the
United States.
A: Third.
Q: The __________ is the
largest medical center in the
world.
A: Texas Medical Center.
Q: How many people work at
the Texas Medical Center?
A: More than 52,000.
Source: City of Houston Website
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
March 7, 2015 HAWC Race Against Violence
8:00 a.m. AIG Campus at Whole Foods Market – Montrose
March 17, 2015 Brown Bag Luncheon
11:30 a.m – 1 p.m. “"Things I Should Know about the Harris County Justice Community”
April 23, 2015 2015 Spring CLE Seminar SOCIAL
6 – 7:30 p.m. East Parol, Hotel Galvez & Spa, Galveston, Texas
April 24, 2015 2015 Spring CLE Seminar
8 – 4:45 p.m. Hotel Galvez & Spa, Galveston, Texas
TBD
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HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
Get
Connected
Fan page is open
to all
Group for HPA
Members only
www.hpatx.us
Join HPA's Team for the
HAWC Race Against Violence
Please join the Houston Paralegal Association (HPA)
team in the 2015 HAWC Race Against Violence!
HPA members, families, friends, and Houston area legal services
providers, join in efforts to help end domestic violence.
Your contribution to the HPA Team will help to:
-provide counseling services, free of charge, for survivors
-support the 24-hour a day, 7-day a week hotline
-have a safe and secure place to live for women and their
children at the Women’s Center 120 bed Emergency Shelter
-offer education for youth about healthy relationships and how to
stop dating violence before it starts
Help us meet our goal by walking or running with us, and by making
donations through our team members. We look forward to seeing you on
race day, and thank you for your support.
Click here to register for HPA's team or contact HPA Team Captain Stephanie
Rodriguez at srodriguez@brownsims.com
11. Page 11
HOUSTON PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION MARCH 5, 2015
Vol. 4, Issue 2
Job
hunting?
Check out
the
HPA Job
Bank
for local
openings.
(MEMBER’S ONLY – must
be logged in to access)
TBLS ANNOUNCES NEW WEBSITE
FOR PARALEGALS
TBLS is pleased to announce the official launch of our new
website specifically for the Paralegal Specialization program. This
site is an information, public-facing web site designed to promote
the presence, and exclusive status, of the TBLS paralegal
certification process. It also acts as an Intranet for the Board
Certified Paralegal (BCP) community and Texas attorneys
interested in specialized paralegal matters.
We have just concluded final stages of development and want you
to have the first look this weekend of our new site at www.tbls-
bcp.org. This is only the initial phase of the website with plans for
more video, online member services and social media options.
The Texas Board of Legal Specialization would greatly appreciate
your feedback and/or comments, please let us know what we can
do to enhance the site.
Paralegal Ethics Handbook
available for reduced rate!
The Paralegal Ethics Handbook, 2014ed. is an essential
resource for experienced paralegals, those new to the
profession, as well as attorneys who supervise paralegals. The
Handbook is also an important reference for paralegal
students and educators.
How to Order and Save 20%
Customers that wish to order the book can purchase online
through Legal Solutions. The handbook is available as a one-
time purchase or as a subscription. To receive the members
only 20% discount, at CHECKOUT enter Promotion Code
WPD20 and the 20% discount will be applied. Or call 1-888-
728-7677. Offer valid for this book only; expires 12/31/2015.
The Handbook includes:
Specific ethical considerations in 22 practice areas.
How to determine whether an action may be an ethical
violation.
State-specific rules and regulations for all 50 states as
well as the District of Columbia.
