1. MARIA M. LEAL
2522 Clairemont Drive, #307, San Diego, CA 92117 ▪ mleal7486@gmail.com
SUMMARY
Highly motivated and organized paralegal who applies strong writing/proofing skills in motions, briefs, legal
correspondence, and transactional documents. Collaborates well within a diverse range of legal personnel, maintaining
positive relationships with attorneys, staff, and clients. Observes the confidentiality of all client matters. Well-balanced
work ethics, precision of work product, and takes pride in the task at hand. Resourceful and works well under pressure.
HIGHLIGHTS
 Civil – litigation, transactional  Education practice  Intellectual Properties
 Land Use / Real Estate  Probate / Estate Planning  Superb legal research skills
 Co-developed efficient tasking
workload tracking system
 Co-created uniform legal
form templates
 Adept in State, Federal, OAH rules
 Fluent in Spanish
EXPERIENCE
ARTIANO SHINOFF & HOLTZ, APC San Diego, CA Legal Assistant 2007 to 3/2016
Mid-size law firm specializing in various practices including civil, education, land use/real estate, municipal law
 Managed multiple trial and daily calendars of 3 atorneys
 Proofed, edited, prepared discovery, motions, briefs, legal memoranda and correspondence from start to finish
 Filed, includes E-Filing, of State, Federal, and Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH) documents
 Trial preparation, including Bates-numbering and trial exhibits, adhere to court rules, department policies
 Scheduled motions, ExParte hearings, depositions, mediations, settlement conferences; usage of CourtCall
 Transcribed from dictation program
 Client data management using software program
BRIERTON JONES & JONES San Diego, CA Paralegal 2006 to 2007
Boutique law firm specializing in Probate Law and Estate Planning
 Supported lead partner in preparing and regularly filing court documents, requesting and obtaining pertinent
documents, and client interviews throughout entire probate/estate planning process
 Assisted in preparation of probate documents, wills, and trusts, including government and asset valuations
 Managed “Special Needs Trust” cases from start to finish
 Conducted extensive legal research and investigations
 Maintained complex calendar for hearings, mediations, litigation, conferences, and all other court dates
 Maintained log of billing hours; Successfully managed and tracked approximately 100 cases
ADDITIONAL LEGAL CONTRACT WORK San Diego, CA Legal Assistant 2000 to 2006
Burkhardt Larson; Massie Berman; Schwartz, Semerdjian, Haile, Ballard & Cauley; Pettit Kohn; Law Office of Richard Bayer;
Lambert Law Corporation Law
 Assisted in all aspects of heavy, complex litigation cases by preparing, transcribing, and court-filing motions;
Litigation involved civil, aviation, business, and construction defect cases
EDUCATION
San Diego State University, B.A. candidate; received a national writing honor award
University of San Diego, Paralegal certificate, High Pass standing
University of California, San Diego, Intellectual Properties certificate
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Advanced Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat DC, Essential Forms, CA Jury Instructions, Westlaw,
Lexis/Nexis, WordPerfect, Worldox, Transcription/Dictation, ShareFile, Drop Box
AFFILIATIONS
University of San Diego Paralegal Alumni Board