My job with the engineering firm and expert witness

After I graduated I immediately started looking for a job. It was not easy, a lot of attorney's already had paralegals or I did not have the experience the attorney's were looking for. I decided that I would look into legal secretary jobs to get my foot in the door. I applied to several legal secretary jobs, finally I got my first break.

I had an interview with a company in New Carlisle for a legal secretary position. The company was a structural engineer firm that provided expert witness services and various training. At first I met with the Marketing Director, she was worried I would not like making the long drive. I told her I would be more than willing, given the chance to prove myself. Soon after I had my second interview, I met with the Marketing Director and the President of the company. The President of the company explained my job responsibilities and I told him I was more than capable of handling the job. My job title with the company was paralegal to the President of the company.

A lot of other engineers and attorneys were confused about why an expert witness would need a paralegal. My boss said I was an asset to the company because he was now more organized; had access to legal cases; had access to legal research and my skills assisted with strategies to win even the tougher cases.

My boss said this about me in a letter of recommendation:
I found her to be consistently pleasant, tackling all assignment with dedication and a smile. She is a hard working, fast learning, self starter who understands exactly what a project is all about from the beginning and how to get it done quickly and effectively. For example, she often finishes projects before schedule and works diligently to stay ahead of deadlines.

My responsibilities within the company changed as my experience increased. My job responsibilities included: researching legal issues; researching applicable standards, including but not limited to OSHA, ANSI and ASTM; organizing case documents; reviewing depositions and preparing deposition summarizes; writing background summarizes, including key issues and relevant case facts; preparing draft reports; preparing invoices; communicating with attorneys, paralegals and expert witness providers; assisting with trade shows; assisting with establishing different methods to advertise the company's services; implementing/creating the law library and updating the President's CV as needed.

The cases I worked on consisted of: Construction site accidents: including gantry crane accidents, tower crane accidents, elevator accidents, fall protection accidents, roofing accidents, ladder accidents and construction equipment accidents; and Product liability accidents including: golf cart accident; trampoline accident and slides accidents.

My accomplishments as a paralegal with the company included: My research assisted with winning one of the largest jury verdicts in the state of New Jersey and my research assisted with winning a majority of the cases along with the expert witness report