Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: A Snapshot of the Exciting And Lucrative Paralegal Profession 5 Chapter 1: Discovering the Paralegal Profession 7 Almost a Lawyer: What a Paralegal Does 7 Researching and analyzing the law 8 Playing Sherlock: Interviewing and investigating 8 Convening with clients 9 Administrating the legal environment 9 On the Job: Where Paralegals Work 11 The six-figure paralegal: Working for the big firm 11 Jack- or Jill-of-all-trades: Working for the small firm 12 Spreading the love: The pro bono paralegal 12 Working for the government 12 Doing it your way: The paralegal as independent contractor 13 What it Takes: The Skills, Knowledge, and Training You Need 13 The paralegal personality 14 Paralegal know-how 15 Education and experience: Two ways to train 16 Chapter 2: Membership Has its Privileges: Paralegal Associations and Their Certification Exams 19 To Join or Not to Join 19 Characterizing the types of associations 20 Weighing in on whether or not to join an association 21 Deciding Whether to Get Certified 22 Choosing a certification exam 22 Weighing the pros and cons of paralegal certification 24 Chapter 3: The Hunt is On: Securing a Paralegal Position 25 Finding the Perfect Job 25 Traditional sources: Scanning the job boards and turning to placement services 26 Networking: It''s who you know 27 Creating the Documentation 28 Killer cover letters 28 Ravishing resumes 30 Developing an online profile 33 Setting Up Shop: Starting a Freelance Paralegal Business 34 Part 2: Important Legal Concepts Every Paralegal Should Know 37 Chapter 4: "All Rise": The American Judicial System 39 Everything Old Is New Again: The Importance of Legal Precedence 40 Checks and Balances: Branches of U.S Government 42 The rule makers: The legislative branch 44 The enforcers: The executive branch 45 The interpreters: The judicial branch 46 Playing Fair: Levels of the U.S Judicial System 46 The federal judicial system 47 State judicial system 50 Local judicial systems 53 Judge and Jury: The U.S Jury System 54 Order in the court: The bench trial 55 Petition to your peers: The jury trial 55 Chapter 5: The Big Three: Categories of Law 57 Cutting Through the Red Tape: Administrative Law 58 Building the bureaucracy: Government agencies 58 Playing by the rules: Administrative law practices 59 Getting your way: Informal and formal advocacy 61 Eliminating Any Reasonable Doubt: The Nature of Criminal Law 63 Building blocks: Elements of criminal liability 64 High crimes and misdemeanors: Classes of crimes 65 Maintaining Polite Society: Civil Law 68 The victor''s spoils: Equitable relief and money damages 68 Beyond dessert: Tort law 69 Sealing and unsealing the deal: Contract law 76 Chapter 6: Taking a Case to Trial: The Litigation Process 79 Constructing the Criminal Case 79 Charging the defendant 79 Pushing through criminal pre-trial procedures 82 Tackling criminal trial procedure 86 Tying loose ends with criminal post-trial procedure 87 Carrying Through a Civil Case 89 Initiating the civil process 90 Proceeding through pre-trial tasks 94 Traveling through the trial 97 Plodding along in the post-trial 98 Chapter 7: How it''s Done: Important Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence 101 Distinguishing Between Procedural Law and Substantive Law 102 Following the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 102 Beginning an action: Rule 3 103 Serving process: Rule 4 104 Figuring out time limits: Rule 6 105 Drafting pleadings: Rules 8, 11, and 12 105 Uncovering the facts: Rules 26, 27, 30, 33, 36, and 37 107 Requesting a summary judgment: Rule 56 110 Sticking to State Procedural Rules 111 Figuring Out Federal Rules of Evidence 111 The main event: General provisions 112 What matters: Relevancy 113 Something special: Privilege 113 All there?: Competency to testify 114 Thinking logically: Reasonableness of opinion 115 The telephone game: Hearsay 115 The real deal: Authenticity and originality 116 Chapter 8: Because I Said So: The Categories of Legal Authority 117 Déjà Vu All Over Again: Review of Stare Decisis 118 Who''s the Boss? The Premises of Primary and Secondary Authority 119 First chair: Primary authority 120 Second fiddle: Secondary authority 121 Applying the Law: Mandatory and Persuasive Authority 121 Counting on cases and statues: Mandatory authority 121 Getting creative with sources: Persuasive authority 123 Helpful But You Can''t Rely On it: Nonauthority 124 Chapter 9: The Substantive Law Areas Most Commonly Practiced by Paralegals 125 Facing the Family: Domestic Law and Estate Planning 125 Settling the family affair: Domestic law 126 Looking to the future: Estate planning 127 Building the Boom and Blanketing the Bust: Business and Bankruptcy Law 130 Keeping up with capitalism: Business law 131 Providing debt relief: Bankruptcy law 132 Compensating for Pain and Suffering: Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice 133 Placing the blame: Personal injury law 134 Questioning the bedside manner: Medical malpractice 135 Getting it in Writing: Entertainment and Real Estate Law 137 All that glitters: Entertainment law 137 Preserving the American dream: Real estate law 138 Protecting Assets: Tax and Intellectual Property Law 139 Dealing with the IRS: Tax law 140 Clarifying the rightful owner: Intellectual property law 141 Part 3: Putting it Into Practice: The Paralegal in the Civil Litigation Process 143 Chapter 10: The Paper Chase: Preparing Documents 145 Communicating in Writing: Types of Legal Documents 145 Getting started: Preliminary documents 146 Taking it to the judge: Trial and post-trial documents 153 Making the Case: Effective Document Drafting 153 Commanding attention: Format of a demand letter 154 Making your case: The complaint 156 Striking back: The answer 160 Presenting a formal analysis: The memorandum of law 162 Exerting your will: Motions 168 Playing detective: Disclosure and discovery 170 Handling trial documents 173 Chapter 11: Elementary My Dear Watson: Legal Investigation 175 Searching for Clues: Gathering Evidence 176 What are you trying to prove? Spotting issues 177 What order will you follow? Creating checklists 177 Who are you going to call? Sources of information 179 Keeping Track: Identifying and Protecting Evidence 183 Leaving your mark: Identifying evidence 184 On guard: Protecting evidence 184 Keeping Order: Organizing the Evidence 184 Setting a time frame: Chronological organization 185 Getting the story straight: Organization by versions 185 Noting discrepancies: Organization by inconsistencies 185 Chapter 12: Chewing the Fat: Legal Interviewing 187 Gauging Whether the Case is Valid: Initial Client Interviews 187 Setting the mood 188 Directing the content 189 Ending the initial interview 194 Completing the Story: Witness Interviews 195 Preparing Clients and Witnesses for Testimony 197 Chapter 13: Burning the Midnight Oil: Legal Research 199 Conducting Legal Research 200 Searching for applicable law in four easy steps 200 Reining in the research process 202 Relying On Tools of the Trade 203 Establishing a foundation with legal encyclopedias 204 Analyzing topics with American Law Reports 205 Digging through digests 206 Rummaging through reporters 208 Keeping current with case citators 208 Opting for other resources 211 Getting Technological: Computerized Legal Research 212 Westlaw 212 Lexis Advance 212 Bloomberg Law 213 The Internet 213 Citing Cases Properly: Citation Format 214 Citing statutes 215 Citing cases 215 Chapter 14: Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Trial Performance 217 Creating the Ultimate Source of Information: The Trial Notebook 217 Selecting the Jury: The Paralegal and Voir Dire 221 Rebelling without a cause: Peremptory challenges 223 Making a good excuse: Challenges for cause 224 Dismissing the kit and caboodle: Challenges to the array 224 Monitoring the pool 224 Keeping Track of Witnesses 226 Weighing Testimony: The Paralegal''s Take on the Jury''s Reaction 227 Preparing Questions for the Attorney 228 Settling Up: Preparing the Cost Bill 229 Blood from a Turnip: Collecting a Difficult Judgment 229 Chapter 15: The Official Word: Ethical Codes for Legal Professionals 231 Doing What''s Right: The Importance of Ethics 232 Defining ethics in the field of law 232 Going too far: The unauthorized practice of law 233 Following the chain of responsibility 234 Abiding by the Rules of Profession.