the official publication of houston metropolitan paralegal … · 2018-06-20 · page 10 issue...

Inside this issue:

The Official Publication of Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association

Burden of Proof JULY 2016 ISSUE 07-16

Board of Directors

President’s Message

In Memoriam

Randall's Remarkable Card & HMPA!

CLE Lunch Registration

Paralegal Patti

Reprints

Quarterly Birthdays!

Merchandise Order Form

New Member/Test Your Skills

August/September Calendar

Community Services Chair Temporarily Vacant c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Continuing Legal Education-Seminars Sherie Hollinger, RP, PHP Porter Hedges LLP 1000 Main St., 36th Floor Houston, TX 77002 Work Phone: 713.226.6530 E-Mail: [email protected] Educational Liaison Chair (Interim) Michelle Hendrickson, PHP c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Employment Relations Chair Rugina Poellnitz, PHP BP America Inc. 501 Westlake Park Blvd. MC 16.177, Houston, TX 77079 Work: 281.366.6108 E-Mail: [email protected] Ethics Chair Temporarily Vacant c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Professional Houston Paralegal—PHP Amy Rainwater, TBLS, PHP Patterson-UTI Management Services, LLC Houston, TX Work Phone: 281.765.7146 Email: [email protected] Immediate Past President Michelle Hendrickson, PHP c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected]

Newsletter Chair Mel Glina, TBLS, CP, PHP (Interim) Bracewell LLP 711 Louisiana, Suite 2300, Houston 77002 Work Phone: 713.221.1103 Email: [email protected] Professional Certification Temporarily Vacant c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Social Chair Kristi Treece Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 600 Travis St., Ste 2310, Houston 77002 Work Phone: 713.510.1758 Email: [email protected] Website Mel Glina, TBLS-BCP, CP Bracewell LLP 711 Louisiana, Suite 2300, Houston 77002 Work Phone: 713.221.1103 Email: [email protected] HMPA Legal Assistant/Marketing Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA (Toll Free) Fax: 713.583.1902 E-Mail: [email protected]

HMPA NON-PROFIT IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT

Publication: Burden of Proof Publication Frequency: Quarterly Issue Date: July 2016 Organization:

HMPA P.O. Box 61363

Houston, Texas 77208

Copyright 2014-2016, HMPA, All Rights Reserved

HMPA 2016-2017 Board of Directors

President Kristi Treece, PHP Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 600 Travis St., Ste 2310, Houston 77002 Work Phone: 713.510.1758 Email: [email protected] President-Elect Sherie Hollinger, RP, PHP Porter Hedges LLP 1000 Main St., 36th Floor Houston, TX 77002 Work Phone: 713.226.6530 E-Mail: [email protected] 1st Vice-President/Membership Amy Rainwater, TBLS, PHP Patterson-UTI Management Services, LLC Houston, TX Work Phone: 281.765.7146 Email: [email protected] 2nd Vice-President/CLE Luncheons Michelle Hendrickson, PHP c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] 3rd Vice-President/Public Relations Anita M. Hamilton c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Recording Secretary Angella Bailey c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA E-Mail: [email protected] Treasurer Mel Glina, TBLS-BCP, CP Bracewell LLP 711 Louisiana, Suite 2300, Houston 77002 Work Phone: 713.221.1103 Email: [email protected] Parliamentarian Valerie Rucker c/o Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Assoc. P.O. Box 61363, Houston TX 77208 Work: 855-614-HMPA Email: [email protected]

BURDEN OF PROOF

The Real Value of a Paralegal (and how to manage the stress that comes along with it)! If the true value of a paralegal could be summed up in a sin-gle word, that word would be “efficiency”. A great parale-gal increases the efficiency of not only the attorneys they work with but the law firm as a whole. In today’s volatile economic climate, it’s im-portant to remember that cli-ents are looking to maximize return on investment; and this includes money spent on legal services. An attorney’s time is valuable, but it is also quite expensive. This is where a great paralegal can be a huge asset to a busy law firm. By empowering a dedicated and experienced paralegal to pro-vide certain legal services, a law firm is able to provide the same high quality service at a fraction of the cost. A good paralegal can perform most of the same tasks as a licensed attorney. This in-cludes, but is not limited to, reviewing and organizing cli-ent files, conducting legal research, drafting/document preparation, interviewing cli-ents and witnesses, assisting with trial preparation, pre and post-closing activities and maintaining ongoing records and recording schedules. As a paralegal, it is essential that you understand and ap-

preciate the value you add to your legal team. You are providing invaluable assis-tance to, oftentimes, anxious and over-worked attorneys. As a result, the role of a full-time paralegal can be some-what overwhelming. This is where becoming a master of efficiency comes in handy. Every day, thousands of para-legals leave their offices feel-ing frustrated, overworked, exhausted and undervalued. While some of this is an una-voidable occupational hazard, there are certain practices and techniques that can help mini-mize unnecessary stress. The first such practice is to devel-op unwavering organizational skills. This seems obvious but you might be surprised at how many paralegals feel they just don’t have the time to get or-ganized. While this is an un-derstandable feeling, it is im-perative to note that by taking the time to get organized, you will actually be saving your-self countless hours in the long run. Start by making a “to-do” list and organizing tasks and assignments in a logical and clear manner (perhaps by deadline or im-portance) on a daily basis. Then begin tackling them in order of priority. By imple-menting this simple strategy, you will not only increase productivity and reduce stress, but you will also begin to de-velop the second stress-

reducing skill set: becoming a master of time management.

Successful time management begins with the acceptance of one enduring truth: there will never be enough hours in the day. Utilize your organiza-tion skills to determine which tasks take priority and focus on those tasks first. If multi-ple tasks have similar priori-ty, begin with the task that will take the least time to complete. This will allow you to move through your “to-do” list at a more rapid pace and you will feel a greater sense of accomplishment as you scratch each additional task off of your list. Finally, it is critical that you learn to manage expectations. Even the most experienced paralegal has limitations. You are only one person and you can only do so much. Be clear with your attorneys as to your workload and set realis-tic expectations for project completion. If you have three large projects on your desk when a fourth is assigned, make sure you inform the assigning attorney that you are working on various other matters and may be slightly delayed in getting to their project. This will afford the attorney an opportunity to assign the project to a junior associate or, at the very least, give you additional time to complete the task.

Message from the President:

ISSUE 07-16

Kristi Treece, HMPA President

As a paralegal in the twenty-first century, you are an invaluable asset to the lawyers you support and the clients you serve. While this can be a rewarding occupation, it can also be overwhelming if you are not well equipped to handle the pressures that come along with it. By focusing on developing strong organizational skills, becoming a master of time management and learning to set realistic expectations, you will be well on your way to a long and satisfying career as a legal professional.

Until next time!

BURDEN OF PROOF

IN MEMORIAM HOLLY SMITH HUCKABEE

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of one of our heroes, HOLLY SMITH HUCKABEE. A member of HMPA and the Paralegal Division,

State Bar of Texas, Holly was the very definition of a committed, unifying leader. She was a passionate advocate for pro bono and community service initiatives and always,

always stood for the professional advancement of the paralegal profession. As Co-Director of District 1, Paralegal Division, she gave tirelessly of herself to insure that all paralegals received the educational, networking and professional resources they

needed. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, including her work family at John K. Grubb & Associates, now and always. She was a true champion and it is our

hope that her memory will stay with each of you always. Finally, we hope you will forgive any deficiencies in our expression; there are no words that capture this loss.

BURDEN OF PROOF

HMPA offers affordable NALA CP Exam Review Course this Fall! Registra on ends August 19th!

ISSUE 07-16

STOP AND READ!!!!! IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR HMPA Members & Supporters!

For those of you that shop at Randall's, PLEASE LINK YOUR Randall's Remarkable Card to HMPA (ORGANIZATION # 4901) so HMPA will receive up to 1% of member's purchases made at Randall's! You can find more details here: http://www.randalls.com/IFL/Grocery/Good-Neighbor. Just print the attached form (FILL IN HMPA's ORGANIZATION NUMBER OF 4901) and give it to the customer service representative the next time you shop at Randall's. That's it! Collections benefit HMPA’s scholarship program!

ISSUE 07-16

ISSUE 07-16

H o u s t o n M e t r o p o l i t a n P a r a l e g a l A s s o c i a t i o nH o u s t o n M e t r o p o l i t a n P a r a l e g a l A s s o c i a t i o n

2nd Tuesday of every month 11:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

Houston CENTER Club, 1100 Caroline, 11th Floor (Grille Rm), Houston, Texas

Approved for 1.0 hour CLE credit by HMPA; Approval Pending: National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) and the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS)

Lunch begins at 11:30 A.M. and Seminar at 12:00 P.M.

Check seminar date(s) desired for registra on:

_______August, 2016 (Downtown) Speaker: Dr. Gavin W. Maines Topic: “Security and E-Discovery: What Your Attorney Should Know” Sponsor: Avansic E-Discovery & Digital Forensics

_______September, 2016 (Downtown) Speaker: Krista Ali, CSI Topic: “Corporate Transactions: Apostilles and Legalizations” Sponsor: Capitol Services, Inc.

Registra on Lunch & Seminar Seminar Only

HMPA Members $25.00 HMPA Members $10.00 Non-Members $30.00 Non-Members $15.00

Walk In Rate - $40.00

HMPA accepts credit card payments through PayPal. Just look for the “PayNow” button on our website or send payment through PayPal to [email protected]

Register Online or Mail by the Friday prior!

Register through the new registration link found in the weekly EBlast, or complete the following registration form and (1) mail with payment (do not send cash) to HMPA, P.O. Box 61363, Houston, TX 770208. Email our office with questions [email protected]

In accordance with HMPA's Reservation Policy, reservations are not confirmed until payment is received. For a copy of HMPA's Reservation Policy, visit HMPA's website at www.houstonparalegals.org

PARALEGAL PATTI

BURDEN OF PROOF

Patti is on vacation during the month of July and will return next edition!

Questions/Articles may be submitted to Paralegal Patti by faxing them to Paralegal Patti, c/o HMPA @ 713.583.1902. The opinions expressed by Paralegal Patti do not in any way necessarily reflect the opinions of HMPA. In case you live in a cave, Paralegal Patti is not a psychotherapist. Swim at your own risk.

Camden Place Ltd is a metro Atlanta professional web design, web hosting, and custom programming firm. We serve entrepreneurs, small businesses, non-profit associations and other organizations that need customized Internet solutions. We build and host powerful websites customized to meet your goals at extremely competitive prices.

Camden Place prides itself on the services we supply. We are also proud of our relationships with our clients. We get to know you and understand your needs. We work together to achieve your goals for your website. CALL US TODAY!

MARIETTA 770.649.0589 CUMMING 678.513.7263

BURDEN OF PROOF

REPRINTS Any Editor's column may be reprinted with permission. For those and other original articles in the HMPA Newsletter, please call (855) 614-HMPA (toll free) or write to Newsletter Chairperson, HMPA, P.O. Box 61363, Houston, Texas 77208. The Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association Newsletter, Burden of Proof, is published by the Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association and is devoted to informing and educating the paralegal profession. Articles published in the HMPA Newsletter reflect the views and opinions of the authors and not those of HMPA, its editors or officers. The information published is based solely on submitted written material and HMPA assumes no responsibility for verification of the information submitted. HMPA does not en-dorse the opinions, services, or products appearing in published articles or advertisements. Articles may not be reprinted without the consent of the Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association and the author of the article.

Copyright 2014-2016, HMPA, All Rights Reserved

Effective January 1, 2015 1. The publisher of the HMPA newsletter is HMPA, 440 Louisiana, P.O. Box 61363, Houston, Texas 77208. Telephone: (855) 614-

HMPA (Toll Free), Facsimile: (713) 583.1902. 2. All Advertisements must be paid for in advance. Payments must be received no later than the 10th of the month for advertising in

the following quarter's newsletter. If payment is not received in advance, the ad will be pulled and will not run in the requested issue. Payment must be received and confirmed by the HMPA Newsletter Chairperson. HMPA does not work under or have signed contracts with anyone wishing to advertise. No statements or bills will be sent. However, upon request to the Newsletter Chairperson, advertisers may obtain an itemized list of payments to date or a statement of unused advertising funds. Additionally, if the advertiser wishes to discontinue their already paid in full advertisement, they must make a written request prior to the tenth (10th) day of the month in which in which the next Newsletter will run to the HMPA Newsletter Chair.

3. All advertisements must be submitted in “Ad Slick”, or if submitting by disk/email, PDF or TIFF format. 4. All Ads will run in consecutive quarters.

NEW ADVERTISING RATES!

1 Edition 6 Editions 12 Editions 1/8 Page (3”w x 2”l) $57.50 $192.50 $291.00 1/4 Page (3 3/4”w x 4 3/4”l) $87.50 $312.50 $521.00 1/2 Page H (7 3/4”w x 4 3/4”l) $147.50 $612.50 $1085 1/2 Page V (3 3/4”w x 9 3/4”l) SAME Full Page $312.50 $1212.50 $2130.00

All payments should be mailed to the Newsletter Chair at HMPA. For additional information, contact our Association Administrator at (855) 614-HMPA (Toll Free).

E-Mail Your Burden of Proof News & Articles to:

[email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We look forward to hearing from you. Your voice matters!

ISSUE 07-16

By now, legal professionals have been exposed to the concept of e-discovery and the possibilities that modern tools provide with relation to review. This includes advanced processes, methods and tools such as analytics, concept clustering, predictive coding and deduplication that offer the possibility of more targeted review. These can be daunting due to terminology and changing technology, but overcoming that fear means moving forward with shrewdness into the wider world of e-discovery. Analytics, which is the computational analysis of data to determine facts or patterns, is an incredibly powerful tool in e-discovery. It has become more affordable and easier to use, despite some challenges relating to adaption and usability. Indeed, there are ways to use analytics to find what you’re looking for rather than to eliminate irrelevant items. Understanding concept clustering and predictive coding (and knowing the difference between the two) can help you determine the best circumstances in which to apply these sophisticated technologies. The realm of forensics offers e-discovery help through collection protocols and metadata handling. Knowledge of forensics hashing and de-duplication methods can be a big advantage for legal professionals during e-discovery. How to Use Analytics There are several ways to use analytics to assist in e-discovery: “more like this” document location, organizing and prioritizing a review, and identification of exact or near duplicates for de-duplication purposes.

Finding additional hot documents that are “more like this” is akin an online shopping tool recommending other products of interest. Although helpful in any situation, this is a particularly helpful time-saver in larger cases. Once a document of interest is located, it can be used to find other documents that are similar in content. This can be extremely useful if you aren’t quite sure what you seek or even that it exists. Analytics enables a user to better organize e-discovery review through grouping documents by ideas and concepts. Linear review becomes more efficient since the reviewer stays within the same topic and is not constantly shifting gears. Additionally, it allows for the use of “specialist” reviewers who may have specific knowledge of a certain document subject (for example, a drug interaction). Analytics can also be used for text-based de-duplication, which includes exact and near-dupe. This is not the same as forensics de-dupe which is focused on exact duplication of entire contents of a document. The text-based deduplication utilizes processes that identify noise words or phrases, repeating text, white space, headers, and other textual data or formatting. Once this material is removed, the remaining text can be compared to determine if there is duplication. If the text is the same and the human reviewer would see the same content, there is usually not a reason to review duplicate versions, so the number of documents to be reviewed decreases. The exception would be context-based review for date, custodian, privilege, and so on.

...continued on page 13

Don’t Be Scared of Analytics and Forensics: How to Use These Tools in E-Discovery By Dr. Gavin W. Manes, CEO of Avansic: E-Discovery & Digital Forensics

ISSUE 07-16

For near-dupe, analytics leverages the results of an exact dupe but allows for variance in word placement and length to determine the similar documents with material differences. The software provides a “grade” for the similarity of the documents using complex machine learning and word proximity. While the variance in the removal of common artifacts is similar across almost all analytics platforms, the grading system for determining near-dupe vary (and may be configurable.) Although not the case with exact text de-dupe, multiple iterations of near-dupe might be necessary to provide a desired result. When used properly, this can be an effective tool to decrease the number of documents to review. On a final note, analytics can be used to reduce the review burden but should be combined with a regimented, tested workflow that includes quality control and a large emphasis on sampling. How to Use Concept Clustering Concept clustering leverages analytics to group similar documents together based on word proximity and similar phrases – it follows the “more like this” idea discussed above. It utilizes mathematical formulas to determine similarity based on proximity of words, similarity of phrases and their placement within the document. The majority of concept clustering uses unsupervised machine learning. The result is an arbitrary measure of how documents are similar to each other which is otherwise a difficult measurement to take. Tools may see different levels of similarity between documents. However, once concepts have been noted, groups of documents can be created that are similar to each other which feeds directly into a more efficient review.

How to Use Predictive Coding Predictive coding is a workflow that leverages analytics, sampling, and sometimes concept clustering. Predictive coding uses different variants of supervised machine learning. Most common tools have workflows built into a review platform and therefore this technology has become more accessible - it is no longer necessary to hire mathematicians to create and sample because precision is monitored throughout. The most common predictive coding workflow is as follows: select a sample of data, code that set, and use that set to train the algorithm to code the remaining documents. This is immediately followed by random sampling of the trained results to determine accuracy, and then repeating the process if the precision is insufficient. Forensics Collection Although it may seem that forensics is not necessary in a run-of-the-mill e-discovery project, forensics collection and a proper chain of custody can help during document review. A true forensics, bit-by-bit copy of native documents is the best way to preserve the metadata in those documents for retrieval at any time. In fact, better tools may exist in the future to extract metadata from native documents. However, certain types of metadata must be preserved at the time of collection that do not exist within the native file content such as, the date the file was created where the file was located, what computer the file was located on, and the original file name. If collection is not performed in a forensics manner this data may be lost or altered without detection and that information can be useful during document review.

...continued on Page 14


ISSUE 07-16

Forensics De-dupe MD5 hash is a very useful for determining if two pieces of data, such as files, are exactly the same. From a computer science perspective, MD5 hash is a one-way mathematical formula that takes a string of data as an input and yields an ostensibly unique value. In the normal sense, MD5 provides a value that acts as a “fingerprint” for the data. If two MD5 hash values are the same then the data that produced them is the same. In the forensics context, MD5 generally means the hash of the content of the data, excluding operating system level metadata such as created date, filename, and file path. In e-discovery processing, MD5 hash has many different meanings. In some cases a program may choose to hash only a portion of the data, such as the values from an email header. MD5 hash is a very powerful tool in review. For instance, use of MD5 hash doesn’t just allow the identification of duplicates of user created documents, it also allows the automatic exclusion of well- known files, such as operating system files and application executables. When producing data, an MD5 hash is absolutely necessary in order to be able to prove that what was produced is the same as what was received. Caution is necessary to figure out the specific information the hash encompasses; when receiving a hash in a loadfile, you should always ask the question, “an MD5 hash of what?” since the hash might be of only a portion of the data. Conclusion E-Discovery review can be helped tremendously by analytics and forensics processes. Specifically, there is rarely a case where analytics and concept clustering aren’t useful in e-discovery review. Predictive coding is typically helpful where there are a unique set of

requirements of time, volume. Hybrid models combine supervised and unsupervised learning and automate the processes so there is little configuration or knowledge required by the user. Knowledge of these tools gives the user the confidence to consider their usefulness for future projects. About the Author Dr. Gavin W. Manes is a nationally recognized expert in e-discovery and digital forensics. He is currently the CEO of Avansic, a firm that provides the legal, business, and government sectors with e-discovery, digital forensics, data preservation, and online review services. He founded Avansic in 2004 while serving as a Computer Science professor at the University of Tulsa. There he led the creation of nationally recognized research efforts in digital forensics and telecommunications security.


ISSUE 07-16

July: Julee Prentice July-01 Teresita Gaona July-02 Lee A. Hesse-Friedrich July-02 Lisa Malveaux July-03 Sean Anhaiser July-04 Louis Fryklund July-04 Bradley Allen July-07 Jenee Walker July-07 Renee Y Perez July-08 Marcia West July-09 Shannon M Newman July-10 Virginia C. Holbrook July-11 Jessica M Ramirez July-11 Patricia Flores July-12 Pamella Ford July-12 Jennifer Bateman July-14 Ernest Davila July-16 Tamara Riley July-16 Cheryl Schlemmer July-16 Sherry L. Morris J uly-17 Linda W Van Natter July-17 Cassandra Vega July-17 Michael Zamora J uly-17 Jonathan Mitchell July-18 Samantha Treadwell July-19 Terri Frederick July-21 Julie Collins July-22 Silvia K. Querales July-22 Joy Black July-23 Stephanie Lingor July-23 Cassandra Taylor July-23 Charlotte Willingham July-23 Kyle Rich July-25 Judy Bloss July-26 Nicole Costa July-26 Aashika Damodar July-29 Marlene J Goyea July-29 Monica Owens July-29 Paul Brezik July-30 Kathryn E. Kersh July-30 Yvette Barin Coz July-31 Mike Ladson July-31 August: Martha Ledesma August-02 Melanie Martinez August-05 Cindy Neely August-05 Ari Anderson August-06 Allyson Hawkins August-11 Meredith Christine Ryan August-11 Anton Trubkin August-11 Phillip M Goldstein August-12 Diana Hendrix August-13 Veatris Negrete August-14 Jami N. Richardson August-14 Mel Glina August-15 Rodney L Hall, August-15

Christy Pina August-15 Linda M Wilson August-15 Jon Gorosh August-17 Rachel Redman August-18 Diane Willey August-18 Serena Yvette Lara A ugust-19 LaTonia A. West August-19 Freeman S. Mims August-21 Kim Misher August-21 Janet Tezino August-21 Monica Richard August-22 Jobeth Hines-Lorraine August-23 Katherine Brames August-24 Emma Rogers August-25 Litallio R. Cook August-27 Stacie Quinn August-27 Bridget L Allen August-28 Joyce Chamberlain-Jacobs August-28 Gina Holder August-29 Jo Ann McCarty August-29 Evelyn Lazear August-30 September: Terrie J. Wooten September-01 Jennifer Armendariz September-04 Michelle Lynn Esparza September-04 Rugina D. Poellnitz S eptember-06 Bridget McClain September-07 Patricia McCulloch S eptember-09 JeLayne Hoffman September-10 Carolyn Weaver September-10 Monica Gutierrez September-11 Kevin Durham September-12 De Henderson September-12 Cynthia Resendez September-13 Katrina D. Bakerr September-15 Maribel Castro September-16 Stephanie L. Carreathers September-19 Tracey L. Ebdon September-19 Jean Mead September-19 Robert Tomlin September-19 Shana Wimberley September-19 Tammy Deska September-20 Michelle Noel September-20 Elsa Garrett September-21 Sandra Hosea September-21 Solange Krohn September-23 Sherri Brunner September-24 Kym Fisher September-26 Dawn Bebell September-29

HMPA wishes each of you a happy, healthy, joyful birthday! Note: Birthdates are based on those voluntarily supplied on the HMPA application/renewal forms. Birth year is not required! Please visit the website and update your profile today! Email Amy Rainwater, 1st VP Membership if you need assistance with your user I.D. or password [email protected]

Quarterly Birthdays! Happy Birthday to All!

ISSUE 07-16

ATTENTION VENDORS! TRYING TO REACH THE LARGEST LOCAL PARALEGAL AUDIENCE IN THE STATE? WE HAVE CUT OUR ADVERTISING RATES IN HALF! SEE PAGE 12 FOR DETAILS.

Volume 1, Issue 1

April ‘16

YOUR AD WOULD LOOK GREAT HERE!


ISSUE 07-16

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Answers to Test Your Skills

1. True 2. False 3. True (other clients or non-firm staff may have access) 4. True

Aliye Arca Jennifer Bateman Michelle Baxter Shakia Bundy

Amy Coffin Joshua Day Julia Ford

Eugene Fridman Pat Hanna

Belinda Harvey Mark Hopkins

Kathy Humbird Colleen Lerma

Erin Pate

Danielle Pigeaud-Gunther

Nina Martinez Reagins Rachel Redman Tamara Riley

Monica Richard Emma Rogers

Jennifer Screen Melissa Skillern

Stratos Legal The Mize Group

Shana Wimberley Audrey Villareal

BURDEN OF PROOF

TEST YOUR SKILLS! (Answers on Page 27)

Confidentiality:

1. _______ True or False. The duty of Confidentiality extends after representation ends. 2. _______ True or False. When working with third party vendors on a client’s case/

transaction (Copy, E-Discovery, Records Retrieval, Citation) you do not need client approval to share non public information.

3. _______ True or False. Client documents/notes are left unattended on an unlocked conference room table. This can be considered a HIPAA violation, or a breach of confidentiality.

4. _______ True or False. Confidentiality rules encourage clients to seek early counsel and partner in their cases by providing full disclosure.

HMPA NEEDS YOU!

Have you ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes at HMPA? Or wanted to learn the skill set of a corporate director? HMPA has an immediate opening for a voting member that would like the opportunity to be considered for Community Services Chair. Contact Kristi Treece at [email protected] if you are interested in discussing this opportunity further! Get invested today - help shape the paralegal profession in Houston for tomorrow!

BURDEN OF PROOF

JOB BANK

Don’t forget to visit the Job Bank on our website www.houstonparalegals.org for great new positions in the Houston area! For more information contact our Job Bank Chair, Rugina Poellnitz at [email protected] or via the Message Center on the Website! Please contact Amy Rainwater at [email protected] if you need your User ID and/or Password or have other questions regarding the website.

August 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 HMPA CLE Lunch

10 11 12 13

14 15 16 HMPA Board

Meeting

17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

BURDEN OF PROOF

Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association P.O. Box 61363

Houston, Texas 77208 Email: [email protected]

Phone: (855) 614-HMPA (Toll Free) Fax: (713) 583-1902

HMPA's office hours are:

Monday - Friday: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

COMMITTED TO THE EXCELLENCE AND EDUCATION OF PARALEGALS SINCE 1978 ™

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 Labor Day Ob-

served

6 7 8 9 10 CP Review

Course

11 12 13 HMPA CLE

Lunch

14 15 16 17 CP Review

Course

18 19 20 HMPA Board

Meeting

21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

September 2016

Phone: 855-614-HMPA (Toll Free) Fax: 713-583.1902 E-mail: [email protected]


Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association

We’re On The Web: http://WWW.HOUSTONPARALEGALS.ORG

P.O. Box 61363 Houston, Texas 77208

the official publication of houston metropolitan paralegal … · 2018-06-20 · page 10 issue...

Documents