Thinking about Nancy, has made me reflect, as I have many times in losing family members or friends, about how short life is, and how it is up to each of us to make our lives full. There is a huge difference between living a full, wonderful, exciting, positive, productive life and barely existing or surviving. How and why we live is much more important than simply living.

Your life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be boring. Live fully!  Be alive!  Make each day the most interesting, wonderful day of your life. You were born to be successful and outstanding at something. You have to discover your unique talents and then spend years developing them. You have chosen the legal field for a reason. My personal reasons center around the desire to help people. It is what makes me continue to be devoted to this profession. It is also what has made me want to be involved in leadership positions in my local legal assistant association in Longview, as well as in the Division. It is also what has made me be a teacher for legal assistants in the program at Kilgore College for, now, twelve years. We grow so much through working with our colleagues in these associations and to reach out to those just coming into this field, or trying to better themselves with education. I personally believe it helps us to grow in each of our personal careers, to better serve our clients and our attorneys.

Make each day complete, whole, fulfilling and exciting. Be sure you are having the time of your life, and are always achieving excellence in everything you do. Achieving excellence is not easy. It is a continuing process that requires commitment and unending hard work. Excellence, like success and happiness, is a journey, not a destination. You can attain excellence if:

•   You care more than others think is wise.
•   Risk more than others think is safe.
•   Dream more than others think is practical.
•   Expect more than others think is possible.

Achieving excellence means making a commitment to excellence. It means making a decision that you are going to be the best at what you do. Each of you have excellence—if not already achieved, then waiting to be achieved.

Remembering Nancy makes me recall what an influence she has been on so many people and organizations—even outside the legal field. You will know Nancy well after reading this magazine, devoted to her memory and influence on the Austin community as a whole. If your desire is to be successful or to make a positive impact on your world, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there is no success. The rules are simple:  As you develop your leadership skills, you develop relationships with others, which then turns into those persons giving you permission to lead even further. That then leads to becoming productive together, which in turn helps those people you have been working with develop their own leadership potential. This type of influence literally grows by stages, which could be referred to as “the 4 M’s”: modeling, motivating, mentoring, and multiplying. If you are the model of influence, you will motivate others to be mentored into also becoming models of influence, and thereby leaders and persons of influence automatically multiply. That is our goal!  Multiply our own leadership to others to become leaders—persons of influence. The impact you make in your life will largely be due to the influence you are on others. Nancy was one of those people. She touched lives with so much positive influence in so many areas.

Let me challenge you to take these ideas into consideration and become involved in your career even further. Get involved in your local associations, and get involved in the Division. One area we are always in great need is articles and quips for this magazine. In honor of Nancy, if you, your boss, or anyone you know would be willing to contribute articles, we would be honored to run them. We will be in the process of filling Nancy’s very large shoes by looking for a new editor, so if you have any interest, please volunteer!

So live—with enthusiasm, with influence, with loyalty, with excellence, and do not forget that in the long run it is not the years in your life, but the life in your years that counts!  In the words of Henry David Thoreau—“When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.”

TEXAS FORUM XIX:  “Career Diversity–Differing Roles for Today’s Paralegals”

by Michele Boerder, Legal Assistant, Hughes & Luce, L.L.P. 

On October 13, 2000, for the nineteenth year in a row,  “Texas Forum” was held at the Texas Law Center in Austin. This meeting is comprised of the  State Bar of Texas Legal Assistant Committee, the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistants Division of the State Bar of Texas, and educators from paralegal programs across the state. The Forum has been an annual event designed to bring together lawyers, legal assistants and paralegal educators in order to discuss various issues regarding legal assistants.

This year’s theme reflected the subject matter of three panels:

• “Non-Traditional Roles for the Paralegal”

• “Corporate Client Expectations”

• “Possible Parallels:  What Can We Learn from the Physician Assistants Profession?”

The first panel, “Non-Traditional Roles for the Paralegal” was moderated by  Jodi McMaster, Legal Assisting Program Coordinator at San Antonio College, and  included the showing of a video, “Legal Professionals at JCPenney” furnished by Pam Young, Legal Administrator at JCPenney. 

Panelists were:

Steve Allison, Clarke American
Martha Wallis, Citicorp
Yolanda King, Paralegals Plus
Celeste Brewer, JCPenney

The second panel,  “Corporate Client Expectations” was moderated by Michele Boerder, Legal Assistant with panelists: 

David Brown, Esq., Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
Wayne Rustin, Esq. and Celeste Brewer, JCPenney Co.
Dan Noonan, Esq., Dell Computer

The focus of this panel was what in-house counsel looks for in outside counsel paralegals, including: 

1)  Whether corporate clients request information about legal assistants  and what information they would like to have

2)  What roles legal assistants undertake and whether legal assistants are specified to perform certain tasks in lieu of lawyers on behalf of the corporation

and

3)  What are the benefits and disadvantages of the use of legal assistants by outside counsel?

The third segment, “Possible Parallels:  What Can We Learn from the Physician Assistants Profession?” was a presentation and question/answer with Dr. Michael Clark, Texas Tech Health Science Center, moderated by  Dr. Terry Hull, Southwest Texas State University. Dr. Clark described the development of the physician assistants profession, including certifications and educational requirements.

DISTRICT 2 NEWS

by Kim Cantu, CLA, District 2 Director, Dallas

On October 18, 2000, District 2 welcomed LAD President Javan Johnson, CLAS, to its celebration for Legal Assistants Day. The members were honored with a lunch provided by two supportive vendors, i.e, The Affiliates, the legal staffing division of Robert Half International, Inc.,  and Stanley, Rice & Associates, a LegalLink Company. The luncheon took place at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, a charitable orthopaedic children’s hospital in Dallas, Texas. Along with President Johnson speaking on Celebrating Your Day, S. Kristine Farmer, LAD President Elect, spoke on What Does the Future Hold, and she also read the Texas Legal Assistants Day Proclamation, a copy of which was given to each legal assistant attending the luncheon. Stephanie Hawkes, RP, spoke on LAU 2001 - Dallas, explaining how each member and non-member legal assistant can get involved with the Division and volunteering with the preparation of the Third Annual LAU event. The luncheon was a wonderful event for District 2.

On Tuesday, November 28, 2000, District 2 members met at one of Dallas’ charitable children’s hospitals, i.e., Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC), 2222 Welborn Street, Dallas, Texas, to decorate holiday trees located on the hospital campus. There are approximately 30 trees spread throughout the hospital and designated for various local professional organizations to come and decorate. The Legal Assistants Division of the State Bar of Texas decorated two (2) trees specifically set aside for its members to decorate. This decorating event is a tradition at TSRHC that has been taking place for the past 10 years.

District 2 decorated trees located in the Neurology Department and in the Department of Pediatric Development Disabilities. District 2 members had a great time preparing the LAD trees for the children and staff of TSRHC. After decorating, LAD members enjoyed dinner together on-site and prepared by hospital staff for those community organizations participating in the annual tree decorating event.

October 18, 2000

November 28, 2000. Above Left (left to right): Jonicile Miller, CLA, Penny Grawunder, Brenda Sandler, Linda Rushton, CLA, and Kim J. Cantu, CLA.

Above Right (left to right): front row: Brenda Sandler, Jonicilee Miller, CLA, and Claire DeVreeze. Back row: Penny Grawunder, Linda Rushton, CLA, and Sheila Rummery.

MEMBER NEWS

Ms. Marilyn K. Bates recently received the “Outstanding Legal Assistant of 2000” Award from the Houston City Attorney’s Office. There are approximately 50 legal assistants and over 100 attorneys employed by the City Attorney’s Office. Ms. Bates has over 20 years of experience working as a legal assistant. She has been employed by the City of Houston’s Legal Department for approximately four and a half years in the Business Litigation Division. Ms. Bates can be reached by email at mbates@lgl.ci.houston.tx.us.

YOU BELONG IN AUSTIN—JUNE 14-16, 2001—PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE LEGAL ASSISTANTS DIVISION ANNUAL MEETING 2001—LAD Annual Meeting Co-Chairs Kristina Singer and Krista Cover announces the Legal Assistants Division will hold its Annual Meeting on Friday, June 15, 2001 at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in Austin, TX at the Radisson Hotel, 111 E. Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 478-9611. Please mark you calendars and take advantage of low-cost CLE and networking opportunities with other legal assistants. There will be several CLE seminars sponsored by the Legal Assistants Division, as well as numerous seminars offered by the SBOT. The Legal Assistants Division and the Capital Area Paralegal Association will jointly sponsor a social for legal assistant attendees scheduled for Friday, June 15.

Early Bird registration packets are to be mailed in March 2001 by the State Bar of Texas. Look for printed registration information for the annual meeting and CLE events in the May 2001 issue of the Texas Bar Journal published by the State Bar of Texas. Look for more late breaking announcements regarding the upcoming Annual Meeting at www.texasbar.com and in the Texas Bar Journal. If you register by May 1, 2001, you only pay $20.00; after May 1, the fee is $50.00!!

LOOK FOR THIS IN YOUR MAILBOX!!!!  The 2001/2002 Membership Renewal forms will be mailed to the current members of the Legal Assistants Division in April. Don’t forget to send in your renewal dues on or before June 1, 2001.

NALA’s 26th Annual Convention
July 18-21, 2001 Reno Hilton
Reno, Nevada

The Convention Overview: NALA’s educational docket for this year’s convention introduces an array of new topics and delivers fresh presentations on familiar subjects. The educational programs meet the CLE requirements of the NALA Certifying Board for credit toward maintaining the CLA credential.

“The Institute,” a favorite educational program by U.S. Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Wolfe and Attorney Lisa Proszek, is back by popular demand with a brand new program on children’s disability practice. We are also introducing an “ Essential Skills Review,” a condensed CLA Reveiw Course that should appeal to everyone wanting to keep their skills sharp and shiny. For more information, please visit NALA’s web site at: www.NALA.org.

NFPA’s 2001 Spring Convention
April 19–22, 2001
Georgetown University Conference Center
Washington, DC

LAU 2001—Dallas