Paralegal or Legal Secretary

TERRY M. NORRIS
4255 Foote Street, NE, Apt. 1
Washington, D.C.  20019
cell:  (202) 308-9720
terrymnorris@gmail.com

SOFTWARE SKILLS

PCs:	MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect (all versions), Outlook and Lotus Notes
Legal:	PC Docs, iManage, Compare Rite, MacPac, Summation, LexisNexis, WestLaw and CM/ECF
IP:		PatentPro, IP-Discovery, PATTSY, PatenTrusts, and IP Document Assembly System (IPDAS)
Accounting:	Time Matters, TimeSlips, QuickBooks, PeachTree, Everest, TaxPro and BNA

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

One Church One Family, Washington, D.C.
July 2009 to Present

Executive/Personal Assistant:  Provided articulate communications for a Catholic Priest and prepared all of his travel arrangements, calendar management, expense reports, presentations to his clients’ staging events.  Maintained his personal recordkeeping and all miscellaneous tasks, especially giving detailed attention to his medical appointments, financial, legal and confidential documentations, including his investment stock portfolio including his direct client services, while keeping his files highly organized in a well kept database system.

Fairfax Commissioner of Accounts, Fairfax, Virginia
November 2008 to June 2009

Probate Auditor:  Audited annual accounting reports for decedents, guardianships, trusts for minors and incapacitated adults accordingly to the Code of Virginia rules; reviewed decedent’s Will then applied commissioner policies insuring all government policies were met and Decedent’s wishes were granted; audited the accountings while viewing the fiduciary’s bank statements making sure taxes, corporate claims, bills, and beneficiaries were paid and if any discrepancies with the annual accounting for that particular year drafted a letter notifying the fiduciary of what actions needed to be corrected; and viewed all personal information including Decedent’s stock market report statements insuring date of death values.

Law Offices of Jennifer Schlussler, P.A., Miami, Florida
June 2004 to October 2008

Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts and Probate Litigation Legal Secretary/Paralegal:  Estate Planning documents:  Initiated domestic and international estate planning documents such as: the Last Will and Testament, Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, Declaration of a Preneed Guardian, Designation of Health Care Surrogate, Funeral Instructions, and Separate Writing or Codicil, and prepared several types of Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts documents.  Probate documents:  Petition for Administration, Letters of Administration, Inventories, Accountings or Waivers, and Order of Discharge, including preparing the decedent’s and estate’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax returns (IRS 706, 709 and 1041); and downloaded probate forms from the Internet and from previous similar cases of other clients.  Litigation duties:  Researched case law using WestLaw, LexisNexis, and/or FastCase research tools; performed trial data entry using Concordance, Summation and LAW 5.0 databases; kept a computerized calendaring system for trial document preparation for due dates using Time Matters, Outlook and the attorney’s Blackberry; worked on numerous files simultaneously while calendaring every case and filing every document in advance to meet every deadline; called Judge’s Judicial assistant to learn how each Judge like their courtroom matters handled; assisted attorneys with pleadings, discovery, motion and trial practice; cataloged documents and papers by bate stamping and then put them in the computerized management file; assisted attorneys in preparation of court documents; assisted case attorneys in preparation and service of e-Discovery; notified and served subpoenas on all witnesses, then contact the process servers; coordinated depositions; assisted attorneys in preparation and submission of motion and trial exhibits; assisted attorneys at trial; cited, checked statutes and shepardize legal authorities and citations; reviewed final court document prior to filing; assisted attorneys in preparation of physical and graphic evidence; prepared hearing/trial notebooks for oral arguments; call the Judge’s chambers to check the Judge’s calendar to ensure court will be in session; coordinated filing, reviewed all dates calendared by the computerized database system for accuracy, taking into account the specific rules of the court; discussed any discrepancies with designated attorney; maintained a timesheet; and typed transcription tapes word for word.

H&R Block, Miami, Florida
October 2006 to April 2008 (only during tax season)

Professional Tax Preparer:  Prepared individual 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax returns using H&R Block’s tax software. Prepared small business IRS tax returns using Schedule C. Prepared farm owners IRS tax returns using Schedule F. Passed the course for Generation-Skipping Tax (decedent’s 706 and 1041 IRS tax returns); and attended all necessary classes for each year tax update lessons.

A+ Legal Staffing, Washington, DC
February 1996 to May 2004

Freelance Paralegal / Legal Secretary / Word Processor:  Positions consisted of floating throughout these departments: Antitrust and Trade Regulations, Corporate, Defense Litigation for Personal Injury, E-Commerce, Government Contracts, International Trade, Patent Prosecution, Real Estate and Tax. Opened new client file matters; prepared the clients’ billing and closed the clients’ files.  Created and revised addendum, articles, certifications, contracts, interrogatories, depositions, leases, pleadings and motions then displayed them as red or black-line documents from the Compare Rite application. Marked the statutes for Table of Contents (ToC) and Table of Authorities (ToA). Other positions included being a word processor and a help-desk analyst walking the floor to assist attorneys and secretaries with Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, WordPerfect and Lotus Notes.  Also performed visual basic edits, HTML, FrontPage and JAVA Script programming changes for their websites.

Baptist Senior Adult Ministries, Washington, DC
June 1995 to February 1996

Human Resources (HR) Executive Assistant:  Focused on processing employee and administration benefit information; researched health, dental insurance from agents varying levels for HR and operational projects; extensive data entry and data organization, telephone contact with vendors; involved in marketing research, data collection, administrative support as a secondary ventures; and provided documentation development.

EDUCATION

University of Miami, Miami, Florida
Paralegal Certificate

Washington School for Secretaries, Washington, DC
Executive Secretary Certificate

MEMBERSHIP ASSOCIATION

Association of Intellectual Property Paralegals (AOIPP), January 2004
South Florida Paralegal Association (SFPA), January 2004