i

The Smith Law Firm

Receptionist
Training and Reference Manual
By: Sarah-Danielle Axtell









The Smith Law Firm Training and Reference Manual
Sarah-Danielle Axtell
August 7, 2014
TECM 2700.001
Prof. Monica Ng


ii Smith Law FirmTraining & Reference Manual










Table of Contents
Table of Contents iii
Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................ iii
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... vii
Incoming Documentation & Filing ..................................................................................... 3
Mail .................................................................................................................................. 3
Fax .................................................................................................................................... 3
Email ................................................................................................................................ 3
Filing to Clients Files ....................................................................................................... 4
Scanning Documents to the Office Hard-drive ............................................................... 4
New Client File................................................................................................................. 4
Organization of Client Files ............................................................................................. 5
Hard-drive .................................................................................................................... 5
Paper file ...................................................................................................................... 5
Updating the Calendar ........................................................................................................ 9
Our Calendar Database.................................................................................................... 9
Reading and Writing Legal Documents ............................................................................ 13
Contract of Representation ........................................................................................... 13
Letter of Representation ................................................................................................ 13
Attorney Bonds .............................................................................................................. 13
Attorney Plea Docket Notices ........................................................................................ 14
Pre-Trial Notices ............................................................................................................ 14
Trials .............................................................................................................................. 15
Deferred Disposition Notices ........................................................................................ 15
Communication Procedures .............................................................................................. 21
iv Smith Law FirmTraining & Reference Manual
Telephonic Protocol ....................................................................................................... 21
Blind Call Transfer ..................................................................................................... 21
Communication with the Client .................................................................................... 22
Court Dates ................................................................................................................ 22
Disposition Offers ...................................................................................................... 23
Communication with the Court ..................................................................................... 24
Fees & QuickBooks ............................................................................................................ 27
Ticket Fees ..................................................................................................................... 27
QuickBooks .................................................................................................................... 27
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 31
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers ........................................................................... 35
Index .................................................................................................................................. 37





Introduction
Introduction vii
Introduction
The Smith Law Firm welcomes you to our team, we are glad to have you as a part of our
team. Here at the Smith Law Firm, we are dedicated to providing a personalized
approach with every client. Also, we are highly dedicated to our employees, without you,
the Smith Law Firm would cease to exist.
Please refer to this manual often to answer any questions related to your daily duties.
Such as:

Professionally communicate between the firm and the client
Professionally communicate between the firm and the courts
The proper way to write an Attorney Bond to send to the courts
The proper way to write a Letter of Representation to the courts
The proper way to write a contract of representation to the clients
How to create a new client file
How to organize documents in clients files
Telephone communication protocol
Office guidelines for communicating between other employees
How to make blind telephone call transfers to other employees
How to order Open Records Request from the courts
Office fees and the exceptions to those fees
How to create new client folders in the company hard drive
How to create new clients in QuickBooks
How to run credit card payments in QuickBooks
How to scan documents to the offices hard drive
How to input Attorney Plea Docket court times into the calendar
How to properly file client folders in the offices organization system
When the client needs to know about an upcoming court date and when he/she
does not
We are excited that you have chosen to become a part of our team, and cannot wait to
work with you!

Incoming Documentation
Incoming Documentation & Filing 3
Incoming Documentation & Filing

It is extremely important that every document delivered to our office is handled in the
proper manner.

Mail
The office mail is delivered daily at the office complexs mail center. You will need to
sign out a key from the lead counsel to go collect the mail. Once you have collected the
mail, immediately return the key to lead counsel. Listed below is the proper procedure
for handling incoming mail:
1. Stamped each piece of mail received and date it.
2. Scan each document to the office hard-drive (see Scanning Documents to the
Office Hard-Drive section)
3. Sorted documentation by type
a. Court Settings
i. Attorney Plea Dockets
ii. Pre-Trials
iii. Trials
b. Signed documents from clients
c. Deferral Disposition Plea Offers
d. Deferred Disposition
4. Enter all court settings into the online office calendar (see Calendar chapter)
5. Pull client files from filing system and attach documents concerning that client to
the front of the file and deposit into the appropriate attorneys inbox.



Fax
The procedure for incoming faxes is identical to the procedure for mail. Refer to the
Mail section to learn the proper methods for incoming faxes.

Email
Very few courts communicate important court proceedings via email, however, there are
a few exceptions. In the event that a court does email court proceedings, refer to the
Mail section to learn the proper handling procedures. However, clients often find it
easier to email documentation to the office this way due to convenience. It is much
4
simpler to e-sign documents and return them via email rather than having to find an
available printer, envelope, stamp, etc.

Filing to Clients Files
The offices filing system is divided into two counterparts: ticket clients and criminal
case clients. Criminal cases are filed into the top drawer of the filing cabinet and ticket
clients are filed into the bottom drawer. They are arranged from A-Z.

Scanning Documents to the Office Hard-drive
The scanner is located in the paralegals office, to scan a document to a client file place
all of the documents to be scanned for that client into the tray of the scanner. From the
menu, select:
1. Scan
2. File
3. PC
4. Receptionist
The scanned documents will appear on your computers desktop. Follow the next steps
to save it to the clients folder:
Right-click on the file
Click Cut,
Select the offices hard-drive (should appear on the left as Smith Firm)
Select Clients
Select the clients folder from the list that appears (organized Last Name, First
Name)
Right-click and select Paste.

New Client File
To create a new client folder for a new client, simply follow the following steps:
Control Panel
Select the offices hard-drive from the left column
Select Clients
Right-click and select New Folder
Input the clients name (Last Name, First Name)

Incoming Documentation & Filing 5
Organization of Client Files
Hard-drive
When saving new documents to the office hard-drive, it is important to label each
document to make it easy to navigate and find necessary documents.
It should be saved in the following manner:
1. Name of Document (Ie: APD)
2. Court Name
3. Citation/cause/case/docket number.


Paper file
In the clients paper file, it is very simple to organize:
Communication to/from the client is filed on the left of the folder
o Make sure that the contact information page is on top
Communication to/from the client is filed chronologically (most recent on top)
on the right side of the folder








Updating the Calendar
Updating the Calendar 9
Updating the Calendar
In a law office, nothing is more important than ensuring that the calendar is always up
to date and mistake free. Our attorneys rely on the calendar to ensure that they appear
at all of the scheduled court dates. County courts often send several notices (via mail,
fax, or email) of attorney plea dockets, pre-trials, trials, bench trial hearings, etc but
there are a few that only send one notice. It is very important that every notice that is
received is immediately entered into the attorney calendar.

Our Calendar Database
This office uses the Google Calendar database. This calendar makes it very easy for all of
the employees to have access to the calendar, because it stores information on the cloud
and not a physical hard-drive. To login, simply go to http://google.com/calendar, and
enter in login info that you were given upon hire. After login, follow the steps listed
below:
1. Click Create Event
2. In the subject field type one of the following:
o APD (Attorney Plea Docket)
o PT (Pre-Trial)
o Trial
After entering one of the above specified abbreviations, state which
court the setting will be held at, and the number of clients that the
firm will be representing in that court.
3. Enter the date specified on the document
4. Enter the time specified on the document
5. In the comments section, type the clients name, citation/case/cause/docket
number and any other notes pertaining to the case
6. Click Save
After entering all of the court dates, go through the entire stack again and double-check
each setting. It is very important that each setting is correctly entered into the calendar
every time. If an attorney misses a court setting more than once, the judge may submit a
motion to have the attorney disbarred. There is no room for error concerning court
setting dates.



Reading and Writing Legal Documents

Reading Legal Documents 13
Reading and Writing Legal Documents
As a law office receptionist, you will encounter multiple types of legal documents daily.
This guide will assist you in determining the difference between APD (Attorney Plea
Docket) notices, PT (Pre-Trial) notices, Trial notices, deferred disposition offers,
attorney bonds, and deferral disposition notices.

Contract of Representation
Before we can legally do anything for our new client, we must have a signed contract of
representation. This is a binding document between our firm and the client and lays out
the terms of representation. To fill out the contract simply go to the office template,
located at:
1. Smith Law Firm hard-drive
2. Templates
3. Contract of Representation
4. Input the clients name, all of the offenses that we are representing him/her for,
and the location (city and county) that the client was cited in.
After the client signs it, save a copy to the clients file in the hard-drive and paper file.

Letter of Representation
After being retained by our client, we must send the court a letter of representation
(LOR) to place Mr. Smith as the attorney on record. Fortunately, we have templates that
make it very simple to send out multiple letters easily. To locate the template go to:
1. Smith Firm hard-drive
2. Templates
3. LOR
4. Input the clients info, court info, and citation info. Save a copy to the clients file
and then fax and mail it to the court.

Attorney Bonds
When our client retains our office, and the client has a warrant out for his or her arrest
we must send attorney bonds (ABs) to the court to lift the warrant. First, call the court
and ask how much the bonds are and ensure that we know of all of the
citations/warrants that that court has against our client. This is important because we
cannot represent a client on only a portion of the citations/warrants that the client has
in one court. We have to represent the client on all of his/her citations/warrants in that
14
particular court. This is because we are representing that client at that court, and
therefore must represent him/her on all offenses.
To fill out the template go to:
1. Smith Law Firm hard-drive
2. Templates
3. ABs
4. Simply fill out all of the info as was done for the LOR and the amount of the
bond that you received from the court clerk.
Important: An AB must be sent for each offense.

Attorney Plea Docket Notices
In this office, the most common court setting that our attorneys attend are Attorney Plea
Dockets. Attorney Plea Dockets are hearings in which your attorney appears in the
clients place (usually the client is not required to appear), and enters a plea of guilty, not
guilty, or nolo contendere (no contest) on the clients behalf. Of course dockets occur in
both state and federal courts, however, this office mainly deals with state courts. Ie:
Justice of the Peace Courts, Municipal Courts, and County Courts. On page 16 there is
an APD sample, which you can use as a reference. Please note that the sample does not
state that the client needs to appear in court. If the court does require that the client
does need to appear, it will state it in the following manner, Your client must appear in
court on the previously mentioned date. If your client does not appear, a warrant may be
issued for his/her arrest. If the notice states that the client does need to attend, the
client will need to be informed. See Court Dates.
When entering notices such as this into the calendar, note that the APD is set at the
Denton Municipal Court, on September 8, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. This is the information that
you will need to enter into the calendar as well as the client name and
citation/cause/case/docket number. (See Updating the Calendar) After entering the
setting into the calendar, you will need to send a notice to the client of the court date.
See Court Dates for instructions.

Pre-Trial Notices
Pre-Trial Notices are set before the case goes to trial, in which the prosecutor and the
counsellor enter their motions for the case. In Pre-Trial Notices from the court, it will
look almost exactly the same as the APD sample, the notice will just say Pre-Trial
setting instead of attorney docket setting. Pre-Trial notices should be handled in the
same manner as previously stated in the Attorney Plea Docket Notices section.

Reading Legal Documents 15
Trials
Trials are the final step in the judicial process. In this setting, the prosecutor and the
counsellor enter their final motions and evidences for the case, and the judge issues a
decree. See Attorney Plea Docket Notices for instructions on how to enter this notice
into the calendar.

Deferred Disposition Notices
Deferred Disposition notices are the terms of probation for clients upon
recommendation of the prosecutor. If the period of probation is carried out, then the
case will be dismissed. There is a sample page located on page 17.
16
Denton Municipal Court
City Hall East
601 E. Hickory St., Suite D
Denton, Texas 76205
Phone: (940) 349-8331
Fax: (940) 349-8325

August 3, 2014

John M. Smith, P.C.
1233 Main Street
Denton, TX 76201

Re: John Doe, D.O.B. 01/17/1985
Citation #XXXXXXXXXX

Dear Mr. Smith,

Please be advised that the above referenced case has been set for attorney docket on
September 8, 2014 at 8:00 a.m.

Please note that if you do not appear, a failure to appear will be filed against you and a
warrant for your clients arrest may be issued.

Sincerely,


Jane Smith
Docket Clerk












CC: John Doe via First Class Mail

Reading Legal Documents 17
Denton Municipal Court
City Hall East
601 E. Hickory St., Suite D
Denton, Texas 76205
Phone: (940) 349-8331
Fax: (940) 349-8325

August 4, 2014

John M. Smith, P.C.
1233 Main Street
Denton, TX 76201

Re: John Doe, D.O.B. 01/17/1985
Citation #XXXXXXXXXX
Dear Mr. Smith,
Please be advised of the following that pertains to the above referenced case(s). The
defendant must complete the following terms of deferred disposition:
1. Pay the deferral fine of $210.00 on or before November 4, 2014;
2. Not receive another citation against the law in the state of Texas for 90 days;
3. Complete a Drivers Safety Course and submit the certificate to the court on or
before November 4, 2014.
Once all of the preceding is completed the citation will be dismissed. Please note that if the
defendant does not complete all of the previously stated terms, further fines will be
assessed and a conviction may be placed on your clients record.

Sincerely,

Debra Brown
Denton County Prosecutor
DB/sda


CC: John Doe via First Class Mail

Communication Procedures

Communication Procedures 21
Communication Procedures
In any place of business, communication is extremely important. This is especially true
in a law office, a law office cannot thrive without communication. In this section, we will
cover the procedures for expected communication with the court, client, and other
employees.

Telephonic Protocol
There is a certain protocol that should be carried out concerning telephone
conversations, it should be professional as well as intelligent. When answering an
incoming phone call, follow the below listed steps:
Good morning/afternoon/evening Law Office, this is ----- how may I help you?
If the caller asks to speak to a certain employee:
May I ask who is calling?
What is this concerning?
Please Hold.
When a caller asks to speak to a certain employee, you need to first verify that they are
available to take a phone call. Instead of getting up and walking to their office, you may
call their desk:
Press New Call
Dial their office extension ie:105
Inform them of who is calling and what they are calling about
If the employee is not available to take the phone call, inform the caller that they are
unavailable and ask if they would like to leave a message/phone number or if there is
anything that you can help them with.
If the employee verifies that they are available to talk to them, you will need to transfer
the call to their office via blind call transfer.
Blind Call Transfer
Make sure that the call that you are transferring is highlighted in your telephone screen
(you can move the selection by using the arrow keys on the right), and press:
1. Transfer
2. Blind
3. Enter their office extension
4. Send
22

Communication with the Client
There are many times throughout the case, when it is necessary to communicate the
status of the case, disposition notices, and other important aspects of the case to the
client.

Court Dates
When our office receives notices from the court, after entering the date into the calendar
and filing it into the clients file, it is time to send a notice to the client of the date.
Notices from the court are very clear when the clients presence is needed and when it is
not. However, regardless of whether the client must appear or not, the client must
always be notified. If the client does not need to appear, an email will suffice. The
following is a good example:
Dear Mr. Doe,
Please be advised that the case in Denton Municipal Court, Citation
#XXXXXXXX, has been set for September 26, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
You do not need to appear.
Mr. Smith will appear on your behalf and negotiate for the most favorable
outcome.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Title
If the client does need to appear, a formal letter must be sent. There is a template saved
for sending notifications to the client. To find the template go to the company hard-
drive and click:
1. Smith Law Firm
2. Templates
3. Court Notice to Client
4. Input into the blanks
a. Clients name
b. D.O.B. (date of birth)
c. Name of the court
d. Time of the court setting.
Communication Procedures 23

Disposition Offers
Occasionally, the prosecutor will send an offer to our office concerning our clients case.
It is usually an offer for deferred disposition. Which is basically probation for whatever
misdemeanor that the client is charged with. The offers are usually quite easy to read
and self-explanatory. When we receive an offer, the client needs to be informed and
decide whether or not he/she wants to accept the offer. To send a letter of notification
click:
1. Smith Law Firm
2. Templates
3. Disposition Offer
4. Input into the blanks
a. Clients info (name, address, etc)
b. Details about the offer


The disposition notice should look like the following:
Dear Mr. Doe,
Enclosed please find the disposition offer that this office received from the court.
The prosecutor has made a deferred disposition offer. The offer is as follows:
1. Pay the fine of $256.00 on or before September 26, 2014;
2. Not receive an additional citation during the 90 day deferral period
(ends November 26, 2014);
3. Complete a Drivers Safety Course and submit the certificate to the
court before November 26, 2014.
Once all of the preceding has been completed the citation will be dismissed.
If you want to accept this offer, please submit a $256.00 money order
made payable to the Denton Municipal Court and a copy of your
insurance and valid drivers license to our office before September 26,
2014.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Title
24




Communication with the Court

All that is remaining to cover with communication with the court (it was mainly covered
in Reading and Writing Legal Documents), is Open Records Request (ORR).
Depending on the court, this is usually a fairly easy procedure. Simply go to the courts
website, click Police Department, and click Records Request. On some websites, the
Records Request link is not easily found, but most court sites have a search engine
embedded into their webpage. Simply search open records request and it should be in
the results. The link should bring up a form, which you simply fill out with the client
information, offense information, location of the offense, date of the offense, and the
type of report that you are requesting. The attorney will inform you of what type of
report that is necessary. The court will then mail or email the information.









Fees & QuickBooks
Fees & QuickBooks 27
Fees & QuickBooks
For citations, we generally cover citations received in Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and
Collin counties. However, we do represent clients that have received citations in other
counties (has to be in Texas), but the fee is more expensive.
For all other clients (non-ticket clients), it is solely at the discretion of the attorney.
He/she will decide how much to charge the client.

Ticket Fees
Our fees are as follows for ticket citations in Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and Collin
counties:
$75.00 per offense
If the citations are in warrant, the fee is $100.00 per offense.
If the citation was received outside of our four counties, the fees are as follows:
$200.00 per offense
If the citations are in warrant, the fee is $300.00 per offense.
Occasionally, if a client has a lot of citations that he/she is retaining us for, the attorney
will offer the client a good deal.
Once we have a signed contract of representation (see Contract of Representation), we
may then charge the client for our services. If the client pays with cash or a personal
check, write the client a receipt and make a note of the payment in his/her personal file.
If the client chooses to pay via credit card, we use QuickBooks to run the cards.



QuickBooks
First, login to the office QuickBooks account using the information the lead attorney
gave you upon hire. Then, follow these next steps:
1. Click Clients;
2. Search for the clients name;
If it is a new client, click New Client and fill out the clients personal information and
credit card information.
28
3. From the drop-down box in the Item column, choose what the
payment is for;
4. In the Description, type the courts name, citation number, and what
the citation was for;
5. Make sure that credit card info is correct;
6. Click Save & Send;
7. There will be an option to save a copy of the receipt, save it to the
clients folder and label it according to the receipt number.






Conclusion
Conclusion 31
Conclusion
We hope that this manual will assist you in transitioning into this new position easily,
and that it has answered most of your questions. Of course, if there are any area in this
manual that are not thoroughly explained, please do not hesitate to ask any senior
employees.
We hope that you enjoy working with us here at the Smith Law Firm, we dont view our
employees as only employees but as family.

Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
FAQs 35
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Q: Do I have to use the Google Calendar database when updating the calendar?
A: Yes, this is the only calendar that this office utilizes.

Q: Is there a deadline for when the contract of representation is due?
A: No, it is up to the clients discretion. However, remember we must have a signed contract on
file before a LOR can be sent to the court.

Q: What if someone calls for an employee is out of the office?
A: Inform the caller that the employee is out of the office and ask if there is anything that you
can help with and take a number for the employee to return the call.

Q: Are family members allowed to call the law firm to discuss a case?
A: Only if the client is a minor and the family member calling is his/her parents or guardians.

Q: What is the firms email address?
A: admin@thesmithfirm.com

Q: What is the firms fax number?
A: 817-069-0000

Q: How many citations does client need to have to get a discount on the fees?
A: More than 4.

Q: Is there a fee if the clients payment is returned (check or credit card)?
A: Only the fee that our bank charges us ($35.00).

Q: What a payment is submitted through QuickBooks with incorrect info?
A: It depends on what info was incorrect, but, inform the head attorney of the mistake and
follow whatever direction he/she gives you.


Index
Index 37
Index
APD, 5, 9, 13, 14
Attorney Bonds, iii, 13
Attorney Plea Docket Notices, iv, 14, 15
Attorney Plea Dockets, 3, 14
blind call transfer, 25
Calendar, iii, 3, 9, 14
Communication Procedures, iv, 25
Contract of Representation, iii, 13, 29
court dates, 9
credit card, v, 29, 30
Deferral Disposition, 3
Disposition, iv, 3, 15, 27
Email, iii, 4
Filing, iii, 3, 4
Hard-drive, iii, 4, 5
Letter of Representation, iii, v, 13
New Client, iii, 4, 30
Open Records Request, v, 28
ORR, 28
phone call,, 25
Pre-Trial, 14
PT, 9, 13
Scanning, iii, 3, 4
Trial, iv, 9, 13, 14