Brevard Paralegal Association
The Paralegal Pipeline
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
President’s Message
Speaker Bio
PAF News
Florida Register Paralegal
BCC Paralegal Program
Community Service
2009-10 Board Listing
Sponsors 6-7
Article “What Do Attorneys Wish
Their Paralegal Knew?” 8-9
Attachments 10 - 13
Columbus Day
October 11th
President’s Message
1 summer brings with it a burst of
2
2 to it as "Broken Arrow". I'm not
2 but in my little world it means
3 and the next project or task will
3
4 It's October already. Fall is
my favorite time of year, or
"Autumn" if you prefer. I hail
from the north (the Great
White North to be precise)
and fall brings with it
changing colors of leaves
and cooler weather. Not so
much in Florida, but
Starbucks does start selling
its Pumpkin Spice Latte so if
we missed it on the
calendar, we know fall has
arrived by the aroma as you
pass the coffee retailer. It's
also not 90 degrees any
more. Miraculously, it was
73 degrees when I walked
outside this morning.
Positively brisk! Almost
makes me want to wear a
sweater. That being said, I
will force myself into long
sleeves near the end of the
month to sport at least one
of the Halloween shirts I
own, no matter what the
temperature.
The kids have been back in
school for almost two
months and everyone's back
into their regular routines
after the summer. For
whatever reason, the end of
activity to my office, and things
are busier than ever. We refer
sure who coined this phrase,
you're over-loaded with work
be the straw that breaks the
camel's (or in this case, the
paralegal's) back (note to self,
do not compare yourself to a
camel in future editorials). I
thought a "Broken Arrow" was
a nuclear accident, but for
some reason, it means you've
reached workload capacity and
then some. I Googled it and it's
also a Neil Young song
(another Canadian - have to
get those plugs in whenever I
can) and an Academy Award
winning movie. Nothing to do
with too much work. Anyhow,
whenever your workload seems
too much, tell your boss and
co-workers that you're at
Broken Arrow status and see
what happens. It doesn't really
help me to announce it, but I do
get some sympathetic looks
from the higher-ups.
Where was I? Fall. Happy that
it's here. Another month closer
to the end of hurricane season
and closer to the holidays. And
October is Breast Cancer
Awareness month, something
close to my heart, personally. I
am sure that each one of us
can tell a story about how our
lives, or the life of a friend or
loved one has been touched by
this terrible disease. Our
Community Service Event this
October 2010
month is to support Making
Strides for Breast Cancer. I
am walking with a team on
October 23rd at The
Avenues in Viera and
encourage you to support
this worthy cause. Or just
go completely crazy! Join
my team and walk with me!
Toni-Marie has more details
later in this edition.
Together we can make a
world with less cancer and
more birthdays!
Bob Moletteire of Moletteire
& Torpy is our guest
speaker for our October
meeting. Don't miss this
chance to hear last year's
Brevard's Next Big
Thing treat us with his PI
war stories!
Remember, we are always
looking for articles for The
Pipeline. Please let myself
or Cathie Cummings know if
you want to submit an
article, place an ad or have
something interesting to
report.
Looking forward to seeing
th
you on the 14 .
Regards,
Kim
 Page 2 The Paralegal Pipeline

Speaker’s Bio
PAF, Inc. News
www.pafinc.org
The PAF 2010 Fall Seminar will be held Saturday, October 16, 2010
at the Hyatt Regency - Coconut Point in Bonita Springs!
Flyer attached at end of newsletter

Big Bend – Chapter Meeting 10/14/10, 12:00 p.m., Capital City Country Club, 1601 Golf
Terrace Dr., Tallahassee, Topic “Expert Witnesses” presented by Speaker: Elizabeth W.
Neiberger, Esquire
Robert Moletteire
Moletteire & Torpy Boca Raton – Chapter Monthly Luncheon, 10/14/10, 12:00 p.m., Bogart’s Bar and Grille,
Cinemark 20, 3200 Airport Road, Boca Raton, Topic “Pet Law” presented by Steven Logan,
Esquire
Robert Moletteire is the
managing partner of Moletteire
and Torpy Law Firm, a personal Broward – Chapter Dinner Meeting, 11/3/10, Coral Ridge Yacht Club 2800 Yacht Club
injury law firm, which Bob Boulevard Fort Lauderdale, Topic TBD
started with his partner Andy
Graham in 1995. Bob was born Palm Beach – Chapter Dinner Meeting, 10/13/10, Crown Plaza Hotel, 1601 Belvedere Road,
September 5, 1957 in West Palm Beach, Topic “Domestic Violence: What It Is and How to Prevent It” presented by
Wilmington, DE. Bob obtained a Laura Burkhart, Esquire
B.A. in Political Science from
the University of Central Florida
in 1979. Bob had the distinction Pinellas – Dinner Meeting/Seminar, 10/12/10, Antonio's Pasta Grill 2755 Ulmerton Road,
of being the youngest elected Clearwater, Topic TBD
member of the Edgewood City
Council. The City of Edgewood Southwest Florida – Chapter Dinner meeting, 10/21/10, Double Tree Guest Suites, 12200
nd
is located in south Orange Tamiani Trail N, 2 Floor, Naples, Topic “Employment Law 101” presented by Amy Garrard,
County. He was elected to the Esquire
City Council in 1977 and served
one two year term, serving as Suncoast – Chapter Dinner Meeting, 10/11/10, Marina’s Jack in the Bay Room, Sarasota,
the President of the Council in Topic “The Devil is in the Details: Maximizing the Paralegal’s Role in the Litigation Process”
his second year. Bob later presented by Mary Levine, Esquire
earned his Doctor of
Jurisprudence from the
Cumberland School of Law in Treasure Coast – Chapter Meeting, 10/21/10, 6:30 p.m., Cobbs Landing 200 North Indian
1983. He worked as an River Drive, Fort Pierce, Topic “Immigration Law” presented by Luciana C. Melo, Esquire
Assistant Public Defender in the
18th Judicial Circuit in Brevard
County. In 1984, Bob joined a
private law firm as a criminal
lawyer as well as a family
lawyer. In 1986, Bob devoted
100% of his practice
Florida Registered Paralegal
representing victims of
negligence in personal injury You are now able to post continuing legal education
and wrongful death matters.
Bob became a Board Certified credits on-line. Go to www.floridabar.org/frp for
Civil Trial Lawyer in 1990. Bob instructions on how to post your credits. The
is married and has two sons.
His time away from the office is
instructions will take you to the page where you can
spent with activities that involve post your credits. After your credits have been
his family which includes Boy
Scouts and the music ministry
posted, you can review your CLE history
at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic
Church. Bob is actively involved
in the Brevard County
community, serving many
organizations for “at risk”
children.
 The Paralegal Pipeline Page 3

Community Service
BPA is Celebrating
Toni-Marie D’Alessandro, CP, FCP, FRP
National
its 20th
Anniversary!! Boss Day
Hope starts
BPA is celebrating its 20th
anniversary this year! We with BPA. October 16th
will be honoring those who
played an integral part in Making Strides Against October
forming our local paralegal Breast Cancer is the
association at our Holiday American Cancer
CLE/Networking
Social in December. If you Society's premier event to Meeting
have any pictures, raise awareness and
information, or stories to funds to fight breast SUNTREE COUNTRY
cancer. Making Strides is CLUB
tell that we can include in
this celebration, please your opportunity to honor
breast cancer survivors, One Country Club Drive
email Nicole Dooley at Melbourne, FL 32940
educate women about
Nicole@n-klaw.com. When: Thursday, October
breast cancer prevention 14, 2010, 6:00PM
and early detection, and
Brevard Community raise funds and Distinguished Guest:
College awareness to help Robert Moletteire
Paralegal Program. achieve a day when no
one will have to hear the Topic: PI War Stories and
words “You have breast How Paralegals Helped
Roma Molinaro, CP, FCP, FRP,
MLA cancer.”
Members $19.00
Non-Members $21.00
When you support Making Pay at the door on day of
Strides, you are helping event.
the Society seek better
ways to prevent, detect, Note: A member may attend
and treat breast cancer,
as well as provide help
the meeting without dinner for
a charge of $7.00. Non-
October
and hope to people facing
the disease.
Members may attend one (1)
meeting without dinner with Birthdays
no charge. Thereafter, a
The Technical Advisory charge of $7.00 per meeting
Committee for the Every dollar you provide Silvia Cowan
without dinner will be
Paralegal Program has to the American Cancer assessed.
scheduled its annual Society goes toward Kim Dexter
seminar for Saturday, eliminating cancer as a RSVP: Please contact Sabine
February 5, 2011 at major health concern. Martel for entree selection Joann L. Harris
Brevard Community Your donation is essential and any additional
College, Melbourne information at:
to supporting our mission,
bpameetings@yahoo.com.
Trudy A. Howard
campus. For information which fights cancer on
regarding topics and four fronts: research,
registrations, watch this Lee Ann Kateb
education, advocacy, and
monthly column or contact service.
Roma at
rmolinaro@cfl.rr.com. TAC
Please see the flyer at the
Committee members:
Roma Molinaro, CP, FCP, end of the newsletter.
FRP, chair, Maureen
Martens, CP, FRP, Kim
Dexter, ACP, FRP, Linda
Ghirardelli, ACP, Alayne
Bowes, CP, FRP, and
Roberta Reaume, CP, FCP,
FRP.
 Page 4
Newsletter
Advertising
Half Page $100/Year
Or $55/6 months
Business Card $50/Year
Or $30/6 months
Special rates available
for one-time ads
Submit business card or ad
artwork, preferably in .jpg
or .bmp format to Kimberly.
Nowakowski@
Health-First.Org or send it
to:
Kim Nowakowski
c/o Health First, Inc.
6540 US Hwy 1
Rockledge FL 32955
The Paralegal Pipeline
advertising reaches people
throughout Florida. The
publication’s revenue
supports scholarships and
various community service
projects, which enables
your costs associated to
advertising here to be tax
deductible.
Please make your check
payable to Brevard
Paralegal Association.
Thank you.
Meeting Policy
Reminder
Pursuant to Internal
Revenue Code Section
501(c)(6) if you RSVP for a
dinner and do not attend
the meeting, you will be
sent an invoice for the
cost of the dinner.
2010-11 BPA Board of Directors & Committee Chairs
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Kim Nowakowski, RP, FRP
kimberly.nowakowski@ health-
first.org
Vice President
Tracy A. King
tracyking@cfl.rr.com
Treasurer
Patricia Bieringer
pbieringer@cfl.rr.com
Secretary
Silvia Cowan
silvinha@cfl.rr.com
Director-at-Large
Cathleen M. Cummings,
FRP
cmcmlb@bellsouth.net
Immediate Past President
Debra A. Clarke, CP, FCP,
FRP
debra.clarke7@yahoo.com
Parliamentarian
Toni-Marie D’Alessandro,
CP, FCP, FRP
tdalessandro@gray-
robinson.com
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Banquet
Nicole Dooley, CP, FRP
Dooley_nicole@hotmail.com
Budget
Patricia Bieringer
pbieringer@cfl.rr.com
Bylaws and Standing Rules
Maureen “Mo” Martens,
CLA, FRP
momartens@cfl.rr.com
Community Service
Toni-Marie D’Alessandro,
CP, FCP, FRP
tdalessandro@gray-
robinson.com
 Danielle T. Pirolo
Education/Scholarship
Roma Molinaro, CP, FCP,
FRP, MLA
rmolinaro@cfl.rr.com
The Paralegal Pipeline
Student Liaison
Eveling B. Raymond
rico2malo@yahoo.com
Job Bank Coordinator
Kim M. Dexter, ACP, FCP
kdexter@gray-robinson.com
Local Bar Liaison
Debra A. Clarke, CP, FCP,
FRP
debra.clarke7@yahoo.
Meetings
Sabine Martel
bpameetings@yahoo.com
Membership
Tracy A. King
tracyking@cfl.rr.com
Newsletter Editor
Cathleen M. Cummings,
FRP
Jessica Pauley
Bill Hickman
BPA is on
Nominations/Elections
Facebook,
LinkedIn, and
Nicole Dooley, CP, FRP
Publicity
Cathleen M. Cummings, Twitter!
FRP
cmcmlb@bellsouth.net
Lisa Noble Search “Brevard
Sabine Martel Paralegal Association”
and join! We list useful
Ways and Means links, information
Cathleen M. Cummings,
FRP regarding upcoming
cmcmlb@bellsouth.net meetings and events,
and it’s an opportunity
OTHER POSITIONS to network with fellow
Historian/Photographer members!
Kim Nowakowski, RP, FRP
kimberly.nowakowski@
health-first.org
PAF Website
Danielle T. Pirolo
dpirolo@volklawoffices.com
Membership
51 Active
6 Student
2 Honorary
 The
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Page 7 The Paralegal Pipeline

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Page 8 The Paralegal Pipeline

What Do Attorneys Wish Their Paralegals
Knew?
Kim Walker
The Legal Intelligencer
October 06, 2010

I read a lot of magazines and newspapers of varying genres and I am always drawn to the articles with headlines like
"What your insurance agent doesn't want you to know" and "What your flight attendant will never tell you" and "Your
mechanic wished you would ... ."

The information in these articles always intrigues me. I got to thinking, "What do I really want to know?" For starters, I
really want to know what my Comcast bill is every month, but I'll never get to the bottom of that dilemma. Another thing
I want to know is, "What do attorneys wish their paralegals knew?" It's clearly a question I should have posed 25 years
ago, but better late than never.

To find the answer, I polled attorneys at three Philadelphia firms, asking a simple question: "What do you wish your
paralegal knew?" These are their responses:

• I wish my paralegal knew, or at least had a basic understanding of, all the new software and technology used in law
offices now. I just don't have the time to learn it myself.
• I wish my paralegal knew how to file a complaint in federal and state court, knew how to get and serve subpoenas in
federal and state courts, knew how to manage an online database, knew how to search and retrieve dockets, knew
how to cite-check, proofread and create a Table of Citations.
• I wish my paralegal knew how to clearly and concisely digest a deposition and describe relevant documents in a
short memo.
• I wish my paralegal knew how to research any topic and find the information I need.
• I wish my paralegal knew the difference between collated and uncollated copies, and that copies should always be
the latter when they are made for the purpose of serving as exhibits at a deposition.
• I wish my paralegal knew that I don't like to work on the weekends either, but sometimes it's just necessary.
• I wish my paralegal knew that whining is not professional.
• I wish my paralegal knew that it's OK to make mistakes and that I should be told immediately if a mistake has been
made.
• I wish my paralegal knew that I have no idea when Paralegal Day is, but appreciated you every day.
• I wish my paralegal kept up to date on latest case law regarding our practice.
• I wish my paralegal would dress professionally.
• I wish my paralegal wouldn't leave in the middle of a work emergency.
• I wish my paralegal knew the parties, parties' counsel, co-counsel and judges and their contact information in every
case, preferably off the top of their head.
• I wish my paralegal knew how important it is to get along with other people in the firm. It makes my life easier.
• I wish my paralegal knew it was OK to ask questions.
• I wish my paralegal knew Alan Ball and would give me "True Blood" spoilers.

As you can see, the list is pretty diverse and every word came from an attorney. Some of the wishes seem to be
common sense but all too often paralegals get complacent, especially if they've worked for a firm for a long time. Take
the time to look at the list and highlight some of the areas where you may be weak. Then do something about it.

For instance, if you are a weak at proofreading -- as I am, no one in my firm would ask me to proofread anything
unless everyone else suddenly went blind -- now may be a good time to take a proofreading seminar. Or at the very
least, learn some proofreading tips, find some at this link: http://www.lrcom.com/tips/proofreading_editing.html.

If you need to learn ECF filing and docket retrieval you can find a great resource at
www.pacer.gov/psc/qresources.html.

Learning how to write clearly and concisely may be a bit more challenging, but there are classes you can take online
or at your local community college. A class that may be helpful is technical writing, which is offered at most community
colleges. I know it is offered at Community College of Philadelphia.
Learning how to research any subject may also seem daunting, but if you don't like research and you are not curious
by nature, you may have made a poor career choice. The Internet, even a basic Google search, is always a good
place to start. From there you can get to more sophisticated research or at least get a direction for your research.

As a paralegal, one of the most important skills you can master is research, not just legal research. A crackerjack
researcher can save the firm time and money. You always look good when you find the needle in the haystack.

Knowing how to get along with others you should have learned in kindergarten. But if you forget what you were taught
ask any 7-year-old you know. They will be able to tell you how to play nicely with others.

A person's true character is seen in two situations, one of them is how graciously one can admit making a mistake.
Mistakes are great, they teach you lessons and help you learn. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Everyone makes
them!

Not sure how to dress professionally? For starters, "business casual" is not the same as "home on the weekend." You
can look at Wikipedia for one explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_casual.

Keeping abreast of the latest technology should be on the top of your priority list. It goes without saying that you
should already know how to manage an online database, online deposition repository and any software that is geared
toward your particular practice area. Not only should you know it, but you should keep updating with training. These
software packages change rapidly. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

Another thing about technology to be aware of is that LexisNexis and Westlaw are buying out smaller companies and
making that company's content part of the Lexis or Westlaw content. It's always a good idea to know where to look for
information. So, signing up for some free Lexis or Westlaw training every few months never hurts.

Quick! Off the top of your head: Do you know when Paralegal Day is? I didn't think so. That attorney gets a pass.

Two points I want to drive home are that you need to take control of your skills and you are responsible for learning all
the new tricks of the trade. The second is no one is good at everything. Work on your weak skills, but it's OK to ask for
help from co-workers that do something better than you do.

Just for the record, I wish I was the paralegal that knew Alan Ball!

Kim Walker is a senior litigation paralegal with Berger & Montague, where she specializes in complex class action
lawsuits. She has been a paralegal in Philadelphia for more than 25 years. Walker is on the board of the Philadelphia
Association of Paralegals, is an instructor for the Institute for Paralegal Education and blogs at Paralegal Pie.
 American Cancer Society
2010 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

This month's community service will benefit breast cancer awareness and research for a cure.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society's premier event to raise awareness and
funds to fight breast cancer. Making Strides is your opportunity to honor breast cancer survivors, educate women
about breast cancer prevention and early detection, and raise funds and awareness to help achieve a day when no
one will have to hear the words “You have breast cancer.”

When you support Making Strides, you are helping the Society seek better ways to prevent, detect, and treat breast
cancer, as well as provide help and hope to people facing the disease.
Every dollar you provide to the American Cancer Society goes toward eliminating cancer as a major health concern.
Your donation is essential to supporting our mission, which fights cancer on four fronts: research, education,
advocacy, and service.

How Can You Help Save Lives?

Start a Team
Join a Team
Walk as an Individual
Donate to a Walker
Donate to a Team
Make a General Donation

Kimberly Nowakowski is walking for a reason. Let’s support our

BPA President in her efforts to create a world with less breast
cancer and more birthdays!
Kim has signed up to walk and hopes you will join her in her efforts by signing up to join her team or making a
donation in support of her participation. Together, we can save lives from breast cancer!

Kimberly Nowakowski’s page:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY11Florida?px=17638020&pg=person
al&fr_id=28015

Event Details
Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010
Location: The Avenue Viera
Time: Registration Begins at 7am / Walk Begins at 9am