Welcome!

Welcome to PA 101, The Paralegal Professional. We will get started at the top of the

hour! Please note this class is moderated so

you will not be able to see your post but the lecturer can.

You will not hear audio until close to the start of class.

Seminar Summary:

My name is Emily Ryan and I will be the lecturer for this course.   

In this lecture, we will take a little time to get acquainted with our course and its navigation.

We will review the technical and academic expectations for this course, as well our weekly schedule.

Questions during seminar: All seminars will be run in

moderated so you will not be making any posts in the seminar. 

I will answer questions when possible but this is a large class so if you have any questions you will need to pose them to the Group Instructor.

Seminars:

We will have seminars on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You can attend the seminars either at 12:00 or 9:00 pm ET on those days. 

Both days are graded—you do NOT need to attend both seminars on Tuesday or Thursday but ONE seminar on Tuesday and ONE seminar on Thursday.

Thursday’s Class:

The Thursday class will cover new material.  This is material that is not contained in the textbook, but which will complement the information from the textbook and web links in the course.  

Miss a seminar?

Please note that attendance or the submission of an alterative assignment is required for credit.   Directions for the alternative assignment are

located in the syllabus and is also posted as an announcement in the course home page titled “Miss a seminar—here is how to make it up.”

You will e-mail your group instructor the seminar summary and she will give you credit for the missed seminar.

Each of the seminars, including unit 10 are worth 10 points.

Seminars:

For Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, & 9 we will have seminars on Tuesday and Thursday as I stated above. 

For Units 5 & 10 we will only have seminars on Thursday.  

Please do not stress out about the seminar times—I will remind you each week about the schedule.

Class Groups:

Class Groups:  As you will see we have a very large class.  This is similar to the way on ground school .  The key difference is this class is also broken into Groups. 

You will if you have not already receive a notice as to which Group you are assigned to. 

Each group will have its own professor. This way you will have far greater access than the ground university provides in a large class

Group Professor:

All questions you have need to be sent to your Group Professor.  Each will have their own office hours and you can also reach them by email. 

My role is solely to provide your lectures and I will not have access to your information or be able to answer your specific question.  If you have any questions on the materials, assignments, quizzes/tests, missed work etc., please address it to your Group Professor. 

Groups:

Group A: Last names A-Ca: Instructor Stacy Callaway

Group B: Last names Cl-Ga: Instructor Stacy Callaway

Group C: Last names Ge-K: Instructor Faviana Olivier

Group D: Last names L-M: Instructor Faviana Olivier

Group E: Last names N-R: Instructor Nadia Brunetto

Group F: Last names S-Z: Instructor Nadia Brunetto

Please refer all questions to your group instructor.

Groups:

Discussion Boards:

Remember it is essential for you to participate in the class as you are the integral ingredient to make the course a success for yourself and the class.

Participation by your posts on the Discussion Board is also a part of your grade.

Each week’s Discussion Board is worth up to 25 points.

Discussion Board:

For each question, please provide at least one substantive post and reply with a substantive reply to at least two of your fellow classmates posts.

To earn the most credit make sure your posts are detailed and that you post over three days during the week.

Rest assured that if you have questions chances are someone else does as well.

Discussion Board

Communications must be professional and civil at all times. All posts must be done in an environment which is collaborative.

The goal of discussion is a free exchange of ideas and viewpoints with the freedom to disagree with one another in a respectful and thoughtful way.

Reread messages and posts before sending them to ensure that your contributions are positive and diplomatic in tone and content.

Substantive Initial Response: Can a Paralegal be sued for malpractice?

According to Brittain and Hull in the Paralegal Handbook (2002), a Paralegal or other non-lawyer may be sued by the local district attorney for violations of any applicable statutes if they engage in the unauthorized practice of law. This volume goes on to ask the question above. The Nevada Supreme Court determined in Busch v. Flangas that if a non-lawyer chooses to perform duties which are unsupervised by a lawyer, they must have the same standards of care imposed on them that are imposed on lawyers. Their research on the topic results in discovering that the law establishing duties and legal accountability of paralegals is in the process of development (Brittain and Hull, 2002).

Response to Classmate:

Hi, Sarah! Something a friend mentioned that is already working in the legal field is to take skills you have and apply them to future jobs. For example, if you live in AZ and you are bilingual it would be a huge benefit to your resume and job search efforts especially in light of the new immigration laws. Same can be applied if you are a nurse which would really help in a field such as workers’ compensation.

Tests and Quizzes We have tests in Units 1, 2, and 4. They

may only be taken once and you have 1 hour to complete the test.

You will have quizzes in Units 3, 6, 7, and 8. The quizzes may be taken unlimited times and there is no time limit.

You will also have a midterm in Unit 5 and final exam in Unit 9. Both of these test are 2 hours and may be taken only once.

Test in Unit 1:

Quiz:

Assignment due dates:

Units start on Wednesday and end on Tuesday by 11:59 p.m. ET. ALL assignments due in a unit should be finished by Tuesday.

For example, we started Unit 1 on yesterday and Unit 1 will end the following Tuesday.

Late Policy

All written assignments must be submitted no later than the date they are due. A late assignment’s grade can be lowered up to 5%, as determined by the instructor, unless extenuating circumstances exist.

Life Happens:

Questions:

The “go to” person for questions on classroom issues, assignments, or general course communications will be your “Discussion Board/Grading” instructor. These instructors will be participating in the boards, grading your work, and keeping up classroom communications with you for your specific group. 

Groups/Questions:

Groups are again broken down by last name—please see the list below for your instructor’s name:

Group A: Last names A-Ca: Instructor Stacy Callaway

Group B: Last names Cl-Ga: Instructor Stacy Callaway

Group C: Last names Ge-K: Instructor Faviana Olivier

Group D: Last names L-M: Instructor Faviana Olivier

Group E: Last names N-R: Instructor Nadia Brunetto

Group F: Last names S-Z: Instructor Nadia Brunetto

A - Ga: Stacey Callaway

Stacey Callaway is an attorney residing near the beach in Delaware. She earned my Bachelor of Arts degree at University of Delaware with a double major in Sociology and Women's Studies, a minor in Legal Studies. She earned her law degree at West Virginia University College of Law.

Prof. Callaway went on to be a judicial law clerk for

Delaware Superior Court. Once her judicial clerkship was complete, she moved into the private practice of law in such areas as family, criminal, and real estate law.

Personally Prof. Callaway enjoys a variety of activities. She loves living near the beach, playing tennis, watching football (the Steelers, WVU Mountaineers, and UD Blue Hens are my favorite), and being outdoors. Traveling is also a big part of her life and she wants to travel to all seven continents.

A - Ga: Stacey Callaway

Kaplan email : SCallaway@kaplan.edu

Office Hours: Thursdays from 6:00– 8:00PM, ET VIA AIM

AIM instant messenger: screen name is CallawayKaplan.

Ge-M: Faviana Olivier Faviana Olivier, JD holds a BA from Syracuse

University and a JD from LaSalle University. She currently teaches at Northeastern University and online for Kaplan University’s School of Legal Studies. Currently, she is a candidate for certification by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. She has taught at Bentley University for the Management Department and at Harvard’s Institute for English Language Programs. Prior to teaching, Faviana was a consultant specializing in Customer Relationship Management programs for major banks, corporations, and law firms. She is a member of The Boston Club and The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Ge-M: Faviana Olivier

Office hours are Tuesday from 9-10 pm ET through the Chat Room for the course.

Contact: folivier@kaplan.edu.

N - Z: Nadia Brunetto Prof Brunetto lives in New Jersey and had been

an attorney for about 17 years.  She is in her 40’s (I can’t tell you my exact age!)  and is married with a beautiful twelve year old daughter and yellow lab puppy.  (Well, not really a puppy anymore – but he still acts like one!)

When active in legal practice her primary focus was defending lawyers who were sued for malpractice  --- a very busy area of the law.  A lot of people sue their lawyer if things don’t go their way.   Sometimes the lawyer is at fault, sometimes not.  

Today, Prof. Brunetto is an adjunct professor at Kaplan and has taught here for over 8 years!

N - Z: Nadia Brunetto

Office hours: Monday and Wednesdays from 10:00 am – 11:00 am, ET. You may contact Prof. Bingham

through AIM—my user name is Nwbrunetto1

Kaplan e-mail: nbrunetto@kaplan.edu

Lecturer: Emily Ryan

I live in the suburbs of Memphis, TN, and I am the proud mother of three boys--9, 7, and 4--and we just welcomed the caboose to our family 9 months ago, a beautiful baby girl.

I have been married for 11 years to a wonderful man who works for St. Jude's Children Research Hospital.

During the course of my career I have worked in the Insurance Defense "mad house", the MS Attorney General's Office and of course teaching—which is my favorite

In my “spare” time I love sports, reading, and cooking.

Unit 1: The Paralegal Defined:

Assignments include the following: Meet your Classmates within your “Group”. Read about the paralegal profession in the text by

Cheeseman & Goldman - Chapter 1—textbook is located in the “Doc Sharing” area.

View the websites on the National Paralegal Associations—located in the Unit 1 materials.

Discuss what you have learned on the Discussion Board, again, in your own group.

Attend lectures 1 and 2 to further explore the concepts in this unit.

Take a short test. All assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on

Tuesday.