When you are working with a lawyer you are also working with their entire team, and especially their legal assistants.
Some clients and prospective clients are initially hesitant to discuss details of their legal matters with an assistant. While we know that you may want to use discretion when talking about your legal matter and therefore want to speak only with your lawyer it is important that you feel comfortable discussing your matter with all of the staff in the office. All of the legal assistants at our firm go through confidentiality training regularly as we refresh this training for every staff member every couple of months. All of our assistants also work on all of our files so for the most part they are up to date on what is going on in your matter at any given time.
Sometimes when you call the office with questions about your matter the legal assistants will be able to answer those questions for you, which means getting answers faster as the lawyers are often not immediately available to take your call. When a legal assistant is unable to answer your question, they are then in a good position to ask for any additional information necessary before passing your question on to a lawyer. This is also helpful as when your lawyer calls you back, she will have already been able to consider the answer to your question and have her comments ready for you.
When not answering your calls, our assistants spend their time filing and answering emails sent to the firm, preparing legal documents under the supervision of the lawyers, preparing the lawyers’ letters, managing the lawyers’ calendars and scheduling appointments, and many other office tasks.
Above all, our legal assistants are always happy to speak with you and help you in any way they can.