may fit the bill.


For


paralegals who have the urge to expand their careers upwardly rather than hori- zontally, the field of litigation support just


Litigation support is defined as services provided to law- yers and law firms including everything from document management to litigation damages evaluations to private investigations. The most common definition of litigation support, however, refers to the electronic management of documents.


In the past few years, a sizzling new sub-specialty has emerged in eDiscovery. To identify their specialty, attor- neys now title themselves “eAttorneys”. The field could not be hotter.


Frequently, the question “What is the difference between e-Discovery and Litigation Support?” arises. According to Wikipedia: “The discovery process is a fact gathering process in the US civil litigation system. When this discov- ery process is done through electronic media, it is called e-discovery, for example through computers.”


Litigation support services means any kind of assistance, help or aid done to the process of litigation. Hence e-dis- covery is one kind of litigation support service.”


Getting into the field According to David Netzer, CEO of Litigation Support Careers.com and author of the new book, How to Land a Great Litigation Support Job, the litigation support career path is a natural progression from litigation paralegal.


“These days, there are few cases where litigation support or eDiscovery does not play a role whether the case has 10 documents or a million documents,” says Netzer.


gals are in a unique position in that not only do they have the technology skills necessary to process the case, they also have the right legal knowledge to do it properly.”


How can you get into this field? “Litigation Support pro- fessionals possess advanced technical skills on databases used for managing, sorting and searching large volumes of data produced in litigation cases,” says Romana Ramirez, Litigation Technology Manager for the Office of County Counsel, Santa Barbara, California and a 23-year paralegal


veteran. “They also develop management systems 26


“Parale-


Third, you can also take some great courses from OLP. They offer online, live video classes in Liti- gation Support both in entry-level and advanced studies. In addition, the OLP is rolling out certifi- cations in eDiscovery in February 2011 and Liti- gation Support in Spring.”


Opportunities in the field According to the Socha-Gelmann Report, a yearly survey widely read by industry experts, job open- ings are available and law firms are hungry for


strategies, assist in courtroom presentation of evi- dence and provide user support and training on the various legal specialized software programs."


To move into Litigation Support, you must become certified in the various legal specialized applica- tions. Become a member of the various Litigation Support organizations and committees such as In- ternational Legal Technology Association (ILTA), Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP), Asso- ciation of Litigation Support Managers (ALSM), and read magazines such as “The OLP UPDATE and "Law Technology News.


Ramirez, an instructor at the University of Califor- nia at Santa Barbara’s paralegal program, has been a litigation support manager for the past ten years. “There are a few ways you may receive training in Litigation Support.


“First, if you are currently working in a law firm that has a Litigation Support Department, express your interest in being trained on all of the special- ized legal applications your firm uses to support their Litigation Support Department,” she advises. “Some firms prefer to train an existing employee rather than train and hire a paralegal from the out- side. The current employee knows the business processes of the firm and their daily operations. But the paralegal must be proactive and show an interest in learning and moving into a Litigation Support role.


Second, the various software applications offer certifications in the use and training of the soft- ware from the very basic level to the more ad- vanced level.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64