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Month: June 2018

Guitar Chicago: Relieving Stress & Providing Outlets for Busy Chicago Attorneys & Other Professionals

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Guitar Chicago: Relieving Stress & Providing Outlets for Busy Chicago Attorneys & Other Professionals

Amata Law Office Suites’ member James Lenger of Guitar Chicago is bringing stress relief and renewed focus to attorneys, IT professionals, those in the finance industry, and more with guitar lessons – and all for an impressively low cost.

Low Cost, High Reward

Typical lessons run between $80-90 for an hour and offer a form of therapy that allows busy minds to settle, anxiety to abate, and an overall positive demeanor to flourish in spite of the daunting, and oftentimes highly stressful, work environments the professionals that he teaches experience.

Guitar Lessons Provide Far-Reaching Benefits

In fact, Lenger’s approach has been so successful that fellow Amata member and clinical psychologist, Stacey Willard, is now referring her clients to Guitar Chicago as a way to manage their anxiety.

Music Therapy Brings Newfound Fulfillment for Busy Attorneys

For those that are less concerned about stress and more about ways to find enjoyable time for themselves and a creative outlet to devote to, lessons from Lenger are the perfect solution.

As partner at Kirkland and Ellis, LLP, Ralph Dado III, can attest to this very sentiment. During his sometimes 100-hour work weeks, he’s still able to find fulfillment in learning something new with guitar lessons at Guitar Chicago.

These lessons offer an enjoyable way for attorneys and professionals alike to focus their time and attention, even if just for an hour, in another area outside of their daily work environment. By doing so, it opens up new avenues of finding joy, fulfillment, and fun.

Don’t miss the featured article on James Lenger and Guitar Chicago by the Chicago Tribune.

If you’d like to experience the benefits of guitar or other related lessons, give James a call at 312.863.8588, or head to the Guitar Chicago website today!

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There is No Turning Back, Mandatory E-Filing is Here July 1st, 2018

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There is No Turning Back, Mandatory E-Filing is Here July 1st, 2018

The Illinois courts have been moving towards e-filing – albeit slowly. The original date of January 1st, 2018 was pushed back after Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, Dorothy Brown, and Chief Judge, Tim Evans, filed a joint request to push back the start date a full year. They were granted six months and as of this Sunday, July 1st, the six month extension will have come to a close.

Which means when you come into work on Monday morning, e-filing will be mandatory.

I had the chance to attend a seminar on how to avoid the pitfalls of e-filing back in the winter of 2017, and while I am not an expert on this yet, I collected some quick tips & links for those out there plunging into this sometimes-daunting task.

First let’s start with the good news: Not everything will need to be e-filed.

Below are the four (4) exceptions:

  1. Documents filed by an incarcerated self-represented litigant in jail or correctional facility
  2. Wills
  3. Documents under the Juvenile Court Acts of 1987; and
  4. Document in a specific case by court order

If you didn’t catch a lucky break Monday morning, and your documents do not fall under these exceptions, then you will need to create a username and password on the Illinois e-filing site to get started.

The next step will be to upload a PDF version of your document onto the site.

The size of the document you can upload varies by county and site, so first check with the clerk’s office for size requirements. If your document is too large, don’t fret! You can compress it using this free site.

It is important to have a standard naming convention when e-filing as this helps keep you and the courts organized.

Example: Type-> Description-> Client -> Date
MOT-Extension of Time- Rabiela -091417.doc
LTR-to client re status hearing-Munoz-052317.pdf

Want to make your life easy? There are several service providers that can assist with the e-file process. Attorneys are not required to use a service provider, but there are fees associated with add-on services.

There are strict guidelines on this mandatory process, and by no means is this all you need to know about e-filing. For a more in-depth look at e-filing, visit the Illinois courts site. If you are an Amata member, you can always ask our on-staff paralegals for assistance. Just shoot us an email at [email protected].

Stay tuned as we help guide you through this first month of e-filing. We will be posting quick tips to our Twitter and Facebook throughout the month of July.

DIANA GARCIA, PARALEGAL WITH AMATA LAW OFFICE SUITES

Diana Garcia, Paralegal with Amata Office Solutions

She began with the company in 2010 as a Client Consultant and moved up to Paralegal in 2016 after attending DePaul University’s Paralegal Studies Certificate Program. In addition to being a Paralegal, Diana is fluent in Spanish and hold a BA in Public Relations also from DePaul University.

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3 Reasons You Should Use On-Demand Paralegals

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3 Reasons You Should Use On-Demand Paralegals

Work-load fluctuation is often the most frustrating aspect of running a law firm. It makes it impossible to project profits, and should you experience a large influx of work, it can be stressful. On one hand you want to be able to accept all clients that come your way, on the other, you can’t take on more than the work week allows.

People who are not in law may say “just hire more staff.” But an occasional need for support does not often justify the cost of a full-time hire. The paralegal you take on during a period of heavy casework may be eating into your profits the next quarter, when cases finish and incoming work slows.

Here are our reasons why hiring a paralegal on-demand is more than just an obvious solution, but a valuable asset to your firm.

1. Temporarily bolster the size of your firm.
Clients want to be number one on your priority list. That’s why they choose a small firm lawyer over a large firm. But if you are too small, they may not believe your firm can handle their case and another. On-demand paralegals can help bolster the apparent size of your firm. Allowing potential clients to feel at ease hiring you, no matter how particular they may be.

2. Double your firm’s working hours.
24/7. That’s all the time you have as a single lawyer each week. But with a paralegal that becomes 48/7, doubling the potential hours you can be paid. And because your paralegal works at a cheaper hourly rate for you – but not your client – you can increase your profit margin for every task you assign them versus yourself.

3. Take on more cases and keep overhead steady.
The pricing of the future is not hourly but fixed. And if you are one of the small law firms who have adopted this modern model, then you know the importance of being able to take on more work. On-demand paralegals allow this in the simplest way. When multiple cases come in, you don’t have to turn them down due to lack of help.

With the increasing popularity of small law firms, companies are popping up left and right with the sole focus on providing firms with on-demand legal support staff. If you are an Amata member, chances are you have already enlisted the help of our in-house paralegal staff in downtown Chicago. A quick search will also give you plenty of options no matter where you live, or how you choose to work. This hired help will be representing you at every turn, so be diligent in who you hire, but don’t hinder the potential of your firm by not hiring anyone at all.

Want more details on our in-house paralegal team? Contact us and see how we can help you, or ask for a pricing sheet at [email protected].

KIRSTEN MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS WITH AMATA OFFICE SOLUTIONS

Kirsten Mayfield, Director of First Impressions with Amata Office Solutions

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