Hello, you’ve probably been wondering who is adding some of the new blog posts at BusinessBrawls.com.

I am Mr. Kaufman’s paralegal, fact-ferret and herder. My name is Shelley Young.

So what defines a paralegal? I am glad you asked.

According to the American Bar Association a paralegal is “a person qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.” For the exact details and citation, See http://www.nala.org/terms.aspx.

Pretty fancy mouthful. But in practice what does that really mean?

The short answer is that I herd attorneys and our clients, and the other side’s attorneys and paralegals. I do research, prepare trial notebooks, and get everything else into their proper places.

The long answer is that I handle much of the detail work for my attorney. I talk with clients, interview translators, write reports on depositions, research law and locate information in the cases we handle. I also fill in subpoena forms, praecipes for hearings at Court and draft for review letters and simple lines for cases. I research legal issues as directed by my attorney. I organize paperwork into deposition, exhibit and trial notebooks. I take filings to court and retrieve papers that need to go to the client and opposing counsel — which is where I find my musings on the Rules of Court. And, of course, I set up and manage the files. Fortunately in this office they are electronic, so I get to spend my time on the good stuff, rather than in dusty dirty file rooms.

But one of my biggest jobs is making sure I also have a working relationship with the client. That way clients know to call or email me if they ever have a question on one of the smaller issues that I can answer. If I don’t know the answer or if the question is beyond my scope to answer I will contact the attorney and get back to you.

In my spare time, I volunteer at communal cat shelter which means we volunteers herd cats for their food, medicine, grooming, and into crates so they can go home with their new families. And, of course, we herd them for hugs.

And just for fun, I volunteer at the local library in their adopt-a-shelf program where I herd library books into their correct places.

So, let’s see. I herd attorneys, papers, information, research, cats and books. I guess you could say that herding is not only what I do, but who I am.

Expect to see more posts from me as I go through the days seeing things from the herding point of view.