Mike Harris

Summary

Experience

• Legal Assistant and New Hire Trainer/Mentor

  Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC

  July 2010 – Present (5 years 10 months)Greater Chicago Area

  Provide daily assistance to five attorneys with preparation of pleadings, legal correspondence, and other projects; train new employees in various aspects of firm procedures with regards to conflict checks and various accounting procedures; provide ongoing freeform Q&A-style assistance to employees. Involved in brainstorming, initiating and organizing various wide-ranging firm initiatives and improvements.

• Legal Assistant – Litigation, Corporate, Labor & Employment, Intellectual Property

  Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

  November 2005 – October 2008 (3 years)Greater Chicago Area

  Instantly adapted to, learned and thoroughly supported the high-volume practices of 150+ partners, associates and paralegals working in litigation, corporate, intellectual property, labor & employment, and other practice areas. In addition to traditional responsibilities, also:
  
  ● Took on full responsibilities – normally with no briefing beforehand – of 60+ different secretarial assignments, for positions that often lasted several months.
  
  ● Mastered many high-volume production- and deadline-oriented environments, each differing drastically in management style and workload, by prioritizing and multitasking both expected and unexpected assignments and job duties.
  
  ● Used initiative and imagination to innovate and expand past required job duties, in order to best service attorneys and their clients (e.g., routinely composed briefing memoranda for returning secretaries, advising of open affairs and unresolved issues, in order to make their reacclimation to the desk seamless).
  
  ● Interacted directly with clients and secured their satisfaction by ascertaining nature of problems and either solving myself, or gathering information from appropriate source.
  
  ● Prepared motions, briefs, discovery and correspondence for both district and circuit court cases.
  
  ● Kept attorneys' professional schedules, submitted their expense reports, and entered their time/billing.

• Legal Assistant – Litigation

  Arnstein & Lehr LLP

  April 2005 – October 2005 (7 months)Greater Chicago Area

  ● Conducted extensive Internet research and investigation into case-related factual questions (e.g., in federal criminal matter, ascertaining the availability of particular ammunition in certain geographic area).
  
  ● Eased firm's transition difficulties during conversion to Microsoft Office by, on own initiative, creating from scratch advanced Word forms reproducing the functionality and appearance of firm's prior WordPerfect forms.
  
  ● Restructured case files: sorted documents by type, and indexed and rebound pleadings and discovery, to restore orderly ease of document location to disordered case materials.
  
  ● Prepared motions, briefs, subpoenas, deposition notices, interrogatories, production requests, memoranda, correspondence, and other legal documents for civil and criminal filings on federal and county levels.
  
  ● Electronically filed pleadings using online United States District Court CM/ECF system.

• Legal Assistant – Litigation (Medical & Legal Malpractice, Product Liability)

  Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP

  March 1999 – April 2005 (6 years 2 months)Greater Chicago Area

  ● Prepared motions, briefs, releases, discovery, correspondence and memoranda at federal, appellate and county levels.
  
  ● Tasked with all legal and logistical preparation for depositions, including preparing subpoena and deposition notice, selecting and hiring court reporter (and translator if necessary), and reserving and preparing deposition location and accompanying amenities.
  
  ● Exponentially decreased turn-around time for routine correspondence and legal documents by, on own initiative, creating Word templates and forms, and programming Word and WordPerfect macros.
  
  ● Drew up billing letters and maintained separate billing records for firm's test expansion into criminal defense work.
  
  ● Scheduled motions, depositions and other court appearances, and otherwise maintained attorneys' schedules.
  
  ● Entered and reviewed attorneys' billings, proofreading for spelling, grammar, and adherence to firm billing styles.
  
  ● In the absence of any firm document management solution, created, organized, and kept orderly filing systems for both attorneys' computer and physical documents.

• Marketing/Technical Consultant

  Campaign to Elect Sheryl Ann Pethers

  November 2003 – March 2004 (5 months)Greater Chicago Area

  ● Acted in multiple varied support roles – usual and unusual, assuming new roles as needed, first as sole support staff and then as one of a small number – for judicial candidate not on Democratic Party “slate” – candidate won by margin of 53 votes in race with 40,000 ballots cast.
  
  ● Developed innovative features for, graphically designed, and wrote and structured content for campaign website visited by thousands of voters.
  
  ● Helped prepare and compile biographical and financial information for forms required by electoral agencies, and by papers and media from whom campaign was seeking endorsements.
  
  ● Designed newspaper advertisements prior to hiring of graphic designer; after said hiring, at candidate's request, continued to advise her on, and review designer's product with regards to, ad spacing, content and other elements.
  
  ● Created and maintained databases regarding donors, voter history, polling places, and volunteer assignments.
  
  ● Entrusted with independent composition of campaign correspondence.

• Legal Assistant - Workers' Compensation

  Rusin & Maciorowski

  September 1997 – March 1999 (1 year 7 months)Greater Chicago Area

  Prepared letters, motions, briefs, subpoenas, and other legal documents for attorneys performing workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, and product liability.

• Temporary Employee

  DDB

  June 1997 – September 1997 (4 months)Greater Chicago Area

  Prepared letters, memoranda, presentations, and facsimile transmissions; researched information; transcribed interviews and brainstorming sessions; covered telephones.

• Marketing Intern

  McCarter Theatre

  September 1996 – April 1997 (8 months)

  Created first incarnation of theater's web pages, and advertised on appropriate Usenet newsgroups. Prepared for and laid out programs for 26 various concerts and special events.

Honors & Awards

• Eagle Scout

  Boy Scouts of America

  March 1993

• Presidential Scholarship

  DeSales University

  September 1992

Skills

• Litigation
• Pleadings
• Civil Litigation
• Depositions
• Litigation Support
• Intellectual Property
• Corporate Law
• Product Liability
• Trials
• Medical Malpractice
• Legal Assistance
• Motions
• Legal Documents
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• See 16+
• PowerPoint
• Elite Webview
• Hummingbird DM
• NetDocuments
• Typing
• Transcription
• Research
• Proofreading
• Legal Discovery
• Employee Training
• Training
• Computer Proficiency
• pdfDocs
• Outlook
• Annual Reports
• Mentoring
• See less

Education

• DeSales University

  Bachelor's Degree, Theatre/Theater

  1992 – 1996

  Graduated in Theater. DJ at student radio station, writer for campus newsletter. Received Presidential Scholarship, 1992.

Languages

• English

Volunteer Experience & Causes

Groups

• e-LEGAL

• Legal Assistants

• DeSales University Alumni

• Chicago Legal Support

• LAW JOBS NETWORK - #1 Legal Careers Group

• LAW & LEGAL JOBS Mid West USA: Chicago Columbus Cleveland Minneapolis IL, OH, IA, IN, MI, WI, MN

• PARALEGAL & LEGAL SUPPORT JOBS

• See 1 more

• e-LEGAL Support: Legal Secretary, Paralegals, Virtual Assistants, Law Clerks & Admin Staff

• See less