Paralegal managers

Paralegal managers in some of the nation’s largest law firms hail from an array of backgrounds, but have one thing in common: years of experience working in a law office. Knowing how the law office is structured is an invaluable tool when managing paralegals in any firm.

Many paralegal managers start in entry-level positions, such as Joanne Chandonait, paralegal manager for Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, a firm with 450 attorneys in six cities nationwide and one office abroad. Chandonait, who works in the Washington, D.C., office, has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Plymouth State University and a paralegal certificate from Northeastern University. She started as a legal secretary for a solo attorney in 1993. “I did a lot of secretarial work, but I also got to do some paralegal work,” she said.

After working for nearly two years for her solo attorney, Chandonait transferred to Broderick and Dean, a small firm in New Hampshire, and began working as a paralegal. “It was an interesting place to work. I got exposure to a lot of different things. The last year I was there, I worked on eight trials. It was a great learning experience.”

Chandonait then started working for a mid-sized firm before a former colleague told her about a paralegal manager opportunity at Mintz Levin in October 2000. “The opportunity [as paralegal manager] really piqued my interest,” she said.

Not all paralegal managers start out as legal assistants. Barbara Lundholm, director of legal assistant administration at Vinson and Elkins, a firm with 863 attorneys in offices worldwide, has almost always held an administrative or management position during her almost 30 years in the legal industry.

Lundholm, who works out of Vinson and Elkins’ New York City office, worked in three firms holding various positions such as managing clerk, legal department administrator, paralegal coordinator and director of legal assistant administration. After 17 years as a legal administrator, Lundholm became a legal assistant for Vinson and Elkins in 2002.

“Some people would think I had taken a step back. I came to Vinson with a partner. We worked together for 25 years,” she said. “The first year I was here, I was doing real legal assistant work. I was working on cases and helping to develop the team. I put together policies and procedures and hired two legal assistants. After a year, the position of director opened up and I was asked to take over.” Lundholm accepted the position as director in the spring of 2003.

Brad Baber, legal assistant manager at Troutman Sanders, a 500 plus-attorney firm, was representing actors and actresses as a talent agent in North and South Carolina before switching careers to become a paralegal in 1986.

Baber completed an American Bar Association-approved paralegal certification program and started as a paralegal for Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough in Columbia, S.C. Baber moved up the firm’s tier system and eventually took on the position of legal assistant recruiting and training coordinator.

In the fall of 2001, he accepted a legal assistant manager position in Troutman Sanders’ Atlanta office. “I am responsible for more than 90 people, which includes mostly paralegals, a few project assistants, a few specialists and the litigation technology department,” he said.

Annette Schlaf, legal assistant manager at Baker Botts, a 677-attorney firm based in Houston, also started in a professional field unrelated to the legal industry. She worked for eight years teaching hearing-impaired students before starting as a paralegal at Baker Botts in 1985.

After a brief stint in law school in 1987, Schlaf returned to Baker Botts after realizing law school was not something she enjoyed. Instead, Schlaf moved up the ranks at Baker Botts from senior legal assistant to assistant manager of legal assistants to her current position as manager of legal assistants.

“I consider myself fortunate to have been associated with Baker Botts for so many years,” she said. “I have human resources responsibility for all nonlawyer timekeepers, a group that includes professionals such as patent agents, certified public accountants and Ph.Ds, in addition to the legal assistant program.”