Medical Management
Resume:
SANDRA TOURIS McDOWELL
**************@*****.***
CAREER
OBJECTIVE: To obtain a challenging position in either a private practice
law firm or a corporate legal department, with progressive
responsibilities. Most recently focused on plaintiffs'
catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death litigation,
including preparing and filing necessary documents with the
probate court to protect the interests of the decedents'
estates. Interested and proficient at case and file
management, maintaining client relationships, legal
research and writing.
EDUCATION: BA in Legal Studies (ABA Approved Program), minor in Political
Science
University of Central Florida; Orlando, Florida; 1991
Graduation with High Honors
EXPERIENCE:
July 2012 - Present
Warshauer Law Group, P.C. - Atlanta, Georgia
Sr. Litigation Paralegal for Plaintiffs' practice law firm. Case
assignments focused on medical malpractice and personal injuries caused by
product liability. Responsible for traditional paralegal duties, from
inception to resolution, including client contact, obtaining Letters of
Administration / Testamentary managing the discovery process; preparing
medical record summaries; drafting motions and pleadings, electronic and
manual court filings in Federal Courts and State Courts, preparing cases
for trial, assistance in planning and facilitating focus group research
opportunities. Assisting with the design and implementation of internal
case management software, pdf fillable forms, and other process and
procedures to streamline litigation practice.
December 2004 - 2012
Edmond & Lindsay, LLP - Atlanta, Georgia
Case Manager and Senior Paralegal for relatively new, very busy
plaintiffs' firm. Created internal policies and procedures to establish
guidelines for paralegal functions. Recruited paralegals and senior
associate attorney to create a highly efficient, super-achieving support
team for partners' practice. Focused on day-to-day management of staff
assignments to move a yearly average of 50+active cases, from inception to
closing. Acted as firm liaison with IT vendor, accountant, health benefits
coordinator, professional negligence insurer, State Bar of Georgia, website
administrator, and appointed as Plan Administrator for the firm's new 401K
plan, while remaining responsible for performance of traditional senior
paralegal duties, including drafting pleadings, obtaining Letters of
Administration / Testamentary, preparing medical record summaries, managing
all phases of pretrial discovery with emphasis on written discovery
requests and responses, deposition outlines, document review, control and
analysis. Created calendaring system for critical dates with reminders;
also created and kept current a contact database for clients, expert
witnesses and other litigation support services. Responsible for editing
text, gathering exhibits and photographs to create and publish settlement
demand booklets. Assisted and participated at mediations and trials. May
2012 provided pretrial and trial support resulting in $5M verdict for
client in a high profile, medical malpractice/wrongful death case.
March 2003 - August 2004
Russell & Herrera, P.C. Decatur, Georgia
Paralegal for small law firm specializing in family law, including
domestic partner issues. In addition to traditional paralegal
responsibilities, also charged with administrative duties for human
resource functions, IT support, client liaison, and billing. Heavily
utilized for case management, communications with opposing counsel and
client contact.
2001- 2003
Rockdale County Board Of Education - Conyers, Georgia
Completed substitute teacher training to explore opportunity in
Georgia to become a teacher on an accelerated time frame. Utilized
primarily in middle school and high school classrooms, with an extended
assignment in special education classroom.
1999 - 2001 and 1995 - 1997
Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP - Cincinnati, Ohio
Litigation paralegal for oldest full service law firm located in
Cincinnati. Focused on litigation, including employment law (EEO, ADA,
worker's compensation, and unemployment) commercial litigation, and
insurance defense (primarily premises liability for large local amusement
park). Conducted detail oriented investigations/interviews and legal
research. Prepared internal case summary memos, legal briefs, dispositive
motions, settlement offers/counteroffers, and correspondence. Managed all
phases of pretrial discovery with emphasis on record review, document
control, and analysis. Assisted at trials, mediations, and depositions.
Supported firm's commitment to community service by participating in firm's
mentoring and tutoring program for at-risk inner city students. Committee
member for annual United Way fundraising campaigns and Christmas giving
programs
1998 - 1999
Blaies & Hightower, LLP - Fort Worth, Texas
Litigation paralegal for medical malpractice defense firm.
Designated contact for primary client, the largest medical care provider in
DFW area. Reviewed and summarized medical records, identified witnesses,
scheduled interviews and depositions of hospital employees and physicians.
Responsible for drafting routine legal documents and for managing the
discovery process, calendaring deadlines and due dates, preparation of
trial notebooks and exhibits.
1997 - 1998
Pope & Associates, Inc. - Cincinnati, Ohio
Research analyst for diversity consulting firm. Regular interaction
with corporate clients to plan cultural audits, and to implement such
plans, with extensive travel to various client locations to gather data via
executive interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. Responsible for
analyzing data and for preparation of written reports denoting audit
results, and for creation and presentation of audit results to diversity
committees, department heads, senior managers, and other employees.
1994 - 1995
Ashland Inc. - Ashland, Kentucky
Litigation paralegal for Ashland Petroleum Company, formerly a
division of Ashland Inc. Assisted in the resolution of a large-scale,
multi plaintiff toxic tort litigation. Supervised 6 employees assigned to
operate discovery center for the lawsuit. Extensive contact with outside
counsel and in-house personnel regarding case management issues. Assisted
in-house counsel to prepare other litigation cases for trial. Relied
heavily on communication skills to conduct employee witness interviews and
preparations for deposition or trial testimony, and for correspondence with
general liability insurers, outside counsel, opposing counsel, and the
courts. Offered promotion to Oil Pollution Act Emergency Response Team
Coordinator.
1992 - 1993
Johnson Controls World Services Inc. - Cape Canaveral, Florida
Support for VP, General Counsel with assistance to two in-house
attorneys. Reviewed predecessor company's contracts for conversion to
current corporate entity. Assisted with federal contract disputes and
labor arbitrations. Qualified and maintained corporate status as
authorized foreign corporation in approximately 45 states/territories.
Researched requirements and obtained out-of-state professional licenses to
provide contract facility management services. Researched EEO and ADA
complaints, and prepared and filed position statements in response to those
claims.
OF INTEREST: Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel,
PowerPoint and Publisher); Outlook for email, calendaring, and task
assignments; Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw research. Recently moved from a
Windows based operating system to a Mac.
PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
1. Michael E. Perez, Esq.
Warshauer Law Group, P.C.
Atlanta, GA 30339
2. April Swanson, Paralegal
Charles Allen Law Firm
191 Peachtree Street, Suite 3300
Atlanta, GA 30303
3. Rose Ann Annesi, President and CEO
Case 360
1154 Queensgate Drive
Smyrna, GA 30082
Contact this candidate