Lester C. Mc Kinzie

*** ******** ******

Hanover Park, IL 60133

773-***-**** (cell); 312-***-**** (work) & 630-***-**** (home) e-mail addresses: ad02v0@r.postjobfree.com; ad02v0@r.postjobfree.com

& ad02v0@r.postjobfree.com

SENIOR LITIGATION PARALEGAL

Highly skilled Senior Litigation Paralegal with extensive case management, jury trial, legal research, writing, personnel management & leadership experience across multiple practice areas in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, California & Wisconsin. My background and experience include all aspects of Civil & Commercial Litigation for both Plaintiff and Defendant, including but not limited to medical negligence/malpractice, home care & long-term care facility defense, construction negligence, product liability, toxic tort, pharmaceutical torts, premise liability, vehicular accidents, dram shop, assault & battery, civil rights, workers’ compensation, subrogation, property damage, real estate & probate cases. Highly proficient analytical and litigated case assessment skills as well as extensive jury trial preparation experience. Highly effective communication abilities and extremely resourceful in all aspects of litigation. CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Fully briefed over eighty (82) substantive dispositive motions and almost thirty-one (31) appellate cases, including but not limited to all research, writing & preparation of substantive motions/replies & responses to substantive motions and appellate briefs;

Lead Sr. Paralegal in 42 cases worked up for jury trials to verdict for Plaintiffs & Defendants;

Managed, supervised, trained and/or mentored many quasi-legal para-professionals that have been promoted to upper level legal professional positions. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Senior Litigation Paralegal for Clark Hill, PLC, Chicago, IL from March, 2022 to present. Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal in the Chicago, IL Office that currently practices in twenty- seven (27) states as well as Ireland. Duties entail among other things case management and file work up to resolution of litigated, catastrophic personal injury, major property damage & Class Action/MDL cases that includes client contact; case assessment & analysis; drafting & preparing responsive pleadings; electronic filings with Court Systems & Civic Institutions; drafting written discovery to be propounded; answering & responding to written discovery; organize, manage & maintain all electronic & hard copy document collections for data base input & disclosure; motion practice that includes fully briefing dispositive motions & briefs and other litigation documents, (this includes writing motions, replies and/or responses); performing legal research; locating, retaining & preparing professional experts and/or opinion witnesses for disclosure, (this includes scheduling Independent Medical Examinations, preparing materials for the experts’ review for reporting & testimony); drafting summaries & analysis’ for claim representatives & client review of discovery responses, medical records, subpoena responses & deposition transcripts draft & prepare submissions for Alternative Dispute Resolution for any mediations, arbitrations and/or substantive pre-trial conferences, time capture & reporting and many other duties.

Senior Litigation Paralegal for the Law Office of Izzo, Rappaport & Stiefbold, (f/k/a the Law Office of David A. Izzo), Chicago, IL (Staff Counsel for Selective Insurance Company) from May, 2012 to March, 2022.

Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal in the Chicago, IL Staff Counsel Office that practices in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Michigan & Florida jurisdictions. Duties entail among other things, complete case management and file work up through post-trial or resolution of high volume litigated, catastrophic personal injury & major property damage cases that includes client contact; case assessment & analysis; drafting

& preparing responsive pleadings; electronic filings with Court Systems & Civic Institutions; drafting written discovery to be propounded; answering & responding to all written discovery for clients/insureds; organize, manage & maintain all electronic & hard copy document collections for data base input & disclosure; motion practice that includes fully briefing dispositive motions & briefs and other litigation documents, (this includes writing motions, replies and/or responses); performing legal research; locating, retaining & preparing professional experts and/or opinion witnesses for disclosure, (this includes scheduling Independent Medical Examinations, preparing materials for the experts’ review for reporting & testimony); drafting summaries & analysis’ for claim representatives & client review of discovery responses, medical records, subpoena responses

& deposition transcripts; scheduling inspections; complete trial preparation that includes sitting at the respective trial table during trial, witness preparation such as trial subpoenas, exhibit identification & preparation, complete briefing of Motions in Limine; assist in jury selection, jury instruction preparation, assist with witness examination preparation; post-trial motions; draft & prepare submissions for Alternative Dispute Resolution for any mediations, arbitrations and/or substantive pre-trial conferences, time capture & reporting. My duties also include management & supervision of subordinate legal paraprofessionals and staff that includes training, performance assessment, calendar reviews and many other duties. Senior Litigation Paralegal at the Law Offices of Izzo, Capuani & Shiel, Illinois & Michigan, (Staff Counsel for Nationwide Insurance Company) from October, 2007 - May, 2012. Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal in the Chicago, IL & Troy, MI Staff Counsel Offices practicing in Illinois, Indiana & Michigan jurisdictions that entailed the same duties as described in my current position.

Senior Litigation Paralegal at the Law Offices of David A. Izzo & Associates, Chicago, IL (Staff Counsel for Continental Casualty Company) from September, 2004 - October, 2007. Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal in the Chicago, IL Staff Counsel Office. The same duties entailed in this position are the same as described in my current position. Senior Litigation Paralegal at the Law Offices of Cascino & Vaughan, Chicago, IL from February, 2003 - September, 2004.

Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal for a Plaintiff Personal Injury/Workers Compensation firm specializing in Toxic Tort Exposure & Occupational Disease cases. Duties entailed among other things, intake of potential personal injury cases for assessment; drafting & preparing initial pleadings, (including among other pleadings, initial & amended complaints); drafting & preparing pleadings; electronic filings with Court Systems & Civic Institutions; drafting & preparing answers and responses written discovery for clients; drafting & preparing written discovery to propound upon opposing parties; organizing and managing all electronic & hard copy document collections in legal databases; motion practice that included among other things, responses to dispositive motions; performing legal research; researching, locating, retaining & preparing appropriate professional experts and/or opinion witnesses for disclosure; managing discovery disclosures in response to records requested, including but not limited to medical record compliance with HIPAA & Petrillo; managing responses to subpoena requests; complete trial preparation that included witness preparation such as trial subpoenas, exhibit identification & preparation, complete briefing of pre-trial motions, including motions in limine; assist in jury selection, jury instruction preparation, assist with preparation of witness examination; post-trial motions; complete drafting and preparation of submissions for Alternative Dispute Resolution for any mediations, arbitrations and/or substantive pre-trial conferences. Management & supervision of administrative support staff that included training, performance assessment and reviews and many other duties. Senior Litigation Paralegal for the Law Offices of Philip Torf, Ltd., Northbrook, IL from July, 1998 to February, 2003.

Employed as the Senior Litigation Paralegal for a Plaintiff Personal Injury firm specializing in Toxic Tort & Pharmaceutical Negligence cases. My duties in this position were the same as described in my prior position with Cascino & Vaughn.

Senior Litigation Paralegal at Hayt, Hayt & Landau, P.C., Evanston, IL from February, 1993 - July, 1998.

Employed as the Senior Paralegal for general practice firm practicing in diverse areas of tort litigation. My duties in this position were the similar to those described in all of my prior employers. Litigation Paralegal/Supervisor at Abramson & Fox, Ltd., Chicago, IL from May, 1989 - January, 1993.

Employed as Paralegal/Supervisor for panel defense firm specializing in personal injury tort cases. My duties in this position were the similar to those described in all of my prior employers. Paralegal/Office Manager for Law Offices of Manina Harper, Esq., Chicago, IL from June, 1986 - May, 1989.

Employed as the Senior Paralegal for general practice firm practicing in diverse areas of tort & appellate litigation. My duties in this position were the similar to those described in all of my prior employers. Litigation Paralegal for Law Offices of Heller & Richmond, (f/k/a Heller & Morris), Chicago, IL May, 1984 - June, 1986.

Employed as Litigation Paralegal for a Plaintiff Personal Injury firm. My duties in this position were the same as described in my prior positions with Plaintiff Personal Injury firms. Litigation Paralegal for the Law Office of Margolis & Velasco, Chicago, IL, May, 1983 - May, 1984).

Employed as Litigation Paralegal for a Plaintiff Personal Injury firm. My duties in this position were the same as described in my prior positions with Plaintiff Personal Injury firms. EDUCATION

DePaul University – Chicago, IL

Major Course work in Accounting & Technical Project Management Roosevelt University – Chicago, IL

Lawyers Assistant Program (LAP) & major course work in Psychology Curriculum PROFESSIONAL SKILLS & TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE

Administrative Staff Management; Case Management for Civil Litigation cases; Legal research

& writing; draft and prepare pleadings; fully briefing dispositive and substantive motions; complete pre and post- trial preparation; complete appellate litigation preparation among other professional skills.

Highly Proficient in Relativity; Summation; Concordance; Trial Director; Windows and Mac OS; Microsoft Word; Excel; PowerPoint; Lexis/ Nexis; Westlaw and many other proprietary software and applications. References and writing samples will be furnished upon request.