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Real Estate Legal Secretary

Location:
Augusta, GA
Salary:
$15/hr+
Posted:
August 20, 2023

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Resume:

CANDYCE L CLANTON

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

Grovetown, GA 30813

703-***-****

ady2so@r.postjobfree.com

RESUME

Born: January 22, 1947

Washington, DC – Grew up in Arlington & Fairfax Counties

Majority of my work experience was done in Virginia except for

a couple of times I moved to Los Angeles

Graduated high school in 1964; have two children (both grown)

Employment:

June 1965-March 1966

State Farm Bodily Claims Office – Clerical – answered phones/prepared claims, etc.

Falls Church, VA

March 1966-December 1966

Civil Service, Quantico Marine Base, VA – TOP Secret Clearance

Development Center/Basic Training for Officers - Clerical

December 1966-August 1967

Civil Service, Ft. Belvoir Army Base, Medical Supplies Office, Ft. Belvoir, VA

Clerical – inventory of all medical supplies; ordering supplies, etc.

In addition to full time employment (all in Northern Virginia), as side work (1966-69)

Did payroll/federal tax returns for small concrete company (Jack Stoddard Concrete), phone is 703-***-****

Did payroll/federal tax returns for small Trap/Skeet Club (6 months or so)

Did payroll/federal tax returns for small gas station (6 months or so)

Worked as a waitress on the weekends for a crab restaurant in Maryland

(1970’s)

Worked as a bartender in a small lounge attached to a motel

Taught bridge for Fairfax County Adult Education

Job Description for a Legal Secretary/Paralegal is detailed at the end of law firms, etc.

September 1967-May 1972

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Law Firm (currently Wilmer & Hale)

Washington, DC

Legal Secretary/Paralegal for Timothy Dyk, Partner

May 1972-February 1974

Williams, Califano & Connolly Law Firm (currently William & Connolly)

Washington, DC

Legal Secretary/Paralegal for Steve Umin, Partner

February 1974-June 1974

Munger, Tolls, Hills & Rickershauser Law Firm

Los Angeles, CA

Legal Secretary for 3 associates (very boring; not enough work – I like to stay busy)

Called a headhunter who use to work at Wilmer, Cutler in DC and she got me an interview with an entertainment lawyer, Charles Morgan, at Shearer, Fields, & Shearer

July 1974-January 1976

Shearer, Fields & Shearer Law Firm

Beverly Hills, CA

Legal Secretary/Paralegal – Charles Morgan

Loved working for Charlie, but my Dad came out for Xmas & insisted I come back

home to Virginia so I took a leave of absence & returned to VA (I was an only child)

February 1976-1979

Williams & Connolly Law Firm

Washington, DC

Legal Security/Paralegal – work for David ?, Partner

February 1979-September 1979

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Law Firm

Washington, DC

Legal Secretary/Paralegal – Timothy B. Dyk, Partner

September 1979-February 1982

Fairfax, VA 22030

Legal Secretary/Paralegal – Victor Gersh, Esquire

February 1982-July 1985

Vice President & General Counsel, Universal Studios, Film Exchange, etc.

North Hollywood, CA

Legal Secretary/Paralegal – Charles Morgan, Esquire

September 1985-Early 1989

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering

Washington, DC

Legal Secretary/Paralegal – Timothy B. Dyk, Partner

Description of all work for attorneys/law firms:

Typing letters and drafts of law briefs for various lawsuits

Answered all phone calls; filed all paperwork in individual files; lawsuits had special files which I would put together in chronological order.

Took shorthand from my boss when he wanted to write a letter, note, start a draft for a law brief.

Took care of my boss’ personal finances (not all of them – but a couple of them)

Did miscellaneous personal errands for most of my bosses.

Drove Mr. Dyk or Mr. Morgan to the airport or sometimes they drove & dictated to me.

Multi-task all the time; Shepardize law cases.

Worked overtime almost every night and most weekends.

(Mr. Dyk) - If we had a brief due before the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, there might be 3-5 other associates working under my boss (the Partner) & their secretaries may be typing their sections while I was putting everything together to go to the printshop. Then in the middle of the night, I would go to the printshop (sometimes with an associate) to proof-read the brief to make sure there were no typos or grammatical errors as well as check that the law cases used as precedents were typed correctly regarding the Blue Book Rules. Once the brief was delivered the next morning (I had 154 parties in one case), I would have all envelopes ready to go & our Staff for deliveries would be waiting for the envelopes they would hand deliver as well as another person would make the delivery of the actual brief to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. We never missed a filing.

For Mr. Dyk – we mostly did 1st Amendment rights & communication issues before the FCC. Once we were out of State for a lawsuit and I also had to go as well as several of our law clerks to deliver the materials regarding the case. Many witnesses were flying in who I would then escort to the courtroom when they were called. When my boss was getting ready to teach at Yale or UVA, he would put together the cases he wanted in his teaching book which I would then stay all night & put it together for however many copies he needed or wanted. He taught “The First Amendment and the Print or Broadcast Media.”

For Mr. Gersh – I mostly did work for new companies that wanted to do a Public Offering. I think we did over 50 Public Offerings for various people. There was other work but all clerical – letters, other clients, etc.

For Mr. Morgan – I mostly worked on cases he had (although he was also working on the case that I had been working on in DC at Williams & Connolly which was the reason the guys from Munger, Tolles were in DC & offered me a job in LA because they said no secretary in LA knew anything about law or how to put the files in such a way that they were ready for court at any time! It’s a small world. Another attorney in the office had to go out of town often so he asked me if I could help him with his brother’s apartment buildings – evicting unpaid tenants & also garnishing the unpaid fees from their pay. He would sign a bunch of the forms & I would enter the specifics for each late tenant that I would get from the apartment manager. Lots of miscellaneous things.

For Mr. Morgan at Universal, he was involved in video cassette piracy all around the work, but mostly in England & South America. He was traveling constantly & there were certain things he was responsible for that couldn’t be done with him all over the world. It was about bankruptcies of theatres – there were certain forms & paperwork that was needed to be completed for the bankruptcy courts from Universal Film Exchange for all the theaters, so I took care of that – got the information about the amount of money, etc., completed the forms which Mr. Morgan had already signed & filed them. There were many other things I took care of because we had a very big lawsuit going on in Texas which was a class action suit over blind bidding – I always kept those files up to date. This time my daughters showed up to convince me to go back to Virginia, so I left Mr. Morgan again. It’s amazing, but he still talks to me!

For Mr. Umin – I did mostly everything written above although he was not a First Amendment specialist but was involved in many cases with Mr. Williams. He called me in LA & said he was going to be in town the following weekend & wanted to know if I was available to meet him to take shorthand while he interviewed Hugh Hefner about the murder that happened in Chicago – I thought that would be fun, so I did it & it was very profitable.

Real Estate - Description

I took my real estate salesperson class over a period of 2-3 weeks, once completed, I took an exam on the Principles of Real Estate. When you pass, you next take a course on the legal requirements of Virginia. After all your classes, you sign up for the State Exam. This is for salespeople only. Pass your state exam and then join a real estate company you think highly of – you’ll always find more training at a company that has been in business for a long time.

First you should be out searching/farming for sellers & buyers. Ordering your business cards immediately will allow you to be ready to pass them out everywhere you go because business is everywhere – bank, post office, cleaners, grocery stores - everywhere. Always ask if they know anyone looking to buy or sell. When you meet a bona fide buyer or seller, you should sit down in a conference room and go over some laws as well as learn about them – what they are looking for in a home or when they want to sell and whether they are moving up or moving out of the area. You help them understand various laws that may be specific to Virginia. Keep in mind, while you are explaining things, these people are “customers.” Once they sign a Listing Agreement (Seller) or Buyer Representation Agreement (Buyer), then they become clients.

You have different things to do for a seller or buyer, but both will keep you very busy.

For a Seller:

Visit the home, point out the best features – give some recommendations about decluttering or painting some areas – whatever looks best, and you & your client agree to it.

Then once all the updates are done, you have your professional photographer come in and take photos inside and out so you can have your brochures made up.

While all this has been going on, you have written up all the features of the house so when the photos are done – the pix & the features page (which the seller has read & edited) go to a graphics artist who does the brochures for you.

Once this is done, you get the house in the Multiple List Service (MLS), advertise it in various places (our MLS advertised on over 110 internet sites, so we didn’t have to do much else), but advertise in all military online sites.

I usually put my lockbox on the front door on a Friday morning, advertised to agents that the house will be available for showing during certain times and/or days (although they have to call & make an appointment).

Usually have an open on the First Sunday because they go quick which is advertised in the Washington Post and online.

For all documents written by a salesperson have to signed by the broker of the office. All business is owned by the company, so most offices of the company have a Broker Manager to sign all new business.

For a Buyer:

With a buyer, you find out what they think they want, where and how much they are willing to spend.

Check to see if they have talked to a loan officer and been pre-qualified to buy a home.

Once you have an idea of what they are looking for, you run lots of MLS listings so they can look over what is available in the area they want, and for the amount of money they are willing to spend.

One other thing, you should have a lender standing by to qualify the buyers – it is always best for a buyer to be pre-qualified to buy so we can have a pre-qualified letter from a loan officer of a bank or mortgage company when presenting a contract.

As fast as our houses go in Northern Virginia, if you don’t have a pre-approval letter, the agent will not present your contract – we have a lot of multiple contracts and not being preapproved can really ruin your chances.

Once you find the home they want, you go back to the office and write the contract – now that we have computers, some go home & write the contract and then send it over to the buyers at their home to electronically sign all the paperwork.

Then the agent delivers or e-mails the contract to the listing agent of the home they want, and we wait.

If we win, then I set up a home inspection within 10 days (radon too if the clients want it). Virginia is a caveat emptor State, so all houses are sold ‘as is’ but we still allow home inspections and if something is broken that is a safety issue – electrical, etc., then we ask the seller to fix it. Most do.

I also send the paperwork over to the title company that will be doing the settlement as soon as the contract is ratified and send a copy of the contract to the lender.

Depending on the closing date, the lender will usually wait until the home inspection has been completed and then order the appraisal; however, if the closing date is short, then the appraisal will probably be ordered the minute the contract is ratified.

Depending on who agreed to pay for a termite inspection will depend on which agent orders the termite inspection. Paying for the inspection does not relieve the seller of paying for the termite treatment.

While working as a salesperson, you can take advantage of getting some of your designation

classes you should take to improve your service to both buyers and sellers. CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) is near the top of the list in learning the best techniques to represent a seller and to market their home. This course costs $250 per session and there are 10-12 sessions (2 full days each) so many people don’t start this until they have gotten their GRI (Graduate Real Estate Institute), which is less costly, and each session is only one day. Once you have your GRI, then you might take two days (less costly also) to take your ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative). Now you get the CRS out of the way. And then you’ll want to be a SRES (Seniors Real Estate Specialist)! Since my beginning, there are a lot more designations today than there were in the 90’s.

After you have worked as a salesperson for at least three years and done at least 8 transactions or 2-3 million $ in sales, you can prepare to be a broker. The only difference between a Sales Agent and a Broker is the broker has a lot more experience and responsibility. To get your Broker’s license, you must take 60 hours of class time and then another state test. As mentioned above, you had to have worked as a salesperson for at least 3 years and/or sold a minimum of 8 transactions or a minimum of $3-4 million in sales volume. If a broker wants to have their own real estate company, they can hire all the agents they want to work under their roof. Of course, there are state regulations you have to go through to get everything done for your own company but it’s not that hard.

Became a Salesperson in July 1990

January 1990-September 1997

Joined Long & Foster Real Estate

Real estate brokerage

Springfield, VA - Real estate sales agent

September 1997-July 2007

REMAX Horizon (name changed to REMAX Allegiance)

Alexandria, VA - Real estate sales agent; associate broker as of July 2005

Became a real estate broker in July 2005

July 2007-January 2022

Candyce Clanton, Broker

CT&T of Virginia, Inc.

Real Estate Brokerage & Property Management

Lorton, VA – Principal broker

January 2022-September 2023 (Retired)

Samson Properties

Chantilly, VA – Associate Broker

Real estate brokerage

Other designations I had: GRI, ABR, CRS, E-Pro, AHWD

(At Home With Diversity), SRES



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