Paralegal

HEIDI M. MUICA

**** ******** ****** **, *********, Ohio 44646

Phones: 330-***-**** (cell); 830-3688 (home)

E-Mail: ***********@*****.***

SKILLS:

Notary Public, State of Ohio

Typing: 110 wpm (110 wpm per test at Akron Bar Association in 1994—I’m probably a lot faster than that now!)

Wordprocessing: Microsoft Word; WordPerfect

Spreadsheets: Excel; Lotus

Misc.: ShareFile, BoardDocs, Munis Financial; PowerPoint; eSchool; PowerSchool; Aesop/Frontline; Harvard Graphics; Lotus Organizer; Lotus cc:Mail; LEXIS research; Westlaw research; Amicus; Livenote deposition software (for use with juries); various document management systems; various time and billing programs; PINS personal injury software.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Akron Public Schools, Akron Ohio.

02/18-present Paralegal to the General Counsel

General Counsel’s Paralegal: Handle subpoena responses from courts and law firms; coordinate, monitor, and respond to public records requests; prepare agendas and minutes for the Legal Contracts & Board Policy committee and the Joint Board of Review committee; handle school policy matters with the General Counsel, Board & NEOLA; coordinate lawsuits and all legal matters with outside counsel; prepare pleadings, contracts, resolutions, board letters, and various types of correspondence; schedule meetings; handle all financial aspects of the school’s legal budget; keep track of all deadlines on legal cases and legal issues (internal and external).

Elementary School Secretary: Hired as sole secretary for King CLC elementary school in Akron. Assisted Principal, teachers, substitutes, parents, and students. Managed registrations, withdrawals, attendance, supplies orders, fundraising, bank deposits, payroll, and anything else that needed done for a school the size of 420 enrolled students. I took this job for fun, to have the summers off, and due to the school’s great benefit plans. However, when an opening occurred in the General Counsel department in August 2021 for a year-round position for a higher salary, I applied (along with 50 other applicants) and was accepted the position when it was offered to me in October 2021.

Altercare of Ohio, Inc., North Canton Ohio.

01/08-02/18 (over 10 years) Paralegal

Hired as a paralegal for in-house legal department at TSG Resources, which operates 21 nursing homes throughout Ohio and Michigan. We did all legal work for Altercare of Ohio, Inc. (the Altercare nursing homes), Absolute Pharmacy, Inc., and Avalon Foodservice, Inc. I was the only support staff (there was no secretary) for the two attorneys. Duties included:

Prepared and handled all aspects of collections lawsuits. Opened new estates as a creditor and handled them through conclusion. Filed claims against estates. Filed claims with bankruptcy courts. In-depth research of defendants. Prepared bank and wage garnishments and debtors’ exams. Obtained and reviewed TransUnion credit reports on all defendants. Assisted with workers’ comp cases and their defense litigation. Handled scheduling and calendars. Tracked and recorded payments made on hundreds of files. Handled petty cash and requesting of checks. Filed at courts when needed. Drafted a wide variety of pleadings (Complaints, motions, orders, leaves to plead, dismissals, judgments, etc.). I created many office charts, forms and spreadsheets to assist in handling the huge volume of cases since there were few forms in place when I began. We had over 500 active files.

Alpha & Omega Transcription, Massillon Ohio.

07/04-01/08 Self-Employed Transcriptionist

Sole proprietor of home transcription business (medical, legal, and insurance transcription) for a variety of clients. First I worked for MedQuist, a national medical transcription company. Then I found my own clients, including a local internal medicine doctor, an insurance adjusting firm, a fire investigating firm, private investigators, and an investment advisor. The insurance reports consisted of most of my work (I was a subcontractor for a California contractor). In 2007 and 2008, I was also in charge of proofreading other transcriptionists’ work for PC Transcription, the contractor, whenever she needed help or was unable to do so. I was the only subcontractor who did this. I was told that it was because she was impressed with my grammar knowledge and speed and trusted my proofreading skills. I did this while pregnant with my youngest (and final) child until she was old enough for preschool.

Davis & Young, Akron Ohio.

08/13/01-06/04 Paralegal

Paralegal position: Paralegal to two insurance defense partners (one was managing attorney). Summarized and indexed depositions; research on LEXIS; prepared legal documents (motions, orders, jury instructions, pretrial statements, subpoenas, etc.); compiled and organized medical records and bills; met with clients; scheduled depositions; prepared responses to discovery (interrogatories and requests for production and admissions); investigation to locate witnesses and defendants; trial preparation; made travel arrangements; medical research on Internet; used online investigation services, such as OPEN Online; learned to operate Livenote software for jury in trial; billed my time; prepared pleadings indexes; scheduled IMEs.

Legal Secretary position: Transcribed dictation; prepared and drafted legal documents; scheduled depositions; trial preparation; opened and closed files; inputted billing; miscellaneous office work. Promoted to Paralegal after one year.

(Upon request, I can provide information on previous job history from May 1988 to August 2001.)

SPECIAL TRAINING:

Seminars and Classes at Cincinnati Insurance Company and Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, Lotus, grammar, Lexis (legal research), and Westlaw (legal research).

EDUCATION:

Marlington High School, Alliance, Ohio. GPA: 3.6 (out of a possible 4.0). Graduated 1985.

Orlando College (n/k/a Florida Metropolitan University), Orlando, Florida. Paralegal Diploma.

GPA: 3.95 (out of a possible 4.0—all “A’s” except for one “B”!). Graduated 1988.

Stark State School of Technology, Canton, Ohio. 2002-2004. GPA: 4.0 (out of a possible 4.0).

2002-2003: Classes in court reporting. Got credit for the following classes by testing out of them since I knew them well enough to pass the final test and not take the course: grammar, legal terminology, keyboarding/ formatting, Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. Decided to discontinue the pursuit of court reporting after a medical complication (which has subsequently been surgically corrected).

Review of Systems School of Medical Transcription. 2003. Participated in distance education training course using the SUM System dictation and textbooks. GPA: 4.0 (out of a possible 4.0).

AWARDS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Over 30 of my submitted word processing tips were published in WordPerfect for the Law Office and WordPerfect magazines

1st place, Marketing Mathematics

5th place, Public Relations

Placed in top 5 at state level, Marketing Mathematics

1985 Kiwanis award to top student

REFERENCES:

Available upon request.

(I have several recommendation letters from former employers scanned, which I could e-mail.)

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