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HLSP will be presenting a Family Law Seminar on Thursday, March 4, 2010.  Check out the Education page for further information and registration form.

Presented by the Hawai`i State Bar Association, this is a must-attend seminar for federal civil and bankruptcy court litigators and those who calendar deadlines for them.   On December 1, 2009, new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) go into effect, along with amendments to the Rules of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii (“Local Rules”) and the local bankruptcy rules for U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii (“Local Bankruptcy Rules”).

Most amendments to the FRCP concern timing requirements and changes to calculating deadlines.   Changes include two new rules and amendments to 21 existing rules.  For example, extensive changes to Rule 6 affect calculating deadlines and set requirements related to electronic filing and clerk of court accessibility.

Among the biggest changes are the amendments to Local Rules 6.1, 7, 10, and 12.1.  These rules govern the computation of “days,” the timing (35 days, 21 days, 14 days) for hearings and briefing, and the form of motions (no staple and case number in bottom right corner if filing in hard-copy form; page limits applicable to all motions, petitions, etc.; submission of courtesy copies; submission of uncited authorities), and the submission of courtesy copies of complaints with motions to dismiss. The TRO motion requirements are also a major change.

New Local Bankruptcy Rules update the rules to reflect the court’s current practice and procedures, convert general or administrative orders to rules, create stand-alone bankruptcy rules to replace LRs and make changes consistent with amendments to the FRCP.  The LBRs also add references and links to local forms.

Join our authoritative panelists: USDC Chief Judge Susan O. Mollway, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Faris and Magistrate Judge Barry M. Kurren for a briefing on the amendments to the rules and significant changes that will impact your litigation practice.

For registration form, click:  Registration Form

By now, you should have received a ballot to vote for the NALS 2010-2011 Board of Directors.  Please exercise your right to vote for your upcoming officers.  You may view the candidates’ web pages at www.nals.org/candidates.

The region casting the most ballots will win one free paid registration to the March 2010 Professional Development and Educational Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.   Deadline for voting is October 31, 2009 so get out and vote and let’s try to win the prize for Region 8!

This is a re-post.  If you are able to help, please contact us.

HLSP will be sponsoring a table at this year’s Hawaii State Bar Association Convention to be held Friday, September 18, 2009, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Coral Ballroom. We are looking for volunteers to man the table for the following shifts:

6:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Please email hawaiilsp@gmail.com and let us know what shift(s) you are able to help us with.

HLSP will be sponsoring a table at this year’s Hawaii State Bar Association Convention to be held Friday, September 18, 2009, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Coral Ballroom. We are looking for volunteers to man the table for the following shifts:

6:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Please email hawaiilsp@gmail.com and let us know what shift(s) you are able to help us with.

Register now for the Hawaii State Bar Association Legal Support Staff Training session to be held 7/13/2009 to 9/26/2009.  More information and registration form can be found on  the Education page.

Hawaii Legal Support Professionals held its first seminar for 2009 on March 5, 2009 at the Cades Schutte conference room.  Presented by Charles H. Hite, Esq. of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, State of Hawai`i, it was an informative session regarding what actions/procedures law offices, attorneys and staff need to be aware of to avoid claims of malpractice.

Thanks to all those who attended the seminar.  Thank you also to Mr. Hite for presenting the seminar and to Ann Hisamoto at Cades Schutte for allowing us to use their conference room for our seminar.

We hope to see more of you at our upcoming seminars.

Here are some photos:

The purpose of this blog is ultimately to provide information to our members to help them do the best job they can possibly do.  To that end, if you have any topics of interest you would like to see discussed here, please feel free to let me know.

Today’s post is more informational…did you know that the Second Circuit Court on Maui has a specific way for filing documents with exhibits attached?  I didn’t, and our office has several cases that are in the Second Circuit Court.

The attached is a memo from the Court Administrator for the Second Circuit Court to practicing attorneys dated 12/11/07 (now why didn’t we staff people know about this memo since we’re the ones that put the documents together???) indicating how documents with exhibits should be filed.

Here’s the  memo 2nd-cir-ct-filing-docs-w-ex

Thank you Rose Carter for bringing this info to our attention.  You learn something new every day!

We work in a field where deadlines are commonplace and the workflow is… well…constantly flowing.  We have all experienced the overwhelming rush of things to do and documents to file — for some of us this is a constant daily occurrence.  Somedays there are so many things to do you feel yourself being overwhelmed just thinking of all the things you need to do and end up unable to decide what to do first or doing the wrong thing first.

This is where the power of the pause comes in.  When you begin to feel overwhelmed with all the things that need to be done, take a moment to stop and breathe.  Once your mind is calm, allow your mind to review the things that need to be done.  Through the power of the pause, you have allowed your mind to “reset” itself and allowed it to think clearer on the things that need to be done.  You will be able to better prioritize and find ways of accomplishing the things that need to be done.  You will be able to focus on the most urgent things first and work through the rest of the tasks.

If you think that you’re “just too busy” to spend a few minutes to “reset” yourself, imagine how much more work you are creating for yourself because you’re spending energy inefficiently to accomplish tasks or accomplishing tasks incorrectly.

Take the time to pause when you need it most…when everything is flying at you at 200 mph…ask yourself “Is this the most important task to do right now?”

You may or may not agree with the title of this post, but the reality for many people in Hawai`i and America today that title hits home.  Look at what happened to the employees of Aloha Airlines, Kay Bee Toys, etc. — all those companies that we thought could never close and whose employees thought they would always have a job.  The legal field, for the most part, has been able to dodge this bullet, but for how long?  At some point, we too may feel the economic impact of this downturn in our economy.

So are you going to sit and wait around for “something” to happen or are you going to be proactive about improving your skills and value to your firm?  The following are a few points for your consideration:

How valuable are you to your firm?  If push came to shove and the firm had to start letting people go, would you be one of the people they would keep or let go?

The days of the one-secretary-to-one-attorney ratio are gone.  For many firms, the ratio is more like three attorneys to one secretary.  The fact that many of the younger attorneys entering the field are very computer savvy and can manage most of their own work helps with the secretary/assistant’s workload.  The secretary/assistant who is adaptable to working in this combination will be seen as a valuable asset to the firm.

Are you as computer savvy as you need to be to do a good job?  Many firms have implemented computer programs to help with the daily operations of the office.  Are you able to use these programs to do the work that needs to be done?  If not, are you willing to learn how to use these programs to help process your work in a quick and efficient manner?

What about legal knowledge?  Many firms are requiring their secretarial staff to cross-train in other fields of law besides the one they currently work in.  Are you able to work in other areas of law?  If not, are you willing to learn how to accurately process work in other areas of law?

Improving yourself by adding more skills and knowledge not only makes you a valuable asset to your firm but should the unthinkable happen — should you need to find another job — you will have an edge over someone with less skills and knowledge.

Something to think about…