Maricopa Community Colleges  LAS210   19946-19975 
Official Course Description: MCCCD Approval: 04/26/94
LAS210 19946-19975 LEC 3 Credit(s) 3 Period(s)
Law Office Procedures
Law office programming, personnel, filing, use of equipment, law library and processing papers for courts. Prerequisites: LAS109 or permission, of department chairperson, or program director/coordinator.
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MCCCD Official Course Competencies:
 
LAS210   19946-19975 Law Office Procedures
1. Describe basic law office management duties and concepts. (I-VI)
2. Apply basic law office management concepts to law office problems. (I-VI, XV-XVI)
3. Perform bookkeeping and accounting functions. (III)
4. Describe uses for the various available systems of filing in the law office. (IV)
5. Apply good management principles and modern technology to word processing in the law office. (I-V, XIII)
6. Apply the principles of law office management to systematizing the delivery of paralegal services in the law office. (IV-XIII)
7. List common legal research materials. (VI, VII)
8. Perform basic legal research. (VI, VII)
9. Identify courts and agencies of the federal, state, and local governments. (VI)
10. Apply basic principles of civil procedure. (VI, XI-XII)
11. Apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. (VI)
12. Develope a law office system for the delivery of paralegal services in a given specialty of law. (VIII-XI)
13. Describe the importance of the Code of Professional Responsibility. (XIV-XV)
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MCCCD Official Course Outline:
 
LAS210   19946-19975 Law Office Procedures
    I. General Office Procedures
        A. Types of law office employees
        B. Roles and duties of law office employees
        C. Law office procedure manuals
          1. General information
          2. Typical law office procedures
      II. Timekeeping
          A. Timekeeping methods and materials
          B. Billable v. non-billable time
          C. Reducing "lost time"
          D. Time management
          E. Manual and computer timekeeping
          F. Timekeeping and the office financial status
        III. Fee and Billing Practices
            A. Types of fees
              1. Hourly
              2. Fixed fee
              3. Contingency
              4. Other
            B. Billing Methods
              1. Monthly
              2. Quarterly
              3. On completion
              4. Other billing methods
            C. Billing rates
              1. Attorneys
              2. Legal assistants
              3. Law clerks
            D. Monitoring of accounts
              1. Resolving unbilled time and costs
              2. Collecting unpaid bills
              3. Automatic vs hand-billing clients
              4. Billing and the financial status of the office
          IV. Filing Systems
              A. Types and uses of file equipment
              B. Types and uses of file systems
                1. Centralized
                2. Decentralized
                3. Modified centralized
              C. File retrieval systems
                1. Alpha-numeric numbering system
                2. Opening and closing files
                3. General filing procedures
                4. Preparing client cards
                5. Preparing new matter memoranda
            V. Docket Control
                A. Types of docketing systems and tools
                B. Docket control and legal malpractice
                C. Computation of deadlines
              VI. Rules of Civil Procedure
                  A. Review of Federal and Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure
                  B. Review of Uniform and Local Rules of Practice
                    1. Maricopa County
                    2. Pima County
                  C. Review of Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure
                  D. Use of court rules
                    1. Setting up docket control systems
                    2. Selecting forms
                    3. Setting up typing/word processing procedures
                    4. Utilization of process servers
                    5. Resolution of office crises
                VII. How to Find the Law
                    A. Reporters
                    B. Digests
                    C. Legal citations
                    D. Computerized legal research systems
                  VIII. Estate Planning and Probate Procedures
                      A. Estate planning forms
                      B. Probate forms
                      C. Tax forms
                      D. Overview of estate planning techniques
                      E. Tips for expediting the process
                      F. Available resourses for the legal assistant
                    IX. Corporate Procedures
                        A. Advantages of types of Business organizations
                          1. Sole prorietorships
                          2. Partnerships
                          3. Corporations
                        B. Disadvantages of types of business organizations
                          1. Sole propietorships
                          2. Partnerships
                          3. Corporations
                      X. Real Estate Procedures
                          A. Uses and types of deeds
                          B. Procedures for transferring real property
                          C. Procedures for clearing title to real property
                          D. Affidavits of value and exemptions
                          E. Selected real estate transactions
                            1. Quit claim deeds
                            2. "Straw person"
                        XI. Litigation Procedures
                            A. Discovery
                            B. Interviewing witnesses
                            C. Srvice of process
                            D. Document control
                            E. Information retrieval
                            F. Personal injury cases
                          XII. Preparation of Trial Notebook
                              A. How to prepare a trial notebook
                              B. Advantages
                            XIII. Office Equipment and Supplies
                                A. Types of law office equipment
                                B. Purchasing office supplies
                                C. Cost-savings techniques
                              XIV. Ethics and Professional Associations
                                  A. National Association of Legal Assistants Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility
                                  B. Arizona State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct
                                  C. National and local legal asistant associations
                                XV. Personnel Conflicts
                                    A. Types of conflicts
                                    B. Resolution of conflicts
                                  XVI. Employment Benefits
                                      A. Types of insurance benefits
                                      B. Pension and profit sharing plans
                                      C. Professional association dues
                                      D. Other benefits, i.e. parking,seminar fees
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