The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Paralegals who are employed as litigation assistants must be well versed in the basic tools of the litigation specialist. It goes without saying that the more knowledge and skills a paralegal professional possesses, the more valuable he or she is to the litigation team. In order to achieve the highest levels of professional certification in litigation support, a paralegal must have a fundamental mastery of legal research and writing. Indeed, writing is the single most important skill of any litigation paralegal. A paralegal’s writing acumen will often spell the difference between reaching the very highest levels of the profession, or falling short. And, a paralegal must know how to investigate and then reason as a legal professional. This important specialist certification is designed for litigation support paralegals who want to go above and beyond the average standard for litigation paralegals. We have included a four week course in E-Discovery, as electronic discovery is undoubtedly the major force changing the face of discovery in the litigation practice. Often attorneys know less than the paralegals in this area.

Textbooks: All textbooks are included in the tuition for this specialized certificate program.

Module 1: Legal Research and Writing
Perhaps the most important skills of any paralegal are writing, analysis, and legal research. A skilled writer is an extremely valuable asset to any law office. This workshop-style course is designed to hone the student's writing and thinking skills by concentrating on basic principles of legal writing and analysis. Students learn to use powerful research tools, including online facilities from Westlaw and traditional book-based methods. Students prepare a variety of legal documents and research various issues. Results are reviewed by the instructor and other students in an online setting. This is one of the great advantages of online learning: the fostering of a community where students can easily share their work product and ideas with their fellow students.

Module 2: Investigation and Legal Reasoning
As a practicing paralegal, you will be involved daily with clients who have come to your firm for legal representation and guidance. You will be involved in real-life cases throughout your career. This course is dedicated to developing the skills you will need to work with clients and investigating and analyze their situations. Topics covered include:

• The fundamentals of working with clients and attorneys in "real life" cases.
• How to analyze fact patterns, identify elements, present issues, and apply legal principles to the facts of the case.
• How to interview clients, "selling" the firm, and drafting intake memos.
• How to take a witness statement and how to "read" your witnesses and clients.
• The importance of evidence, the concept of admissibility, and the distinction between direct evidence and circumstantial evidence.
• How to read and analyze court opinions.

Other subjects covered include: The nature and context of investigation, sources of evidence, sources of leads, gaining access to records, evaluating evidence, interviewing witnesses, taking witness statement and settlement workups.

In short, this very important course will prepare you to become an indispensable part of your law firm's case investigation team.

Module 3: E-Discovery
It is beyond dispute that the computerization of information has changed the conduct of civil litigation discovery in dramatic ways. In today's rapidly evolving electronic universe, paralegals and attorneys must know how to generate, discover, produce and preserve electronic information.

E-Discovery is a comprehensive course designed to educate the paralegal to recognize and handle electronic information. The course will explore:

• Electronic discovery
• The role of electronic information in the business environment
• Electronic messaging
• Collecting and searching electronic information
• Discovery and the production of electronic information
• Rules of discovery
• Non-compliance with discovery demands
• Electronic information and the rules of evidence
• Admissibility, Hearsay
• And many other topics.

An essential course for the modern litigation paralegal.