2018 Paralegal Cruise

The 2018 Paralegal Cruise includes these programs:

HIPAA, Privacy and Litigation

Paralegals in the litigation profession embark on discovery that may involve complex matters pertaining to privacy laws, including obtaining medical records and other sensitive information from governmental and private organizations. This course will provide a brief overview of the HIPAA implications involved in obtaining records, various federal and state privacy laws, and their implications in civil litigation, domestic relations, and probate law.

Those who utilize expert witnesses to offer opinions concerning liability, causation, damages, and/or valuation are often challenged with the task of finding the right expert and engaging his or her services on behalf of a client. Many times, this is no easy task even for the veteran attorney or paralegal. Through this seminar, attorneys and paralegals will understand the selection, location, vetting, retention, fee structures and preparation of expert witnesses and take away some practical nuggets in these and other areas such as creating an expert database, communicating with experts and conflicts of interest.

You found the perfect house, the seller has accepted your offer, and you are ready to close and move in! But as a paralegal specializing in something other than real estate, you may not be familiar with a title commitment or land survey. Do you know what document gives the city or county permission to take/use a portion of your property? Or whether a lender or vendor has a lien on your home? Is that greenbelt behind your house a “real” greenbelt or will you someday have a movie theatre in your backyard? This seminar shows you what real estate agents and subdivision sales agents don’t know or won’t tell you and gives you hands-on experience in reviewing title commitments and land surveys, so you can have the answers you need before buying a new home.

Do you have a perplexing issue for your next deposition setting? Is opposing counsel’s requests complicating matters? Do you feel at times you are navigating in rough seas? Let these three reporting experts help you get to shore with what could be lifesaving information. This fun and interactive seminar will include entertaining stories about their “disasters” at sea, give insight into the services available from reporting professionals, and also provide some great takeaways for avoiding your next iceberg.

Jill I. Francisco, ACP will explain in detail the changes to NALA’s Certified Paralegal Exam that began in January of 2018. She will also specifically explain the new format and testing windows. Jill will discuss NALA’s Advanced Certification Program and share her personal experience with obtaining the CP and ACP certifications. She will discuss reasons for taking the CP exam and reasons for continuing your certification through the ACP program, Jill will also provide study tips and host a question and answer session.

This fun, interactive course will explore various paralegal ethical situations using music. I will play different songs related to various paralegal ethical situation, let the audience guess something about the song (title, band that played it, etc.) and the first person to provide me with the correct “name that paralegal ethics tune” answer will win a fabulous take home prize. I will then discuss the topic raised by the song. Here is an example. I will play part of the song “Confidential Information.” If you are the first person to guess it is by the band the Rembrandts, you win a prize. Then we examine a paralegal’s duty of confidentiality. We keep moving on to the next topic in the same format for an exciting one hour of ethics CLE!

In this lifestyle seminar you will learn techniques on increasing productivity by taking breaks; gaining confidence by adjusting your posture; toning your muscles even if you can't go to the gym and feeling great and looking great with only a little effort.

In this lifestyle seminar you will learn techniques on finding your center and staying calm during the storm; de-cluttering your mind to get to your most productive center; using Feng Shui to soothe your spirit in a chaotic office space and distinguish how food may be affecting your mood.

During this presentation, Ms. Ostrofe discussed:

During this presentation, Dr. Farah discussed:

• The definition of dementia;
• Mild cognitive impairment and types of treatment;
• Prevention;
• Medical and legal risks; and
• Insights and further implications

During this presentation, Ms. Lowe discussed:

• Types of Cases
• Two kinds of Handwriting Experts
• Types of Forgery
• Synchronous Writing
• Range of Variation
• Signs of Forgery

During this presentation, Tim Dimoff discussed:

• Use of force policy
• Reasons
• Factors for consideration
• Levels of resistance
• Rules

During this presentation, Dr. Direen discussed:

• Patents
• Product analysis and reverse engineering
• Plaintiff and defense side notes
• Defense side notes
• Non-testifying consultants
• Depositions
• Court testimony

During this presentation, Mr. O’Neill discussed:

• Accounting equation
• Liability and equity
• GAAP (General Accepted Accounting Principles)
• Significant principles
• Accounting methods
• Levels of assurance
• Balance sheets
• Asset categories

Reading Financial Statements for Lawyers and other Legal Professionals Part 2

During this presentation, Mr. O’Neill discussed:

• Matching principles
• Cost of goods sold
• Manufacturing/construction
• Income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Investment/financial activities
• Balance sheet test cases
• Liabilities and retained earnings

• The expected effects on the body from common street and prescription drugs
• The difference between drug/alcohol levels obtained from blood, urine and breath
• Common false negatives when interpreting drug screen results
• The utility of drug levels for commonly encountered street and legal drugs
• The correlation between drug and alcohol levels and level of impairment

During this presentation, Ms. Ostrofe discussed:

• Product liability damages
• Valuation terms
• Methods for assessing value
• Typical claims in wage and hour cases
• Why data economists rely upon to value claims
• Federal Labor Standards Act cases
• Working with your economic expert

During this presentations, Donald discussed:

• The Main Points
• What’s At Stake
• Categories of Damages
• Who is Harmed?

Litigation of Building Defects Part 2

During this presentations, Donald discussed:

• Who’s At Fault?
• Litigation Challenges
• How to Select Your Expert(s)
• Conclusions & Recommendations

In this seminar we will discuss the basics of e-Discovery. It’s a hot topic and everyone wants you to know about it and know how to do it, even if you don’t actually “have” to do it as part of your job. You might be surprised how much e-discovery is happening around you all day every day even outside of the office.

The problem is, most e-discovery seminars assume that you already know a little bit about e-discovery and skip over the basics, or they teach you a little bit about e-discovery but the real focus is on selling you their e-discovery system. In this beginners level seminar we will talk about the differences between discovery and e-discovery, how e-discovery works, why it’s an issue and how it impacts paralegals. We will learn about where ESI is found (if you don’t know what ESI is, you need to take this seminar NOW!), who has it and who is responsible for it. We will talk about all kinds of e-discovery terminology… metadata, native formats, hash values, de-NISTing, meet and confers, some best practices and more.

Experienced trial paralegal Linda McGrath-Cruz provides a comprehensive lesson on trial binders and paralegal toolkits. In this course, we’ll discuss the following:

• The purpose and importance of the trial binder.
• The various formats you may want to consider and the pros and cons of each.
• We will provide a step by step explanation of exactly what should be included and the critical information needed to transform a so-so trial binder into a case changing gold mine of information.
• We will go into detail about witness information necessary, whether its contained within the trial binder or in separate witness binders.
• To make sure you are ready for every scenario, we will go over juror notebooks as well.
• Finally, we’ll discuss what you should and should NOT include in your paralegal toolbox.

You will walk away with the confidence and skills needed to prepare a trial binder that your trial team will be impressed with, even if you’ve NEVER made one before!

Continuing Legal Education Credit (CLE)

NALA CP or ACP: March 3 – 7, 2018, 2018 Paralegals Navigating Perilous Waters Cruise Event to be held on the Norwegian Epic Cruise Ship, sponsored by Perfectly Paralegal Consulting, Inc., is approved for 25 CLE credit including, 1.0 non substantive (Up Close and Personal with Paralegal Certification Programs) and 3.0 Ethics CLE credit. This approval does not expire.

NALA note: Topics such as law office management, computer training, and other law-related topics are considered by NALA to be under the non-substantive category, which is limited to 10 hours per five-year certification period.

Florida Bar FRP: As approved by NALA, this seminar meets the requirements under Rule 20-6.1 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar for 25 general hours (including 3 ethics hours) of continuing legal education credit required to maintain the FRP credential. This approval does not expire.

NALS: March 3 – 7, 2018, 2018 Paralegals Navigating Perilous Waters Cruise Event to be held on the Norwegian Epic Cruise Ship, sponsored by Perfectly Paralegal Consulting, Inc., is approved for 25 CLE credit including 3.0 Ethics CLE credit. This approval does not expire.

NFPA RP® or CRP™: NFPA automatically accepts CLE hours which bears the accreditation of NALA on the certificate of attendance. A certificate of attendance will be provided upon request for NFPA purposes if needed. This approval does not expire.

South Carolina: This program has been approved by the South Carolina Bar for South Carolina Certified Paralegals for a total of 25.5 CPE hours including 3.0 hours of Ethics/Professional Responsibility. Approval SCCP.

Other Reporting Entities: Almost all paralegal associations accept credits which are pre-approved by NALA. If you aren't sure and you want to double check, please e-mail [email protected] before you purchase the program and we can help you determine whether you can use these credits are not.