Mary Mack Keynotes NFPA Institute

Fios' Mary Mack stole the show at the two-day National Federation of Paralegal Associations' Tech Institute in Denver, July 25-26. Mack, corporate technology counsel at the Portland, Ore.-based company, was the keynote luncheon speaker on day 1, and wow'd the crowd with a speech that was both entertaining and jam-packed with substance.

In a presentation tailored specifically to the NFPA paralegal audience (isn't it amazing how few speakers actually do that?), Mack shared both war stories and concrete advice on how paralegals can deal with thorny EDD situations, which can put them in ethical dilemmas, during her presentation, "The Growing Role of Paralegals in eDiscovery." She offered sage and practical tips about how paralegals can work with attorneys and advance their careers.

She delved into the Qualcomm case, and sang the praises of Judge Grimm in Victor Stanley, among other recent case law. She handled questions with finesse and humor.  And she held everyone's attention, without using a single PowerPoint slide. Excellent job! Here is her PPT: Download nfpa.ppt (with her permission of course).

Mary is also involved with a terrific project to help eradicate hunger worldwide, with a target of tomorrow (7/31): Check it out here.

Career advice was also a strong theme in Charlotte Riser Harris' panel, "Technical Skills for Paralegals," presentation, and in my presentation, "EDD Careers: How to Make More Money and Have More Influence." All of us stressed the explosive growth of e-discovery and both the pitfalls and opportunities that growth presents.

Persuasion Strategies'  Pen Volkmann put on a fascinating program about using 3-D multimedia during trials, showing video from recent trials, including one featured in LTN's Technology on Trial. (Volkmann and his team rec'd  the the 2007 LTN Award for Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Trial for his work in that case.)

Catalyst Repository Systems Inc.'s John Tredennick closed the day with a demonstration of how software can be used to help analyze issues in litigation, illustrating his talk with live examples of his company's software.

These were just a couple of the 25 scheduled presentations. Congrats to co-chairs Tamara Bigford (Goldberg Segalla) and Susan Ippoliti (Function 5 Forensics) and their team for putting together a terrific two-day event.

For more information about this event and future presentations, visit the association's website at www.paralegals.org.