“I really like working here, I’ve gotten a lot of hands on experience.” – Deanna, Paralegal
Paralegal, Deanna Minasi, discusses her experiences at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.
My name is Deanna Minasi, I am a paralegal at the firm. I work primarily in the litigation department with Supreme Court matters. I work directly with the attorneys, I assist them with all – anything that has to do with litigation and I assist them through the entire litigation process.
“My primary job is to put together motions and pleadings to get ready to be filed in court and ensure that we comply with service requirements which is a huge part of litigation.
I have a lot more responsibilities at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. than probably I would have at larger firms because it’s such a small firm, I have a lot of responsibilities. I have gone to court, I’ve done legal research, drafted memos, I very often draft correspondence and I also work on one of our large telecommunication clients which is really exciting. That’s one reason why I really like working here, I’ve gotten a lot of hands on experience, I work directly with the attorneys, it’s really challenging and rewarding at the same time.
Like I said, it’s a small firm, so just by virtue of being smaller, there’s not that many staff members to help the attorneys. There’s only about four paralegals, I am one of the Supreme Court paralegals, litigation paralegals who help in Supreme Court matters. So I really am there from the start of the case to the end of the case. I really help out with whatever the attorney needs. I think what is unique for Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. is that we have a lot of different levels of experience in our attorneys. We have more seasoned, veteran attorneys who have been practicing for 20 plus years. And we have attorneys who come here straight out of law school. Most of the time they’ve also interned here or externed here while in law school. So we kind of bred this certain type of lawyer that Adam wants and in my position I’ve gotten the chance to interact with both of them, both the experienced and the inexperienced lawyers.
Another unique thing is that a new attorney would be working side by side with the partner and will have kind of the same almost responsibilities so from my prospective it has been a really great resource for me to see how the new attorneys are learning from the experienced attorneys and how they bounce ideas off each other and how the experienced attorneys guide and mentor the younger attorneys. It’s just really been a great experience.
I am going to law school in August so that has been my favorite part of working here and how it makes Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. a great place for attorneys who really want to get their foot in the door early on and really get a lot of early on experience.
I’m going to law school in August, I’ll be going to Fordham Law and I’ve been working here for two years as a paralegal. I came straight out of college and I knew eventually that law school was going to be my ultimate goal but I wanted to gain some foundation in law and I think that I’ve definitely achieved that goal. There’s a lot of procedural aspects of lawyering that they don’t really teach you in law school, that’s something I really didn’t know before I came into the field. But there’s so much here that I’ve learned just you know – what a motion is and how to file a motion and the fact that it even needs to be filed in the court in the first place. Those are things that a law school will not teach you, and it’s really, I think it’s going to give me a leg up in law school, just being introduced to all these legal terms and how the courts work and what … It is also great to be around smart intelligent people. As someone interested in law you really learn law from the people around you. Not even about law but just even work ethic and what it takes to kind of be a great lawyer in New York. So I really have appreciated my time here and wouldn’t trade it for anything, I think it’s been a great experience and necessary experience before law school.
And the attorneys have been extremely supportive for me throughout my entire law school application process. When I was studying for the LSAT they understood that I really needed to go earlier and study and everyone has asked me to write me a recommendation. And they have all the advice in the world and they are eager and happy to help me and kind of talk to me about law school and about law in general.
This may sound kind of cliché but Adam always says that this is the greatest firm in the world and he demands – he promises every client greatness – and therefore demands greatness from his employees, from paralegals and partners alike. And he expects us to do great things and to work hard and to give it everything we got no matter if it’s a small client or a big client. And I think that’s something that will translate to whatever career – I mean I’m obviously going to be a lawyer – but I think that’s something that will definitely will stick with me throughout law school and beyond. And that’s something that Adam has kind of hounded on us and it just becomes kind of second nature to, you know, work hard, put any amount of hours that you need to and every client is just as important as the next. And I think that is something unique to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. and unique to Adam in general.”