Entire Issue - National Association of Legal Assistants

Automotive Product Liability
continued from page 13
In addition to these types of opportunities, legal staffing
agencies supply the Big Three with contract or temporary,
direct hire, and temp-to-perm paralegals. Some familiar
agencies include:
The Affiliates (http://www.affiliates.com/jobsAFF/)
Contract Counsel (http://www.contractcounsel.com/)
Kelly Law Registry (http://www.thelawregistry.com/)
Paralegals Plus Placement Service
(http://firms.findlaw.com/ppps/index.htm)
Special Counsel (http://www.specialcounsel.com/)
Legal Assistants Rule!
The firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone is the
largest law firm in Michigan and one of the nation’s leading
firms in its specialty areas. The firm’s Product Safety Group
works with DaimlerChrysler Corporation in responding to discovery
in product liability and warranty litigation, and assists
with discovery in class action and patent matters. Legal assistants
outnumber the attorneys in this group.
Headquarters for this practice group is the firm’s office in
Troy, MI, where the main responsibilities are written discovery
responses, document production, and dispute resolution in
both product liability and warranty litigation matters. The
group also has two attorneys and one legal assistant in the
firm’s office in Ann Arbor, MI, who work primarily on Jeep
and rollover cases. Computer litigation support duties, including
involvement in development and maintenance of the practice
group intranet, and database creation and maintenance
also fall to the legal assistants.
As national discovery counsel for DaimlerChrysler
Corporation’s Product Liability and Warranty Litigation matters,
the firm’s Product Safety Group paralegals work closely
with DaimlerChrysler Corporation’s in-house legal assistants, as
well as paralegals from law firms around the country. These
firms serve as local counsel for DaimlerChrysler Corporation
in product liability and warranty litigation, and most of them
employ legal assistants in their automotive product liability
practices. The firms include
Bourdeaux and Jones, Meridian, MS
Clark, Thomas & Winters, Austin, TX
Cornell & Gollub, Boston, MA
Cunningham, Harpool & Cordonnier, Springfield, MO
Feeney Kellett Wienner & Bush, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Grace, Genson, Cosgrove & Schirm, Los Angeles, CA
Hall & Evans, Denver, CO
Hanlon, Boglioli & Hanlon, Edison, NJ
Herzfeld & Rubin, New York, NY
Hill, Ward & Henderson, Tampa, FL
Hogan & Hartson, Washington, DC
Lightfoot, Franklin & White, Birmingham, AL
Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin,
Philadelphia, PA
McGlinchey Stafford, New Orleans, LA
McGlynn & Luther, St. Louis, MO
Quale, Feldbruegge, Calvelli, Thom & Croke,
Milwaukee, WI
Sanchez & Daniels, Chicago, IL
Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, San Francisco, CA
Snell & Wilmer, Phoenix, AZ
Sutter, O’Connell, Mannion & Farchione, Cleveland, OH
Swanson, Martin & Bell, Chicago, IL
Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, Atlanta, GA
Webster Szanyi, Buffalo, NY
Legal assistants are an integral part of the automotive
product liability defense team, and are employed extensively
and effectively. Paralegals looking for a field that is rich with
interest, busy with activity, and bristling with challenge would
do well to investigate this area as a career option.
Margaret Lucas Agius, CLA, is an automotive product liability
defense paralegal with the Miller, Canfield, Paddock, and Stone firm’s
Ann Arbor, MI, office of the Product Safety Group. She has been a
legal assistant for more than a decade. She holds a B.S. Degree
(with Highest Honors) from Madonna University’s ABA-approved
Legal Assistant Program, and earned her CLA in 2000. Margaret is
an active member of NALA, and
the Legal Assistants Section of the
State Bar of Michigan, for which
she has served as a section council
member. She is also the immediate
past editor of the Michigan
Legal Assistant, for which she has
written a number of articles. Prior
to joining Miller Canfield, she was
employed by the State of Michigan
Attorney Discipline Board for 11
years, nine of which were as the
board’s legal assistant.
mlagius@wideopenwest.com
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FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003