Barbara is our esteemed estate planning, trust administration and probate paralegal advisor. She brings over 45 years of legal training, experience and skills with discrete projects such as drafting/editing estate planning documents (including, wills, powers of attorney, health care directives, trusts and related materials), preparation of transfer deeds and supporting assessor forms, real property affidavits, change in ownership statements and the like; assistance with California state court probate procedures and forms; post-death trust administration activities and drafting pleadings/conducting factual and legal research and related work with regard to trust dispute actions.
She’s worked for premier law firms and attorneys throughout the State of California. As an estate planning, trust administration and probate paralegal, she additionally provided marketing, human resource and office administration services. As a civil litigation trial paralegal, she assisted at trial in over 30 complex litigation cases and prepared hundreds of cases for trial during the course of her career, in a variety of venues for both state and federal courts. Barbara has worked on many kinds of cases, from business litigation to elder abuse, to catastrophic personal injury actions. She now operates her own LDA business and provide services directly to the public and professionals..
Barbara was the paralegal coordinator for a staff of 35 paralegals at a nationally recognized law firm, responsible for case assignments, work assignments, supervision, management and HR; she was the case manager on several complex actions requiring teams of document analysts working round the clock shifts to input data into electronic systems to manage voluminous discovery materials and have designed and implemented database systems for document control in large volume complex cases. As part of a trial team, she has been deeply involved in jury selection, evidence preservation and presentation, witness coordination, legal research and fact research.
We are honored to have her on our team.
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More on Barbara~
Teaching Background:
- Chaired Practicing Law Institute’s Litigation Workshop for Legal Assistants for five years; taught seminar program in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco; co-authored PLI’s Civil Litigation Handbook for Legal Assistants, currently available through Amazon.com.
- Acquired California Private Post Secondary Teaching Credential in Paralegal Studies; taught Civil Litigation at Lincoln Law School (Sacramento, CA) legal assistant training program for three years. Taught Civil Litigation at University of Northern California School of Law’s legal assistant program.
- Faculty member for the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Extension’s Paralegal Certificate Program, teaching Fundamentals of Paralegal Studies and Legal Research, receiving the highest student evaluations of the program.
- Served on the advisory boards for the paralegal programs of Lincoln Law School and the University of California at Davis; faculty member and faculty advisory board member for UCSB Extension Paralegal program
- Guest lectured on Civil Litigation and other paralegal related topics at legal assistant programs sponsored by American River College, UC-Irvine, University of West Los Angeles and Barclay’s College. Panel member for conferences held by University of West Los Angeles’ Alumni Association and the Orange County Paralegal Association.
Related Experience:
- Testified before the California State Bar Association’s Public Protection Committee on the subject of paralegal regulation.
- Testified before the California State Senate Sub-Committee on the Judiciary on the subject of paralegal regulation.Served as California’s first paralegal lobbyist to the California State Legislature.
- Authored articles published in Santa Barbara Lawyer magazine, Legal Assistant Today, The National Paralegal Reporter and KNOW magazine.
Education:
- Certificated, University of California, Santa Barbara, Legal Assistant Certificate Program (ABA Approved Program) – 1984 (I am California Business and Professions Code, Section 6450 compliant, with up to date MCLE credits recorded on a log) State of California Private Post Secondary Teaching Credential in Paralegal Studies – 1990
- Undergraduate studies: Los Angeles Valley College and Santa Monica College
- Oak Park High School, Oak Park, Michigan (graduated in upper 10% of class)
- Registered and bonded as a Legal Document Assistant in Madera County, California, Registration No. 2016006(R)
Check out Barbara’s Artist Profile here → Barbara Liss, BLissful Art.
