Matthew Shawver, Legal Assistant at Hinkle Elkouri
By Douglas May
Matthew Shawver was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, a city known as a major aircraft manufacturing hub and cultural center. Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and boasts cultural and recreational venues that make it one of the 10 best cities to live in, according to Money magazine. The first complete recording made by jazz musician Charlie ''Bird'' Parker occurred in 1940 at the Trocadero Ballroom in Wichita, and the Wichita Jazz Festival remains a significant annual event on the national jazz calendar every year. There's also a Wichita River Festival held each May, and as one of the longest running festivals in the state of Kansas, it features over 70 events, including musical entertainment, athletic competitions, traveling exhibits, cultural and historical activities, plays, and a flea market. Undoubtedly, growing up in such a culturally rich environment must have made Shawver a very well-rounded individual.
When he first got out of school, Shawver worked for a medium-sized law firm where he says the legal assistants were encouraged to work in all practice areas in which the firm practiced.
Shawver left Wichita to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico with a double major in economics and political science. After graduation, he worked for a few years for the State of New Mexico but always kept the idea of going back to school to obtain a law degree in mind. Shawver recalls, ''I thought that by working in a law firm as a legal assistant I would have a better feel for whether pursuing a law degree would be a path I wanted to follow. During my interviews with law firms in Albuquerque, they all said the same thing: I needed a prior substantive law background or a legal assistant degree from an ABA accredited legal assistant program. I returned to Wichita, Kansas, and was hired as a part-time legal assistant and completed my Associate of Science degree at Wichita State University and have been working as a legal assistant for the past 22 years.''
When he first got out of school, Shawver worked for a medium-sized law firm where he says the legal assistants were encouraged to work in all practice areas in which the firm practiced. ''Accordingly,'' he says, ''I provided assistance to the attorneys who practiced in the following areas of the law: real estate transactions, corporate and transactional work, oil and gas, bankruptcy, securities, probate and estates, and litigation. I subsequently worked for the state's largest public utility in Topeka, Kansas, and for the City of Wichita Law Department.'' Shawver says that he did intern in the beginning of his career, and that the internship was a requirement of the legal assisting program where he received his Associate of Science degree. He states, ''Technically, I ‘interned' the last semester of the program at the law firm where I had been working part-time as a legal assistant for the prior six months.''
Although he doesn't currently belong to any professional organizations, Shawver says that in his early years working as a legal assistant he belonged to the local chapter of the National Association of Legal Assistants (Kansas Association of Legal Assistants), in addition to serving on a legal assistant committee at Wichita State University. Shawver says that he credits what success he's had as a legal assistant to ''those attorneys I've worked with who challenged me while at the same time being supportive and patient while I learned.'' He says that there are many benefits to the paralegal profession and that ''work is constantly challenging, both intellectually and from a time-management perspective, which I find exciting.''
Shawver works at Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm LLC, which, as he says, is the second largest law firm in Wichita, Kansas, and a large firm for a city with a population approaching 500,000. He works in the firm's estate planning/probate/real estate practice group where the majority of his work is ''primarily focused on real estate acquisitions and sales, transactional work, and trust funding work associated with estate planning.''
When asked if he has any advice for his peers in the legal field, Shawver says, ''Continually strive to learn. Keeping abreast of changes in your area of the law is imperative. Equally important is remaining technically proficient with computer software, whether it be legal, word processing, or accounting/spreadsheet programs. And remember that a proficient legal secretary is one of the most valuable assets you can have as a legal assistant. Always treat them well.''
Q. What do you do for fun? A. I enjoy riding motorcycles, reading, and gardening.
Q. What CD is in your CD player right now, or what was the last song you listened to? A. The CD currently in my player is Time Out by the Dave Brubeck quartet.
Q. What's the last magazine you read? A. Air and Space Smithsonian.
Q. What's your favorite TV show/movie? A. I am a fan of the Coen Brothers and especially enjoyed the movie Raising Arizona.
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