Paralegal Lynne DeVenny is one of those rare women who really can juggle it all flawlessly and while never once spilling her Dr. Pepper. Sharp as a tack and with an ability to juggle her responsibilities, along with her passion for Starbucks coffee, Hershey's Kisses and of course, Dr. Pepper, she pulls it off with grace and style and never a complaint. We're proud to include Lynne DeVenny in our Legal Staff Profile Series.
With more than twenty years experience in worker's compensation and civil litigation, Lynne DeVenny has dedicated her career to the legal profession. Certified as a paralegal with the North Carolina State Bar, this author and blogger personifies all that's good in this career sector. It stands to reason a good paralegal has the ability to coordinate the firm's efforts, remain organized and all the while, keeping her focus in an almost super-human kind of way, it's her methods and mindset that raises her to a class few can claim.
Specializing in practice areas such as civil rights, employment law, injury law and worker's compensation, there's no question she has the compassion needed to be successful in these specialty areas. It's more than that, however. Whether it's a combination of maternal instinct and simple human decency or maybe it's her common sense approach, her formula has worked - and worked incredibly well - over the course of her career. Always in big demand, Lynne DeVenny, paralegal and award winning legal professional, has raised the bar for all of those who choose this career as their life's work.
DeVenny is currently serving as co-chair in the Publications Division, Legal Assistant Division for the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Paralegal Division, an appointee on the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Publications Committee and also serves on the Institute for Paralegal Education Review Board. Did we mention she's pulling all of this off simultaneously while maintaining her demanding job responsibilities?
As mentioned, DeVenny also enjoys the honor of being a published co-author of ''Workers' Compensation for Paralegals'', published in 2008 with co-author and attorney J. Griffin Morgan. She maintains a blog that's witty, smart and speaks to the legal profession as a whole, women, mothers and of course, the collective business world. She is currently employed as a North Carolina State Bar Certified Paralegal at Elliot Pishko Morgan, P.A. in Winston-Salem, NC. So what does DeVenny consider an important element, outside of the educational requirements, that makes a superb paralegal? See for yourself:
''The ability to be nice, even when the people you interact with aren't nice to you, is an invaluable soft skill, and a character trait that most of our moms try to teach us, starting when we are self-absorbed toddlers. I don't think that being nice means being cloyingly sweet or a passive doormat, but I do think that being nice, especially in the tough situations we typically face in the practice of law, is a basic soft skill that legal staffers need to use every day.
Yes, it's necessary for successful paralegals to be naturally nice, helpful people, since a large component of our jobs is customer service. It's essential to be genuinely interested in other people's problems, as well as the solutions. Personally, on rough days when I find it more challenging to be nice, it helps me to remember to treat our clients - and my colleagues - like I would want to be treated. (Mom said that, too.)''
Along with her career demands, DeVenny is also a mother and animal lover, dedicating a section of her blog to her two legal-minded pups with photos in their most ''legal looking'' poses. For more information on Lynne DeVenny, visit her blog at PracticalParalegalism.com.
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