Senior Project Reflection

Positive Statement: Once I was actually giving my lecture, a weird sort of calm came over me, and I actually had a bit of fun lecturing. I felt pretty proud that I was able to keep a fairly calm pace and make good eye contact.

Questions: 
a. I would give myself a P for my 2-hour, because I completed all the tasks but I didn't really have anything special in my presentation
b. Overall I would give myself an AP because I turned in a lot of things late.

What worked: Service learning. I had a lot of trouble finding service learning at first, but once I had that settled  the experience was great. Having never had a job before, I was able to experience what a work environment was like, and being in a law office taught me a lot that research hadn't.

What didn't work: After a while, research got pretty old. I started having trouble finding good sources and sources that didn't get repetitive.

Finding Value: I think that having completed the senior project, I will have at least a little bit more confidence when walking into professional situations. I still get intimidated by people I view as professionals, but now I can look back at service learning and remind myself that I've done it before and people are generally nice and willing to help.

2 Hour Presentation

Lesson Plan can be found here on google docs

Answer #3

EQ: What is the best way to be a public agency paralegal?

Answer 3: Keeping up with changing laws

Evidence:

• You need to understand a law to be able to implement it
• New laws might contradict old ones
• If both you and the lawyer keep up with the laws, you might get a more complete understanding of it

Source:

• Purthur's class
• Roles, Responsibility, Ethics, and Required Skills.
• Litigation Corner: Time To Shine

Answer 1

Answer: If a person gets their paralegal certification, they will have more success in being hired.

Evidence/Sources:
1. NALA
NALA is one of the top US paralegal associations, and its main concern is providing a certification program for paralegals. They believe that certification shows that a paralegal is credible.

2. MT SAC Paralegal Courses
I spoke with my mom, who is working towards her degree in paralegal studies, and she told me that many of her class books say that a paralegal cannot be billed without certification. This means that instead of the fee coming from clients, as with an attorney, an uncertified paralegal would be payed out of pocket.

3. Paralegal.edu
James Scheffer is the Admissions Director for the Center for Advanced Legal Studies. He has written an article on the terms certified vs certification, and in it he says that "Attorneys are encouraged by their State Bar Associations to promote continuing education and excellence among their paralegals." This means that proof of training and education, such as certification, would help ensure that paralegals can meet the expectations.

Presentation Reflection

1.  In what way did the first interview affect your presentation?  Please explain, be specific and use an example.
Since my presentation was about contract law and my interview was about paralegals, the only way my first interview helped me with my presentation was that it helped me get slightly more outside of my comfort zone. I was very nervous and uncomfortable when I interviewed Professor Ramey, and I think that every time I am pushed out of my comfort zone and forced to present or talk to people I don't know, it gets a little easier.

2.  What would you say stood out about your presentation performance and why?
I think that my knowledge on the subject stood out. I was able to speak about my subject calmly.

3.  What was the most challenging to do and why?
I found fitting everything into five minutes to be the most challenging. I had to cut out almost half of what I had originally planned on saying in order to meet the time limit.

Senior Project Presentation 1

Objective:
Students will learn what is necessary for a contract to be legally valid.

Procedure:
1-Introduce contracts (quick explanation, ask students when they last bought or sold something, express contract vs. implied contract)
2-Talk about when contracts are voidable
3-Explain mutual assent
3-Explain bilateral and unilateral contracts (give examples)
5-Talk about certainty of terms (what needs to be clear for the contract to be valid)

Check for understanding:
Ask students for examples of different types of contracts.

Materials:
Poster showing visual aid of terms that must be certain for a valid contract