The Cincinnati Paralegal Association would like to invite you to attend our December General Membership Meeting (CLE Series), which has been scheduled for Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 12:00 pm via Zoom. The details are below! We hope that you will be able to join us for our final CLE meeting of the year!
Program Description
Communication Tips for Paralegals
This seminar will explore issues faced by paralegals when communicating with clients and adverse parties. Tips for dealing with excessive communicators and managing client expectations. Determine what you can - and cannot - text clients. Explore the risks of using “Reply All” when responding to emails. Understanding your role as a paralegal when communicating with an insurance carrier or adverse party, especially when it comes to settlement and lien negotiations.
Course Content
- Managing client expectations and dealing with over communicators
- Useful tips for ethically storing, sending, and receiving emails and text messages from a client
- What a paralegal can and cannot discuss with an adverse insurance carrier or party
- How to handle situations when you are not sure if you are ethically able to respond
- The paralegal role in negotiating settlements and lien reductions
Speaker: Austin LiPuma
Attorney Austin LiPuma is the Personal Injury Department Director at Freking Myers & Reul. Since its beginning, Austin’s career has been exclusively focused on representing plaintiffs. During law school, he clerked for Judge Patricia Oney (retired) in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, served as an instructor with the Law & Leadership Institute focused on bettering education for students in underserved areas, and was a research assistant for Professor Emerita Marianna Bettman where he assisted with the acclaimed blog Legally Speaking Ohio.
Austin has centrally focused his career on representing injured people. From dog bites to catastrophic trucking cases, he has recovered millions on behalf of his clients along the way. His first-chair trial experience has equipped him with the skillset to handle all aspects of personal injury litigation including depositions, mediations, hearings, and jury trials.
Austin is a proud double graduate of University of Cincinnati where he earned both his undergraduate and law degrees. While an undergraduate student, Austin was heavily involved in University of Cincinnati’s Mock Trial Association where he was Captain, Vice President, and won multiple “Outstanding Attorney” awards. Austin took this experience into law school where he became a member of the Trial Practice and Moot Court programs. Upon joining Moot Court, Austin achieved both “Best Oral Advocate” and “Best Overall Score” distinctions. He went on to become Executive Director of the Moot Court Honor Board during his final year of law school.
Austin was also on the executive board of the student-run Freedom Center Journal, a mentor with the Student Legal Education Committee, and a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution club. In his spare time over the last eight years, Austin has acted as head coach for University of Cincinnati’s nationally ranked Mock Trial Association.
Austin has been the recipient of Best Lawyers in America "Ones to Watch" 2023; Super Lawyers 2020 – 2023; The National Trial Lawyers, Civil Plaintiff - Top 40 under 40; Schmieg & Weill Award for Outstanding Contribution to Moot Court; Norman I. Barron Award for Demonstrated Leadership and Integrity; and John R. Sayler Prize for Achievement of Highest Grade in Evidence.
* This meeting is currently pending approval for 1.0 CLE credit from the OSBA.