The paralegal program at Steptoe & Johnson LLP has existed for several decades, evolving over time into its present form as a vibrant part of the firm that fosters an atmosphere of professionalism and dedication.

Practice Support Director Cheryl Williams manages the multi-tiered program consisting of project assistants, paralegals, senior paralegals, paralegal specialists, law clerks, regulatory analysts, and docketing staff. With a ratio of eight paralegals for every lawyer, Steptoe paralegals provide a diverse set of skills to deliver efficient and cost-effective services to clients.

Our paralegals are utilized fully, and they assume many of the routine tasks that would otherwise be handled by and billed by lawyers:

• Project assistants focus on the organizational phases of litigation discovery, traveling to outside agencies, and courts, as well as performing research.
• Paralegals perform factual research and assist with all phases of the discovery process, including trial preparation and trial attendance, or assist with our many regulatory and business practices.
• Senior paralegals take on more complex assignments with a more general level of supervision.
• Paralegal specialists have significant knowledge in particular practice areas such as energy regulation, insurance litigation, intellectual property, and toxic tort, and work at a high level on complex matters.
• Law clerks perform legal research and complete writing assignments.

Team Members
Our paralegals’ wide-ranging backgrounds and diverse experiences contribute to the program. For example, Kathy Palmer, a specialist in our Los Angeles office, has more than 28 years of experience and manages multi-plaintiff toxic tort litigations without a glitch. Mary Loguidice, also a specialist in our Los Angeles office, has 25 years of experience and has assisted at the trials of 12 cases to verdict.

Karen Tucker, R.P., another specialist in the Washington office, has 27 years of experience, holds a M.A. in legal studies, is a National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) Registered Paralegal (R.P.), and serves as the firm’s legal editor. She is an acknowledged commentator in the 17th edition of The Bluebook. She has also served as the chief editor for the ABA Section of International Law and Practice, Report on the Proposed Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal to Adjudicate War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia (1995). Ms. Tucker co-authored an article in employee benefits law with Steptoe partner Anne Moran: "The New Pension Protection: More Work for Plan Administrators," 32 Employee Relations L.J. 96 (Winter 2006). Most recently, she has published an article on litigation support software in Law Technology News: "IT @ Steptoe & Johnson: Automate Authorities."

Siobhan S. Smith, another paralegal specialist, was named one of the 15 top paralegal experts in America, featured in author Carole Bruno’s book, Lessons from the Top Paralegal Experts: The 15 Most Successful Paralegals in America and What You Can Learn From Them (Delmar Cengage Learning; 1 edition, 2007). Steptoe paralegal specialists Larry Taylor and Karen Tucker were among the 24 semifinalists.

Sally Albertazzie is the coordinator of Steptoe’s e-Commerce practice group: the eTeam. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Paralegal Institute and has more than 14 years of experience in all aspects of technology.  Ms. Albertazzie coordinates the eTeam's workflow, edits and publishes the group's weekly newsletter, E-Commerce Law Week, administers the firm's Country-by-Country Guide to Encryption Regulation, handles most of the research needed by group attorneys, and prepares and files technology export licenses and commodity classification requests with the Department of Commerce.

Below is a partial list of the paralegal specialists at Steptoe’s offices who bring considerable experience to client matters on which they work. Each specialist brings a particular focus that attorneys use to deliver efficient and cost-effective services to clients.

Lisa Arnold (Washington office) 

• 10 year's experience in IP, securities, and complex commercial litigation, white collar defense and commercial compliance, including more than 5 years experience in Section 337 Investigations at the US International Trade Commission
• Significant trial and arbitration experience

Marilyn Bradbury (Phoenix office paralegal supervisor)

• 23 years of experience in commercial and insurance bad-faith litigation
• 4 years of paralegal management experience 
• Significant trial experience

Karen Cottrell (Washington office)

• 26 years of experience in energy regulatory practice

Direthea Cummings (Washington Office)

• More than 20 years of experience in the area of intellectual property law with a focus on trademark prosecution, due diligence research, domain name matters, and maintenance of large domestic and international trademark portfolios
• Experienced in trademark enforcement and domain name enforcement matters
• Member of  International Trademark Association (INTA)

Keith Decker (Washington office)

• 24 years of experience, including 14 years in surface and aviation transportation regulatory practice
• 6 years of experience in banking regulatory practice

R.C. Eckert (Phoenix office)

• 14 years of experience in complex commercial and insurance bad-faith litigation
• Significant trial experience

Jennifer Fryer (Chicago office)

• 10 years of litigation experience including 3 years in intellectual property, 4 years in securities fraud, and 1 year in financial markets
• Significant trial experience

Donna Guihon (Washington office)

• 19 years’ corporate law experience

Kevin Haggerty (Washington office)

• 11 years of experience in energy regulatory practice

Mary Loguidice (Los Angeles office)

• 25 years of litigation experience
• Extensive trial experience

Lawrence Loretoni (Washington office)

• 7 years of experience in bankruptcy law
• 14 years of experience in toxic tort litigation

David Noel (Washington office)

• 25 years of experience in document production and case management for contract, antitrust, and intellectual property litigation

Kathleen Palmer (Los Angeles office)

• More than 28 years of experience in toxic tort litigation
• Board President, Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women & Children

Jill Taylor Pope (Washington office)

• More than 26 years of litigation and regulatory practice experience in practice areas such as antitrust & competition; energy; ERISA; labor & employment; insurance & reinsurance; intellectual property; international trade; tax; telecom; transportation; and arbitration & dispute resolution
• Extensive trial experience, participating in antitrust, ADA and FHA discrimination and white collar crime cases to verdict
• Litigation paralegal training experience, including training junior paralegals in the litigation process—i. e., motions practice, discovery, trial preparation and trial

Mary Sherman (Washington office)

• 24 years of litigation experience, including nine years of experience in insurance fraud

Bonnie Skinner-Braxton (Washington office)

• 27 years of experience in insurance, international trade, and ERISA litigation
• Significant trial experience

Siobhan Smith (London office)

• 20 years of corporate, securities, and transactional experience, including 2 years in the United Kingdom 
• 3 years' litigation experience

Larry Taylor (Washington office)

• 25 years’ public utilities regulatory and litigation experience
• Arlington County, Virginia, Outstanding Volunteer 2003

Training
Our paralegals constantly enhance their skill levels via outside seminars and in-house training to keep up with the trends in the profession and the practice areas. Professional development is an essential part of everyday paralegal life at Steptoe. We pride ourselves on providing clients with top-notch service and increased flexibility when staffing their projects.

The following is a sample of the training programs that our paralegals regularly attend:

• “Practice Tips” series of classes taught by paralegal specialists and others in their area of practice, such as criminal and MDL litigation, automated litigation support, trial preparation, ALWD Citation Manual, corporate law, international trade law, document production, pro bono work, electronic case filing, litigation communications, regulatory law, section 337 litigation, e-discovery management, and legal ethics;
• 10-week cite-checking course conducted by the firm’s legal editor, typically for newer paralegals, but open to everyone;
• LEXIS and WESTLAW seminars;
• Legal Writing Seminars;
• Advanced Litigation Topics Seminars;
• Paralegal SuperConferences, with Estrin Legal Ed.;
• CALE Online Ethics course;
• Paralegal Retreat Seminars with cutting edge training in such topics as Legal Ethics, E-Discovery and Corporate Research; and
• NCAPA Annual Training Conference.

With a diverse and experienced paralegal staff and ongoing training, Steptoe’s paralegal team thrives upon providing quality service to our lawyers and clients.