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Paralegal Studies alumni share their success stories and recommendations. At JCCC, you can do it too.
Lisa Gumbs
"I am a judge advocate in the U.S. Army," she reports. "I've spent the majority of my time as a criminal law attorney working both as a prosecutor and defense counsel. I deployed to Iraq in 2003 and was there during the war and after as a trial defense counsel, representing soldiers at courts-martial, administrative actions, etc. Now I am the supervisor of five attorneys who do criminal appellate work. I've also practiced in other areas such as administrative law and providing legal assistance to soldiers and their families."
Lisa said she originally chose JCCC because of the high quality of its education.
"The school has an outstanding reputation and has the most developed and best quality paralegal certificate program. The courses provided a sound foundation from which I was able to figure out how to complete important paralegal tasks. I also found that the substantive law that I learned at JCCC was relevant to my paralegal job because I could review documents, determine what action needed to be taken with that document, and understand how a document would relate to a pending legal case. The faculty was caring and I found that those teachers with prior career experience as attorneys or paralegals provided solid examples of how the law worked and how things worked in a law firm or a government agency. To this day, I use what I learned at JCCC because it was the foundation for all my legal education. JCCC provided practical education that was useful in real world and I still use that today."
Linda Joseph
When Linda Joseph first moved to the Kansas City area, her curiosity about law was piqued while crunching numbers in the accounting and billing office of a major downtown law firm. "While working closely with paralegals and attorneys regarding billing issues for our clients, I realized that being a paralegal would be quite interesting." Shortly thereafter, she enrolled at JCCC in the Paralegal Program.
Joseph chose JCCC because the location was close to her home, the cost was reasonable and JCCC’s program was also one of the few local colleges approved by the American Bar Association.
"Once I started classes, I appreciated how the instructors related classroom learning to the real world," she said. "Many of them were attorneys who had experience in law firms and by conveying their knowledge to the students it enhanced the learning experience. The instructors were friendly, helpful and always willing to answer questions and there was a wide variety of courses available."
Currently Joseph is a paralegal in the Regulatory Law Group at CenturyLink. The skills that she acquired at JCCC have been helpful when she’s dealing with mergers and acquisitions, researching cases and regulations on Lexis and Westlaw, drafting contracts and other business case analysis. She has been a member of the Kansas Paralegal Association since 1994 and currently serves as the Director of District 3. Joseph received the "Paralegal of the Year" award in 2004.
"I enjoy being a paralegal and feel there are so many opportunities to apply what you learn from the JCCC Paralegal Program," she said.
Terry Myers
JCCC alum Terry Myers is a living testament to lifelong learning.
"Reputation, price, size of classes and location – JCCC offered everything I was looking for in a school to obtain my Paralegal Certificate," she said. "I'd been taking classes at JCCC since 1979 (yes, that makes me older than dirt!) so it was the first place to look for what I needed."
A legal career appealed to her because of its combination of both structure and variety.
"I like the structure that the legal system offers and the fact that the law is always changing," she said. "There are so many different areas of law to learn about (i.e. probate, elder law) that it is a constant challenge and thrill. The instructors at JCCC are the absolute best. They made each and every subject easy to understand and apply. They were a constant encouragement to me to succeed. The courses offered reflected the changes in the need for specialized law. For example, Mike Pener recognized the need for a class on elder law. JCCC was one of the first schools to offer such a class."
Terry is once again back in the JCCC classrooms.
"At present, I'm back at JCCC as a student in the Nursing Department's program to get my RN degree," she said. "Once I get that degree, I plan on completing my Legal Nurse Consulting Certificate at JCCC. The LNC program is another example of the faculty looking to the future for what jobs will be needed and offering the education to fill them. With my LNC, I can pursue two of my passions – law and nursing."
Brian Porch
JCCC paralegal alum Brian Porch viewed a career in law as an opportunity to help establish greater equality in society.
"I've always been a person who pulls for the underdog and the disadvantaged, which probably stems from strong lessons learned from my parents early on regarding the importance of equality – particularly in the areas of race, gender and religion," he said."I see the criminal and civil court systems in this country as an equalizer which can allow – albeit imperfectly – those who have been wronged an opportunity to be heard and to achieve some form of closure."
Now a domestic violence court advocate with the Victim Assistance Unit in the Johnson County District Attorney's office, Brian said he chose to attend JCCC primarily because of its reputation of having high educational standards and good standing in the community, as well as its convenient location and affordability. When he first attended JCCC he was not enrolled in the paralegal program, but decided to take a business law class taught by Zohreh Behbehani.
"She was such a great educator and I felt as though I gained so much from that one class, there really was no question of joining the paralegal program from that point on," he said."I have nothing but the highest of praise for all JCCC instructors associated with the paralegal program who provided a real-world-based curriculum in a wide variety of legal areas. All of my teachers made every effort to provide one-on-one assistance regarding class lessons, and then went the extra mile to provide advice and direction in regard to my preparations for a career as a paralegal."
Brian emphasized the importance of the legal writing and research skills he learned at JCCC. "I find myself utilizing those skills daily as I am charged with effectively communicating legal definitions, procedures and terminology to clients," he said. "The importance of these skills is magnified as I am called upon as a representative of my office to regularly correspond with local, state and national organizations."
Cali Selig
"I've always been fascinated with the law," she said. "When I decided to return to school a number of years after not completing my undergraduate degree the first time around, I wanted to go into something related to the law because I knew I needed to study something about which I was passionate and something I could commit to. The intricacies of the application of law and its importance to everyday life made me want to pursue an education in legal studies."
Cali said she chose JCCC because of its accessibility, flexibility and credibility. "The school was geographically accessible to where I lived in Lawrence, the paralegal program had an excellent reputation, and the evening classes offered allowed me to continue working full-time while I pursued my education. No other schools in the area had all of those qualities, and the admissions staff at Johnson County were very friendly and helped me greatly in navigating the ins and outs of being a nontraditional student," she said.
"The faculty at JCCC is outstanding. All of my professors were extremely knowledgeable in the subject matters they taught and were incredibly accessible. They obviously enjoyed teaching and loved the law and their enthusiasm was contagious. The classes I took at JCCC were full of practical skills and assignments and prepared me very well for working in the legal profession, both by teaching me substantive legal concepts and by giving me 'real world' assignments that taught me the skills necessary to do legal work on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the accessibility of the faculty even after my graduation has been amazing. I know, as a graduate of the paralegal program, that the faculty is a continuing resource I am lucky to have access to if and when I need it."
Now in Boston, Cali is employed by the Office of Bar Counsel for the Board of Bar Overseers, which is the body that investigates ethical complaints against attorneys in Massachusetts.
"I am also a full-time third-year student at New England Law – Boston," she said. "The legal research, analysis and writing skills I learned at JCCC have been especially useful to me, as a great deal of what I do both at work and in school involves reading case law and analyzing legal issues. My courses at JCCC also gave me a head-start on more substantive legal classes in law school, because I had a firm grounding in areas such as family law, alternative dispute resolution and criminal law due to the courses I'd taken at JCCC."
Connie Shidler
She chose JCCC, because it was similar to other, more expensive programs, but it did not require some of the classes that didn't seem applicable to her goals or that would not transfer should she ever want to continue her education.
Shidler is confident she received a first class education from a group of first class faculty. "When I went to law school, I was way ahead of the rest of my peers in legal research and I had a lot more information than some others who had attended proprietary schools," she said.
"They were wonderful mentors as well as teachers. I will never be able to express how much easier my bachelor degree and law school education were because I had a great foundation provided by JCCC. I am forever grateful."
Joanna Smith
Aspiring to be a lawyer herself, Joanna Smith, 2005 graduate, wanted to assure herself that she was cut out for the profession. Before she invested time and money into law school, Smith wanted to experience the inner workings of a law firm first hand. Enrolling in JCCC’s paralegal program was a logical first step. "I felt that entering the legal arena as a legal secretary or paralegal first, would give me a great sneak peek into the life of an attorney, and in determining if I wanted to truly venture down that road," she said.
Smith chose JCCC because it was a convenient location, the cost was affordable, and the curriculum fit nicely with her lifestyle of having to maintain a full-time job during the day. "Their night classes were a life-saver," she said.
Smith is currently employed with an asbestos firm in Kansas City, Mo. and enrolled in MidAmerica Nazarene University’s evening classes to obtain her bachelor’s degree.
- American Bar Association (ABA)
- ABA Standing Committee on Paralegals
- National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA)
- National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA)
- Kansas Paralegal Association (KPA)
- Missouri Paralegal Association (MPA)
- Kansas Association of Legal Assistants (KALA)
- Heartland Paralegal Association (HPA)
- Kansas City Paralegal Association (KCPA)
