presented by

The South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division

Best Practices for

South Carolina Paralegal

19-39

Friday, May 10, 2019

http://www.scbar.org/CLE

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Table of Contents

Program Agenda ................................................................................................................................3

Speaker Biographies .........................................................................................................................4

Better Knowledge is More Power: The Foundations of Information Gathering and Interviewing Skills for Lawyers and Legal Staff ...........................................................................7 James Carsten

MAIT Investigations ..........................................................................................................................37 Sergeant J. C. Rikard

Insurance Coverages for Injury Claims ..........................................................................................40 Grenville D. “Doc” Morgan, Jr. Paul L. Reeves

Top Ten Apps Every Litigation Professional Should Know About ...........................................41 David Roberts

Excel ......................................................................................................................................................42 Amy H. Johnson

Mobile Forensics ................................................................................................................................43 John Akerman

SC Bar-CLE publications and oral programs are intended to provide current and accurate information about the subject matter covered and are designed to help attorneys maintain their professional competence. Publications are distributed and oral programs presented with the understanding that the SC Bar-CLE does not render any legal, accounting or other professional service. Attorneys using SC Bar-CLE publications or orally conveyed information in dealing with a specific client's or their own legal matters should also research original sources of authority. ©2019 by the South Carolina Bar-Continuing Legal Education Division. All Rights Reserved THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE CLE DIVISION OF THE SC BAR. TAPING, RECORDING, OR PHOTOGRAPHING OF SC BAR-CLE SEMINARS OR OTHER LIVE, BROADCAST, OR PRE-RECORDED PRESENTATIONS IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE SC BAR - CLE DIVISION.

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BestPracticesforSouthCarolinaParalegalsFriday,May10,2019

This program qualifies for 5.0 SC Bar CPE credits hours by the South Carolina Bar Board of Paralegal Certification.

This program has been approved for 6.0 CLE credit, including 3.0 non-substantive CLE credit by the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA).

This program has been approved by NALS for 5 hours.

8:30a.m. Registration8:45a.m. WelcomeandOpeningRemarks MeliahBowersJefferson,Chair,SCBarBoardofParalegalCertification 9:00a.m. BetterKnowledgeisMorePower:TheFoundationsofInformationGathering

andInterviewingSkillsforLawyersandLegalStaffJames Carsten, Eagle Investigative Services, Inc.

10:00a.m. MAITInvestigations

Sergeant J.C. Rikard 11a.m. Break11:15a.m. InsuranceCoveragesforInjuryClaims

Grenville D. “Doc” Morgan, Jr., McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC Paul L. Reeves, Reeves and Lyle, LLC

12:15p.m. NetworkingLunch(included)12:45p.m. TopTenAppsEveryLitigationProfessionalShouldKnowAbout

David Roberts AWR Court Reporting

1:45p.m. ExcelAmy H. Johnson, Paralegal Yarborough Applegate LLC 2017AAJParalegaloftheYear

2:45p.m. Break3p.m. MobileForensics

John Akerman Rosen LTC

4p.m. Adjourn

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Best Practices for South Carolina Paralegals

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES (by order of presentation)

James Carsten

Eagle Investigative Services, Inc. James E. Carsten is the co-founder and principal of Eagle Investigative Services, Inc.; which specializes in complex investigations and training/consulting to the government, legal, corporate, and private sectors. James created a training program to assist law firms in developing an internal investigative system, and enhance their skills in information collection, interviewing, and reverse engineering police reports. In 2015, James retired from the U.S. Army after 22 years of service as a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Collector and Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Special Agent. As a HUMINT Collector, James enhanced his skill sets in information collection and analyzation, and in interviewing and strategic debriefing – a methodology which incorporates active listening and open-ended questions designed to maximize exploitation of information and mitigate missing information. As a CID Special Agent, James coordinated and solved investigations into crimes against persons and properties, economic crimes, and counter drug. James oversaw and participated in various task force investigations, instructed all facets of crime investigations and methodologies, and has testified in federal, state, and foreign courts, on numerous occasions. James is from the Atlanta, GA area and currently resides in Columbia, SC with his wife and two children.

Sergeant J.C. Rikard South Carolina Highway Patrol

Calvin Rikard is a 1994 Saluda High School graduate who has devoted his life to public safety and service. Upon graduating high school and entering into college, Calvin became an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the Saluda County Nursing Center, which runs all emergent and non-emergent calls for the county. He then joined the Saluda County Sheriff’s Office at the age of 20. After serving two years with the sheriff’s office, he decided to join the South Carolina Highway Patrol in 1999. In 2004, Calvin joined the Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT), which is a specialized unit within the Highway Patrol that focuses on the reconstruction of complex collisions. He was promoted to Corporal in 2006 and recently promoted to Sergeant in June of 2017. He is currently the team leader for the Midlands area that is responsible for 14 counties, covering between Cherokee and Chesterfield and all the way to Aiken County. He is accredited through ACTAR, which nationally offers credentialing that objectively assesses a forensic specialist’s ability in the field of motor vehicle collision investigation and reconstruction.

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Grenville D. “Doc” Morgan, Jr. McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC

Doc Morgan has over 30 years of litigation experience, primarily focused on personal injury, arson and insurance fraud, bad faith, premises liability, products liability, professional liability, insurance coverage and transportation and trucking. Over his years in practice, he has tried a substantial number of jury trials and has argued cases before the South Carolina Supreme Court, the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Morgan received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law and his B.A. from The Citadel. He is a member of the American Bar Association, South Carolina Bar, Greenville County Bar Association, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (Vice Chair – Premises and Security Liability Section), American Board of Trial Advocates, South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association, Defense Research Institute, International Association of Arson Investigators, The John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court, South Carolina Insurance Fraud Investigators, and Claims and Litigation Management Alliance. When not practicing law, Doc enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, playing golf and watching college basketball and football.

Paul L. Reeves Reeves and Lyle, LLC

Paul is a 1981 graduate of the University of South Carolina and a 1985 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law. Upon graduation from law school he clerked for the Honorable Luke Brown, Jr. Circuit Judge of the Fourteenth Circuit. Subsequently, he joined the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office in Richland County, South Carolina, working there for 2 years. He then entered private practice as an associate with Swerling and Harpootlian. The firm focused on criminal and civil litigation. In 1990 he joined Robert B. Lewis and formed the law firm Lewis and Reeves. Paul has been in private practice since that time focusing on representing injured people, litigating medical malpractice, workers' comp and representing those accused of criminal charges. He is married and has four children and one grandson. He is a member of the American Association for Justice. Paul has presented at several CLEs sponsored by the South Carolina Bar including past presentations in the area of tort law.

David Roberts AWR Court Reporting

David Roberts has been immersed in the court reporting field his entire life. He joined the company 20 years ago as AWR’s In-house Legal Videographer and went on to graduate Cum Laude from Northwood University with a Bachelor of Business Management and Court Reporting degree. David earned the National Court Reporters Association’s Certified Manager of Reporting Services certification in 2002 and is currently a Certified Realtime Reporter and Certified Legal Videography Specialist. After over a decade in the legal industry, David saw a need for lawyers to create visually compelling cases for judges and juries that included graphics and trial technology. He established AWR’s sister company, AWR Trial Solutions, to assist lawyers with their trial presentation needs – from courtroom setup to sophisticated and compelling legal presentations. Under his direction, AWR Trial Solutions remains in the forefront of emerging trial technology and legal graphics.

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Amy H. Johnson Yarborough Applegate LLC

Amy Johnson has worked in the legal field for almost 20 years and is employed as a senior paralegal and litigation manager at the law firm of Yarborough Applegate LLC, in Charleston, South Carolina. Her cases focus on catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, trucking litigation, dram shop and liquor liability, and complex civil litigation. She has been a member of the National Association of Legal Assistants since 2003, and she currently serves on NALA's Ethics Committee. Ms. Johnson is an active member of Charleston Association of Legal Assistants, where she has served as president, NALA liaison, education chair, and parliamentarian. She has mentored many paralegals of all levels, and she formerly served on the Trident Technical College Advisory Board for its Paralegal Studies Program. Ms. Johnson is a frequent presenter at continuing education events nationwide. She earned her B.A. degree with honors from Wake Forest University and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree from Colorado State University.

John Akerman Rosen LTC

John W. Akerman, Esq. is an attorney and consultant with Rosen Litigation Technology Consulting, Inc. where he focuses on computer and mobile forensics and eDiscovery. He has performed imaging and analysis on hundreds of computers and mobile phones and has been qualified and testified in both State and Federal court. His forensics experience spans a wide range of legal issues including personal injury, employment, estate, intellectual property, family law, and health care cases. He completed his undergraduate work in finance from Auburn University, received his J.D. from The Charleston School of Law, and is admitted to the South Carolina Bar. John has completed his Certified Computer Examiner (CCE) certification, is a member of the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners (ISFCE), the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists, and the American Bar Association’s E-Discovery and Digital Evidence Committee.

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Better Knowledge is More Power: The

Foundations of Information Gathering and Interviewing Skills for Lawyers and Legal Staff

James Carsten

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Eagle Investigative Services, Inc.

James E. Carsten – President

james@eaglepiservices.com

803-445-7603

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Best Practices for South Carolina Paralegals

Better Knowledge is More Power: The Foundations of Information Gathering and

Interviewing Skills for Lawyers and Legal Staff

Friday, May 10, 2019

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AGENDA

• Explore concepts and establish a successful template for information collection and analysis, to form a product

• Explore concepts for human information collection and processes for best practices of interviewing and debriefing

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INFORMATION COLLECTION

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OBJECTIVES

• Information gathering concepts

• Discuss the importance of holding and

controlling information for a law firm

• Methods of information collection

• Establishing “Priority Information Requirements”

(PIRs)

• How to analyze information to satisfy PIRs

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Information (Intelligence) - is any bit of data, confirmed or

unconfirmed, which can stand alone or be part of a larger

information picture

Collection – Any form of gathering information (i.e. human

interaction, via device, open source, covert)

We Have to Agree on the Following:

Analyzed information leads to Knowledge

Massed knowledge leads to Power

Power leads to Accomplishing a Desired Result

Information Collection Defined

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The Magical Method:

Collection

Analysis

Product

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Common Methods of Collection

Open Source (Internet, Printed Media, Publicly Accessible)

Covert (Surveillance, Recordings, Sources)

Human Interactions (Interviewing, Depositions, Sources)

Via Devices (GPS Tracking, Polygraph, Digital Forensics)

Scientific (DNA, Urinalysis)

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Before You Collect, Know Your PIRs

Priority

Information/Intelligence

Requirements

• What information is known and unknown?

• What information is required to turn an unknown

into a known?

• What will confirm or refute an unknown or

known?

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EXAMPLE: A personal injury lawyer needs to know what a

witness saw.

PIRs

• Identify witness, and fully exploit all information the witness

can provide.

• Confirm the scene where the injury occurred, and establish a

photographic packet of the scene; obtain any police accident

report and interview all police, fire, and EMS first responders;

Identify additional vantage points of other potential witnesses.

• Interview witness …..THIS COULD LEAD TO VARIOUS PIRs.

• Complete link chart of testimony; complete a timeline of events

as perceived by all witnesses.

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Analyze All Collected Information

Have The PIRs Been Satisfied?

• Confirmed

• Refuted

• Re-Collection

• Modify The PIR

Has The Desired Result Or Product Been Achieved?

Have Any New PIRs Been Created?

Have Any Unknowns Become Known?

Are There Any New Unknowns?

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Micro Picture

Versus

Macro Picture

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Link Charts, Timelines and

Photographic Packets are your Allies!

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Collection Pitfalls

• Bias and Prejudice

• Tunnel Vision (Rabbit Holes)

• Bending Information To Fit A Desired Outcome

Inaccurate Conclusions From Accurate Observations

• Preconceived Notions

• Failure To Analyze Based On Facts

• Failure To Organize Data

• Ambiguous Products

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Interviewing

&

Strategic Debriefing

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OBJECTIVES

• What is the difference between interviewing and

strategic debriefing (and why that matters)

• Questioning methodology and the power of

open-ended questioning

• How to keep an interview moving and on-topic

• How to be an “active listener”

• How to analyze and use what you learn from an

interview

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Your Focus Of Information Collection Via Interviewing

• Why do you conduct interviews?

• Do you fully extract information the first time?

• How often do you have to re-interview?

• How much do you prepare for an interview?

• What information do you need?

• What use will the information have?

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Interview Vs. Debrief In Concept

Interview – a meeting in which one or more person(s) question, consult, or evaluate another person; a meeting or conversation in which an interviewer questions one or more person(s) from whom material or information is sought.

Debrief – to question someone, sometimes after a mission or experience, to assess results; to question formally and systematically in order to obtain useful intelligence or information.

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You, As The Interviewer/Debriefer

• What are your experiences?

• How have you elicited information from someone?

• Are you a “worldly” person?

• Can you mentally multitask?

• Are you inquisitive or do you accept initial info?

• Can you keep the conversation going?

• Inaccurate conclusions from accurate observations!

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Interviewer/Debriefer Continued

• Do you initially look for the good or bad in people?

• Do you rely on kinesics?

• Are you a human lie detector?

• Can you confront someone without being confrontational?

• Your perception + Their perception = Truth

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The Interviewee

• Why are you seeking information from them?

• To what lengths are you willing to go?

• Have they been interviewed before?

• Do you need an interpreter?

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Planning And Preparation

• Prior intel saves time and mitigates unknowns

• Failure to plan an interview = missed info

• What is the setting/environment?

• What is your template for questioning?

• Is there a time limit?

• By yourself or with a monitor?

• How will you leave/terminate the interview?

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Approaches And Rapport Building

• Direct

• Pride and Ego UP/DOWN

• Third Party

• Fear UP/DOWN

• Concerned Party

• Best Interest of Interviewee

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Questioning Methodology

• Open Ended

• Boolean

• Leading

• Rapid Fire

• Repeat And Control

• What Else, What Other?

• Reiteration And Summarizing = Active Listening

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Are They Being Truthful?

• Watch Out When Relying On Body Language

• Most People Are Not Pathological Liars

• Poor Questioning Gets Poor Answers

• Perceptions

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Terminating The Interview

• Have you fully exploited PIRs?

• How do you plan to leave the interview?

• With what tone and feeling?

• Will there be a re-interview?

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In Summary

• Info collection model assists to analyze and produce the best product for your firm and a client

• Enhance your firm’s capabilities in extracting maximum information, from clients and witnesses, while minimizing missed information and the need for follow up interviews

• To build your personnel’s skill set of interviewing and debriefing

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QUESTIONS

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Eagle Investigative Services, Inc.

James E. Carsten – President

james@eaglepiservices.com

803-445-7603

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MAIT Investigations

Sergeant J.C. Rikard

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South Carolina Highway Patrol

Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team

The South Carolina Highway Patrol Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) reserves the

right to amend, correct, or detract any or all inferences, conclusions, or opinions presented in this report. This

report is based on information and evidence available to MAIT at the time this report was written. If additional

information becomes available, it may bear on the inferences, conclusions or opinions presented in this report.

Therefore, MAIT reserves the right to revisit and review all inferences, conclusions, or opinions at any future point

in time that new evidence relevant to this case is discovered or presented to MAIT.

This report is the intellectual property of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety and shall not be

duplicated or copied for distribution, unless written permission is granted by the South Carolina Department of

Public Safety Office of General Counsel.

All inquiries regarding this MAIT report or any other associated MAIT investigative materials should be

directed to the SCHP/Troop 9/MAIT Commander:

Captain Johnny Rosado

South Carolina Department of Public Safety

Highway Patrol Division

10311 Wilson Boulevard

Blythewood, SC 29016

Phone: (803) 896-8139

Email: troop9@scdps.gov

Piedmon t MAIT Midlan ds MAIT Coas tal MAIT PeeDee MAIT

Pos t A Pos t B Pos t C Pos t D

33 Villa Road , Su ite 200 1626 Shop Road 597 Old M t Holly Rd , Su ite 304 3415 Eas t Palmet to St reet

Greenvil le, SC 29615 Columbia , SC 29201 Goos e Creek, SC 29445 Florence, S.C. 29506

Office: 864-241- 1174 Office: 803-737- 6789 Office : 843-953- 6035 Office: 843-519- 1344

Fax: 864-232- 8577 Fax: 803-737- 8323 Fax: 843-953- 6009 Fax: 843-661- 4757

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Insurance Coverage for Injury Claims

Doc Morgan Paul Reeves

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Top Ten Apps Every Litigation Professional

Should Know About

David Roberts

41

Excel

Amy Johnson

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Mobile Forensics

John Akerman

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Mobile Chat Apps

What’s App Group Me iMessage Kakao Talk Kik

Allo Signal Telegram BBMFacebook Messenger

Viber We Chat Hangouts SnapChat Others

?

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