JANUARY 15, 2008 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Spartanburg Methodist College Paralegal Graduates
Using Their Education in Many Different Fields

SPARTANBURG – Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work with the best lawyers in America?  Theresa Sexton, a 2007 graduate of the Spartanburg Methodist College Paralegal Certificate Program, knows.   

Sexton works for Ford and Harrison LLP,  the national labor and employment law firm, where not one, but three of their Spartanburg-based attorneys, Wade E. Ballard, Michael W. Bishop and S. Clay Keim, have been named to the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.    In June of 2007, Ballard as well as Ford and Harrison, LLP, were also recognized in the 2007 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.  

“It's the icing on the cake. That's how I would describe my job as a Legal Assistant here at Ford & Harrison.   While sitting in church on a recent Sunday, the preacher asked by a show of hands, how many of us were happy at our jobs.  I raised my hand and looked around and was surprised to see only a few hands lifted.  I'm very fortunate, I said to myself, to have the job that I do and to be able to work with truly the best lawyers in America. Working with attorneys with such expertise allows me to learn from the best and further my knowledge in the Paralegal field.  To be able to express that you are happy with your job and career and with the people that you work with are, as they say, ‘priceless,” says Sexton. 

For her paralegal education internship, Sexton sought to diversify from labor and employment law, and opted to complete her internship under Rusty Clevenger with Spartanburg Forensics, a collaboration of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department and the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.  Her interest in Forensics was sparked by the “Forensics for Paralegals” course she took at SMC. 

“I am in this position because of Spartanburg Methodist College's Paralegal Certificate Program which is dedicated to the working individual who cannot afford to quit their day job to go to college full-time.  By offering evening classes that meet twice a week, the program offered me just what I needed --  the ‘meat and potatoes’ legal education to prepare me to work as a paralegal in the legal world.  I am thankful SMC offered the Paralegal Program and allowed me to be what I've always wanted,” says Sexton. 

Sexton is just one of many graduates of the Paralegal Certificate Program that has seeing new career opportunities opening for them because of the program. 

Some of those students include:

• 2007 graduates Norma Galvez and Leslie McDonald hope to use their bilingual skills to work as translators in the legal field.  McDonald completed 60-hours of Certified Court Interpreting Training in December of 2006, and team-taught a course in the SMC paralegal program entitled Spanish Communication Skills for the Legal Professional this past Spring.
• Dr. David Mark Bomar, another 2007 graduate, spent 26 years working in the education field, and is thrilled to finally be able to combine his lifelong interest in the law with his recently completed legal education to work as a paralegal for Hattie Boyce at the Boyce Law Firm in Spartanburg.
• Marjorie Jones, a 2005 graduate, has worked for 9 years for the Honorable Don Beatty, a recently appointed SC Supreme Court Justice. Beatty is only the second black man to sit on the bench since Jonathan Jasper Wright became the state's first black Supreme Court justice in 1870. Beatty served on Spartanburg City Council and in the Statehouse before being elected Circuit Court judge in 1995. He was elected to the state Appeals Court in 2003.
• Karen Greer, a current SMC paralegal student, works as a legal assistant for South Carolina Legislature Representative R. Keith Kelly with the Lister, Flynn, Kelly & Talley, PA law firm.  While Toria Means, a 2001 graduate of the paralegal program, who works as a real estate paralegal with this same firm, hopes to continue her legal education by attending law school.
• Eva Arteaga, a current SMC paralegal student who is also enrolled at Spartanburg Community College, plans to attend Life Chiropractic College in Atlanta and become a chiropractic physician.  Arteaga believes her legal education will serve her well in her future chiropractic field. 

Then there are students of the program who have or plan to come back to serve as an instructor. 

Lisa Stephens, a 2005 graduate of the SMC program, works as a paralegal in the legal department of Spartanburg-based Denny’s Inc.   Lisa recently returned to the SMC classroom as an instructor in the paralegal program teaching law office management and computers for the law office.  She is working towards earning a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies at South University.  

Dr. Jamie Fleetwood,a 2007 graduate of the program, is coming back in the upcoming Spring I session to teach the program’s new Environmental Law course. Dr. Fleetwood holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Arkansas, a B.S. in Occupational Safety and Health from Southeastern Oklahoma University, an M.S. in Safety Engineering, as well as an Engineering Science Doctorate in Environmental Law from Columbia University. 

She operates JC Fleetwood Consultants in Cowpens, SC and provides EHS, OSHA VPP and ISO14001 services to general industries and performs technical research required by industrial and legal parties.   

“I got involved in the SMC paralegal program to validate researching regulatory issues while providing consulting services involving environmental, safety and Worker’s Compensation issues for my clients,”  Fleetwood stated.   

SMC Paralegal Program director Yvonne Harper is thrilled that her students are able to satisfy their passion for the law and incorporate their legal training in so many vastly different fields.  Harper, herself a former litigation paralegal, holds a Double BA degree in Paralegal/Pre-Law Studies and Business from Virginia Intermont College.  

 “I always knew I wanted to work in both the business and the legal field.  I worked for 13 years in the legal field, and have worked in the business sector since 1995- where I continue to utilize my paralegal education on a daily basis,” Harper says. 

The SMC Paralegal Certificate Program offers classes at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Legal courses are taught by Judges, attorneys and practicing paralegals, who bring current work experience and insight from their fields of expertise into the classroom.  For more information on the SMC Paralegal Program, please visit www.smcsc.edu or contact director Yvonne Harper at (864) 587-4278. 

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 97th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment.  More than 90% of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

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