KATHY CRISTAN

745 ADMIRAL COURT

ROUND LAKE PARK, IL 60030

1-(224) 944-3857

E-MAIL: kathyw.remax@yahoo.com

OBJECTIVE:

I am an eager, hardworking, detail oriented, and articulate professional seeking to secure employment with a company offering long term stability, an enjoyable atmosphere, and a place for me to grow. I bring many years of experience handling confidential financial information and successfully running and maintaining a busy law office.  Over the years, I have developed great communication skills and excellent office and computer skills.   I believe being a Spanish Bilingual is one of my very strong attributes.  I have over 20 years of experience in Law, Finance and the Real Estate Industry.   I have held a Real Estate Broker License, an Illinois Mortgage Loan Originator License and I am a Notary Public of the State of Illinois.  I began my college education endeavor studying in Administrative Assistant/Legal Secretary and graduating July 2013 with my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting - Managerial.  I would like to continue on to obtain my Master’s Degree in Accounting and become a Certified Public Accountant.

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

Dates Employed              Job Title                                                                                                                Company

10/2008 to Present               Paralegal/Legal Secretary                                               Ferris, Thompson & Zweig, Ltd.

                                                                                                                                                                        Gurnee, IL

Law office specializing in criminal, personal injury, and medical malpractice.

Preparation of legal correspondence, complaints, motion, petitions, subpoenas, and demands.  Account reconciliation of personal injury cases, including preparing correspondence and writing checks to providers. Legal Research, accounts payables, accounts receivables, and general office duties.

 

 

5/2007 to 3/2008               Illinois Real Estate Broker                                                          RE/MAX Associates West

                                                                                                                                                                        Bartlett, IL

Realtor handling residential purchases and sales, negotiating deals, preparing contracts, overseeing appraisal and home inspections, and coordinating and attending closings.

 

3/2006 to 10/2006              Office Administrator/Legal Secretary                                                           Walter R. Jackowiec, III

                                                                                                                                                                           Winfield, IL

Law Office specializing in Family Law and Real Estate,

·         Billing for Two Attorneys using Timeslips and BSA Pro.

·         Scheduling and maintaining diaries for two attorneys including coordinating Trials, Pre-trial conferences, Court calls, meetings, appointments, conferences, depositions, closings and seminars using Microsoft Outlook and physical diaries.

·         Transcription/Dictation for document preparation, able to produce documents based on notes, including Summons, Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, MSA, JPA, Judgment, QDRO, QILDROS, Petitions, Motions and general correspondence using Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.

·         Records Management, opening and setting up new cases, organizing, filing, setting up and maintaining real estate files to close, including title work, ordering payoff letters, assessment letters, facilitating closing and attending closings.

·         Discovery, organizing, photocopying and setting up of financial records pursuant to Notice to Produce, Interrogatories and Comprehensive Financial Statements.

·         Legal research using West Law and Nexis/Lexis

·         Managed Law Office on a day to day basis

 

9/1997 to 10/2006              Owner/President                                                                                    Wallace Legal Services

                                                                                                                                                                                 Carol Stream, IL

Owner of business catering to Attorneys specializing in Bankruptcy, Estate Planning, Real Estate, Family Law, Corporations, Worker’s Compensation, and Personal Injury. Clients included new attorneys not able to afford full time staff, Attorneys when their regular secretary was ill or on vacation, Associate Attorneys sharing a secretary and Attorneys that were extremely busy and needed extra help. 

 

·         Document preparation from handwritten documents, dictation and transcription.

·         Secretarial services.

·         Monthly billing, including printing and mailing out invoices.

·         Consulting and software setup.

·         Notarizing documents and witnessing wills.

·         Bilingual services for Spanish speaking clients.

 

4/2005 to 9/2005              Sr. Leasing Administrative Assistant                                                 Manulife Financial/John Hancock

                                                                                                                                                                      Schaumburg, IL

Assisted leasing department in leasing over 1,000,000 sf complex (Schaumburg Corporate Center), and 34 industrial buildings in the metropolitan area/prepared Leases, Amendments, and Surrenders, showed office space to potential tenants and negotiated proposals with brokers, maintained tenant files/dealt directly with security and cleaning personnel/prepared stacking plans and space plan books/worked with Space Database to obtain as-builts and vacant spaces/prepare Lease Activity Reports and Monthly Leasing Reports/set up initial files with Lease summaries, LAC and Job costs forms, bookkeeping and reconciled accounts.

 

1/2001 to 3/2005              Office Administrator/Legal Secretary                                                    Law Offices William R. Axley

                                                                                                                                                                             Addison, IL

Law Office specializing in Family Law and Personal Injury

·         Billing using Timeslips and BSA Pro.

·         Scheduling and maintaining diary for attorney including coordinating Trials, Pre-trial conferences, Court calls, meetings, appointments, conferences, depositions, closings and seminars using Abacus, Outlook and physical diaries.

·         Transcription/Dictation for document preparation, able to produce documents based on notes, including Summons, Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, MSA, JPA, Judgment, QDRO, QILDROS, Petitions, Motions and general correspondence using Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.

·         Records Management, opening and setting up new cases, organizing, filing.

·         Discovery, organizing, photocopying and setting up of financial records pursuant to Notice to Produce, Interrogatories and Comprehensive Financial Statements.

·         Legal research using West Law and Nexis/Lexis

·         Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable

·         Advertising and Purchasing

·         Managed the Law Office on a day to day basis.

 

 

 

9/1994 to 1/1999              Property Manager/Office/Administrator/                                               Law Offices of Ellen J. Rindal

                                          Legal Secretary                                                                                                   Bernard A. Schlosser, P.C.

                                                                                                                                                                 EJR Management

                                                                                                                                                                  Bloomingdale, IL

 

Law office specializing in Family Law, Bankruptcy, Real Estate and Corporations,    

·         Billing for Two Attorneys using Timeslips and BSA Pro.

·         Scheduling and maintaining diaries for two attorneys including coordinating Trials, Pre-trial conferences, Court calls, meetings, appointments, conferences, depositions, closings and seminars.

·         Transcription/Dictation for document preparation, able to produce documents based on notes, including Summons, Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, MSA, JPA, Judgment, QDRO, QILDROS, Petitions, Motions and general correspondence using Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.

·         Records Management, opening and setting up new cases, organizing, filing, setting up and maintaining real estate files to close, including title work, ordering payoff letters, assessment letters, facilitating closing and attending closings.

·         Discovery, organizing, photocopying and setting up of financial records pursuant to Notice to Produce, Interrogatories and Comprehensive Financial Statements.

·         Legal research using West Law and Nexis/Lexis

·         Account Payables and Accounts Receivable

·         Manager of 150 Town homes in Bartlett, IL, reviewed, analyzed, and secured bids from contractors, Prepared Minutes of Board Meetings, Published Monthly Newsletters to homeowners, prepared liens and lawsuits, managed financial accounts for Horizon Homeowners Association, accounts payable, accounts receivable for homeowners association.

·         Managed busy office on a day to day basis.

 

EDUCATION

Dates Attended              School                                          Degree                                                        Location

 

3/2009-2013                            Kaplan University                            Bachelor’s Degree                                            Chicago - IL

                                                                                                  Accounting – Managerial

 

8/1992 – 6/1994              Gateway College                            Double Associates Degree                               Racine – WI

                                       36 credits out of 40              Legal Secretary – Administrative Assistant

 

AFFILIATIONS

Dates Affiliated               Organization                                                                                    Role

12/1999 –Present              DuPage County Bar Association        Member – For your Eyes Only               

11/1994 – Present              Notary Public, State of Illinois           Notary Public

5/2007 – 05/2009              IL Association of Realtors                                          Realtor

 

LANGUAGES

English              Fluent – Full Knowledge                                        Spanish              Fluent – Wide Knowledge

 

REFERENCES

Available upon request