Lurae C. Bakker

6300 West Touhy Avenue, Room 230

Niles, IL 60714

Cell:  360.915.3911

Email:  lcamib@hotmail.com

§ Expertise in document preparation and review

§ Proficient in the development and legal analysis of contracts

§ Proven success as a liaison with clients & opposing counsel

§ Earned the distinction as a dedicated, dependable, self-starter with a positive attitude and excellent work ethic

Technical Skills

Microsoft Office, Ariba, SharePoint, eDiscovery, Argis, Atlas, WordPerfect, Oracle Hyperion, District Court Electronic filing, Westlaw, Lexis, Pacer, Summation, Adobe Profession, Document Trial Director, Docs Open/Hummingbird, SoftPro, Elite/Enterprise, Inmagic, Ipro, RealWorld Accounting, Cyma Accounting

Professional Experience

Trustmark Companies

Contract Administration Associate, 2012 – Present

Recruited for newly created contract administration associate position. Met deadline to clean up and reorganize database records for 200 plus clients and 1,500 plus contracts and other legal documents located in Ariba Contract Management database, in addition to managing and maintaining current contracts. Created, restructured and implemented a process to upload and manage contract database which resulted in a more efficient and streamlined system with a faster search and retrieval method for team members. Positioned as the Ariba Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Health Fitness Corporation, an entity of the Trustmark Companies. Responsible for the administration and contract management of legal documents uploaded in Ariba.

§    Respond to inquiries and requests regarding contracts and serve as the point person for existing and future contract management.

§    Manage, update and maintain SharePoint contract log and provide status reports to Health Fitness Operations and Account Management departments.

§    Create ad hoc reports to support business management decision making.

§    Submitted various database enhancement requests to Ariba software technical support service engineers, which were implemented across their Ariba suite of products.

The Nielsen Company, Exelon Business Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Chicago Housing Authority, Motorola

Paralegal, 2009 – 2011

Worked on a regular basis as a temporary contract paralegal for employment agencies Adecco, Myriad Technical Services, Robert Half Legal Employment Agency and Computer Solution during the economic recession.

§    Drafted, reviewed and processed third party contracts.

§    As eDiscovery Coordinator, managed PC Asset dispositions.

§    Planned and coordinated data collection for IT security.

§    Developed and published written procedures for 90-Day Delete Suspension, Asset Holds, and Termination Collection.

§    Document retention coordinator for the reorganization and transition of offsite documents scheduled for destruction.

§    Indexed and prepared discovery documents for commercial litigation trial.

§    Reorganized trademark files.

§    Organized and uploaded company’s contracts into one central Ariba contract database.

Secretary of State, Washington State

Contracts Specialist, 2007 – 2009

Effectively eliminated a six-month backlog of more than 150 contracts and grants. Developed, organized, and improved efficiency to process, monitor and maintain Election’s Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Washington State Library’s Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant contracts. Reviewed grants, intergovernmental agreements, cooperative agreements, license agreements, and personal services and purchased services agreements to identify areas of contract non-compliance. Became the customer relationship liaison and communicated with project managers to coordinate revisions to contracts or to develop new contracts from “Whole-Cloth.” Advised departmental divisions and staff members on procedures involved in contracting for goods or services.

§    Conducted legal research of copyright, trademark, broadcasting laws, and rule of regulations.

§    Drafted, edited and processed contracts and grants.

§    Coordinated new contract review with Assistant Attorney General to “Approve to Form.”

§    Monitored and maintained contract database to track contract terms and conditions.

Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton

Paralegal, 2000 – 2006

Reviewed more than one-year of pending homeowners’ litigation files and successfully processed and finalized collection actions via demand letters or claims of lien filed with the court bringing all pending litigation current within the one-year deadline. Developed, organized, and implemented policies and procedures with homeowner’s association management companies, which improved communication and efficiency. Managed hundreds of homeowners’ association litigation files in addition to drafting and filing landlord/tenant lease default complaints, credit union collections, real estate condemnation for imminent domain and creditor bankruptcy. Acted as liaison between homeowners and homeowners’ associations. Acting legal research lead for senior attorney. Co-authored memorandum with attorney Roger W. Knight, Dealing with Dangerous Residents in a Homeowners Association.

§    Electronically filed documents in district court.

§    Conducted legal research, cite checking, and title property to verify ownership.

§    Performed investigative background and defendant location searches.

§    Managed docketing.

§    Designed Access database to track homeowners’ collection status.

§    Prepared trial documents.

Robbins & Green

Paralegal Case Manager, 1994 – 2000

Case Manager and liaison to class representative for the largest environmental class action in Arizona involving 40+ law firms, more than 100,000+ class members, and over one million pages of discovery documents. Managed and maintained central repository for case discovery documents, medical reports and feasibility studies. Successfully organized hundreds of depositions, tens of thousands of exhibits to those depositions, all documents produced in discovery, and all imaged documents collected from any source. Created a system, which enabled the counsel to locate and retrieve deposition testimony and applicable exhibits. Developed a system which enabled counsel and paralegals to search, locate and retrieve hard copy discovery documents, correspondence and court pleadings. Coordinated assignments and supervised more than five member document review discovery team. Performed quality control and supervised three part time employees who coded imaged discovery documents.

§    Created a system, which enabled counsel, co-counsel and paralegals to locate and retrieve deposition testimony and the necessary documents to assist in the deposition.

§    Created Access database to review, track and reconcile multimillion-dollar costs disbursement and to submit report to court for reimbursement of costs.

§    Prepared document trial documents.

§    Interviewed and logged class-members toxic tort claims.

Additional Experience

Twelve years of experience in accounts receivable, accounts payable, billing, invoicing, and general ledger. Student teacher at at-risk alternative high school. Taught GED program to parolees. Assistant Administrator to group home for intellectually and developmentally disabled.

Education

Ottawa University, Phoenix, AZ 1997American Institute, Phoenix, AZ 1994

Bachelor or Art, Magna Cum LaudeAssociates Degree

Secondary Education / EnglishParalegal (ABA Approved Certificate)

Additional Coursework:Governmental Contracting, University of Washington, Olympia, WA

Personal and Purchased Services Contracts, Office of Financial Management, Olympia, WA

Technical Writing, Office of Financial Management, Olympia, WA

Advanced Microsoft Access, South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia, WA