LegalMatch Life

LegalMatch 1st Annual Breakfast Bash!

Fridays can be tough. Sure, LegalMatchers love coming into work but every once in a while we need a little something extra. Even Mary Poppins, queen of babysitters and nannies alike, supports a "spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down." In this case the medicine would be Friday morning. And the sugar? Panera breakfast sandwiches!

According to Mr. Breakfast and his friends with fancy degrees, "eating breakfast has an advantageous effect on late-morning mood, satiety and cognitive performance." I'm not sure about all that fact mumbo-jumbo but do know how delicious those puppies taste. I don't mean actual puppies. That didn't go over so well last time. 

LegalMatch House Party Bowls a Strike

The LegalMatch House Party at the South San Francisco headquarters was a complete success. There was a great turn out for BJ's food, Nintendo Wii Bowling, Ping Pong, Poker and a few lucky employees also went home with raffle prizes.

The LegalMatch team works hard, so the powers that be decided to show their appreciation with food, entertainment, and prizes. DJ LZ came up with a great mix of party jams, but the main focus was playing Wii which incited some friendly office rivalries. 

Ken was dominating the bowling scoreboard with a score of 190 before Matt edged him out with a 198. Honorable mentions to Jose, Kelly, Melinda, Lisa, Kimber, Denis, Laurie, Niesha, and Jake. Teejay dominated in ping pong as usual. Ben dealt poker and forgot to wear his green visor, much to our dismay. The party was also a chance for staff to meet new LegalMatch Membership Recruiting Managers Robin and Juan (Left Picture with Denis). 

While we can't say anything is for sure, there has been talk of an impending Wii Bowling Tournament. Stay posted... 

 Joe, Sri, and Ben playing poker.

 Melinda bowls while Kelly, Tatyana, Jose, Sri, and Joe look on. 

Meet LegalMatch - David Hanten

David William Hanten was born in Janesville, Wisconsin but grew up in Houston, Texas and attended Bellaire High School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Texas State University in San Marcos and today works as a Senior Membership Recruiting Manager. As a Senior Membership Recruiting  Manager, David sells memberships to attorneys, assist other reps with closing, and work as a team leader. David says that his favorite part of work is making money and the competitive nature inherent to business. He likes seeing his new member attorneys and sales staff having great success. 

David also likes going out for Italian food at Tree House Italian Grill, watching live music at the Continental Club, or grabbing a drink at The Belmont. His favorite foods are Italian, Japanese, and barbeque when he’s not going to his favorite cereals like Trix, Cocoa Crispies, and Smacks. You may recognize David from a few local commercials and B-movies or from his days as a punk rock band’s lead singer. He likes listening to Rockabilly, Swing, Jazz, New Wave, Psycobilly, Ska, Classical, and some good Opera music. David also likes shopping from vintage stores to high-end haberdashery stores.

David’s “closer” mentality and positive team leadership makes him an indispensable part of the LegalMatch team in Austin, Texas. His attention to training staff, finding quality attorneys, and creating an enjoyable supportive work environment for his team has helped create countless LegalMatch success stories. 

 

Meet LegalMatch - Brandi Shehan

Brandi Shehan was born in Denton but grew up in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos and works as the LegalMatch Regional Director of Membership. That means she manages and mentors membership recruiting managers. Brandi teaches her membership 
 recruiting managers the skills they need to ensure they’re bringing qualified new attorneys into the LegalMatch family. The most rewarding part for her is working with her team and talking to attorneys, especially when they’re excited about membership. 

When Brandi isn’t working she’s spending time with her two children, Jacob and Alyssa, who are 9 and 13 respectively. You can find her throughout Austin with her boyfriend at Mexican food joints like Matt’s El Rancho or Maria’s Tacos and crawfish spots like Shoal Creek Saloon or The Boiling Pot. She also enjoys a good bowl of Raison Bran Crunch. Brandi loves live music checking the Austin Chronicle regularly for shows as well as festivals, thrift stores, and Saturday morning garage sale announcements. 

Brandi’s outgoing positive nature is loved by her coworkers because she’s always enjoying life and making folks laugh. She does an outstanding job molding young employees into outstanding membership recruitment managers and is one of the reasons you can count on LegalMatch for pre-screened reputable lawyers. 

Meet LegalMatch - Niesha Sweet

Niesha Sweet has the infectious quality of making people smile. Niesha works as our Human Resource Manager at the LegalMatch headquarters in South San Francisco. Being the Human Resource Manager means that she’s in charge of implementing company policies, benefit administration, employee relations, and compliance but she really enjoys her job when she gets to make an employee happy. 

Niesha grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended Pinole High School before earning her bachelors degree from CSU Fresno. Currently, she lives in Alameda and spends much of her time at the beach, bowling alley, watching movies, or her favorite Mexican food restaurant, La Pinata. Niesha loves Mexican food the same way she loves R&B music—variety is great but she’s got a penchant for her favorites! When she’s not in the mood for Mexican food she opts for Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Niesha recently finished reading "The Prada Plan," a New York Times Best Seller by Ashley Antoinette Snell, and also enjoyed the film The Blind Side.

Niesha is a critical part of the LegalMatch team and does a great job of keeping us all up to date and notified about events and . She’s knowledgeable if you have any questions about benefits or policy and is always happy to lend a hand.

LegalMatch House Party!

The Nap Pods at LegalMatch have been"in the shop" for weeks now and it seems like we've exhausted all of our bowling stories. The LegalMatch team has been working especially hard lately so it's time to take a breather.

Come beat the pants off of your coworkers in a game of Wii bowling, blackjack, ping-pong, or maybe even a dance battle. We'll supply the boom-box if you bring the cardboard. Seriously. All LegalMatch employees are welcome to partake and there will even be PRIZES! 

 

LegalMatch Partners with Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Post This Icon

Recently in the April 2010 Consumer Newsletter, LegalMatch announced a partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise funds for the cure of blood cancers. Now is a better time than ever to help out because an estimated 53,240 people will be diagnosed with some form of blood cancer this year alone. That accounts for about 10% of the 1.5 million newly diagnosed cases in the United States each year.   

For every blog or website that displays the “In Support of a Cure” icon LegalMatch will be donating $10 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Participation is totally free! All you need to do is read the rules and follow the simple instructions telling you how to post the icon on your blog or website. There are even specific directions for TypePad, Blogger, and Wordpress. When you’re finished posting the icon, send us an email with a link to your website and we’ll reply by confirming $10 was donated on your behalf. Making a difference is only a few clicks away so take a few seconds to help out the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! 

 

 

Meet LegalMatch - Timothy Sookram

Timothy Sookram is a LegalMatch Web Designer who works with the marketing and engineering teams to create user-friendly designs. It would suffice to say that Tim makes using LegalMatch legal resources and posting your case simpler and easier.

Unlike the other employees we’ve profiled, Tim works out of our Austin, Texas office which isn’t far from where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at University of Texas, Austin. You can find Tim at Bill Miller BBQ or Niki’s Pizza when he’s not searching for his favorite dish, chicken tikka masala. Berkley, Boston, Seattle, and Paris (France, not Texas) were his favorite vacations to date. When he can’t get away, Tim enjoys watching movies by Hayao Miyazaki but didn’t enjoy the director’s last film named Ponyo. His favorite bands are classic, alternative, and indie rockers like the Beatles, Bon Iver, and Okkervil River.

Tim lives with his girlfriend Shannon, guinea pig Horatio R. Piggingworth, and a bunny named Denzel. Since he likes tinkering with hardware and building computers, he’s a PC guy like our other technology support staffers and he mentioned having an affinity for the new Windows 7. 

Tim’s diligence in the office and sense of humor make him an outstanding part of the LegalMatch team. His diverse workload offers a wide selection of tasks that keep him engaged and constantly rummaging for occasions to make improvements. 

Meet LegalMatch - Joseph Rara

Joseph Rara is an IT Specialist at the LegalMatch headquarters in South San Francisco, California. Joseph is a bay area native who studied in the Philippines for 2 years before returning to Daly City to attend high school. When he’s not tackling help desk, server administration, networking, and phone systems he’s all mechanics and likes working on cars and motorcycles. Sometimes he finds himself dismantling things just to see how they work.  

Joseph also likes to go to bars with friends, mountain biking, and photography. You can find him chowing-down on some Indian or Filipino food when he’s not going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs or making things happen with the Captain, albeit there’s always room for a quality burrito or burger. He’s got a broad taste in music listening to alternative rockers Linkin Park as well as smooth R&B vocalists like Brian McKnight. His broad taste palette doesn’t extend into the tech world though; Joseph is a devout PC man. 

From the simplest to most complex problem, Joseph is our go-to guy for all things technical. He’s always darting around the office fixing problems so that LegalMatch continues to run like the well oiled machine it is. 

Meet LegalMatch - Melinda Collins

Melinda is another one of our attentive Marketing Managers who works with LegalMatch member attorneys to highlight the most marketable aspects of their practices and foster expansion. Although she says that she’s partial to lawyers with Southern accents, she maintains important accounts of LegalMatch lawyers throughout the United States. 

Before coming to LegalMatch Melinda was earning her Bachelors degree in Marketing at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at which she also minored in Art and Psychology. San Francisco is home to some outstanding museums like the SFMOMA as well as a number of other galleries that feed Melinda’s fanaticism for Art. When she’s not doing the art thing, Melinda likes going out on the town to restaurants like Absinthe or Delarosa, bars like 15 Romolo, and to concerts. She likes alt/classic rock the best and “only listens to the good stuff: Ray LaMontagne, Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, and The John Butler Trio.” 

Melinda grew up in Fair Oaks, California and goes back to visit her family regularly. Last year, she went on a 7 month backpacking trip through South America and Europe. She’s not a stranger to traveling; Melinda studied abroad in Australia and New Zealand for 6 months during school. We’re happy she lived through her trips since she is, as she put it, “ridiculously clumsy” having sliced her eye with a ceiling fan (think of Salvador Dali’s Un Chien Andalou), fallen off a cliff in Machu Picchu, and gotten clipped by a taxi in Argentina. Luckily, being an outstanding Marketing Manager has nothing to do with hand-eye coordination or body awareness. Whatever innate sporting abilities she may lack are compensated by her courteous and diligent work ethic.