In this podcast, Olivia Trevisani and Stephanie Martin talk about the importance of a strong team. They explain how the supportive nature of the team at Mazow McCullough improves the employee experience and the client experience.
John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher and I’m here today with Olivia Trevisani and Stephanie Martin. Olivia is the intake manager at Mazow McCullough and Stephanie Martin is a paralegal. Olivia and Stephanie, welcome.
Olivia Trevisani: Thank you.
Stephanie Martin: Thank you.
Why Law Firms Need Great Intake Managers
John: Yeah. So Olivia, we’ll start with you. We wanted to talk today a little bit about the importance of a team at Mazow McCullough and for law firms in general, why team is such an important thing. So what is it that you do for the law firm and how long have you been here?
Olivia: I’ve been with Mazow McCullough for almost two years now. I am most likely the first face that you see once you walk into the office, or the first voice that you hear when you call. I work closely with the clients in the beginning to get a lot of information about what they’re going through and to be there to help them. I also work closely on some diminished value cases and some class action cases that we have going on throughout Mazow McCullough.
John: So you’re actually helping with the cases and do you do research and things like that to help with the cases, or what are some of the things that you do?
Olivia: Yeah, so I help with the cases. I help get things ready to be prepared to be launched, contacting insurance companies, making sure that we’re keeping clients updated at all times, stuff like that.
What Paralegals Do for Law Firms
John: Okay. And then Stephanie, you’re a paralegal. How long have you been with the firm?
Stephanie: I’ve been with Mazow McCullough for almost a year and a half now.
John: Okay. And what is it that a paralegal does at a law firm? I think a lot of people might not know.
Stephanie: Well, here, it’s different from my old firm that I was at. I did pre-litigation at my old firm, but here we take it through pre-litigation all the way through litigation. And if the case doesn’t settle pre-lit, then we’ll file suit. What we’ll do is heavy client contact, insurance company contact, you get their medical records, bills, draft demands to the insurance company, then you let the attorney negotiate and see where it goes. If they don’t settle, then we file suit, and then it’s all the heavy litigation aspect with discovery and all that good stuff.
The Importance of a Strong Team for Law Firms
John: Okay. So Olivia, why is it that you feel that a team is really important at a law firm, and in particular here at Mazow McCullough, what does team mean to you?
Olivia: Yeah, so I feel like team is very important because when you have a good team working together, it creates a more positive outcome for the law firm and for our clients. I feel like working as a team and working closely with each other creates a good bond and it’s carried out throughout a client’s case here.
John: Stephanie, you mentioned that you worked with another law firm previous to this. Do you see a difference in terms of the team and how well you work together and what does the team mean to you?
Stephanie: I consider myself one of the elder people here at Mazow McCullough, and so I’ve obviously worked in a lot of different places, and this is by far the closest knit group that I’ve ever worked with. Rob and Kevin are very good about getting us together outside the office, doing things together. We’re all very close. We contact each other outside the office. We’re always in group chats with each other, talking about shows, just anything. We know we have each other’s backs here and we just help each other out in any way we can. I’d say this is probably the closest knit office I’ve ever worked in.
John: That’s great.
A Cohesive Team Makes Work More Joyful and Supportive
Stephanie: Yeah. And it makes it a joy to come to work every day.
Olivia: And yeah, I can definitely second to everything that Stephanie is saying. I think that we’re a great team and we have a very positive vibe in this office and it really makes a big difference. I’ve worked with groups of people as well, where we’re not all close together and being close to everyone here definitely makes your work week a lot better, I’d say.
John: Yeah. Do you find that you can really approach anybody else in the office if you need assistance with something?
Stephanie: Oh yeah. We’re always asking each other, “Hey, do you have this? Do you know how to do that? Can you help me?” Everybody is very amenable to each other. And even Rob and Kevin have an open door policy. If we have any questions, issues, anything like that, they’re more than happy to sit down and talk to you about anything.
John: Right, and you never feel like it’s like a competition between you and the other paralegals or something like that?
Stephanie: No, I had that at my last office where there was definitely… it was just very territorial. And there’s none of that here.
John: That’s my case. Stay in your lane. That kind of thing at other firms?
Stephanie: Exactly. We’re all here to help each other. Exactly. We’re all here to do the same job and to help each other out and make it through the work week and have fun with each other on some weekends, and just go about our lives. So it’s been nice.
Team Building Outside of the Office
John: What are some of the things that you guys do together as a team in order to maybe do some team building or to get to know each other a little bit better, like you said, outside of the office?
Olivia We have some get-togethers outside the office. In the summer, we all gather, we have cookouts, we play games, we do things closely as a group. We’ve been on a group trip together to the Dominican Republic. We’re actually going on our second group trip next year to Aruba. And I feel like having those experiences with the people that you work with is a big thing. And it shows and it’s brought us all so close as a group, and it’s really a great feeling.
John: Right. Yeah, that’s not every office that has all the employees go to the Dominican Republic or the Caribbean and hang out together.
Stephanie: No.
John: Nor would a lot of companies’ employees want to do that with their fellow employees.
Stephanie: Yeah, exactly. No, we were all kind of nervous, I think, about the trip to the DR but it was amazing how we all just kind of meshed. Husbands, significant others, everybody just melded really well together, and we had a really, really good time. Yeah.
Olivia: And I definitely would say when we came back from the trip, it felt like as a group, we felt closer, for sure.
John: Yeah. All right, well it’s been great talking to you both, Olivia and Stephanie. Thanks again.
Stephanie: Yeah, thank you.
Olivia: Yeah, thanks again for having us.
Check Out HelpingInjured.com for More Details
John: And for more information about Mazow McCullough, visit the website at helpinginjured.com or call 978-744-8000.
