Deborah Thomas

Experience

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  Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

  Oct 2004 - Jul 2006

  Legal Secretary

  Legal Secretary/Assistant: performing legal secretary and legal assistant tasks in real estate finance, commercial mortgage-backed securities; advanced word processing; proofreading; time entry; making arrangements for personal and business travel; preparing itineraries for attorneys; file maintenance; updating Outlook contacts; transcribing dictation; email communications with clients and opposing counsel; performing comparisons; filing pleadings with courts via U.S. Mail and Secretary of State; and pulling docket sheets from electronic court filing databases. Show less

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  Bryan Cave (Please note working with same group from Akin Gump)

  Jul 2006 - Oct 2011

  Legal Secretary Assistant

  (Please note working with same group from Akin Gump) Responsibilities – assisting managing partner and another partner in real estate finance and commercial mortgage-backed securities practice; administrative tasks related to Executive Committee; advanced word processing; assembling closing binders; preparing tenant notification letters; preparing foreclosure documents; preparing initial drafts of response letters to title objections; proofreading; redlining; assisting in training new secretaries on firm software and merge documents; updating and creating new merge forms for group; assisting staff and attorneys in learning to use MSWord features; inputting attorney time; reviewing proformas; making travel arrangements, including airline and hotel reservations, car rental and conference rooms; preparing itineraries for attorneys; file maintenance; and maintaining and updating Outlook contacts. Show less

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  N3 Real Estate

  Oct 2012 - Oct 2013

  Legal Assistant

  Responsibilities - drafting assignments/amendments to purchase and sale agreements and leases; summarizing purchase and sale agreements and leases and calendaring critical dates; updating, maintaining and distributing “critical dates report” weekly to all departments; generating and maintaining various status reports for the legal department; preparing and filing annual reports with SOS using hCue and email requests to CT Corporation; preparing and filing domestic and foreign formation and qualification/registration documents for new entities with SOS via use of CT Corporation’s website hCue and email requests to CT Corporation; monitoring hCue for foreign and domestic annual tax reports for the accounting department; maintaining UDC Client Connect, document sharing website - creating new users, administering permissions; creating new folders, uploading and maintaining documents on UDC Client Connect; training co-workers on use of MS Word 2010; creating date calculator in MS Excel 2010 for determining renewal notice dates for leases used by the Lease Department and Property Management; teaching co-workers conversion skills from Adobe Acrobat Pro X to MS Word 2010; and performing special assignments as requested for other departments. Show less

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  Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP

  Oct 2013 - Jul 2015

  Legal Assistant

  Responsibilities – assisting Partner in real estate and acquisitions, business transactions and general business matters; assisting associate in civil litigation matters; communicating with clients, third-parties and other persons in business transaction; performing property records title searches in Texas counties for mineral rights on various properties; reviewing special warranty deeds, oil and gas leases, and other recorded documents to determine chain of title; notifying oil and gas companies of change of ownership of mineral rights; performing entity searches on SOSDirect to determine status and principals; drafting mineral deeds; eFiling pleadings; eRecording real estate instruments; converting pdfs to Word documents using PDF Converter 5 Professional; advanced word processing; assembling closing binders; time entry; scheduling and maintaining calendars; submitting expenses and maintaining expense and credit card balance sheets; creating and preparing various charts and spreadsheets; arranging personal and business travel, including airline and hotel reservations, car rental and conference rooms; preparing itineraries; ordering food and setting up conference room for client meetings. Show less

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  Various Companies

  Jan 2016 - May 2016

  Temporary/Contract

  Temporary/Contract: For a short period of time, I worked in temporary and contract positions while searching for a full-time permanent position. In February 2016, I accepted a short-term assignment at Great Outdoors assisting in their accounting department. In March 2016, I began a contract position working as the office manager for Great American Storm Shelters, which permanently closed its doors in May 2016.

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  Schuerenberg & Grimes

  May 2016 - Feb 2017

  Administrative Assistant

  Responsibilities - monitoring and ordering office supplies, breakroom supplies, and computer and printer supplies; maintaining office equipment (postage meter, copier and printers); postage meter maintenance; screening incoming calls; maintaining account records; opening new client/matters; creating client cards for index; setting up new file folders and account ledger cards; transcribing dictation; Timeslips maintenance; Timeslips billing; updating client ledger cards for client accounts; preparing and making bank deposits; accepting tax payments and answering questions regarding delinquent taxes due; inputting information into City of Mesquite Tax Office program; looking up and researching taxes owed and payments made in Tax Office program; picking up and mailing out warrants for City of Mesquite Municipal Court; running errands to the City of Mesquite Tax Office, JP Court, Municipal Court, and City Hall; maintaining account records for tax and warrant letters; processing mail and delivering to post office; word processing; updating law library books; scheduling client appointments; and troubleshooting computer and word processing issues. Show less

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  Saunders Schmidt and Echols PC

  Feb 2017 - May 2021

  Legal Assistant/Office Manager

  I was the firm's legal assistant, office manager, and from October 2019, the property manager and bookkeeper for the attorney’s rental properties. My responsibilities ranged from drafting, finalizing and eFiling/recording documents in various areas of legal practice, including real estate, bankruptcy, family law and probate matters; legal research using Westlaw, Lexis and other online resources (i.e. Texas Constitution and Statutes website, Texas Judicial Branch website, United States Code website, etc.); interaction and meetings with clients, court personnel, and legal professionals related to law practice; communications with tenants and business associates about rental properties; bookkeeping for various accounts for the firm, rental properties and other businesses; accounts payable/receivable; scheduling/calendaring client appointments, discovery responses, and filing deadlines; monthly billing; managing bi-weekly payroll deposits through EFTPS; managing rental properties including collecting rents, handling tenant issues, handling maintenance issues, and paying expenses and property taxes; and various other administrative duties required in managing a law practice, management of rental properties, and outside businesses. Show less

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  GREGORY A. FRASER, P.C.

  May 2021 - Feb 2022

  Legal Assistant

  I worked as a legal assistant for a sole practitioner in several different areas of law, including sequestrations, creditor bankruptcy, probate, real estate, estate planning, and other areas of law. This position was unique in that I was able to utilize my skills in MS Word and Word Perfect 2020. My position included normal legal assistant tasks, as well as secretarial tasks. It was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge in the legal field and I enjoyed the position thoroughly.

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  Retired

  Apr 2023 - Nov 2023

  Retired

  I am retired.

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  Brookshire Grocery Company

  May 2023 - Oct 2023

  Self-Check Out Attendant

  I worked in a part-time position for Brookshire Grocery Company as a self-check out attendant helping customers learn and use the self-check out lanes. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many people on a daily basis and loved the opportunity to bring smiles to many.