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PROFILE
Profile: Nidia Moscotte, litigation paralegal, Baum Hedlund in Los Angeles [by Regan Morris] As a litigation paralegal for plaintiffs’ firm Baum Hedlund, Nidia Moscotte often meets her clients at their worst. Most have either been injured or lost a loved one in an accident. It’s the extreme emotion of the job that Moscotte loves. When people come to you in pain after losing a loved one, she said, they become more than a client. They become part of your life.
Moscotte, 38, said she wanted to be a legal
tionist. Moscotte got the job when she gradu-
assigned to a case. The teamwork is good
secretary since she was a little girl. On TV
ated. In 1988, she was promoted to paralegal.
for the clients because they feel their cases are being handled, she said. In her old firm,
and in movies, there were always glamorous
Moscotte said clients used to call, complain-
women urgently typing important documents
She handles cases all over the country,
for attorneys. The typewriters fascinated her.
mainly involving major commercial transport
ing that the attorneys never called them
I could do that, she said. Her father bought
crashes. Most recently, she was assigned
back.
her an old typewriter when she was in high
to the Glendale train wreck. A suicidal man
school, and her mother gave her a more
parked his car on the tracks, causing a com-
“You’re helping these people who are ar-
modern electronic typewriter soon thereaf-
muter train collision in Glendale, CA, which
ranging funerals, paying outstanding bills
ter.
killed 11 people. No one has been sued in
that were left, and they have so much going
that case yet, but Baum Hedlund has three
on in their lives,” she said. “And having a
“The typewriter was a big thing back then.
clients and will likely file suit against the
paralegal and a lawyer that can understand
To me, it was the coolest thing to learn how
commuter line, Metrolink, she said.
what they’re going through and really lend them a hand I guess really makes a differ-
to type, to type a letter in a typewriter,” she said. “I like to write, so it was always some-
Much of her job involves research to decide
ence in their lives. That’s why I have stayed
thing I was interested in.”
where to file a suit.
here for as long as I have. Because I think I
Both are now stored in her Los Angeles ga-
“We pull jury verdicts to see what jurors have
rage, and Moscotte has mastered the modern
awarded on similar cases in the past,” she
world of computers. But she said she had a
said. “We have cases all over the nation. A
Moscotte, who is also a notary and notarizes
pang of regret that the world was shifting to
small percentage of our cases are here in
all the firm’s documents, said she receives
computers just as she was entering the work
California. A lot of the cases are out of state,
Christmas cards and phone calls from clients
force.
so we fly everywhere.”
who settled their cases years ago. She said
Moscotte, who speaks both Spanish and
Her Spanish skills have helped her career,
English, took legal secretary and paralegal
and she is assigned to most cases involving
studies classes at Los Angeles City College
Spanish-speaking clients.
have made a really big difference in a lot of people’s lives.”
she views her job as a way to make changes to help the community. She often works on airline crashes and said the caseload is incredibly complex and very
with the intention of transferring to USC. The classes bolstered her interest in the law, and
“It has helped me tremendously in that I have
she eventually graduated from the City Col-
been able to pretty much handle all the cases
lege with a legal secretary certificate.
here in the office that have Spanish-speaking
“It’s very rewarding to see when these cases
clients, and I have traveled with the attorneys
are done and people are actually able to
“But I have never worked as a legal secre-
to Mexico, New York, and other places to
move on with their lives and try to put this
tary. My first job was as a paralegal. And this
meet with clients who only speak Spanish. So
behind them and you know that you have
is my second job, and I have been here 15
speaking two languages really, really helps,”
helped them move on. So it is very reward-
years,” she said.
she said.
ing,” she said.
Her brother had been working at a law firm
The firm works as a team, she said, so it is
Moscotte said she would urge anyone to
in Los Angeles and said it needed a recep-
generally not one attorney and one paralegal
become a paralegal or attorney in a plaintiffs’
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PROFILE
firm. “If you don’t mind the headaches that come with trying to understand the law and you really want to make a difference in somebody’s life, I would definitely recommend that you become a paralegal or go to law school and become a lawyer,” she said. “It’s amazing what you can do for people, especially plaintiffs.”
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