About the Authors
Katherine A. Currier
Katherine A. Currier, J.D., is the chair of the Department of Paralegal and Legal Studies at Elms College. She has developed and taught many paralegal courses, including Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing; Introduction to Legal Studies I and II; Law Office Computer Literacy; Law Office Applications; Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating; and Law and Literature. Her publications include an article on legal ethics as applied to paralegals and the column “Computer Corner” that appears in The Paralegal Educator.Professor Currier is actively involved in the development of paralegal education at both the regional and the national levels, particularly through her work with the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE) and the American Bar Association Approval Commission on Legal Assistants. Professor Currier has served on the national board of AAfPE, first as its parliamentarian and then later as the elected representative of four-year paralegal programs. She has also served many years as the AAfPE publications chair, charged with the final responsibility for overseeing the Journal of Paralegal Education and Practice and The Educator. Professor Currier frequently speaks at both the AAfPE Northeast regional meetings and the annual AAfPE conferences on topics as diverse as the use of computer shareware, paralegals and the unauthorized practice of law, creative teaching techniques, and conducting legal research on the Internet. Professor Currier has also served as chair of the American Bar Association Approval Commission, the body charged with conducting site visits of paralegal programs that are seeking their initial ABA approval or reapproval. Katherine A. Currier graduated magna cum laude with her B.A. in Political Science from Carelton College in 1971, with her M.A. in Political Philosophy from University of California, Berkeley, in 1973, and with her J.D. from Northeastern University Law School in 1979.
Thomas E. Eimermann
Thomas E. Eimermann is Emeritus Professor of Political Science and former Director of the Legal Studies Program at Illinois State University. Dr. Eimermann helped establish the paralegal program there in 1976 and taught Introduction to Paralegal Studies and Legal Research and Writing courses in that program. Professor Eimermann has served as President and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Paralegal Education. He has also served on the Certification and the Advanced Certification Boards of the National Association of Legal Assistants, as well as being a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, and a member of the Hearing Board of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. As a consultant for the Illinois Department of Corrections, he designed a Uniform Law Clerk Training Program used in Illinois prisons.
He earned his B.A. in Political Science at North Central College. He went on to receive an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign campus. In addition to this book, Professor Eimermann has co-authored two other paralegal texts with Katherine Currier. His other publications include three editions of Fundamentals of Paralegalism and journal articles on paralegals, jury behavior, and free speech issues.
