About the Authors
Scott and Lisa Hatch have prepared students for careers in the legal field for more than 35 years. While in law school in the late ’70s, Scott Hatch taught LSAT preparation courses throughout Southern California to pay for his education. After graduation, he went out on his own and, at the urging of one of his students, added paralegal courses to his course offerings. Using materials he developed, he then prepared thousands of eager career seekers to work as paralegals, legal nurse consultants, legal secretaries, legal investigators, mediators, and victim advocates.
Scott and Lisa kindled their romance in the classroom. Lisa took one of Scott’s LSAT preparation courses at the University of Colorado and improved her love life as well as her LSAT score. Lisa’s love for instructing and writing allowed her to fit right in with Scott’s lifestyle, teaching courses and preparing course materials. They married shortly thereafter.
Since then, Scott and Lisa have taught students worldwide. Currently, more than 300 universities and colleges offer their courses through live lectures, correspondence, and online, and Scott and Lisa have written the curriculum for all formats. The company they built together, The Center for Legal Studies, provides courses for those who desire careers in the field of law (including paralegals, legal secretaries, legal investigators, victim advocates, and legal nurse consultants) and who need preparation for the gamut of standardized tests.
Scott has presented standardized test and legal career courses since 1980. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law. He’s listed in Who’s Who in California and Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, and he was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America by the United States Jaycees. He was a contributing editor to The Judicial Profiler and the Colorado Law Annotated series and has served as editor of several award-winning publications.
Lisa has been teaching standardized test courses since 1987. She graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound, and received her master’s degree from California State University. She and Scott have co-authored numerous law and standardized test texts, including Paralegal Procedures and Practices; A Paralegal Primer; and LSAT For Dummies, GMAT For Dummies, ACT For Dummies, Catholic High School Entrance Exams For Dummies, SAT II U.S. History For Dummies, SAT II Biology For Dummies, and SAT II Math For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) and The Legal Guide to Family Law and The Legal Guide to Probate Law (B & B Publishers).
Dedication
We dedicate our For Dummies series books to our children Alison Hatch and Dan Welch, Andrew Hatch, Zachary Hatch and Miarra Jackson, and Zoe Hatch and John Gilchrist and our grandchildren, Paige and Ryan Welch. Rather than file missing persons reports on us with local law enforcement agencies, they demonstrate extreme patience, understanding, and assistance while we write these books.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the extensive research and writing contributions of Martin Rollins, JD, David Newland, JD, and Zachary Hatch. Their efforts greatly enhanced our information gathering, and we’re deeply grateful to them.
We also need to acknowledge the input of the thousands of paralegal, legal secretary, legal investigator, and legal nurse consultant students who’ve completed our law career certificate courses over the last 35 years. The classroom and online contributions offered by these dedicated learners have provided us with lots of input about what prospective paralegals want and need to know most.
The editing professionals at Wiley Publishing greatly facilitated our writing process. Our thanks go out to Chad Sievers for his support and attention to detail, David Dougherty, JD, for his insightful technical edits, and Lindsay LeFevere for initiating the process and being available whenever we had questions.
Finally, we want to acknowledge our literary agent, Margo Maley Hutchinson, at Waterside Productions in Cardiff for introducing us to the innovative For Dummies series.
Wiley has to be commended for its pioneering efforts to make finding out about new careers fun. We thrive on positive reinforcement and feedback from our students and encourage our readers to provide comments and critiques at [email protected].
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Executive Editor: Lindsay Lefevere
Project Editor: Chad R. Sievers
Technical Editor: David Dougherty, JD
Production Editor: G. Vasanth Koilraj
Cover Image: © Alexander Kirch/EyeEm/Getty Images