Nominee: Maria Fox
Nominator: Jennifer Fay
Firm: Law Offices of James E. Morris Buffalo, NY
Reasons why Maria Fox deserves to be Needles Manager of the year:
Who can provide secretarial support for two or more attorneys and act as the main receptionist for the office, all while entering over 130 open cases into the recently acquired Needles program almost single-handedly? It's not
Superwoman, but you're close. It's the Law Offices of James Morris' nominee for "Needles Manager of the Year," Maria Fox!
In spite of the fact that our firm is on the small side, (four attorneys, two law clerks, and two secretaries) it does not mean that things around the office are quiet. To be sure, even in the smallest office, getting the Needles program up and running would be no small task. Since we first got Needles in July, Maria has taken charge of entering the bulk of our firm's open files into Needles, training other staff members to use Needles, and encouraging staff once they learn how to use the program to actually use the program themselves. Without Maria's unwavering commitment to spending sometimes several days in a row only entering in data into Needles, we would not be able to be use the Needles program so efficiently already. The Needles program has revolutionized our law offices. After only three months, we have already become dependant upon how easily the information can be accessed by any individual in the office, at any time. This has already saved us a tremendous amount of time we would normally have to spend asking other employees for information on a file, or pulling the file and digging through it for names, dates, and so on. In case
meetings, Maria is able to set up her computer in the meeting room with a
projector and screen, and we are able to go through all the cases in Needles, so we save time by not having to leave the meeting repeatedly to go grab a file. The prospect of entering a Needles database alone could be daunting to some people, but immediately after training, Maria rose to the task with an exceptional attitude. She spent three weeks or more solely entering information into Needles day in and day out, and all the while she did so with a smile and an optimistic attitude telling people how great the program was, and how she couldn't wait to see how it changed things around the office once she was finished. I'm sure there are moments when her job is frustrating, but she always manages to keep going and remains positive. She has the utmost patience with all the staff members as she tries to coach us to use features of Needles that we aren't yet proficient in, and even coaching us through the steps we already know when we feel unsure of ourselves. She is always kindly encouraging us to do more with the program and reminding us how to make the program work best for our office. Maria is the only person at our office in charge of implementing the Needles
program, entering the bulk of the data, and overseeing the transition to Needles. Things are progressing extremely well, but she still has a long road ahead of her. I am sure there are few others who are capable of undertaking such a colossal task by themselves and doing so as thoroughly and exceptionally as Maria has done. For these reasons and more, Maria is certainly our office's pick "Needles Manager of the Year," and she should get your vote, too!
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