Ferrel leads by example

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Paralegal Deb Ferrel follows the rule that little things make a big difference for those in her profession.

“You have to be really careful about the details,” she said. “It’s getting those little steps right that makes things go well.”

On any given day, Ferrel, who has been in the Madison office of Hawks Quindel SC since 2000, might work with as many as five attorneys.

“Deb is the main source of contact for over 150 different clients,” Hawks Quindel attorney Bill Parsons said, “and she is amazing at keeping the clients happy and their cases moving.”

Parsons, who handles long-term disability and workers’ compensation cases, praised Ferrel for developing the firm’s paralegal practice for Social Security disability and family law clients.

“She balances all of this with mentoring our younger staff members,” he said, “which is truly invaluable.”

Ferrel entered the law field at Madison’s Heibl, Heibl & Crisafi when a temporary positon turned into a job she held for five years. It was at that firm that Ferrel met her first mentor, Jean Shimulunas, a legal assistant.

“I would not have succeeded in this line of work without the help of Jean Shimulunas,” Ferrel said. “She answered all my many questions and showed me where to look to find my own answers.”

Ferrel went on to work at Lawton & Cates and for John Heibl before joining Hawks Quindel.

One of the biggest challenges Ferrel said she had to overcome was when Hawks Quindel went paperless, a change that she now views as beneficial.

“There was an overwhelming amount of documents to scan, save and organize in a consistent manner,” she said. “I really like the results, as we can access and search documents in a much easier manner.”