Forty-five years of it.

The practice began in civil litigation, drafting at a high-volume legal clinic where the file moved fast and the pleading had to be right the first time. Complaints, points and authorities, trial briefs, appeals, writs — prepared under deadline, to court standard, in both state and federal rules.

The compliance years followed, most of them inside an international beauty company: an industry where the labeling, the claims, and the brand names are all regulated at once. That work meant building a compliance program and the standards of conduct a company operates under, drafting human resources policy, holding the commercial lease and eviction files, reviewing contracts and loan packages against state and federal requirements, and carrying a portfolio of more than seventy-five patents and trademarks — applications, statements of use, extension requests, office action responses, renewals, assignments, and the cease and desist letters that go out when someone uses a mark that isn't theirs.

The work has also been taught. The principal developed and taught the Introduction to Paralegal Studies curriculum at a California community college, tutoring in bankruptcy, litigation, family law, real estate, probate, contracts, entertainment, and workers' compensation.

None of that is a substitute for a lawyer, and the practice does not pretend otherwise. The practice's principal completed two years of law study but is not an attorney and does not practice law. What the practice offers is narrower and more useful: someone who has handled the assignment before, will quote a flat fee before starting, and will tell you plainly when the matter has moved past what a non-attorney research practice can do.