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Matthew Shawver, Legal Assistant at Hinkle Elkouri

[By Douglas M ay]
Matthew Shawver was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, a city known as a major aircraft manufacturing hub and cultural
center. Wichita is the largest city in Kansas and boasts cultural and recreational venues that make it one of the 10 best
cities to live in, according to Money magazine. The first complete recording made by jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker
occurred in 1940 at the Trocadero Ballroom in Wichita, and the Wichita Jazz Festival remains a significant annual event on
the national jazz calendar every year. There’s also a Wichita River Festival held each May, and as one of the longest running
festivals in the state of Kansas, it features over 70 events, including musical entertainment, athletic competitions, traveling
exhibits, cultural and historical activities, plays, and a flea market. Undoubtedly, growing up in such a culturally rich
environment must have made Shawver a very well-rounded individual.

Sha wve r left Wichita to earn a ba chelor’s degree
from the University of New Mexico with a double
major in e conomics a nd political s cie nce. Afte r
gra duation, he worked for a few yea rs for the
State of New Mexico but always ke pt the idea
of going back to school to obtain a law degree
in mind. Sha wver recalls, “I thought that by
working in a law firm as a legal assista nt I
would have a better feel for whether purs uing
a law de gree would be a path I wanted to
follow. During my interviews with law firms
in Albuque rque , they all said the sa m e thing: I
needed a prior substa ntive law background or a
legal assista nt degree from an ABA accre dited
legal assista nt program. I returned to Wichita,
Ka nsas, a nd was hired as a pa rt-time legal
assista nt and completed my Ass ociate of Scie nce
degree at Wichita State University and have
been working as a legal assista nt for the past 22
yea rs.”
Sha wve r says that he did inte rn in the beginning
of his career, and that the inte rns hip was a
re quire m e nt of the legal assisting program
whe re he re ceived his As sociate of Scie nce
degree. He states, “Technically, I ‘inte rne d’ the
last se m este r of the program at the law firm
where I ha d been working pa rt-time as a legal
assista nt for the prior six months.”
Although he doe s n’t curre ntly belong to any
profes sional orga niza tions, Sha wve r says that
in his ea rly yea rs working a s a legal assista nt
he belonged to the local chapter of the National
Ass ociation of Le gal Assista nts (Ka nsas
Ass ociation of Legal Assista nts), in addition to
se rving on a legal assista nt committee at Wichita
Q. What do you do for fun?
A. I enjoy riding mot orcycle s , re a ding,
and ga r de ning.
State University. Sha wve r says that he cre dits
what success he ’s had as a legal assista nt to
“those attorneys I’ve worked with who challenged
me while at the sa m e time being supportive
and patie nt while I learned.” He says that
there are many be nefits to the paralegal
profes sion and that “work is consta ntly
challe nging, both intelle ctually and from a
time -ma na ge me nt pe rs pe ctive, which I find
exciting.”
Sha wve r works at Hinkle Elkouri La w Firm LLC,
which, a s he says, is the second largest law firm
in Wichita, Ka ns as, and a large firm for a city with
a population a pproa ching 500,000. He works in
the firm ’s estate pla nning/probate /re al estate
pra ctice group where the majority of his work
is “prima rily focused on real estate a cquisitions
and sales, tra nsa ctional work, and trust funding
work a ss ociated with estate planning.”

Q. What CD is in your CD player right

When he first got out of s chool, Sha wve r worked
for a m e dium -size d law firm where he says the
legal assista nts we re encouraged to work in
all pra ctice a re as in which the firm pra ctice d.
“Accordingly,” he says, “I provided assista nce
to the attorneys who pra ctice d in the following
a re as of the law: real estate tra nsa ctions,
corporate a nd tra nsa ctional work, oil and gas,
ba nkruptcy, se curitie s, probate a nd estates,
and litigation. I s ubse que ntly worked for the
state ’s largest public utility in Topeka, Ka nsa s,
and for the City of Wichita La w De pa rtme nt.”
now, or what w as the last son g you
liste ne d to?
A. The CD cur re ntly in my pla ye r is Time
Out by the Dave Brubeck quartet.
Q. What’s the last magazine you read?
A. Air and Spa ce Smit hs onia n.
Q. What’s your favorite TV s how/ movie ?
A. I am a fan of the Coen Brothers a nd
e s pe cia lly enjoyed the movie Raising
Ar izona .
When aske d if he has any advice for his peers in
the legal field, Sha wver says, “Continually s trive
to lea rn. Keeping a bre ast of changes in your
a rea of the law is im pe rative. Equally im porta nt
is re maining technically proficie nt with computer
software, whether it be legal, word processing,
or accounting/s pre a ds he et progra ms. And
re me m ber that a proficie nt legal se creta ry is one
of the m ost valua ble assets you ca n have as a
legal assista nt. Always treat the m well.”

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