I started my career as a legal secretary in Pittsburgh with Wick, Vuono & Lavelle, a small firm where I stayed for approximately a year.  I left that position because an opportunity came up to work in the Legal Department at Mellon Bank.  I worked as a secretary for the bank's Managing Counsel-Finance for more than two years and then decided to move to the Washington, DC area.

From 1984 to 1992, I worked with several name partners at Ritts, Brickfield & Kaufman (now Brickfield, Burchette, Ritts & Stone, PC) as a legal secretary.  Eventually I started handling their client billings.  They appreciated me very much for my speed, attention to detail, editing abilities, and likeable personality.  I left RBK to move back to Pittsburgh, but found after six months that I much preferred the excitement of living and working in our nation's capitol.

The office manager with whom I had worked at RBK contacted me with a timely offer to interview and test for a word processing and billing assistant position at a different firm in Washington, McLeod, Watkinson & Miller.  I was offered the job and resigned from my short-lived position in Pittsburgh as secretary to Education Management Corporation's General Counsel.  He was very disappointed, but I appeased him by suggesting he hire my sister, who worked with him for several years after I left.

After working at MWM from 1993 to 1997, several of the firm's attorneys and I left to start a new firm, Clifford, Lyons & Garde (now Clifford & Garde).  I handled much of the new business's start-up and wore many hats at the firm:  manager, bookkeeper, network administrator, and legal secretary.  I also entered attorney/paralegal time and expenses in billing software, handled client billings and collections, and sometimes performed paralegal duties such as uncomplicated legal research using online databases and assisting the attorneys with discovery.  I was the "help desk" person, troubleshooting computer problems, answering questions, and providing training when necessary.

In 2003, I left Clifford, Lyons & Garde to start my virtual assistant business, JW Virtual Office Services.  Since then, I have provided various types of assistance to small businesses such as law firms, nonprofit organizations, sales entrepreneurs, and consultants, and also to individuals, including a writer, a daycare provider, and others.

I sometimes volunteer my time editing and writing articles and handling the layout and word processing of my daughter's school PTA newsletter.  I have also volunteered time making phone calls and keeping lists of contact information for children interested in playing little league baseball.  Helping out as a team mom for my daughter's little league and soccer teams in the recent past has been very rewarding, as well.  I enjoy volunteering whenever I can.

If you have any questions about my background, please feel free to contact me.

Contact Judy Wilson by email or call (301) 441-8700.