Spotlight on Jessica Ferencz: Problem-Solving Paralegal

She describes what she does at Charles Boyk Law Offices as “a whole bunch of different stuff. I am a paralegal, but Chuck called me his ‘Jess of all trades’ when we first met, and he offered me the job.” They are still hashing out her official title; suffice to say, she steps in where and when needed to help support Chuck and his assistants throughout the week with case management whenever they need extra help.

On the operations side, she helps figure out how to solve problems that arise during the everyday management of a law firm. “I get to balance both love of helping people and love of helping our team grow and thrive,” explains Jessica. “I problem-solve all day long.”

She graduated from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her degree is technically classified in communications, but actually, it’s in theater. She worked in professional theater for about 12 years, as an equity stage manager, actor, sound designer, lighting designer, scenic artist, or whatever paid the bills, at the Purple Rose Theater Company (owned by actor Jeff Daniels), the Encore Musical Theater Company in Dexter, Michigan and the Gem and Century theaters in Detroit.

Then her spouse accepted a job in Toledo about a decade ago. She made the difficult choice to find a new career here rather than go on the road with a traveling theater company. She worked in retail management for a few years, before accepting a job as at a law firm as their office manager.

“I applied for that job, had an interview, was hired, and then found very quickly that I was able to translate my own personal skills into, what I would have at the time, called a survival job. I turned it into a career.

“It’s actually pretty similar to what I do now,” says Jessica. “As a stage manager, I was responsible for the day-to-day schedule and operations of whatever production I was working on, making sure any problems that came up were resolved before anyone knew they were problems. It’s the same stuff I do here, basically.”

“I grew up in Detroit, and my parents are both still in that area. They are no longer together, they separated when I was a kid, so not a big deal there. My mom is the activities director for a nursing home, and my dad is partially retired from a career in management with Walmart and Sam’s Club at their corporate level.”

Jessica is married to the director of web development for a creative agency in Toledo. She and her spouse like to travel to see live theater productions. They recently went to St Louis to see a performance of “Come From Away” and support a friend who was in it.

They just rescued a dog in January. They failed at fostering the dog because they fell in love and adopted her. “Her name is Sally, and she is a mutt. We know she’s part pit bull, and part boxer, but there’s a third mix in there, and we can’t figure out what it is,” says Jessica. “It’s been a fun journey to watch her go from a very scared, timid shelter dog and blossom into the
great dog she is now.” Sally’s photo will be featured in the Dogs of the Toledo Humane Society 2026 calendar.

Having worked at one of the biggest personal injury firms in Ohio, Jessica says, “Charles Boyk Law is totally different. The level and degree to which people care here is just unparalleled. There are no words to describe it.

“I’ve never experienced a community where I walked in on my first day, and every single person made it to my office to say hi to me. That’s wonderful, very cool.”