Paralegals

[eviljeff]

I have several friends who are/were paralegals. none of them like(d) it. you're basically guaranteed the worst parts of being a lawyer because the lawyers will take all the interesting stuff.

[Obfuscation]

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I used to do a lot of temp work as a paralegal in SF. There is absolutely NO REASON WHATSOEVER to do this instead of just going to lawschool and becoming a lawyer. If you work as a paralegal for over a year you are making a huge mistake as you'd be half-way done with lawschool by then.

I can't emphasize this enough. If you're willing to make a living spending all day in a law office, be the lawyer.

natedogg

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While I understand the sentiment, as the OP doesn;t have an undergrad degree yet, you would be talking another 7 years of school. Probably not that attractive.

Of course, at the end of that, if you bust your ass in law school, then you'll be in great shape to make some bucks. I don't love being a lawyer by any means, but at least they pay me.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
I have several friends who are/were paralegals. none of them like(d) it. you're basically guaranteed the worst parts of being a lawyer because the lawyers will take all the interesting stuff.

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not that there's much interesting stuff to take, but yes.

a paralegal in a (good) solo practice or very small firm is basically an assistant lawyer without the degree, but you will never be paid 1/10 of what your boss makes. a paralegal in BIGLAW is basically the bottom grunt on the coffee totem pole, and while the pay is much better, your life will still turn out to suck hard at completely random intervals.

basically, I have no idea why anyone would be excited about this. it's like being excited about being a secretary, but with less office gossip.

[ThaSaltCracka]

one reason to be a paralegal over a lawyer. The # of hours worked per week.


As for the fun aspect, it totally varies on the type of law you work in. Something financial related is likely to be very boring and tedious. Enviromental, IP, Defense, Entertainment, would be quite fun. My mom is a Paralegal for an IP attorney. She seems to be working on a lot of interesting and cool cases. Plus the attorney you work for has a huge impact on how enjoyable the job is.

You can also make quite a nice chunk of change if you get on with a big firm. $60,000+ per year, possibly even close to 6 figures. You may want to check to see if your state requires a paralegal certificate. Actually a lot firms require it. This is different than a Bachelors degree.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
a paralegal in BIGLAW is basically the bottom grunt on the coffee totem pole,

[/ QUOTE ] actually no. There are legal secretaries that do most of the grunt work at big firms.

[adanthar]

yeah that's true, legal secs have it worse. for paralegals it depends on firm culture/practice area/whether they're attached to a partner, I guess. but the ones I know are either hot girls or various levels of miserable.

[BarryLyndon]

As a paralegal, you will suffer. And suffer greatly. You will do all the work that lawyers hate - making photocopies, talking to idiot clients, doing thousands of pages of research, writing boilerplate (standard) language, spell/grammar checking. Then, when you are wrong, you'll be criticized to the tune of sighs and grunts, because now this means you'll have to do the research again. On some nights, you'll find yourself staying at the firm longer than your boss.

And there is no "ship it, holla," because you're boss gets most if not all of the credit. Now, having said that, if you want to go to law school, being a paralegal is great because you will get credit from admittance boards, assuming that you're LSAT score meets the school's cut.

Since you are asking fellow degenerates, my advice to you is that you find a path that will allow you to more ownership over your work. Paralegals have NO ownership over their work; they have no room to exercise their own thoughts, ideas, or creativity as to a given case.

[ThaSaltCracka]

It seems like a lot of you guys are focusing on the negatives. Every job has negatives. FWIW, I don't think someone could go wrong making a career out of being a paralegal.

[BarryLyndon]

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It seems like a lot of you guys are focusing on the negatives. Every job has negatives. FWIW, I don't think someone could go wrong making a career out of being a paralegal.

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I think that it is crucial with focusing on the negatives whenever advising someone to go into the field of law / paralegalling. You're dealing with something that involves as INTENSE a mental conditioning as any profession; also, the nature of any legal profession can get very ugly. Conversely, many people go into the law with rosy coloured glasses, basing their desire on what they see on "Law and Order" and/or Reese Witherspoon's ass. So, extra caution is necessary.

[Riverman]

I did this for a year after college. It sucked.