Paralegals

[ThaSaltCracka]

oh, I see what you mean. yeah, OP a good warning would be that in a law firm you are dealing with tons of A personalities. If you can handle them, its not a big deal, if not, they will stress you out to no end.

edited to add: based on my own personal experience as a file clerk and legal assistant.

[Riverman]

I should mention, however, that at the firm I worked at (WilmerHale), it was not uncommon for paralegals who had been there 15+ years to be making six figures.

[Rigel]

[ 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.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a lawyer and agree with this statement. Having said that, being a lawyer sucks too but millions of us still do it because it seems to be our best option. The same no doubt applies to many paralegals as well.

[amplify]

In my case, since my skills are so disparate, and my work history is entirely small companies, most of which have gone out of business, are going out of business, or which I owned and went broke doing business. I will not do any kind of tech support, I have an MCSE and so forth but thats worth nothing now, I don't want to continue in marketing, and I can't choose a career right now that involves postgraduate education. So, it seems to be either this or bagging groceries at Kroger unless anyone comes up with a better option, or I hit the Powerball.

I have no illusions that it will be a dream job or anything, but my options are limited and my finances are withered. I really appreciate the responses so far, and will continue to appreciate any further ones.

[claudenm]

[ QUOTE ]
In my case, since my skills are so disparate, and my work history is entirely small companies, most of which have gone out of business, are going out of business, or which I owned and went broke doing business. I will not do any kind of tech support, I have an MCSE and so forth but thats worth nothing now, I don't want to continue in marketing, and I can't choose a career right now that involves postgraduate education. So, it seems to be either this or bagging groceries at Kroger unless anyone comes up with a better option, or I hit the Powerball.

I have no illusions that it will be a dream job or anything, but my options are limited and my finances are withered. I really appreciate the responses so far, and will continue to appreciate any further ones.

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome the main reasons why I am a paralegal. I think it's a very unfair assumption that we are all afforded the option or have the menas (financial or otherwise) to do what we like/want. I interviewed for a couple jobs, got shut out at alot of places and now I'm making a *comfortable* living in a mundane job. I wish it were better, but it isn't. Perhaps in another year I'll be in a better financial position to be able to do more interesting work. Until then I continue on with half an eye towards more promising opportunities.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Amplify, if you feel you have the skills and previous work history to become a paralegal, you also probably have the skills to do other things. I would explore those other things first, not because being a paralegal is a bad job, but because you don't sound like someone who would enjoy being one.

[SackUp]

I am an attorney.

Paralegal jobs differ immensely depending on the firm and even depending on the department within a firm. Much of the work is geared towards transactional type stuff or paper pushing - filling out forms, doing discovery, some basic research, etc. - basically any of the non fun stuff that the attorneys don't want to do.

With that said, some people really like it as there is by no means the pressure or time element required of an attorney and you still get to do legal stuff. The pay is not so bad and you can get some good benefits.

I definitely think it is a solid job, especially for someone without a college degree. You may want to look into a paralegal program to get certified - though many of those require an undergrad degree.

[ClevelandWasp]

I'm the only law clerk at a small firm (graduating in December) and worked at law firms full time for seven years (all through undergrad and law school). In my experience the paralegal certification might only be useful to get you an interview, depending on the firm. It won't help you at all once you're on the job, in part because you'll probably be working on some really specific area of law. So if you want to pursue this, I would say just try to line up some interviews and skip the paralegal program. If I was the lawyer doing the hiring, I would much rather hire some 37 year-old guy with some common sense/life experience than some 22 year old chick who mistakenly believes she knows anything because she went to community college for two years. So I say what the hell, give it try, if you don't like it maybe try a different firm before you give it up.

[jman220]

There are several paralegals who work in my bureau. They certainly do not get us our coffee. They write motions, answer discovery, interview victims, do legal research, etc. etc. AFAIK they all like their jobs.

[correia]

[ QUOTE ]
Much of the work is geared towards transactional type stuff or paper pushing - filling out forms, doing discovery, some basic research, etc. - basically any of the non fun stuff that the attorneys don't want to do.



[/ QUOTE ]

This is basically how all of the paralegals I know have described their job, with most of them looking for employment elsewhere.