Paralegal | Imamother

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 3:06 pm

Anybody here know anything about being a paralegal?

I have a B.A. and I was thinking of getting a paralegal certificate online. Is it worth doing that?

Is it an abusive industry to work in? Is the pay worth the work I would be doing?

I'll take any info...

TIA

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 3:19 pm

my mother in law is a paralegal. she strongly advises against going into the field. In her experience, she is doing the same work as lawyers but getting paid much much less than them. it could just be her specific experience, but she tells us all the time that if she would do it again, she would go to law school.

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 3:53 pm

My mom is a parelegal, and she loves it. She has been doing it for over 20 years! We have talked about it many times and she says the following:

1) She really enjoys her work and is paid pretty well for it. But...she worked her way into a niche and it's through that work that she found satisfaction. She works specifically in Intellectual Property.

2) When she was doing litigation, she was not nearly as happy. The cases were sometimes interesting but it required long hours, and a fair amount of travel (to interview witnesses and such).

3) She found working in law firms very stressful due to deadlines and having to bill her time in 15 minute increments.

4) She also says if she were to go back in time, she would've gone to law school for the same reasons the other amother mentioned. But she came to it when she was almost 40 and thought at the time that she was too old for law school

She also went to an actual university that was offering the program and is not at all familiar with on-line programs.

mha3484

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 4:12 pm

I am also a paralegal. The pluses to the job are:

1) You are not just a secretary. You have real responsiblities. You dont have the debt or insane hours of being a lawyer.

2) A good paralegal will always have a job because they are cheaper to employ then a lawyer.

The Cons are:

1) The economy. After all of the banks tanked the law firms were the second to go. So the hiring is slow in many places.

2) It is primarily a 9-5 job without alot of flexiblity. (obviously this is not the case all the time)

3) Litigation requires a thick skin and will have the most hours.

Ultimately, you really need to be a detail oriented person. It is not necessarily a people oriented job either so that has to be okay with you. It has the potential to be very rewarding and enjoyable if you find the right setting. Also make sure whatever certificate you get it needs to be ABA certified.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 4:14 pm

OP HERE

Thanks, both Amothers.

I was flirting with the idea of going to law school, but I just can't put myself in that kind of debt now. I still have student loans from my B.A. to pay up.

I read about this a bit on the Internet and it seems that many paralegals are doing the lawyer's work yet getting paid a fraction of the lawyer's salary. That's a concern to me...being overworked and heavily underpaid. (Any attorneys here want to weigh in on that?)

Also, as a mom, I fear that I will have to put in many extra evening hours on my chlildren's expense.

Is it a 9-5 kind of job, or do paralegals often work overtime?

chocolate moose

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 4:18 pm

It might depend. I'm a legal secretary. Times are tough and lawyers do paralegal work. Heck, sometimes I do lawyer-type work, too.

Places aren't hiring much, though. I don't know what the future holds, of course. But lawyers are oft en the first to go in tough times.

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 4:19 pm

mha3484 wrote:

OP HERE

Thanks for all that info.
I'm very detail oriented, even more than I like dealing with people.

I was wondering about the ABA certification. So many paralegal certificates don't have that.

amother

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 4:21 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

OP HERE

Thanks.

What's the difference between a legal secretary and a paralegal? Is it just the title or is the work different?

I know times are tough! It's like that in almost all the industries. Sad

I guess I can only hope for the best...

abby1776

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 5:26 pm

If you can get into a specialized area like intellectual property it may be better. Intellectual property paralegals who specialize in trademark and patent filings need to have specific skills and be familiar with the law and legal procedures. They are generally in much more high demand than your average paralegal and get paid better as well. The trademark paralegals in my group get paid $85-$95k a year and that doesnt include overtime. However, its a hard field to break into.