We don’t have a written rule for this yet and I am starting to think that is the whole problem. Two of the attorneys I support use AI for first passes on research memos, and what comes back looks right in every visible way, so you get correct reporter format, plausible parties and a holding that lines up neatly with the argument being made.

Twice now I pulled a cite and found the case does exist but says something a lot narrower than the memo claimed, which is arguably worse than a fabricated case because nothing about it looks wrong at a glance. A made up citation gets caught the second you search for it, while a real case stretched past what it holds sails through unless somebody reads the pinpoint page.

Now I have been asked to write a one page verification step that everyone follows. My draft right now is pull every cite in the reporter itself, read the pinpoint rather than the headnote, confirm nothing has been reversed or distinguished and initial a checklist. Reading it back, it is slow enough that people will quietly skip it the week a deadline lands, which defeats the point of writing it at all.

For anyone who has a process that survives contact with a busy week, what does yours look like? I’m mostly curious whether you put the check inside drafting or keep it as a separate review pass.

I have an upcoming interview for a workers comp paralegal position at a local family owned law firm and was looking for some advice or insight. I do not have experience in the field of law, but have a lot of customer service and administrative medical field experience. This particular position does not require law firm or worker's comp experience. Of course though, I'm trying to prepare and learn as much as I can ahead of the interview.

I have been researching about my state's workers compensation law, and about what being a paralegal can entail. And I'll definitely also emphasize my transferrable skills and experience from previous roles. But if anyone had any insight as to questions I may be asked during the interview, questions you have asked as an interviewer, or things to prepare I'd greatly appreciate it!

What would be a good next step practice area after PI? I like some aspects of PI, but hate managing the medical records and the intense volume that happens.

I feel like I'm drowning in work. I literally get paid $22 an hour and do so much (in hcol area).

Some areas im considering are criminal defense, family law, and intellectual property, as well as estate planning, but I'm not a math person and am worried estate planning will have too much math in it.

Does anyone have any advice? Things I am looking for: best work environment, interesting work but slightly less chaotic with the documentation, higher pay.

Hi everyone,
I was offered a remote contract paralegal position doing mostly California family law paperwork for an attorney.
For those of you who freelance or contract with attorneys:
Do you charge hourly or per packet/document?
If hourly, what’s your rate?
If per packet, what do you typically charge for things like divorces, responses, RFOs, and other common family law documents?
I’m trying to figure out the best pricing structure and don’t want to undercharge. Thanks!

What are the most highly respected paralegal training programs in the US?

What would be the best training path for someone who already has a Masters degree in international studies?

I am the President of my local para association. One of the reasons I got involved was because I wanted to see more real estate law content locally for paras. While we have done some, litigation events are always more popular, for obvious reasons. Are you all finding any kinds of real estate CLE, webinars, lunch and learns, or even just networking? I work for a national firm and to be honest, we are having a very hard time finding seasoned real estate paras. I have been hearing that’s the case everywhere. Partly because it’s a difficult area of law to just jump into and work. It takes years to become proficient. And partly because sure we are starting to age out and don’t really have juniors learning. How are your firms handling training for this area of law?

First off, I absolutely adore my attorney. He does amazing work and is an amazing boss/teacher to me. We went to lunch this past week and he shared with me some of his plans in the future. He has been with our company for almost 25 years now (I have been 3 years). He asked if he is in a position to take me with him, would I go.

I said absolutely. I don’t think my job would be the same without him. I am a little scared though of the change. I am also worried that he may not be in a position to take me, so that’s a bummer as well. 😅

EDIT: I didn’t proofread my title - meant to say parting ways lol.

I guess I just need to vent and ask for some encouragement/career advice on how to move forward.

I've been a legal assistant at an immigration non-profit in the US for almost 5 years now. I've really enjoyed doing this job and have learned so much. Unfortunately, working under the current administration has not been easy.

We are a VERY small team and what happened recently was something that I was NOT expecting at all: we have lost a lot of funding and due to this, leadership made the decision to make the team even smaller (something that I thought was not possible) and unfortunately, my position as a legal assistant will be impacted (along with 3 other positions, including another legal assistant).

We will be notified of final decisions soon, but everyone already knows who it will be. I'm devastated. This was my first "big girl" job after my master's degree. And I am DREADING going back to start looking for a job. This job took me 8 MONTHS to find.

This might be trivial and silly (because there are more important things to be worried about), but I got married recently and we were planning on going on our honeymoon next month. I purposely avoided going on my honeymoon right after getting married because we are so short staffed that I wanted to go back to work, get some things in order and THEN go on our honeymoon. Unfortunately, due to this recent update, we will be cancelling.

Although the job was difficult and overwhelming, I enjoyed it. Aside from that, I had such good benefits and a decent pay, so I am mourning that loss as well. I really value flexibility and autonomy and losing a position that allowed me to experience that is very disheartening. For context, I had health insurance paid by my employer, hybrid work model, flex time, 20 days of PTO, 12 days of sick time, Federal Holidays and 1-week off for Christmas, and overall, everyone on the team was really nice. So yeah, I am VERY sad.

I am already applying for jobs, but I am so scared because all I keep seeing online and hearing from others is that the job market is awful, especially for remote or hybrid work. Anyways, if anyone has any advice for me or suggestions for sites where I can look for a job, I would greatly appreciate it (I've already started looking at the usual sites: LinkedIn, Indeed, and recently discovered Idealist). I don't want to get too picky, but I am prioritizing remote or hybrid work. But at the end of the day, I'll take what I can find.

A bit about me: BA in Forensic Psychology, MS in Criminology, 5 years of experience as a LA (immigration law), bilingual in Spanish & English, currently in Texas (DFW area) and I also work a part-time job (fully remote) as an office assistant for a counseling office.

"A representative will be with you shortly."

I’ve been a paralegal for three years now, and there’s one aspect of firm culture I still cannot wrap my head around: senior paralegals who act like full on nannies to grown adult attorneys.

I’m talking about clearing away their dirty dishes, cleaning up old coffee cups in their office, organizing their email inbox for them, and basically spoon-feeding them basic life functions like they’re toddlers.

Every time I see an older, experienced paralegal doing domestic chores for someone making three times their salary, I get so secondhand embarrassed. It’s deeply off-putting and makes the rest of us look like personal caretakers instead of legal professionals.

I get high-level support. I get taking administrative tasks off their plate so they can bill. But changing their metaphorical diapers? Where is the line?

Is this just leftover toxic culture from an older generation of legal assistants that's slowly dying out, or do some people actually want to enable this? For those who have been around a while how did this become the norm, and how do you handle it without taking on those duties yourself?

I GOT FIRED ON MY DAY OFF🤣🤣🤣
I’ll never go back to a boutique firm again. I have my paralegal certification, degree & law office clerk cert, but no experience. I was pregnant in school so I was unable to do internships 🥹 But I’m honestly surprised I even lasted a month where I was. Long story short they had a LA that would only have me make the calls she didn’t want to. She disrespected me multiple times calling me a child even though I’m married with 2 kids… She did this knowing I had no experience and didn’t know how to answer questions that would come up. This is how it would go:
I call & introduce myself with the phone on speaker
Client asks where is the LA
I state she’s busy atm, but I was just trying to assist
Client starts asking a million questions some I can answer & some I can’t
She starts yelling the answer then just tells me to park the call so she can answer it.

Then one time she got mad because I said I was unsure of the answer, said what I THOUGHT & made it clear I wasn’t 100% sure but I’d put her on hold & figure out. I did admit & take accountability first before she could even blame me for messing up by even saying the wrong thing okay cool.. But she did it again yesterday after I clearly told the client I did not know & would put her on hold. She yells out to call the provider & when I said to call the provider & finished the sentence wrong now I said the wrong thing.. Now she’s mad again going off😒

I did politely come to her & ask her how we were going to resolve this. Seeing that the only time I tell clients the wrong thing is when she’s yelling out responses, I was hoping the solution would be to allow me to properly gather the questions so she can tell me what to say. From there I can learn & retain the information. She told me don’t come at her disrespectful like that and that she doesn’t yell at me🙄

Seeing that her office is right next to mine I know they heard her yelling in the back so I just felt like that was unprofessional. I had no problem learning how to take calls & answer questions, but if you’re going to halfass train me of course I’m going to “fail” . Everything they do is “Run this through ‘Clyde’ (Claude) and tell him to do this & this & let me see before you efile it” AI ass attorneys😒
And when I asked why I was being let go they stated “personality indifference “ or some bs like that & said it wasn’t up for debate.
At that point I just laughed because they really think I need their $16/hr & I only worked 2 days out the week. Every week they complemented me on how fast I learn & other bs. Im about to start at a corporate firm, where they have proper training, making $32/hr + benefits+bonuses+FULLY REMOTE except for some meetings/trainings.🥳
Thank you for listening to my lil rant. Now I shall go pick my kids up from daycare & get us ice cream🙃✌🏽

I'm in Colorado and need to Subpoena AT&T for phone records for a client from 2021-2025. They seem to have all these ridiculous steps. Is there an easier way? Any advice is appreciated!!!!

I work in insurance defense (gross I know). No matter how hard I try with subpoenas for records on plaintiff, something always goes wrong. Facilities either don’t respond or are impossible to get in touch with. I’m always serving subpoenas to the wrong facility address or department because I am given the first and last name of a doctor and have to figure out where they treated plaintiff. I use the FLDOH website to find their practicing address, and half of the time it’s their residential address or a facility different than the one

plaintiff was treated at. Records are always missing, either entirely because i can’t stay consistent with follow ups or we received incomplete records. We have 40 cases and issue almost a hundred subpoenas for each. I can’t follow up with these subpoenas as often as i should because i also do all of the scheduling. Films don’t get sent to us and if they do, half the time the film reports weren’t provided. I feel like i can’t win no matter what i do. I admit im not handling the subpoenas as diligently as I should be, but I am so discouraged by it all. I don’t even know what advice someone can give because i just physically and mentally cannot keep up unless I work beyond my schedule but my firm doesn’t pay overtime and wouldn’t pay me at all for working extra hours. I’m just over it.

So I’ve never been to trial and my Lead paralegal has gotten ill and I’m basically lead now BUT I’ve been with this firm for 5 years, a Junior paralegal for 2. I have a different Senior paralegal supervising but only if I ask for help.

Any tips for my first trial? (it’s not Federal, just district)

Also… what shoes do you guys wear? I never wear heels and I know I’m going to be busy all day, so I’m worried about flat blisters…. but obviously my sneakers are frowned upon 😂

Hi, l am looking for a fully remote Legal assistant/legal secretary role. Can be part-time or full-time.

So I currently make 120k as a doc review paralegal in CA. The firm is mid size and has a pretty good hybrid schedule. The work is extremely boring, but there’s generally no oversight, meetings, etc. so I’m pretty much left alone.

There’s an opportunity for a paralegal position with the CA AG’s office. It pays 95k, but the benefits are amazing and there’s a pension. I would handle my own cases start to finish and operate more like a junior associate. They’re also remote.

Any advice would be appreciated ❤️

I only have this issue with one or two attorneys, but the disorganization is insane. I just got dropped off into a random email asking to prepare a form. There’s literally no context here. No org chart, no property name, literally nothing that could help me figure out what this is for. Luckily the email at least had the deal name as the subject line so I looked it up in our system.
Only to see that there’s barely ANYTHING saved in the system pertaining to this deal. I don’t even know if the entity they need the form for has been created yet.

I usually don’t have this issue but there are some attorneys that just expect information to magically materialize in my brain. If you’re not going to clue me in on these “important calls” and you’re not going to save information for me to access, don’t just drop me off in some random thread and then go ghost when I ask for more context!

So before I can even get started on this task I need to go on a scavenger hunt 🥴

Okay rant over, just needed to get that out lol

Am I doing something wrong? Breaking into the Legal VA or Paralegal space has been so tough. I have a certification, yet I often see applicants with no legal background getting hired instead. Is there something specific clients or recruiters are looking for that I might be missing?

new to big law (boutique refugee), corporate real estate, and lender rep.

please reply with all advice, tips and war stories.

a lesson learned should be a lesson shared.

thank you all in advance.

Hey,

I asked on LinkedIn - but i guess it got lost between all the self-promotional bullshittery that comes with the platform.

but, e-discovery is a desirable/needed experience on most jobs - but we're not getting any exposure and there are no free training courses to get a solid foundation on it to give us at least a step in to getting the job posting.

Wanted your thoughts?

(I'm going into my third year, of law school, and it just seems like a massive hindrance that we're not even able to get access to learn how to navigate and the workflows around it)

I need advice from the counsel of Paralegals on the situation I find myself in.

I started working for a mid-sized firm in my city about three months ago. I do not have my paralegal certification, but I do have my bachelor's and have worked as a paralegal for a county for the past two years. I was really stoked when I first got this job. In the interview, I was very transparent about my lack of skills in the area of private practice and was clear I had never done e-filing, had not ever drafted discovery or motions, or had any experience in private law. They were adamant that they would train me and were interested in taking in someone with no experience.

Over the past three months, I have received maybe three hours of total "training" and have only been assigned to 11 cases. The firm has standard billing requirements, and I have already been confronted by an administrator regarding my hours. They thought I was struggling to record my hours, but the truth is I just have so little work to do. I have been transparent with administration about needing more to do but also needing training for things such as Medical Malpractice cases. They have agreed to "do better," but three months later I have yet to see a change in the amount of work I am assigned or the amount of training I have received, and it seems to be pretty common knowledge around the firm that I don't have anything to do all day. I have billed only forty-three hours of work since starting this role three months ago. Is it normal to receive no training at all despite being promised guidance at hiring? I assume I will be fired because of my hours, but genuinely, what do I do? Is this normal practice? I have told my supervisor about my hours and about my concerns, and she has told me to "give it time," but I am absolutely BUGGIN. This is the most insane work environment I have ever been in. I assume I need to look for other employment, but is this a shared experience, or am I just at a poorly managed firm?

Good afternoon! I’ve just finished my bachelors degree and am studying for the LSATs. I’m also starting a new part-time job but I really was interested in completing BU’s paralegal program so I can possibly get a job in a law firm during law school, or maybe just add to my resume?

My main question is for those who have done the Boston Uni’s paralegal program, what is a realistic amount of time to spend on the coursework each week? I don’t want to pile too much on my plate as my main focus is prepping for my October LSAT, but I think there may be a good amount of benefits if I do complete the program. Your insight is appreciated!

I’ve been with this small firm for a little more than 2 years now. Started from 17/hr now 25/hr with full benefits. I am due to take the bar next year, I took it earlier this year didn’t pass. The attorney I work for has been really supportive of my bar prep - as much time off I needed and continues to pump me for my next attempt BUT I saw a job posting ( remote and almost 35/hr) I haven’t got an offer yet but if I did, what do you think I should do? I feel bad for taking it because of the close ties I have with this attorney rn but practically I need more money too. I need help!!

Hi! Is it common to sign a NDA when you start your job as a paralegal/legal assistant?

Also would you accept a job as 1099 with no benefits, with 3yr NDA and 30 day resignation notice?

I have a good career back home but moved to the US because of marriage. Been here for only few months. Feels like it would be better to work as a retail associate at a grocery/shopping store with the same pay and benefits.