school help: Is anyone here a paralegal? - Help.com

Go here:

http://www.paralegaldirect.com/

I am a legal assistant and my boss is training me to be his paralegal. I havent gone to school yet but i dont need to. I can learn in the field and take the certification test and become one. I can tell you now that its a lot of hard work. and im not meaning a little bit hard but LOTS!!!! You have to pay attention to lots of stuff and have lots of stuff memorized. Its a fast pace job but so far im lovin it!

jakylynn wrote:
What do you do day to day on the job?

Well since im the legal assistant/receptionist/office administrator.. i do a lot of stuff each day. And each day is different. I draft a lot of letters to insurance companies, attorneys, clients. Draft Motions, stipulations, and other legal documents. I have to keep all files organized. We deal with health care providers (my boss is an accident injury attorney) So i do Authorizations for medical releases. I have to keep the schedule going. Im like his personal assistant as well. LOL! I make his appointments for him (including monthly haircuts.. lol) I also do birthday mailers 2 times a month and chirstmas mailers each holiday.

Im actually about to leave work right now! lol.. not too busy of a day today. I also do data entry for like the costs and stuff we incur on our cases. Lots of calling people, lots of emails, lots of photo-copying, bate stamping… i could go on and on about the little things i have to do here and there.

Ask any question you would like.. im an open book. But i wont be able to answer till i get home because i will be driving! :)

you go and paralegalize

I think paralegals work harder than the actual attorneys. They make far less pay and they don’t get the glory that the attorney gets.

Try to finish school and get your J.D. You will work as hard for that degree as you will being a paralegal; but in the end, you will have more money, glory and your OWN paralegal.

i_forget_mysel wrote:
Get a real job! laywers, etc… are a bunch of money hungry pricks who couldn’t give a rats *** about people’s problems. They were to help people get justice and all they care about now is their bank account. pathetic.

Excuse me for 100% disagreeing with you on that one. You cannot place all lawyers in the same catagory. They are all different and my boss does wonders for his clients.

Pepper Jelly wrote:
I think paralegals work harder than the actual attorneys. They make far less pay and they don’t get the glory that the attorney gets.

Try to finish school and get your J.D. You will work as hard for that degree as you will being a paralegal; but in the end, you will have more money, glory and your OWN paralegal.

Yes. Paralegals work very hard but they do get compensated for it. They make on average of $20-$35 and hour. Not too bad to me! They do a lot of work and its not that they do more then the attorney, they do a lot of stuff that the attorney doesnt do. And attorneys do a lot that paralegals do so its the same either way. I think they are both great positions depending on your personality, whether you want to be in a court room or your own office… to each his own!

jakylynn wrote:
You really are ALOT of help! I just don’t know what to do with my life.. I am looking for a job currently but Its hard no one is calling me back and I have payments that I have to make I don’t want to depend on others.. I have never been in debt and I was thinking if I go to college for this they will place me in a job so that would be good… I just hope that there is no math involved I am horrible at math! Is your schedule usually M-F? That is something that I thought was a plus about paralegals..
I had been working for AT&T as a call center rep sales.. ick! it sucked tons on overtime and the location was an hour from my house which made it 14 hour days total… Don’t get me wrong I very well could have retired from there it paid amazing and their benefits are totally paid dr bills and such.. but I was miserable.. thats when I learned that money isn’t everything! I had more money than I could spend but I had no life!!
I know I want to finished college but I am stuck on what to go for :( I can see me working in a spa doing laser hair or varicose vein removal but heres the thing .. I have to get my RN to do that.. I don’t want to work as a nurse at a hospital and I hate the classes that I’d have to take its stupid.. and that is limiting my options to get a job by ALOT.
I do like to learn about law and history that doesn’t bother me so thats why I’m thinking maybe paralegal….

Yes we usually work M-F, 8-5. I love it and i wouldnt want it any other way. Times are tought out there in the world and we all feel it. My boyfriend has been unemployed for over a year now beaucse of it and its not for a lack of looking. Ive never seen someone look so hard, it breaks my heart to see him hurting. Its hard to look to others for help because no one wants to be in debt to anyone. But you find out who your friends are. Its sad but true.

It sounds like you would make a wonderful paralegal and i wish you all the best! Im always here if you have more questions or just need to talk to someone. You can send me a shout if you like.

Pepper Jelly wrote:
I think paralegals work harder than the actual attorneys. They make far less pay and they don’t get the glory that the attorney gets.

Not true. My husband is a lawyer and he is the one who has to go to court; face clients and get quoted in the newspaper. He went to University and did all the hard work and study to get his position. Lawyers do not get glory, they just get idiots who slag them off in return for all the sleepless nights and worry they go through.

I do understand that being an attorney can be scary, especially since it’s a job that is in the midst of many emotional situations.

However, the attorneys DO get glory. Their glory comes FROM being quoted in the newspaper; their glory comes from facing down clients and changing people’s lives…even though SOME ppl get upset about it…

As far as “idiots who slag them off in return for all the sleepless nights and worry…” Well, I think that when most ppl decide to go into the field, they know what they are getting into and it’s their choice.

Also, I do know that attorneys go to school and spend the time, effort, money, and energy to get their J.D’s, whereas paralegals don’t do that. And some attorneys, for all their effort, still don’t make all that much money.

My husband does family law trying to help people less fortunate than ourselves and gives up his free time to give free advice. The only time Lawyers get into the press here is when newspapers disagree with something lawyers are representing. I have saw a newspaper ruin a good lawyer who took against him for political reasons. People with attitudes like yours do not help either clients or their lawyers, you spread bile and mistrust amongst the people who need help and can hinder them from seeking it. There is little glory in being a lawyer, however there can be satisfaction in helping people.

And yes, I do think you are an idiot who does not know what they are talking about.

Wow, that’s a little mean of you. I tried to show you that I was understanding of what your husband deals with each day. Maybe you should re-read.

I guess maybe you are the idiot for coming on here and just blasting me out of the water and having no ability to debate without calling names and…..oh, yeah: spreading bile and mistrust.

Incidentally, I have personal experience with attorneys, as I have had to use them numerous times in my life.

Additionally, I have worked in prosecution for several years. I have also worked (obviously) with attorneys.

I am unsubscribing from this post. I do not like you and I am not prepared to get into your slagging match.

Wow whats wrong with you two? EVERYONE has their OWN OPINION!!! I work for a lawyer, Scareydol’s husband is a lawyer, and Pepper Jelly works in prosecution. SOOOOOO!!!!! A lot of people have problems with lawyers but you two are ridiculous!

There are BOTH good and bad lawyers. Lawyers that work for the people and ones that work for their poket book. This is the way life is and the way people are. You two can just calm down and get over it. Is it really necassary to fight over this? There are millions of types of jobs.. care to go after those too?