Lawyer's Right Hand: Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

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Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Lawyer's Right Hand

Tips on career, excellence and work/life balance for legal secretaries, served up with a dash of humor and the occasional gentle rant.

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Last Entry: July 04, 2008 at 00:04:28

Bye, y?all

Posted on July 04, 2008
Lawyer’s Right Hand has retired. It was a good run. I’ve learned a lot about running a blog, and I hope I’ve helped someone out here and there. But after I made the blog reader-driven, it became clear that there wasn’t enough reader interest to justify continuing...

Asking your employer to be your lawyer

Posted on June 05, 2008
How does one ask for legal representation? I’ve worked for over 20 years for very large, prestigious law firms as a paralegal. I’ve worked on many high profile cases and have gone to trial on media heavy cases for some of the nation’s power attorneys...

Johnny Come Lately, Esq.

Posted on May 20, 2008
Marcia exhorts: How do you get your attorney to notice deadlines that you place on his calendar and follow that deadline up with a 2 week reminder that all but get ignored until the DAY of the deadline and more likely than not, the required pleading is due 2 counties over which needs to be hand...

The Hand goes reader?s choice

Posted on May 18, 2008
After more than a year of faithful blogging, Lawyer’s Right Hand is going reader’s choice. From this point on, any new posts will be in response to reader questions only. So now is the time to make your request! .

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Getting started as a legal secretary

Posted on May 05, 2008
A gentle reader writes: At 53, can I successfully begin a career as a legal secretary? I have heard that law is one profession that exhibits a very low level of age discrimination. I possess 25+ years of varying degrees in office administration. Over the past 6 years, I have been a Human...

Legal secretary pride

Posted on May 02, 2008
The other day, I stumbled across Carol Ann Wilson Story’s article, Proud to Be a Legal Secretary. It’s just about the best encapsulation of what a legal secretary does and why it’s important as I’ve ever seen. She begins: A voice on the telephone recently asked me,...

Occupational outlook for legal secretaries

Posted on April 28, 2008
Amid the many job-related Web sites out there, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook often gets overlooked. Yet it’s probably the best all-around resource for credible information on employment and salary statistics — not to mention projections about the...

Behind every good lawyer?

Posted on April 28, 2008
A recent Daily Report article features profiles of seven legal secretaries nominated by their bosses as paragons in the venerable tradition of Perry Mason’s right hand, Della Street. I’m going to squelch the many snarky comments that came to mind as I read this article...

Get the insider track on job hunting

Posted on April 26, 2008
The Brazen Careerist has treated her readers to Three tips for job hunting, all taken from Cynthia Shapiro’s latest book, What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get a Job Around Here?: 44 Insider Secrets That Will Get You Hired. These tips are not your usual tried-and-true, heard-it-all-before...

Cool link roundup #6

Posted on April 25, 2008
Above the Law reports Jerry Springer will be this spring’s commencement speaker at Northwestern University School of Law. As ATL notes, it would be fun if Springer were to “bring Northwestern students with secrets and unresolved conflicts up on stage, then have them confess and...

Bad . . . who?: Figliolo or Richards

Posted on April 25, 2008
According to Law.com, New York firm Bivona & Cohen has filed a pre-emptive declaratory judgment suit against legal secretary Windy Richards (a/k/a Wendy Ogando), who had offered to drop allegations of rape against partner Joseph Figliolo in exchange for $9 million...

In which your stingy boss might give you a gift because he?s too craven not to

Posted on April 23, 2008
Above the Law has a rather disheartening open thread on what lawyers are doing for their secretaries for Administrative Professionals Day. One can only hope ATL’s commenters represent a minority of the legal profession as a whole. I’m thinking they do...

Good lawyer: The Uncivil Litigator

Posted on April 23, 2008
While trolling the Web, I stumbled across this four-year-old blog entry by The Uncivil Litigator: A word about legal secretaries. This Uncivil Litigator dude is one of the good guys. He not only understands the value of a good legal secretary: He understands the role of the lawyer in retaining...

Rant: Flowers-in-a-Box

Posted on April 23, 2008
Perhaps nothing puts a secretary in her place better than a gift that makes extra work for her. If you don’t respect your secretary, don’t think she contributes anything to your business, and/or you resent yet another occasion on which you are expected to give her a gift, then, by all...

Good lawyer(s): Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley

Posted on April 22, 2008
Law.com reports that small California firm Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley has foregone an ostentatious celebration of its 125th anniversary (yes, 125th!) in favor of donating $125,000 to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Sure, they just got a huge PR boost for their money in the form of...

Get the lowdown on employment discrimination

Posted on April 21, 2008
Employment discrimination comes up with fair frequency for legal secretaries, but unless you work in labor and employment, those matters can be a source of confusion. It doesn’t help when friends and family think they know your rights but really don’t...

Cool link roundup #5

Posted on April 18, 2008
Bad lawyer Adam Reposa only spent a few hours of his 90-day sentence in jail. Okay, maybe 90 days was a bit much for a “masturbatory gesture.” Maybe. Reader’s Digest (by way of the ever-helpful Lifehacker) 15 Ways to Maximize Your Lunch Hour...

Hide your weaknesses by cheating

Posted on April 14, 2008
Recently, out of the blue, my baby lawyer complimented me on how I always “get” all his handwritten revisions. He never has to make a revision twice or point out something I missed. I’m embarrassed at how much this compliment made me glow...

A disgruntled paralegal

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Disgruntled Workforce blog is open for any employee to anonymously post negative feedback about her job or boss. When I began to read this entry, I felt I knew the poster’s job even before he mentioned lawyers. Here was all I needed to tell me this poor writer is a paralegal: Now that...

Good lawyer: Yolanda Eisenstein

Posted on April 09, 2008
Dallas, Texas, attorney Yolanda Eisenstein has carved out her own unique niche in that lawyer-filled city. Animal law is her specialty. Whether it’s litigating the matter of a poisoned family dog, defending someone wrongly accused of animal cruelty, or lobbying for the enactment of stronger...

Protect your privacy at work . . . sort of

Posted on April 07, 2008
Repeat after me: “I have no privacy at work. I don’t even have a legal right to privacy at work.” There. Now that that’s out of the way, we can rationally discuss the few small measures you can reasonably take to become somewhat less vulnerable to being spied upon at...

Cool link roundup #4

Posted on April 05, 2008
Above the Law has released the long-awaited results of its job survey of lawyers’ favorite firms. This is relevant to assistants under my theory that firms who keep lawyers happy are probably keeping assistants happy, too. Got Word 2007? I don’t, but this nifty tip from the How-To Geek...

Lawyer not loving you enough?

Posted on April 04, 2008
Today, Above the Law linked to a Dear Prudence advice column at Slate.com, in which a young legal secretary poignantly ponders: I’m an ambitious recent college graduate. Six months ago, I moved to Washington, D.C., and was lucky enough to land a well-paying job with great career prospects as...

This is a family blog [almost].

Posted on April 03, 2008
Created by OnePlusYou No mean accomplishment considering what it’s about. .

An open secret about legal recruiting firms

Posted on April 02, 2008
Pssst! Most of the job openings advertised by legal staffing agencies — whether on their Web sites, in the newspaper, or on Monster, are “representative samples” of the types jobs they generally have on offer. The listings don’t necessarily correspond with actual,...

Talking to the April Fool

Posted on April 02, 2008
A nice little anecdote crossed my radar today. A former legal secretary recounts how, one April Fools’ Day past, it was her first day on the job, and she encountered a rude client on the telephone. Fortunately, her boss (also her dad) took it all in stride...

Free online PDF conversion

Posted on April 02, 2008
Zamzar is a free online file conversion service that doesn’t require sign-up. You upload your document, select the format you’d like it converted to, and enter your e-mail address. In a few minutes — it took about 30 for mine — you receive an e-mail containing a download...

April fool your lawyer!

Posted on March 31, 2008
Wired Magazine has posted its Top 10 April Fools’ Pranks for Nerds. The best part is, you don’t have to be a nerd to do some of them. Don’t be fooled by the first three: Many of the pranks are simple and doable for us mere mortals. Such as: 4...

What if your lawyer?s client is wrong?

Posted on March 31, 2008
A provocative post at Overlawyered, Lawsuit abuse kills puppies, reveals the nasty underbelly of our jury system. It seems some SPCAs are refusing to adopt puppies out to families with children for fear of being sued should the dogs ever bite the children...

MS Word: Protect your customizations

Posted on March 31, 2008
Most of us put a lot of thought and effort into customizing our Word configuration so that it has the styles, macros, and toolbar buttons we need at our fingertips. The problem is we do all this on a computer we neither own nor have control of. In my office, updates are rolled out, PCs [...

Cool link roundup #3

Posted on March 28, 2008
The Pennsylvania Family Law Blog features a guest post by the author’s secretary, in which she gives her boss’s clients some friendly and useful advice. Above the Law’s law firm job... .

Give the boss a PocketMod

Posted on March 26, 2008
PocketMod bills itself as “the free, recyclable personal organizer,” and I can think of no better description. It’s a Web template and folding/cutting guide that lets you turn a... .

Does sometimes saying ?no? to overtime endanger your job?

Posted on March 26, 2008
The Wall Street Journal’s “The Juggle” blog features a thought-provoking piece on saying no to overtime. One of the WSJ’s law blog readers shared an anecdote of how, as a... .

Career lessons from Eliott Spitzer?s call girl, Ashley Dupre

Posted on March 24, 2008
No, it’s not a guest post! (Not that there would be anything wrong with that.) The Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk, features an entertaining and yet oddly wise post on the career lessons we... .

Bad lawyer: Adam Reposa

Posted on March 24, 2008
Above the Law reports on Adam Reposa, an Austin lawyer who was recently held in contempt of court because he “made a simulated masturbatory gesture with his hand while making eye contact with... .

Good legal secretary: Cheryl Gilkes

Posted on March 24, 2008
Wisconsin legal secretary Cheryl Gilkes shovels manure — although not necessarily in the course of her job at Flottmeyer, Burgos, Ryan & Sayner. Cheryl and her 13-year-old daughter... .

Auto-dialers: No second chances

Posted on March 24, 2008
We all get them: Auto-dialed calls from telemarketers. You pick up the phone, answer. The caller doesn’t speak right away. All you hear is what sounds suspiciously like call-center background... .

Cool link roundup #2

Posted on March 21, 2008
Personal finance blog Wise Bread lightheartedly compares the job search to a romantic [mis]adventure. Law firms are generally among the more secure places to work. And did I say generally?... .

Thelen Reid?s lopsided layoffs

Posted on March 20, 2008
According to Above the Law, the latest round of law firm layoffs took place today at Thelen Reid, where 85 out of 111 casualties are staff rather than lawyers. I was bemused enough that Thelen is... .

Set your workday to music

Posted on March 19, 2008
Few things make the workday go by faster than your favorite tunes. Playing them at work can be challenging, though: Most PCs come with the clunky Windows Media, and most firms don’t want... .

10 tips for dealing with difficult clients

Posted on March 17, 2008
Someone found me recently by putting “legal secretary dealing with difficult clients” into Google, though I haven’t yet addressed that topic — at least not in any depth. I... .

Cool link roundup #1

Posted on March 12, 2008
Among the interesting things I’ve seen on the Web recently: Legal Assistant Today has released its paralegal salary outlook. They used data from Robert Half Legal’s annual survey; I... .

Mr. Phosita makes a sandwich

Posted on March 12, 2008
When you go to work for litigators, you learn a whole new type of logic. If you’ve been in litigation for a year or two, then you know that it’s a little different way of looking at the... .

Get credit for your good work

Posted on March 10, 2008
Legal secretaries don’t always get credit where it’s due. Lawyers get so accustomed to our good work on a day-to-day basis that they forget what life would be like without us. A certain... .

Important Update(s)

Posted on March 08, 2008
To state the obvious, LRH is undergoing a bit of an overhaul. My goal is to have it done or mostly done by Monday morning. Pardon my sawdust! Important: If you’re subscribed to my RSS feed, you... [...]

Marketing for legal secretaries

Posted on March 03, 2008
Todd Olivas has posted a condensed version of a speech he recently gave to the Orange County chapter of NALS. Todd brings the unique perspective of a marketing professional to the legal secretary domain, and guess what? It works! His tips are gold. My favorites: Relationships are the key...

Know when to say ?Whatever!?

Posted on February 27, 2008
Lawyers are always right. You can make respectful suggestions. You can diffidently point out ways of doing something better. But you have to know when to let it go and zip your lips. When it comes to secretaries who speak up, there are basically two types of lawyer: First, there are the ones who appreciate your [...

Ledge haiku

Posted on February 25, 2008
Your crap on my ledge. I can scarce see over it. The pile is so tall.

Take care of your heart

Posted on February 25, 2008
Tragedy struck at Saul Ewing’s Baltimore office last month, when legal secretary Susan McGuire suffered a fatal heart attack. The Baltimore Sun reports: McGuire, a 45-year-old legal secretary, suffered a fatal heart attack at her workplace, just as she was heading to the doctor’s office last month...

Drumroll, please!

Posted on February 22, 2008
We have a winner for the copy of 100 Words Per Minute: Tales from Behind Law Office Doors. My own personal independent prize distribution firm has selected a winner using a double-secret, proprietary sweepstakes technology. (Well, okay, I got MFN to pick the name from a bowl, ’cause, yanno, my cats were both busy...

Win a copy of 100 Words Per Minute

Posted on February 18, 2008
Lawyer’s Right Hand is giving away a copy of 100 Words Per Minute: Tales from Behind Law Office Doors! To enter for the drawing, send an e-mail to my address — top of the lefthand sidebar — and include “100 Words” in the subject line...

Haiku: Clarification

Posted on February 18, 2008
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Legal assistant, Not personal assistant. Shall I ?splain again?

A disturbing trend in biglaw

Posted on February 13, 2008
At least one of the country’s biggest law firms has drastically changed a key personnel policy: When a secretary-lawyer relationship isn’t working, the option of reassignment within the firm is off the table. The secretary is simply fired! Given that the custom of reassigning a good secretary who doesn’t click with her boss is one [...

Tales from Behind Law Office Doors

Posted on February 11, 2008
I’ve discovered the neatest little book. Published in 2006, 100 Words per Minute: Tales from Behind Law Office Doors is a kind of Chicken Soup for the Legal Secretary’s Soul, but, thank dog, the self-help is blessedly subtle, and there’s not a shred of sappiness in sight...

Haiku: Not My Job

Posted on February 11, 2008
Disney World, school stuff, Soccer, your dentist, golf clubs. Not my job, this fluff!

MS Word: Don?t ?clean up? your tables. Style them!

Posted on February 05, 2008
The most frequent “reason” I hear for manually typing tables of contents and authorities in a complex Word document is that the Word-generated tables must always be “cleaned up.” And just what is this “cleanup,” I ask? It turns out the only problem is that people don’t like Word’s default formatting of tables...

Hitting the job market in the new year? Check here first.

Posted on February 04, 2008
I’ve just added a terrific resource to the Careerism links: Jobhunt.org. It’s a treasure trove of news and articles on the job-hunting front, many of them must-reads if you’re back on the market after a few years in one place. Start with this piece on controlling what prospective employers see when they plug your name [...

A Texas deposition

Posted on January 28, 2008
It’s Monday. The holidays are over. And for most of us, the next three-day weekend is four months away. That was reason enough to have a good, old-fashioned belly laugh. All the better that it’s at the expense of lawyers!

Lawyer running behind? Help is on the way.

Posted on January 25, 2008
Photo courtesy of Stuff on My Cat. (The caption, unfortunately, is my own fault.)

Lunch at your desk without getting pestered

Posted on January 24, 2008
A Legality member recently discovered how to deter her lawyers and coworkers from bothering her when she’s lunching at her desk. Few law offices — even the biggies like mine — offer a quiet, comfortable place to eat a brown-bag lunch...

Reduce bloated PDFs with ease.

Posted on January 22, 2008
It’s happened to most of us: We’re handed a large color document and told to scan it and e-mail it. Or we receive large scanned deposition exhibits from a court reporter, and we have to find an efficient way of storing and using them. The problem is especially frustrating when we receive a large scan [...

ECF login = SIGNATURE

Posted on January 15, 2008
I never cease to be amazed at some lawyers’ failure to understand what an ECF login means. A dismayingly significant minority of them — mostly young lawyers who should be better acquainted with new technology than their older colleagues — can’t seem to get their heads around the fact that a lawyer’s ECF login is [...

Last-minute filings can turn into malpractice

Posted on January 09, 2008
As a legal secretary who has been kept late on many occasions and subjected to unreasonable stress on countless others due to lawyers waiting until the last minute to meet a filing deadline, I can’t help feeling a little schadenfreude at Morrison Foerster’s misfortune...

Why lawyers are unhappy

Posted on January 07, 2008
The focus of the current issue of The Complete Lawyer is “No Jerks Allowed!” Among the many good good articles on the subject of jerks, their causes and remedies (including one by Dr. Robert “No Asshole Rule” Sutton) is an especially enlightening piece by mediator Victoria Pynchon...

My new year?s resolution

Posted on January 01, 2008
In 2007, I spent a lot of time getting angry at work. In any law office, incompetence, laziness, and cluelessness abound. After many years in the business, I’m convinced there is no way to escape this. There are only degrees of it, and my current firm has less than most...

The holiday gift follies

Posted on December 21, 2007
Over at Legality, we’ve been comparing notes on what everyone got for Christmas from their lawyers. Our membership includes legal secretaries and paralegals from across the country and from just about every firm size and practice area, and it turns out holiday generosity is just one more way in which every lawyer has his own ...

7 steps to becoming an e-mail pro

Posted on December 21, 2007
E-mail is perhaps the most-used means of communication in today’s law firms. It’s the only contact some people ever have with us. Yet too many people — legal staff included — don’t seem to take e-mail seriously as a communication medium...

The joys of collection and poetic justice

Posted on December 14, 2007
Over at Legality, we’ve been talking about how legal secretaries dislike being turned into bill collectors and having to call clients about past due invoices. In my last job before I went into legal (I was 23), I had to call and dun people who hadn’t paid their parents’ nursing home bills...

A holiday tale, plus some grousing

Posted on December 07, 2007
As I get into the holiday spirit, my thoughts turn to that odd intersection of life: Christmas and my law firm, and all the different types of holiday observations I’ve seen in nearly 16 years. My first holiday decision of this year was whether to attend the firm’s party...

Legal spelling dictionary for MS Word is in the works

Posted on December 03, 2007
A new reader writes: I just started reading your blog, and I wanted to thank you for all the useful information. I am a lawyer, but the firm I work in is very small, and so I am my own legal secretary as well, and the information you provide is very helpful...

Better shield yourself, Mr. Expert Witness

Posted on November 21, 2007
Mr. Expert, I know you think you’re really smart. Perhaps you are rather brilliant in your particular area of expertise. But let me tell you: Your superior intellect is not all-encompassing. You don’t include a table of contents with any of your reports, you clever thing, because of the boundless inconvenience it will cause adverse counsel as [...