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Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

The Estrin Report

Interesting and timely news, tips and techniques for paralegals, legal assistants, litigation support managers and paralegal educators by the founders of The Paralegal SuperConferences.

Post Frequency: 0.9/day

Last Entry: April 30, 2013 at 19:25:58

The Old Gray Mare - Is She Still What She Used to Be? Ageism and Paralegals

Posted on April 30, 2013
"My supervisor remarked to me on two separate occasions that I may be "too old" for the type of work I was doing. At the time he said this, I had reached the age of 54. The supervisor was 46. A few of weeks after the second ?you?re too old? remark, I was let go - even though my reviews were excellent...

Shoot for the Curb - Everything Else is Gravy

Posted on April 02, 2013
How many times have you set goals only not to achieve them? Come on. You already know in your gut when you set the goal that you probably won?t reach it. Despite clichés such as ?Shoot for the moon? and other psychobabble, you will most likely say to yourself, ?Are you kidding? I?ll commit to xxx but I know it?s a stretch...

Limited-licensing for Paralegals: It's Finally a Reality

Posted on March 13, 2013
Licensing paralegals has been talked about for years. And years. And years. It?s been pushed back as long as I can remember. One objection is that paralegals do not practice law and therefore do not need licensing. They are supervised by attorneys and it is the attorney?s license on the line...

Paralegal Jobs Are Vanishing According to New AP Analysis

Posted on February 05, 2013
Bad, Bad News for Paralegals Paralegal jobs are vanishing according to a recent analysis. In fact, out of the top disappearing jobs, paralegal is in the top 7 positions. For years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that the paralegal position was one of the fastest growing fields...

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Weight! Weight! Are you sabotaging your career?

Posted on January 15, 2013
Have you ever considered that those extra pounds that sneaked up when you were just ?having an extra bite? might be holding your career back? Some years ago when I worked for a major Los Angeles law firm, the Director of Administration asked me to lunch...

Our Ms. Manners Reaches Out Over Wine, Wisdom and Wacky Traditions

Posted on December 05, 2012
Our guest blogger today is Stacey Wagner When I was eleven years old, the flu collided with Christmas dinner and forever dampened my enthusiasm for holiday food. So, every year I sit back with a glass of wine and watch the mayhem unfold as my multigenerational and multicultural family of cooks and foodies barter and (mostly) good-naturedly bicker over which foods will take center stage on our holiday table...

When Bad Things Happen to Good Legal Professionals

Posted on November 12, 2012
The story of Cinderella is familiar to most of us. Nice girl, horrible living conditions, probably violation of child-labor laws, happy ending. When we are children, we believe this story and for some of us, it sets our expectations for the future. And then, real life happens...

That's Not My Job

Posted on October 30, 2012
Our guest blogger today is Ninowtzka Mier. ?My boss? secretary looked up and said the words that may have well been nails scratching a chalk board. ?That?s not my job.? I'm sure it has happened to most of us, at one point or another, during our professional lives...

Managing Effective Relationships with Vendors and the RFP Process

Posted on October 09, 2012
Our guest blogger today is Joe Kanka. Recently, I had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer as part of the Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) Paralegal Management Certification Program. As a former paralegal, I always welcome opportunities to speak with today?s paralegals about how they can enhance their management skills...

We're number one...well, almost....

Posted on September 14, 2012
I received an email today from Charles Sipe http://www.paralegal411.org/. According to paralegal411.org and the sophisticated metrics they use, The Estrin Report is ranked number two (in the world? in the country? on the Internet?) in the Top 25 paralegal blogs...

When to Say "No" to Your Dream Job

Posted on August 27, 2012
Then, I get THE CALL and not on my cell, either. The offer is coming down. YES!! I order up the snowmobile. I hop on Realtor.com and find out that for the price of a garage in L.A., I can have a mansion on a lake with my own personal boat dock. I realize I'll need floaties...

A Shoutout to Paralegals Who Plan.....and Plan.....and Plan

Posted on August 24, 2012
Today, we're hearing from Jamie Collins, our guest blogger, who is causing quite a stir with her blog, The Paralegal Society. She's opinionated, funny, informative and on point. Jamie speaks from the heart of a paralegal who has weathered the Bates Stamping Wars...

Is there tension between paralegal lifers and future lawyers?

Posted on August 15, 2012
It is well known that pressure to produce billable hours increases the temptation to keep hours or income up by overworking files, overstating the amount of work actually performed, or failing to complete work in the most efficient manner. Paralegals have created a hierarchy and paralegals without much education don?t tend to get too far...

Tough Negotiating for Tough Times

Posted on August 08, 2012
If you?ve ever read the lists for Top Ten Stressors, losing your job or looking for a new one is right up there with life altering events. After finding that dream job, you hold your breath hoping the right amount of money is offered. That little stressor is guaranteed to give you hives, insomnia or worse, little crow?s feet right around your perfectly smooth eye-area...

5 Ways Corporate Paralegals Add Value to GCs

Posted on July 20, 2012
Our guest blogger today is Joe Kanka: Five Ways Corporate Paralegals Add Value to GCs The recent article by Shannon Green in Corporate Counsel on Creating a Curriculum for a School for GCs was a very interesting read even with it being fictitious in nature...

When do you reveal you're going to law school?

Posted on July 18, 2012
A paralegal posted a common question to one of the LinkedIn groups: ?Am I absolutely out of my mind trying to find paralegal work, with no experience yet, only certification, and entering law school in the fall? Not exactly the ideal situation for a lot of hiring companies, apparently...

A Stress Free Career? Are You Living in Dreamland????

Posted on July 11, 2012
Stress doesn't really scare me. It is part and parcel of our lives. Why, might you ask, would anyone say that? Probably because in the second half of my work life, I have found the secrets to a relatively stress free career. Article after article has been written about stress...

A Plan to Develop Your Successful Career

Posted on June 29, 2012
If you're reading this now, you're probably thinking that I have a magic bullet for you - one that will propel you to paralegal stardom. I'm sorry. I don't happen to have that. What I do have, however, is 20+ years of experience witnessing success stories...

The eDiscovery Salary Survey - Why You Should Take It!

Posted on June 29, 2012
The Organization of Legal Professionals is conducting an important eDiscovery Salary Survey that will show you where you are in relationship to others on salary issues. If you are a paralegal and in any way, deal with eDiscovery, you need to take 3 minutes to do this survey...

Holy, Moly! Paralegals are Running for Office

Posted on June 07, 2012
This week's paralegal blog from the Minnesota School of Business had an interesting post about paralegals running for office in 2012. Talk about expanding your career options! Here are some of the candidates running campaigns. I assume that paralegals have an excellent foundation to run for certain offices: Dealing with difficult attorneys, working overtime, tons of documents everywhere, sitting in meetings that go on and on and on, decision making via group decisions, and in this market, slashed budgets and few resources...

The Win-Win Meeting - How You Can Make a Difference

Posted on June 02, 2012
"Planning ahead an learning to manage meeting show stoppers plays a huge part in the success or failure of a meeting."

Change Your Game Plan - Change the Odds of Your Success

Posted on June 01, 2012
It always amazes me that people plan for everything else that is important in their lives: children, buying a house, retirement, vacation but when it comes to planning their career ? the very thing that supports those decisions - it?s a roll of the dice.

Are you a "Certified Paralegal"? Maybe not.

Posted on May 29, 2012
I'm on my soapbox today with a pet peeve. I noticed that some paralegals are putting "ABA Certified Paralegal" on their resumes, social media or announcing it to friends and employers. Here's a suggestion: Stop now while you still can! Save yourself some embarrassment or even keep yourself from getting rejected from a job! The ABA does not offer certification...

In Search of the Rest of Your Career

Posted on May 17, 2012
Now that I think about it, I?ve never seen a legal professional get energized about a job in order to put more profit in a partner?s pocket. However, when I suggest a change to an organization where a legal professional makes real difference, faces light up.

15 Ways to Leave Your Lawyer ...And Set Yourself Free

Posted on April 27, 2012
Last Impressions Last impressions are as important as first and doubly important in the paralegal field where ?everyone knows your name.? People talk, and when they?re talking about you, it?s important that the conversation remains positive. Ensure that today?s co-workers become tomorrow?s dependable references and contacts...

Warning: Shift Ahead - Are You Ready?

Posted on April 25, 2012
A paralegal wrote in with this question: Is it worth it for a paralegal to sit for the eDiscovery Certification Exam? Of course, I jumped right on this question! As Chairperson of the Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP) and a co-founder of the International Paralegal Management Association, author of 10 books on legal careers and Editor-in-Chief of KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals (ok, ok...

What??? Consider a Career with a Legal Support Provider?

Posted on April 23, 2012
While some law firm professionals believe that taking a position with a vendor is ?going over to the dark side,? careers with legal service providers can be fun and lucrative. If you are through with the billable hour monkey on your back, here?s a whole other avenue you can take and still stay in the legal field.

Participating in Salary Surveys Can Lead to Big Surprises

Posted on April 09, 2012
Here's what's lacking in this market: Reliable salary surveys that the average law firm employee can get their hands on. Sure, there are lots of surveys out there but they are either a) an informal survey that isn't entirely accurate; b) available only for top executives; c) done by an association without the psychometrics, analytics and other precision tools that make a survey accurate or d) so pricey that once purchased and read by the Executive Director, it's read once then stashed away in a plain brown envelope and hidden in the firm's vault...

Would you give your Facebook password to a prospective employer?

Posted on March 24, 2012
Years ago, employers would ask women what kind of birth control they used. (I remember being asked during an interview with Pacific Bell telephone when I was 18 years old.) The feeling was that if the candidate used none or used something that wasn't consistent, they would get pregnant and leave the job...

You Coulda Fooled Me.....

Posted on March 23, 2012
I read what I thought would be a same old, same old topic today in Paralegal Society but it didn't turn out that way. The guest post, by Stacey Wagner, was about business casual but the piece actually gave me a poke in the old gray matter evoking this lesson: Some years ago, I did some consulting work for the Marine base at Ft...

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