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Being an attorney in private practice is a stressful career. Some of that stress will undoubtedly be passed down to those under them. I agree with the poster above that researching a position in government might be another option. Generally less stress but also lower pay. I'm an accountant not an attorney but I've worked at small firms where I just didn't fit in due to personality conflicts and it was a nightmare. Coming home stressed and physically exhausted every day is no way to live. If you've had nothing but bad experiences with attorneys in the past, I would not pursue a career in law.
I actually worked in a small law office for a government entity. I know that atorneys are very intelligent and law school can be very intense. However, I basically was responsible for drafting contracts in my office as a legal secretary. My attorney who I worked under would give conflicting advice and after I would draft contracts, I would point out something to him and he would say well I need to change it to this. I would do that and then it would be wrong. I felt like I was in a hard spot bc I was questioning an attorney, but at the same time if the work was done wrong they are going to shift it to me. That was extremely hard for me.
I am an attorney and know a lot of other attorneys. Some of them are absolutely great people and some are absolutely great managers; some are not. There is as much variety in the personalities and managerial capabilities of attorneys as any other field, at least as far as I can tell. It sounds like the attorney you worked for was a bad manager. I don't know the situation, but is there a reason you attribute that to s/he being an attorney? I don't know how much experience you had as a client - you mentioned child custody, which is a very contentious process.
Maybe you should try to meet some other attorneys to see if it really is attorneys generally you don't like. A lot of people don't like attorneys as a general matter but report liking many of the individual ones they actually know. The profession is one that has a bad reputation earned by some poor examples of it. We aren't all that way.
As previous posters have indicated being an attorney is high-stress. However, all attorney positions are not equally stressful, and I assume the same would be for the paralegals supporting those roles. For example , attorneys specializing in estate planning may be a better fit than a litigator. Also, one element of working at a firm can be billable hours. When I was in private practice paralegals got billed out to clients as well as attorneys. That can be a source of stress depending on a billing attorney. You may want to consider working for a company's legal department where you would likely be salary or possibly hourly, but not subject to billable hours.
Thanks Crow girl. Very informative. As I mentioned before I did work in a government office and I was drafting government contracts and then have the attorney review them. I think because I questioned his work is why things did not go so well, but it turned out that I was right about a lot of stuff. I was scared to finalize any of my drafts because I would catch where he put in wrong provision numbers etc. When other staff would question him, he would make it like it was my fault when he was the one who wrote in the information. It was hell. It go so bad that all the drafts I did, I would keep them after he approved, so he could not turn around and say he did not look over my work. I LOVED my work, but the environment was crappy,
All attorneys are not alike. I don't think you can base a decision on the actions of one person or one job experience. It sounds like the guy you worked for was careless. Most people would appreciate errors being caught before a final document is submitted. CrowGirl gave you some very good advice so I won't duplicate it.
Someone else mentioned, law school as an option but as I understand it, the market isn't great for attorneys right now unless you go to a good school and are at or near the top of your class. If you have to take on a lot of debt to graduate from law school, I wouldn't do it.
Can you find another job in the legal field and see if you like it better before committing to paralegal school?
No, because the other lawyers want them to come to the table with the certificate plus 10 years experience already.
Not always or she could get a job as a legal admin. Some legal admins do work that is similar to what a paralegal does and if she gets her foot in the door, she may be able to move to a paralegal position once she graduates. She's got an associates degree which in my experience is the minimum needed.
I have am very interested in the law and think that the Paralegal path might be one I would like to pursue. The problem is that I have never really gotten along very well with lawyers. I am an ISFJ and am very agreeable, but when pushed have a tendency to speak my mind (in a professional way) and this rubs people the wrong way. My last job I had was in the legal field as a secretary and I was stressed almost everyday. Not because of deadlines but because of the attorney I worked for giving conflicting information or information that was downright wrong. Since I had not experience I was not very sure what was going on. I do enjoy learning about laws and if nothing else will learn something new. I only have an Associates of Arts and am considering getting a certificate in Paralegal studies, but I am not sure if this would benefit me since I have such little experience. I honestly don't mind starting out as a file clerk but am a bit nervous because I have had poor experiences with attorneys. Not just working for them, but dealing with them in child custody and other matters. (although I did win) I want to be entirely realistic about my situation because if attorneys just have certain quirks then I will just have to get used to it. I have read on this forum how some people say the attorneys mistreat them and I really don't want that type of environment, but at the same time want to learn about that law.
Yeah. It's going to be tough being a paralegal who doesn't like attorneys.
The legal field is overcrowded, not just for attorneys, but for paralegals, legal secretaries, etc....it's highly competitive due to the over-saturation of people pursuing a legal career.
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