Related Posts
How’s everyone holding up?
Ok be honest, candidates. I really love this set of questions, I’ve been considering shifting my current interview style to these questions - I think they really give you an idea of who this person would be within the work setting. But the questions almost feel too deep for a recruiter to ask. What would you think if a recruiter took a different path and asked these questions instead of the usual ones?
https://blog.shrm.org/blog/9-interesting-interview-questions-that-actually-reveal-a-lot-about-candidat
Additional Posts in Law
How can we do better to remember this?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Pro
Sounds like a silly thing for the attorney to get so upset about. They should’ve told you what program to use if they felt that strongly about it. Don’t let it rattle your cage. Cry it out and start fresh tomorrow.
Thanks alot. Tomorrow will be a fresh start!
Former para here! I am sure you are many wonderful things, but one thing you are not is a mind reader. If an attorney has a preference, then it needs to be stated. Make a note of this for next time, and move on. Sorry you had to deal with this!
Thank you so much! It really helps. Much much appreciated
It’s not your job to make the attorney happy. It’s your job to meet your billable hour requirements and you can’t do that if your redoing work because the attorney didn’t tell you that what he required was outside the norm of what you reasonably expected to deliver. He needs to let you know if there are any deviations that you need to be aware of going forward. Protect yourself from this attorney.
Lol
Don't feel bad. I worked for a law firm where a female partner reduced a 6 feet 200 pound male associate attorney to tears. He quit and became a detective.
She was my boss too, but I never cried. I just argued back at her when she got too demanding.
Rising Star
This sounds like a “throwing you under the bus” scenario. The attorney is ultimately responsible for all filings, and failed to supervise you properly. You are new so that’s more the reason to supervise you closely. You can’t be blamed for what you didn’t know.
I would not suck it up and keep my head down but state your position clearly and look for another job if you sense they’re all ganging up against you.
I just wanted to chime in about WHY the attorney may have preferred you work in their preferred case management system (as I am a business immigration attorney). Since the information that populates the form flows from the information in the case management system, the issue is that the attorney is likely worried that the data about this particular client is not in Law Logix - where they track expirations, clients, run reports, etc. So the issue isn't so much about the actual forms and how you prepared them, but more that you are not using the system that they use to track their clients. Maybe they should have delivered the message to you better, or explained this, but that's my take! Try not to sweat it and just moving forward be sure to utilize their preferred case management system. It is odd that the firm uses both systems - seems like this could be problematic (for the reason above). I could be wrong, of course, but I just wanted to add my perspective since that would be MY personal concern and issue in the above scenario. Also, as someone who used to work in a toxic firm myself, just remember two things: (1) this firm is not that firm; and (2) it is just a job. Be kind to yourself. The job of an immigration paralegal can be tough. Good ones are like gold. Remember your worth. If you can figure out what the attorney wants and deliver, you will be their biggest asset - and they will absolutely LOVE you and go to bat for you time and time again.
Thank you so much! Much much appreciated!
As other people said, try not to let it get you down. I came from a difficult working situation outside of law and I carried it with me. I eventually had a breakdown because of work and a whole host of personal stuff. The good news is that my fellow paralegals were having tough times too and our firm is working to fix it because we grew faster than we had time to support everyone.
The best thing I can tell you is to anticipate what your attorneys need as best as you can and remember what they tell you or take notes if you need to. Our job is to work under attorneys, but we are often responsible for managing the process or task at hand. If it continues, advocate for yourself and say please show me how to do this so that I can support you better.
A good paralegal that has knowledge, experience, and training doesn’t just happen. I brought lots of experience from my previous work and I have a lot of education, and paralegal training to boot. I’ve had to tell management at my firm that we shouldn’t be spending our whole entire day just giving daily updates on cases as they come in. I’d love to, but we have a lot of other duties to attend to, not to mention clients to help manage.
Attorneys might have a legal degree…but they don’t know everything or how to manage everything. That’s where we come in. If your attorney can’t take the time to teach you, then they don’t deserve you and you need to get out of that situation. You can only grow with time, training, and experience.
Yikes! I’m so sorry. If the attorney won’t respond or help you, then it’s not a good fit. All of my attorneys are open to answering questions. Even if they seem silly. The only other thing I can suggest until you land something else is to find a copy of the petitions or forms you haven’t done in other client files for your attorney that have already been completed to use as your sample. If you’re working with relatively common forms for your practice, that’s the best way to learn. Alternatively, you can look for a textbook geared towards paralegals for your practice to see if that petition is covered.
Wow I am reported to the Supervisor on this issue yesterday. Today I have completed one month with this law firm and I already reported to the Supervisor.
For a week, everything was fine. By "fine," I mean that I’m not including the status updates the attorney requested every Monday and Friday. On Friday evening, I provided updates, and then on Monday morning, I would provide more updates about, I don’t know, maybe my weekend. Today, she told me to cease work on the remaining two cases. I feel like I’m heading towards being fired, and I was a complete mess today. You know that gut-wrenching feeling you get after seeing an email like that? I feel like I should have done better. I really don’t want to lose my job—or at least not until I find a new one.
If anyone has advice or support on how to navigate this situation, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!