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Some of us probably already had this happened
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Subject Expert
Are all of these in full litigation? If so that is a very heavy case load. About 30 is reasonable for full lit cases.
Keep track of the time that you spend correcting everything for a week to two weeks and then go to your attorney and show them the evidence. You’re not trying to get these people into trouble but you don’t have the time to hand hold and constantly redo assignments.
You can’t be expected to utilize your overflow when your overflow is currently full of holes. It’s a double edged sword - they need assignments to train on so they can become experienced but it shouldn’t be at the sacrifice of the you/clients/attorneys.
Based on what you described, the firm is putting itself at risk by not allowing OT to review less experienced staff’s work.
Coach
I thought my 40-45 cases was bad 😢 it’s not fair and unethical in my eyes to expect you to do multiple peoples’ jobs. I understand that they’re probably hiring the people they can and not the people they want (or don’t want to pay someone with experience) but it’s still not up to you. If you keep track of your time (which I’m assuming you do) it should be easy to show how your OT is justified. Or have the staff do the assignments and give it to the attorneys and say “I’m not allowed to work OT and with my time allotted to my 60-70 cases, I do not have the time to double check the staff’s work”. If they hired them and believed they were competent, then show them they’re not and why your OT is needed.
I have at least 80 cases in various stages (about 60 alone with one attorney). I’m kind of in the same situation, except that I can work overtime but I’d rather have some of my time and life back. There is a junior to me paralegal that I’m directed to utilize to help me with projects but my busiest attorney doesn’t want him to do any of her work so I essentially have no help for her caseload. The cherry on top…I have a 7 day jury trial for another attorney that I am traveling for in October & I’m still wrapping my head around getting all my tasks done.
My goodness, 60-70 cases - why dont they just put you on salary?
Who is the supervisor for the less experienced staff? Seems to me that person needs to be involved in making sure their work meets expectations. Also, those people need to be held accountable for their own work. They should be completing their assignments and sending them directly to the attorney who assigned it. Let the attorneys handle the corrections. After all, it’s the attorneys’ bar licenses on the line. Repeat after me: not my circus, not my monkeys.