Paralegals - Can you tell me a little about the work you do? Is it interesting? How did you get started?

I have been a litigation paralegal for over 10 years now. I have done the gamit. Estate Litigation to Products Liability litigation. It depends on why you want to go into this field? Is this a stepping stone to law school, something to try out before you decide if you want to go to law school. Or is this something that it is going to be a career for you. If it is the latter (career) here is my advice.

Having worked at law firms that had 3 attorneys, to the one I work at now that has 800 attorney's, go for the BIG law firms. There you are going to get paid well, and the treat more of a profession then if you work at a small law firm, you get treated like you are there secretary/paralegal/associate.

At large law firms, like the one I work at, I have my own office, I have traveled all over the US and London. I have a corporate Amex and I share a secretary with some of the other attorney's. Plus the salaries can range from $35,000 (entry level) to $70,000 (experienced) but you still qualify for time and a half, even with a big base salary. So doing just 10 hours a week can jump your yearly salary up to over 100k.

The downside to being a paralegal is, some of the attorney's (no offense to attorney's if they are reading this) can be rather snobby especially in the big firms, and don't fraternize with the support staff much. Plus EVERY attorney is your boss, rather than just having one or two direct reports like in a company structure. Plus attorney's can be very demanding, and since every attorney is your boss, it is hard sometimes to know whose stuff you need to complete first.

I have been a paralegal for 23 years. I have a political science degree and a history degree. I was thinking about law school but had a child instead. I answered ad for a law firm that need help on the field of real estate. It was entry level and it was my 1st summer out of college.

I started out in a small firm working with real estate closings and title abstracting. We respresented a mortgage company. Then (in same firm) moved to civil litigation mostly working with judicial foreclosures. After 10 years I moved to a firm that did that exclusively. After 11 yrs. there I moved to a general practice supporting a title company. I now work with real estate as well as family matters, corporate, probate and some criminal work. I draft my own documents, meet with clients, pay estate bills, perform title searches etc. I find it interesting and never mundane. It's nice to help people (we deal with a lot of elderly people as well). Check out on-line paralegal programs. GOOD LUCK!!!

If you pose this question to 10 different paralegals, it is likely that you will receive 10 completely different answers. I have been a litigation paralegal for more than 10 years and I work in a large firm with over 300 attorneys. My work involves reviewing and summarizing documents that are electronically imaged and stored in a database, and I routinely proofread legal briefs that are drafted by attorneys; I also do legal research and provide assistance during jury trials by electronically presenting evidence to the jury. (Instead of showing jurors evidence on large poster boards, it has become common practice to present evidence on a large screen in the courtroom, I sit at the counsel table and operate a lap top computer that has the trial exhibits stored in it.) The opportunities in the field are endless. As for the salary, the range is 40k to 80k, depending on experience level and geographic location. Check salary.com for on overview of salaries in your city/state. http://www.salary.com/