I work as a legal assistant for the public defender. At first I thought things were looking great but eventually it went downhill.
1) one of the attorneys I assist is beyond lazy and doesn’t try connecting with clients. I don’t know if it’s because of the seniority but even then he needs to try or retire. All client calls go directly to me because the attorney never ever answers the client calls. 90% of these calls are clients that want to discuss their case or have legal questions that I can’t answer. He then would leave messages with lowkey legal advice for me to pass on to clients. By lowkey legal advice I mean messages that have information about possible plea offer, or answer to legal questions. He’s constantly at the jail doing visits but is sending emails with updates that the jail staff can’t bring the client to the visiting room so he is “waiting.” Then client calls and is asking for a visit and attorney would be like “I’ll ask for to see them.” Update later “short jail staff can’t bring them to visiting room.” The attorney would save time and all this hassle of not being able to meet with clients if he just answers their calls when they call the office. I’ve run out excuses to say when the client is like “he’s never in office or available” when I lowkey agree. I’ve felt so concerned when someone kept calling with questions about their Judgment and Sentence and the attorney never ever got back to them. Oh and I unfortunately can’t make appointments for him because he does it himself. I’m just so done… I literally come off as the attorney because I talk to these people more.
2) We are short staffed in our reception area that everyone else need to be backup receptionist. Typically our reception area has 2 people who back each other up for breaks and time off. Right now we only have 1 person. Everyone else has to rotate per week covering the receptionist’s break. I’ve never worked in reception. I’ve always been behind the scenes as a paralegal. My supervisor should know per my resume. When I cover the receptionist break, I get overwhelmed with multiple calls coming at once that I sometimes can’t get to them all. I let those calls to Voicemail oh well. The receptionist is already a b*tch and she has told me I could never be a receptionist and gets annoyed for the voicemails. Yeah I could never be a receptionist and there’s a reason why I have another position more fitting. I never signed up to be backup receptionist. This sucks for the people in my position when it comes to time off because we have to consider a 5th person. And if the receptionist takes time off, 1 of us gets pulled to cover for the whole day. Supervisor is not putting so much effort in finding front desk people and everyone in the office knows that.
Just ranting about this makes my blood boil because things could improve and be easier but they just aren’t and I have to deal with it. I can’t say anything to supervisor because I feel like there’s a lack of help. I’ve learned this the hard way when I asked for help and was told no and met with excuses. (I asked for help with calls when everyone was out sick). I have debt to pay and can’t afford to quit. I keep looking around for other jobs but the pay is less than what I make. I’m praying for a miracle at this point.