I graduated from college in March, I’m a paralegal. Started out at an employment law firm that seemed great on paper, had good reviews, and experienced attorneys.
Within a couple months, I realized I wasn’t at all being trained to do any paralegal work. I was being trained to be a receptionist for their large class action. Taking 200+ phone calls a day and reading a script over and over. The only other thing I did was make binders and print cases for attorneys.
I already knew I didn’t like it there, but I really loved the team and figured I’d stick out for a bit longer. Then our paralegal manager told us she was leaving and invited us all out to a goodbye dinner.
At the dinner, she told us all we should find new jobs. Offered reference letters, and was just overall extremely helpful and convincing. There was 7 paralegals when I started, and 2 within a month of me leaving. The one attorney who was ever in the office and interacted with paralegals played 100 questions when I gave my notice and when I wouldn’t answer most of them, told me I’d never find a better law firm to work for and that I wouldn’t do the work I went to college for…
I’ve been at my new firm for about a month and a half now. I make $2.25 more an hour (more than I asked for), have a company laptop ($1000), can WFH 3 days a week, they pay for my health insurance ($700/month), pay for us to park in the parking garage, 80 hours vacation and 40 hours PTO to start and they EXPECT you to use all of it, I have a company credit card for any expenses related to work, they buy us lunch every Friday, we go out for happy hours randomly, they take us to events in the area (festivals, parades, baseball games), and they provide an attorney for any personal real estate closings. Also enjoying that I get paid overtime based on hours worked in one day, not total cumulative hours at the end of the week.
And the best part? I’m doing EVERYTHING I learned how to do in school.
And as I typically feel happens in law firms, I’m not overworked at all. I usually have to do rounds and ask attorneys for more work once I’ve finished a task. I couldn’t be happier. Fuck employment law.
There are better companies out there! Don’t give up!