I am in my first year at university and I work as a paralegal. Everyone in my firm says they want them to become paralegals before law school and that will help me a lot. They also say they regret not taking a year or two off between undergraduate and law school. By the way, I don`t feel like going to law school, but personally, I feel like these 2 lawyers I work with are much better because they have been paralegals before and have an understanding of how my work differs from theirs. I wish more lawyers were paralegals first! Day together. I graduated as a legal assistant associate in 2019 (in my state, legal assistant and paralegal are the same thing). I got a job in a small labor firm while I was going to school, and I`ve been working there for 3 years now. Immediately after graduating with my partner, I was transferred to a university to get my bachelor`s degree so I could study law. I`m about to get my bachelor`s degree in May, and that`s how I feel.
burnt. From. I hate what I studied (public relations) and I`m really thinking about settling down and getting a full-time job as a paralegal. Sorry for the super long post. What do you think? For those of you who have been working as paralegals for many years or plan to do so until retirement, would you say that you are satisfied with your choice? LSAT is just a test. What is your GPA? If you want to become a lawyer, take it back and study more. Law schools don`t exactly collect apps these days. If you really want to do it, you will find a school. It is better to be the boss than the employee. I have been working as a paralegal for 4 years, the whole time I went to university to get my paralegal associate degree and bachelor`s degree.
I`ve always wanted to study law, but after doing a lot of introspection after graduating last year, I realized I didn`t want to work my life. I like being able to turn off my computer and not worry about work for the rest of the day. I like being able to send the client`s emails to my lawyer to take care of, and that there is no responsibility for me if I make a mistake. I live in the Midwest, so the cost of living isn`t very high, and I`m dating a plumber (and planning to marry him). In other words, I believe I can live comfortably on what I can earn as a paralegal + the income of my Bfs. But part of me is afraid that I will give up the «dream» of being a lawyer because it`s so much fucking work, and I`m afraid that in 20 years I will look back on that time in my life and regret not having taken the extra years of torture to become a lawyer. I just don`t think I`m passionate enough for the law to go through all of this. I love being a paralegal, and I`m a good lawyer too.
I like to transcribe dictations instead of doing briefings from my own brain. But I graduated from college with a GPA of 3.9, and I feel like I`m wasting my potential by not continuing my education. Anyway, I`m just looking to see if anyone else had a similar thought process to me and ended up happy and satisfied as a paralegal. For lawyers who have not worked as paralegals, I would still like to hear your opinion on this subject! That`s where I`m at right now. I am completing an articling as a paralegal and will have my certificate this semester. Education and work experience forced me to study law. I also spent a lot of volunteer time organizing advocacy committees for protesters who greeted me in courtrooms and working with lawyers last year during the mass arrests of 2020. All I could think: «If only I were a lawyer now… Meanwhile.
Yes, but initially had a paralegal .gov appearance for years. But I dealt exclusively with a high-profile issue of civil rights. 500k x3 Hardcopy Discovery Docs was my domain and ran our war room with 3 other paratroopers. Good times, learned to read very accurately and quickly. And my federal game of discovery has become strong. Defend, of course. Yes, it helped me a lot because I was able to add some real-life context to the material we learned in law school, as I had seen (some) in practice. Also, it was very useful for legal writing/bluebooking. But it is 1000 times more useful to be a lawyer in a law firm, as others have said. Finally, when it comes to debt, depending on where you want to work, you can always go to a lower law school that offers a better scholarship. That`s what I did. I didn`t need a top-notch school for the kind of work I wanted.
So I went with the school that offered me the most money. It really reduced the loans. I think I would classify as a paralegal (I don`t have any papers other than my bachelor`s degree in finance), but I work with one. I can safely say that paralegals work all the time. It`s rewarding and challenging work, and depending on who you work for, it can pay well. Also, I had SUPER impostor syndrome on anyone who received paralegal advice before law school. I started law school in 2011, so people back then weren`t as competent and willing to go on sabbaticals. But to me, everyone had practical legal experience or worked in their father`s law firm and I was at a great disadvantage. In my experience, it depends on the type of legislation you pass. I know immigration paralegals who work really crazy hours, but other paralegals who work in trusts and estates, never work overtime and have a great work-life balance! I am a business assistant and 2 partners I support were both paralegals for a few years before law school.
Currently, I am a senior at UCSD who plans to take a gap year before applying to law school, and some mentors have advised me on the benefits of a paralegal certification during this time. I`m not limited by the cost of certification, but I`m worried about whether I should do more legal internships in the meantime. Old person here: If you are a high flyer and dream of law school, go to law school. If you`re older, chances are you`re looking back on those dreams. If you now think you`ll regret not leaving, chances are you`ll regret it in the future. (My soul is screaming at you now as I try to figure out if it`s worth going to law school starting at 50+.) It all sounds cliché, I know, but seriously. If you decide to study law, my only advice is to be sure of your decision! I worked as a civil procedure paralegal before studying law in private practice and moved to a federal agency to continue working as a paralegal while attending law school at night.