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Title: Paralegal Career For Dummies (For Dummies (Career/Education))
ISBN: 0471799564
Author:
Scott, J.D. Hatch
Lisa, M.A. Hatch
Publicate Date: 2006-07-31
Publish: 2006-07-31
List Price: $24.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $13.37
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $13.33
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.49
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| Customer Review: |
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1: I would recommend against paralegal as a career
I gave this book one star, not because I read the book but because I used to be a paralegal and came across this book when ordering books online in preparation for my career change.
I would strongly recommend against any profession in the legal arena unless you want to become an atty. Working for attys is unpleasant to say the least. The hostile environment of a law firm is stressful, and I've seen a few legal secretaries go out on stress leave. Many attys are hard to please no matter what you do, and sometimes it can be hard to hold onto a job, not because of your work performance but because many attys will find something to criticize no matter how well you do your job. There's more than one way to do a certain task. You chose one way, and he criticizes you for not doing it the other way. If you ask him which way he'd like it done, he's angry that you bothered him. Most paralegals/legal secretaries will get fired once or twice in their careers. Again, it has nothing to do with poor job performance. I was fired once in 8 years that I worked in this field. In those 8 years, I worked at 4 firms and temped at 3. Only one of those firms had a decent environment. None of them, however, gave yearly raises that kept up with the going rate despite my great employee reviews.
Demand is usually there, not because the number of available jobs is increasing but because more and more paralegals and legal secretaries are fed up and leaving the field. I live in a large metropolitan area. I know of at least two community colleges in my area who discontinued their legal secretary programs because not enough people enrolled to keep it open. The word must be getting out - stay away from this field.
And as far as pay goes, it's not that great. It's dead end because there's no ladder of success to climb. If you are young and single, it might be a good way to generate some work experience, but as you get older and want to advance your life, it's not a good choice. If you're an ambitious person who wants a career with promotion opportunities, this isn't for you. If you are an independent thinker and a natural leader, this definitely isn't for you.
Another thing, I can't emphasize the attorney maltreatment of staff enough. If you are single and middle-aged, i.e., no husband with a good job to fall back on and too old to go back home with the parents, that gives the firm leverage against you. They see you as someone less likely to quit, and they might stick you with the more undesirable jobs (difficult atty), and your raises might not be that great. If you're a single mom (like me), that can give the firm yet more leverage. They would expect a single mom to be someone who most needs a job and most willing to put up with the most crap to keep it. My last employer was shocked when I walked in and told them I was leaving. Unlike most people my age (believe me, I'm older than dirt), I moved back home with my kid.
Yelling, slamming doors, things slammed down on desks are normal occurrences in law offices. If you stick aroung long enough, you will see an atty throw a notebook at a staff member and maybe even see physical confrontation (it happened at my firm once, but i missed it because I just happened to leave early that day for an interview at another firm!). Best case scenario - you will be spoken to condescendingly every now and then, and you won't get too much overtime. That's another thing. They don't respect you and think the world revolves around them. So get used to an atty putting projects that take 3 hours to complete on your desk after 4pm and telling you he wants it complete and on his desk before you leave that evening.
One more thing about pay-The only way to maintain a decent salary is to change jobs every 3 years or so. Year-end raises might meet cost of living, but it's very rare for them to stay with the going rate. Newly hired paralegals and Legal secs get brought on board at the going rate; so they usually make more than those with seniority, believe it or not. This is another way the firm uses its leverage with its employees. They know that most people don't like change and would rather keep the same job - it's scary to start over elsewhere. So the firms know that a paltry raise usually isn't enough to send a lot of its employees packing; so why should it pay good wages when they get the same quality employees for less??
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2: Fast read, packed with information!
I originally purchased this book for my friend, who was considering pursuing a paralegal certificate to help with a career change. Before giving it to him, I managed to read this book in its entirety. With only my brief academic background in law (Business Law I&II, and Law of the Workplace) I found this book to be an enjoyable, easy read, and full of useful information and insight into the paralegal industry. (Not to mention a CD full of bonus material.)
I also found it intriguing that this book was written by the founders of The Center for Legal Studies, providers of paralegal courses in many of this country's junior colleges. (The same course, as it were, that my friend will be taking in the coming months.) While I don't know how good it will be as preparation for the course, I'm relatively certain that the two have some interrelated elements that may prove useful.
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3: pleasantly helpful
I found this book, and the CD it came with, to be very helpful. I would definitely recommend buying it.
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4: paralegal career for dummies
this is just what I need- very novice at pro se litigation,this is a great help with the basics of law,research and a limited intro to drafting documents
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5: Gotta love the dummies...
I really enjoy the "Dummie's" line, I actually have a collection of them. I think that they are extremely informative and well written. They break down stuff that people might deem as "common" knowledge, but you'd be suprised how ignorant some are on the topics. I will continue to buy their line and look forward to many new and interesting topics to read about.
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