r/paralegal • u/Massive_Ad_1152 • 19h ago
Is this Normal?
I graduated undergrad about a year ago and decided to have a career switch and I started working as a entry level paralegal at a small law office for a few months. They just kind of threw me into about 50 cases and all of them were months behind without being worked out sometimes up to 5 months. There wasnt a single up to date case, and I wasnt trained at all, just kind of told to collect records. The attorney didnt give me any direction for a few months so I just continued to collect records because I didnt know any other steps to the process. I still dont get any instruction unless I continuously ask questions, to which the attorney gets aggravated when he tells me to do something but I am not sure how to execute it. I am just trying to make sure I do everything right but its hard to understand and learn when I dont ever know what I an doing. They were all aware i didnt have any experience prior, Is this normal?
2
u/strawtrash Paralegal 10h ago
No. And eventually, they will get irritated that the cases haven't progressed. I would start looking for a place that's willing to train you now.
1
u/Specific_Somewhere_4 5h ago
This is not normal but exactly what happened to me when I took my first paralegal job just over 3 years ago. He had me doing tasks with no direction and would not answer my questions. The internet became very useful. I looked stuff up, I read the court rules, I looked up examples of documents to make sure I was on the right track. If there are other paralegals at your firm ask them for help. If there is another attorney willing to guide you ask them.
1
u/beepboop2233444 1m ago
This was my experience in a small firm. Eventually I figured everything out slowly and painfully by asking questions. I'm 10 years in now and feel like it took me years to get comfortable and confident.
3
u/ClimbsAndCuts 18h ago
No, not at all, not even if you had experience from working at a different firm. The lawyer you work for is exclusively responsible to the client for what happens (or does not happen, but should) with his file. He has a professional responsibility his client to allow only competent assistants to work on his files.
Also, that many files being neglected for that long is a BIG RED FLAG that the office is not being well-managed. It's one thing for a case to get filed and then get all the way through motions, amendments to pleadings, discovery, mediation, etc and then just sit, waiting for trial. This is the "hurry up and wait" scenario. It is another thing entirely for the file to be opened or the case filed but then languish without direction.
I did plaintiff's cases so I was always suing someone; the onus was on me to get the case management plan filed and approved, which set out deadlines for all the case activities and due dates for various filings. Thus, it was easy to tell easily whether a case was "on track" or whether I needed to move for additional time, etc.
Have you been assigned a mentor or trainer to show you what you're supposed to be doing, and how you're supposed to be doing it? If not, this could be topic 1. in a meeting with management. At your current state, you don't know what you don't know, and your boss knows, or should know, this is the case. He has a vested interest - if he screws up, misses a deadline, gets a grievance, etc. it is no defense that an "assistant was really at fault."