Legal Secretary-how to get the heck out??

I have been reading through these posts, and I see that many of you guys are as miserable as I am with this profession.

I really really need a career change. I have been bouncing around for the past 6 years (4 jobs total) in the legal field and it doesn't seem to be the right place for me. I got my paralegal certificate years ago, but I have no desire to pursue that field either.

Right now, I am working for a sole practitioner, who basically is a very nice man (which is rare I know!). But his workload is crazy, and his work style is also crazy. He has a pile of papers on his desk that I can't even describe, and he can never keep up with his deadlines. The stress from the workload is just too much. I have no help, so all the copying, filing, typing, answering phones is done by me. And it is A LOT.

My last office was a breeze as far as work went (there were days I did absolutely nothing!), but the managing partner (who I had the pleasure of having to deal directly with) was a horrible, nasty woman. Everyone avoided her like the plague. She was extremely nasty to me one day, and I quit two weeks later after finding this job.

I guess I could try being and admin in another type of office, but I would assume that it would be similar, although I wouldn't have to deal with lawyers anymore which would be AMAZING!

Just needed to vent! Thanks for listening!

Right now, I am working for a sole practitioner, who basically is a very nice man (which is rare I know!). But his workload is crazy, and his work style is also crazy. He has a pile of papers on his desk that I can't even describe, and he can never keep up with his deadlines. The stress from the workload is just too much. I have no help, so all the copying, filing, typing, answering phones is done by me. And it is A LOT.

SUGGESTION: He is busy. Go through his desk. Tell him you are going to do it. Do it once a week. Make sure everything that needs calendared is calendared, what should go in filing is there, etc.; and what needs his attention, put it in a pile (be sure to calendered for followup).

Do not work for free. If more hours are required than the regular work day, talk to him and see if he will pay for those extra hours.

Mary, the problem is he doesn't like anyone to go near his desk and attempt to organize it. It would just make matters worse for me to even try to do that. Believe me, I've considered it. And he's very old school, in that he has a little book that he writes all of his appointments in, and no one could DARE write in that book!

He's not big on overtime, and he is not big on significant raises. He told me last year it is because "he never knows how business is going to be from year to year" and he prefers make up for it on bonuses.

I appreciate the fact that he is a nice man, and chances are, I will never work for someone this nice again. I never do overtime here, and I can wear jeans. Also, I get paid weekly, which is nice, my old job only paid 2 per month.

I wish there was an easy way to organize him but he's going on 70 years old, and he ain't changing now for nobody! LOL

Jen. You open the mail? Get to it FIRST. You have Outlook? Get everything on the Outlook Calendar.

You open the mail, get it in the Outlook Calendar before he even sees it. You know something will need attention or his follow up - put it on the Outlook Calendar.

His desk - when he isn't around, look on it, get what you can on the calendar. If you get hold of his little book, go through it.

Make working documents of all important mail (pre-trial statements, important pleadings, etc. Get them in the filing. Give him a copy.

What I used to do, when I worked for Dale I would "clean his office".

When I worked for Frank (who absolutely hated me).
He was out of the office. I sent him an e-mail asking if I could leave at 4:00. He said yes. Then near 4:00, I sent him an e-mail telling him why I wanted to leave early - because I cleaned his office and I didn't want to be there when he came in and saw it - so it would give him time to cool down. Then I took off running.

Every time I cleaned either Dale or Frank's office - I literally was terrified. But it needed to be done.

When we moved to another floor, Frank had his precious princess (paralegal) Ana help him pack. She packed up everything. I had to unpack. I sent him an e-mail telling him I put a pile of stuff on his sofa for him to look at and decide if he wanted to throw it away (junk). Stuff that needed to go to filing, I just took it.

Working copies are good in case "something disappears." More than once, I have gone to a pleading that was indexed - and it was missing!!!! Somebody took it right out of the pleading. After a few times of that, I made sure to put two copies there, and also keep my working copy.

Would those individuals yell at you the next morning?

No. With Frank, I sent a copy to our HR person - so he could deal with it. Frank didn't say anything. In the two years I worked for him I did a "through" cleaning about four times. Otherwise, I did it "without it being obvious" - if I was in there and saw stuff that needed to "go home", I took it.

Frank did have more than one screaming fit when he accused me of losing documents - and they were on his desk. He didn't apologize - just stopped yelling.

Im looking for something im really good at im good at, typing picking up phones, filing papers and much more im look foward to working with you if needed I really like this job because this is somthing I like doing.

Suzy, you need to look in job section. This forum is not for job searching, and no potential employers will be looking here.

Having read all of this stream, my God, I hear alot of codependent caretaking women. An attorney for heaven sake is a professional. If they don't know how serious deadlines are (malpractice!), why is it our responsibility. It isn't. Plain and simple. That is unethical when they say I want someone to take care of my practice. Wrong! It's their practice. We are the hired help. The assistant, NOT the lawyer. Too many eager beaver secretaries want to be "stars" but the problem is you really must only do your job, and HR should know that too. I could write a book on both lawyers, and eager beaver secretaries. I had a boss once too, whose office was a pigpen. I left him. It is so much more satisfying to see an outbox with some stuff in it, with notes, etc. I will not work for an attorney who will not communicate to me exactly what he wants from me, and he better pay me overtime when it is necessary. Large law firms are better that way. HR stinks at most lawfirms. They don't have a clue how impossible it is to please some who are old school, idiots, control freaks, anal.....blah blah. I know many who pad their timesheets too. In some ways that's not for me to judge, but you can when they say "dictate, and revise revise revise". Come on, what's the point with 10 revisions of anything. If they are that unsure of what they are saying, they are unsure period. I would not want to pay a lawyer for revision after revision after revision. Oh, again, I could write a book. I know lawyers who are conscientious and fair and pleasant and reasonable, and I know many more who are none of those things, and I leave a 35 year history at a few large and a few small firms, and overall the good ones are few and far between. HR has consistently been inept in my entire legal career because the attorneys have the final word on everything. You get an unreasonable attorney, HR will back them 99% of the time. Because they like their salary, their status, their offices.

Amen, Sister. When I was a court reporter I became envious of the legal assistants, going to the same place every day, vacations, medical insurance, free soda. I didn't get a teaching job. Now I am practicing about two hours a day (should be more) so I can go back to court reporting. In a sense, it is something I am looking forward to - the flexibility of the day and week and transcribing at home - and no boss.

The bottom line is ALL ATTORNEYS are nasty, egotistical jerks. They feel a law degree buys them the right to treat others like second-hand citizens. When in fact, most attorneys are imbeciles when it comes to common sense.
I have absolutely zero respect for most lawyers.
Especially these corporate lawyers - who spend hours in the office billing over $500 per hour on meaningless conference calls!

True that.

I like the remarks that Fired in Minnesota made about HR. Never forget that the people in HR are not your friends. HR works for the firm, which means they are there to take the attorneys' side over the staff, no matter what. Reporting misbehavior to HR is utterly pointless. Best to keep a clear journal and make a file of any wrongdoing that you catch attorneys at, then report them to the State Bar and the Labor Commissioner or Dept. of Labor in your state.

"Fired" is right about the good firms being few and far between. The decent firms have staff that will never leave because they know what's out there.

I recently interviewed with a small firm. The guy said he wanted to hire me and wanted to know when could I start. I was enrolled in a week long "Career Strategies" workshop at a local university. The workshop was 8 hours a day for a week, included a textbook, and handouts for a whopping cost of $25. You can imagine the response they received. We were told on the first day that they'd selected 45 applicants from more than 200 applications.

I told the attorney that I could begin on Monday of the next week. He whined to me about how they really were "in a bind," and "Is there possible way that you could start on Wednesday?" I said that I would. Since I am a RESPONSIBLE person, when I got home from the interview I immediately sent an email to the workshop coordinator to let her know that she could contact sommeone from the waiting list to take my place at the seminar since I'd found a job.

Well, I never heard from Mr. "in a bind" and gave up my place at an excellent and cost affordable seminar. I am really glad that they changed their minds because I do not take the blame for missed deadlines and the like. The least DUMBO could have done was to call me, have a secretary call me, or send an email saying that they'd reconsidered. The workshop coordinator continued to send me the homework online so I was able to benefit from the workshop but what an unnecessary hassle. To make myself feel better, I reported their ad as a "scam" to the employment site.