Some Good News!!

Visitors to the Indeed paralegal forums take heart; it's not all gloom and doom as most here would have you believe. The Paralegal profession still has room for growth and opportunities for those who are looking for a career, not a 'job', and are willing to work hard to stand out from the rest.

law.lexisnexis.com/communityportal/articles/articles.aspx?g=QfsTyLJ1USs=&c=PwxHBJCs5QM=&a=TWu7qSnDRM8=

I am a paralegal in a major city and I just don't see the paralegal field to be growing and full of opportunity.

There are jobs for paralegals with specific experience, currently bankruptcy, but that is it.

Hey, Janie - nobody said the paralegal/legal secretary was gloom and doom. We've just laid out the basic office atmosphere, categorized personalities, and possible situations in the work place. It is mostly a dead end job because you can get FIRED at any moment for any reason, get replace with someone younger and cheaper; and get demoralized just because. And those are facts.

Carry on.

Mary- are you working as a paralegal? If so and you feel that way about the profession why don't you just find something else? Why didn't you move up to become a lawyer? I think there are people out there who have a passion for working as a paralegal and enjoy what they are doing! Most jobs are taking a hit right now in these tough economic times. WE will get out of it!

Sienna in Gwynn Oak, Maryland said: Mary- are you working as a paralegal? If so and you feel that way about the profession why don't you just find something else? Why didn't you move up to become a lawyer? I think there are people out there who have a passion for working as a paralegal and enjoy what they are doing! Most jobs are taking a hit right now in these tough economic times. WE will get out of it!

HUM- the attorney profession has been over saturated for years, like the past 10.

Sienna in Gwynn Oak, Maryland said: Mary- are you working as a paralegal? If so and you feel that way about the profession why don't you just find something else? Why didn't you move up to become a lawyer? I think there are people out there who have a passion for working as a paralegal and enjoy what they are doing! Most jobs are taking a hit right now in these tough economic times. WE will get out of it!

I left the legal industry because I could no longer stand it. As a former legal secretary, I felt it was a thankless and unrewarding profession to say the least. While I did meet a total of 2 secretaries who liked their jobs, I never did meet a paralegal who enjoyed this line of work. IN LA and Orange counties, it's pretty much dead end. You can't get promoted anywhere. Of course, you can go to school for 7 years and become an atty. It's decent money ONLY when considering that a degree isn't required AND in comparison to secretary jobs in other fields.

I can't go back and change what I've done, but given the chance, I'd get my degree in business while still young. I would still have to take a lowly job, possibly something like an admin asst, but in a corporation with so many different departments, i.e., accounting, marketing, operations, human resources, claims (if you're in the insurance industry) or whatever. Possibilities are endless in some other fields, especially large corporations. I was at a dead end because I chose to become a legal secretary. Working for law firms is a joke. You're always at the bottom of the totem pole. Then there's the atty, and nothing in between, the the exception of an office administrator.

I temp for a corporation now. We have a claims dept. There's a jr claims rep, claims rep, sr claims rep and so on. My point is that, as a legal secretary or paralegal, you are very limited because you can't get promoted anywhere.

And honestly, this economy really has hurt the corporate jobs. But as far as I can tell with the legal industry, it's not any worse. It was bad before the economy deteriorated.

dh in Northern CA, California said:

My point is that, as a legal secretary or paralegal, you are very limited because you can't get promoted anywhere.

And honestly, this economy really has hurt the corporate jobs. But as far as I can tell with the legal industry, it's not any worse.

ONe should already know that the legal field is not a corproate ladder structure. And second, the economy has affected the legal field. Firms have been laying off attorneys and staff. Which means, hiring freeze.