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By: Lindsay Valek
Greetings, TPS readers! Welcome back to the paralegal playground. Today, Lindsay is stepping up onto the TPS stage to share what could accurately be described as a “vivid” opinion piece regarding the educating of paralegals. (For those of you who follow Lindsay’s candid column, you probably aren’t the slightest bit surprised!) Peruse the article, see what she has to say, then scroll on down to that lonely comment section to share your thoughts. Yes, you! Now take a sip of that fabulous beverage sitting desk-side, and keep reading.
I’ve hemmed and hawed here at Guts & Glory for over a year now. If you’re an avid reader, you know my style: I’m raw, honest and real. I put pen to paper knowing that I will undoubtedly annoy the dickens out of someone. I draw inspiration from personal experience, gossip whispered on street corners between vendors, and an ever present ear in the break rooms of law firms far and wide. I am listening to you – all of you – all the time. To protect my job (and my life), names remain hidden to protect the innocent. But make no mistake, I do play favorites. I’ve jumped up and down, screamed, degraded and likely abused nearly every facet of law firm politics, except this one: paralegal school.
A few months ago I was riding the elevator when a sweet young thing from accounting announced she was considering obtaining her paralegal certification. I politely encouraged her, but couldn’t resist the temptation to ask why. Her response was one I hear all too often: “I really enjoy writing…” Other words followed, but I didn’t hear them. I smiled, recalled a fond memory of my own paralegal school days and got off at my floor.
I should have hit the emergency button, slammed her against the wall and asked her if she had lost her mind.
This conversation haunts me.
I often think about people just beginning their paralegal education and the future employers who blindly accept that the curriculum is up to par with the responsibilities that will soon be placed upon the hapless soul who doesn’t know any better.
My own paralegal education consisted of torts, business law, ethics, a very lame introductory 101 course, legal research and writing. Virtually every mind-numbing class I sat through was a complete and utter waste of time. The only two exceptions, a class on ethics and another on research, were both taught by a pit-bull attorney of small stature yet enormous wrath who frightened the hell out of me every Monday and Wednesday night. She was my constant terror, yet the one professor who taught me skills I actually use in paralegal-land.
So what do the paralegal-wannabes need to know?
For starters, the structure of the state court system. Where do cases begin? What’s the difference between Common Pleas and General Sessions and, perhaps most important, who the hell is a clerk of court, what do they do and how do you turn his or her staff into a paralegal’s best friend? For the love of God, please tell them how to find the judicial department website. Make sure they know that they can access forms, contacts, and the circuit court judge assignments from one central location. Better yet, just make sure they know that the website exists.
Teach them how to check rosters, which will govern these bright-eyed pupils’ lives from now to eternity. They should know what they are, why they’re important, and how to check them properly. Translation: When a case is set on the Edgefield County motions roster for a Tuesday at 10:45 and the attorney doesn’t show up because the roster was never checked or calendared, your paralegal student will likely lose his or her job (and possibly their life depending on their boss). Save them, fair instructors. Save them!
Make sure your students know that a career in paralegal-land does not translate into endless swan dives into case law or the construction of highly analytical legal arguments. That is not their job. It has never been their job. It will never be their job. Their job is to format the attorney’s argument, correct any spelling and grammatical errors, attach a signature, convert it to PDF and file it electronically.
In regards to federal court, I fully support the notion that an entire course should be centered on federal court filings and PACER. Any experienced paralegal can attest that the federal filing system seems to change on the hour, every hour. One day you file a motion to substitute counsel under “Motions.” Do it that way the next day and you’ll get error message requiring that it be filed as a “consent motion for substitution.” They’re toying with us, I tell you. Toying! Newbies need to know what a docket report is, the concept of redacting Social Security and account numbers (but leave the last four!) and how to file documents under seal.
Can we discuss captioning for a moment? I realize that the world is going to hell in a handbag with all of our twittering, emoticon-ing and texting. It’s no wonder our children can’t write in cursive when cover letters are received asking “Y dnt U cal me ltr 2 set up a view.” Hell, these people can’t write a coherent sentence, let alone be asked to caption a legal pleading or discovery accurately. I’ve seen a shift in captioning in recent years and it’s not pretty. Paralegals are getting lazy. Instead of two distinct headers, it is increasingly common to see just one, and you can forget expecting margins to be justified, captions to be centered or the line break under the county to be underlined. Pitiful, just pitiful.
Which brings me full circle to writing. People go to law school to learn how to craft a deep, insightful legal argument. Proper grammar, spelling and the use of the comma and semicolon are essential skills any good paralegal must have. Know the difference.
It would also be helpful to educate students on some of the more widely used agencies and resources. I recently met a young paralegal who didn’t know what the South Carolina Secretary of State does — and she worked for a litigation firm. How is that possible? Trust me when I tell you I consumed an entire bottle of red wine attempting to figure it out. I got nothing.
Want more? How about teaching a basic grasp of logistical planning (yes, hotels do indeed require credit card authorization forms), CLE management, the standard folders one would expect to see in an expando, the creation of a pleadings index, the importance of sealed deposition transcripts, when to cc opposing counsel, and what to take to court. Why these seemingly critical subjects are not broached in an introductory course is beyond me. I’ve even gone so far as to write the program coordinator offering to speak for free one night, but to no avail. Perhaps it’s a cruel twist of fate these attorneys are instilling – teaching future paralegals which causes of action are applicable under certain circumstances – something which they will never, ever do.
I am mystified at this phenomenon and shamed that my education was lacking in so many ways. Six months into this warped sense of reality I should have demanded my money back, but I was working 70 hours a week indexing documents and preparing deposition designations.
Newbies beware – your fantasy of playing Erin Brokovich is bull. Paralegal professors – do the world some justice and integrate practical paralegal skills into your curriculum. And on the off chance you don’t know what those are, I’m available to speak anytime, anywhere. You know where to find me.
Lindsay Valek is a litigation support specialist and paralegal in Columbia, South Carolina. She can be reached at lindsayvalek@hotmail.com
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Vivid? We think so! After reading that, we’re pretty sure you’re clear on Lindsay’s opinion! We’d like to hear your opinion, too. Share it, if you dare.
Experienced paralegals – it would also be helpful if you could list out any additional things you think would be helpful for the newbies to learn/know or extra tips and resources! Let’s help ’em to make their way around that first bend in the twisty road.
Make it an absolutely brilliant work week, paralegals. BRILLIANT! (Just like the advice you’re about to go leave in the comments section…)
The Paralegal Society™ 
Without a doubt, Lindsay knows how to get to the heart of a matter and doesn’t waste time or words in releasing her opinions! Lindsay, you hit the proverbial nail on the head with your observations. Of course, when I was back in paralegal school a long, long time ago, there was no such thing as electronic filing. I had no idea the schools were not keeping up with the times.
Thanks for sharing such a important piece. Experienced paralegals – let’s hear from you on the other issues that need to be a focus during school.
If anyone should feel inclined to share an “opinion” piece regarding paralegal education after reading today’s post, feel free to send your ramblings my way: jamietheparalegal@yahoo.com. We’d love to hear from educators, attorneys, experienced paralegals, and newbies, alike. If we like your post, we may run it in a future post!
As for Lindsay’s sage advice, I particularly liked this paragraph:
“Make sure your students know that a career in paralegal-land does not translate into endless swan dives into case law or the construction of highly analytical legal arguments. That is not their job. It has never been their job. It will never be their job. Their job is to format the attorney’s argument, correct any spelling and grammatical errors, attach a signature, convert it to PDF and file it electronically.”
(Now back to me…)
Amen, sister Lindsay.
I have never understood why so much time is spent learning how to analyze case law or doing other tasks that are typically performed by the attorney, yet, a major understanding of the “written word” does not seem to be the #1 (Yes, I said it — number one) area of focus for aspiring paralegals. It doesn’t matter how hard-working, intelligent, or motivated you are — if you cannot write a properly crafted sentence to save your soul, you will likely not do well in paralegal land. Attorneys want paralegals who own (and dominate) the English language. Often, paralegals are better writers than their attorneys.
I would also like to add an additional tip/resource to help all of the newbies out there:
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are available ONLINE via a Google search FOR FREE. Yes, free. Pull them up and study them. Ask someone in your corner of the legal world if the trial rules in your state are closely patterned off of the federal rules (If you are in Indiana — they are). If so, they will be extremely helpful. Pay particular attention to rules 3, 4, 7-16, 32, 33, 34, 35…and 36 is really important. Are they boring to read? You betcha. But they are important.
Here is the link:
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
http://www.federalrulesofcivilprocedure.com/rules/
Wishing you all a fabulous day in the land of legal! 🙂
Let’s not overlook continuing legal education. As CEO of Paralegal Knowledge Institute, I can tell you that employers do not pay you for how many years you have in the field, they pay you for what you know.
PKI offers topics where employers leave off such as Litigation Support, Paralegal Management, Legal Project Management, Cost Controls, International eDiscovery, eDiscovery, Real Estate, Securities and more.
Even if your state does not have mandatory requirements, if you want to succeed in this field, you have to keep your knowledge current – and you don’t always get training on the job. You must stay ahead with “just-in-case” training.
As a fairly recent newcomer to the profession, I must say I was very fortunate in my choice of schools (University of Oklahoma Legal Assistant Program). We learned pretty much all the things that Lindsay mentions. Of all the different professors I had, only one was hung up on useless crap we didn’t need and refused to focus on the issues we really needed to know.
One more piece of advice to anyone currently attending paralegal school (or any kind of class, for that matter) – DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS!!! I always had lots of questions for the professor – I figured if I didn’t know the answer, there were other students that didn’t know either.
Wow, what a post! I find myself torn on how to react. For those of you who do not know me, I am in my second semester of my paralegal certification. I am very lucky to be in my current program. I go to College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL and our program is ABA certified. I have no experience with any other paralegal programs, but it sounds like my program is on the right path.
I have no problem with an overview Intro to Paralegal 101 class, and here is my reasoning. I found that many people who took the course decided the program was not for them. Yes,the class was easy. For students who knew for sure what they wanted to do with their education, I can see how the class was a waste of time. However, I had two students in my previous class who are no longer in the program because becoming a paralegal is not what they thought. They found this out by taking that class.
I must also point out that I have aspirations on continuing my education onto law school. Therefore, I do seem to take a different approach to what I am learning. After reading this post though, I think someone needs to stand up for the programs that are doing a good job at teaching students what they need to know.
I have taken three classes and I am currently taking three more. All of my teachers are lawyers, and I have yet to see a problem. One of my favorite classes is my Intro to Legal Research and Writing. The class focuses on writing more than researching, but we do learn how to use Westlaw, LexisNexis, and books from our Legal Library (both official and secondary sources). We have to write many briefs in this class (We have already written three and we are only five weeks into the class), and my instructor is a very tough grader. We focus on proper writing techniques based on ALWD and even learn the differences between legal writing and standard writing by completing a core grammar for lawyers course.
Going forward I will be taking a class on corporate law (my focus), a Microsoft Office course, a Legal Technology course (not required but recommended), an Advanced Legal Research and Writing course, and then my internship. I have been participating in my Paralegal Club, (club of the year last year) which expands my knowledge. We have speakers, with diverse backgrounds and a vast amount of knowledge, who come and talk to us about different topics.
Here is my point. I started this program with zero background in the legal field. My only knowledge was one I obtained while studying criminal justice to become a police officer. After only a few courses, my legal writing has expanded tremendously; I have started to develop a good foundation of knowledge regarding the paralegal profession, including legal terms and vocabulary; and most importantly I am having fun while doing it! In my opinion, there are no perfect educational programs. I find that to develop a strong education, one must put forth more effort than what is required. I always say, as a student, you control your education. You will receive knowledge based on the time and effort you put forth in your courses.
Excellent article!!!! Every word is soooo true! I’m currently taking an “advanced paralegal certificate” course to update my skills after 12 years in the biz and it’s very similar in format to the program I took ages ago – various types of law along with a research class. While it’s great to understand what corporate law is about – what a budding paralegal needs is the knowledge of what a paralegal actually does in that field! Most of what I learned to function in my job was taught ON the job not in the classroom. And yes E-filing in all courts should be a class – it’s 80% of what I do! I can’t help the litigation dept much because I have no idea of what a lit para should be doing. I’d love to see the paralegal classes tackle these things (or even independent online classes). Base knowledge of what corporate law is about is great, but knowing how to assist the attorneys is even better!! Thanks for a great article!
As a recent graduate of a paralegal course, I can relate. The school did have an expert come in and show us how to e-file in state and handed us charts to keep with simple “how-to’s” on them but nobody mentioned that Google Chrome doesn’t work with my state’s system. I learned that I needed to use internet Explorer from my internship. There were several lawyer/teachers that made us use the state judicial website to find everything from finding state marshals for service to finding court rules for every day cases.
Each “semester” (they only lasted 6 weeks each) was dedicated to English skills-from (I kid you not) the School House Rock videos to what a dangling participle is. I can promise you I’d forgotten all about dangling participles in my years since high school and recently took a state test that included quite a bit of higher learning English questions as well as filing methods, also taught by my school.
While classes did center around dissecting cases and writing briefs, I did get the feeling the teachers were teaching that because they believe that a paralegal needs to understand the background in order to understand the entire case. I was at one firm where the paralegals did write motions, so I am sure being able to dissect a case would be helpful. I just wish they’d spent a lot more time on tort law since that seems to be the majority area most attorneys practice. I’d have loved to learn more about discovery vs. disclosure and the basic nuts and bolts of redaction, creating trial notebooks (we created one for our final grade but never received any feedback on its success or failure) and more specific examples of personal injury law to make the dry words “stick”. Our school DID encourage outsiders to come in and give presentations, so that was a positive thing. I cannot imagine why any school would not welcome the opportunity for a fully employed paralegal to come in and give a talk.
BRAVO for saying what needed to be said. I consider myself to be a bright, savvy, and resourceful career woman. I came to the paralegal field later in life (I was in my mid 30s when I started my paralegal program), and was more of a realist than a lot of the fresh young faces in my classes. Many students were dreaming of going to law school and thought of paralegal school as a springboard. Crazy notion, isn’t it?
I agree with the post in that my classes (I did attend an ABA accredited program) were mostly substantive law based/legal theory based and did not cover the things that I needed to know. Luckily, I learn fast and adapt easily, but I had NO IDEA how to e-file anything, or how to draft a subpoena, or even what a pleading binder was! My learning curve was steeper because I was not taught practical skills. With that said, I understand that many things are so specific to the attorney and/or law firm that it is not possible to learn THE way to do those things. However, things like networking, court resources, e-filing systems and the like are not attorney specific and should be mandatory. These things are especially important to those of us who end up in small firms and do not have the advantage of a large firm formal training program.
Just my $0.02 worth…
I agree! I also think a basic introductory class for paralegal schools should be “How to Calendar: The Differences between Court and Calendar Days.” When I started out as a litigation paralegal, my mind was BLOWN by all of the calendaring rules.
Great post, Lindsay! I will echo many comments that most paralegal programs provide substantive legal theory, but lack the practical skills. I would also echo many of you that practical skills can be tough by people who use them on a daily basis – other paralegals. I actually spoke with one of my former professors this morning. She asked me for a recommendation on how to enhance her class. My answer was to create a sort of hands-on program. Do you remember your chemistry class? We had a theory and we had a lab. Paralegal students need a lab: a class where they will learn PACER, Federal Court e-filing system, local filing systems (like, for example, NYC Department of Finance e-filing through ACRIS), etc. May be they don’t need a “lab” to be attached to every class, but still…Let say that, in the morning, they learned about different grounds for divorce and, in afternoon, drafted their first set of divorce pleadings. Or, in the morning, they learned about different types of deeds and accompanied documents and prepared a set of transfer documents the next day. Theory and practical skills should walk together.
Maybe it’s a bit different for me because I’m not working in state court, but as a bankruptcy paralegal, I have indeed drafted all kinds of documents, and done all kinds of legal research and writing… far more, in fact, than most of the attorneys for whom I have worked. In most cases, my motions, complaints, memoranda of law and appellate briefs have won the day and have provided excellent outcomes for not only our own client, but other debtors in my district. Even if my pleadings didn’t totally win the day, the outcomes caused no harm to the clients and at least they got their day in court. In the end, all those legal research and writing skills I perfected in college have come in VERY handy.
I didn’t pursue a certificate or an associates degree. I didn’t bother with the 2+2 and then drop out after 2 years when I found a job. I learned by being thrown into the deep end of the pool and only AFTER I had been a paralegal for about 10 years did I go back to school and get a bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies from an accredited university. I did it mostly because I saw that in spite of my experience, employers were looking for professionally educated paralegals and if I hadn’t done it, I might still be slogging away making far less money and having far less responsibility than I do.
On the ethics front, what I found out I didn’t know when I started school scared the living daylights out of me! But I learned a LOT in the 3 1/2 years I spent doing the daily work of a paralegal and then learning the underlying reasons for it all at night as I pursued my studies! The legal ethics components of each course and the overall legal ethics courses I took taught me things I’d never understood or considered. And they opened my eyes to some things I should have known but didn’t and helped me get out of some tough situations with my reputation fully intact.
After much thinking about attending law school and the cost involved, after considering the stress of sitting for the bar, and and after working with and observing what happens to the attorneys I have worked for, at the age of 51 I have decided that being a paralegal is is as close to being a attorney as I ever want to be. I’ve got my own company. I choose my own attorney clients. And I do good work for their clients. And that’s what I love. My educational achievements and my professional achievements are what have allowed me to have the life I want.
I’ll never go before a judge and argue a case (unless it’s my own) nor do I really want to any more, so for me, this is as good as it gets. I get up every morning happy to be able to contribute to the well being of the law firms and the clients for whom I work. I may not get the glory of hearing the judge grant one of my motions and I may not be mentioned in their written decisions, but if the client and the attorney are happy at the end of the day, I’m happy, too. And I’ve made tons of friends in the system and have worked very hard to develop positive relationships with opposing counsel, court personnel (including the judges and their staffs) and case trustees and they respect me and treat me and our clients well. And they know who writes what comes before them.
Excellent article!!
WOW!!! I haven’t laughed out loud at an article like this EVER! I am a student, learning the paralegal field. I have been hoping to find someone who could “lay the cards on the table” as it were about our trade. Thank you sooo much for your no BS explanation of this craft! I am defiantly going to explore the topics you talked about. Just like you said, they were a complete foreign concept to me! “High Five”!!!!!