Is Paralegal a good way to explore career in Law ?

[Anonymous]

I am asking for a young woman friend who is sitting on the fence about going to law school.

[Anonymous]

Yes. It was for me. I got to experience first hand that while loved the work, the work-life balance (or lack thereof) was not for me.

Still a great way to learn excellent research skills that I use in my current non-law job. And the pay was rather good for a bachelor degree grad.

[Anonymous]

That is probably the only reason to work as a paralegal. They are pretty useless.

[Anonymous]

Maybe. I know people who did that and hated being a paralegal but loved being a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

No - it gives zero sense of what law school is like, and if you happen to be a corporate paralegal but want to become a litigator, it'll give zero sense of what that's like and will never see the inside of a courtroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is probably the only reason to work as a paralegal. They are pretty useless.

Said no lawyer ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No - it gives zero sense of what law school is like, and if you happen to be a corporate paralegal but want to become a litigator, it'll give zero sense of what that's like and will never see the inside of a courtroom.

This is true.

Something to consider. Paralegals make most of their money in big law doing overtime, trials, etc. The pay is kind of shit otherwise. So a corporate law paralegal is going to make significantly less than a litigation paralegal.

[Anonymous]

Paralegals do all the work. It’s awful.

[Anonymous]

No and it's a horrible job.

[Anonymous]

I worked as a securities litigation paralegal at a big Silicon Valley law firm out of college to see if I wanted to go to law school. I was there for about 4 years. I decided I did not want to pursue law as the lifestyle is terrible, but it was a great job at the time. I got to travel. Made a ton of money. Worked a ton. Felt like a was part of a team. Moved to nyc with the firm for a few years. Learned how a bunch of partners were jerks and others really valued my contributions. This was during the dotcom bust so I’m sure a lot has changed since then, but it was great to see what big firm life was like. So I think the type of law firm matters.

[Anonymous]

I definitely think it’s a good way to see what law firm life is like. And it gives about as much of a taste of what life is like as an actual lawyer (in a law firm) as possible before actually becoming one. Many of the paralegals at my firm do it before law school, though a few did it and then decided not to go to law school, which was worth finding out before spending three years and lots of money

[Anonymous]

I worked as a litigation paralegal and it was very eye opening. Paralegals are very useful but paid way less than lawyers obviously. I often had to train new associates on certain tasks.

I realized I did not want law school due to the billing, crazy hours, lack of job security, and no mentors who looked like me. When I decided, several lawyers there confidentially told me they wished they had made different career decisions.

[Anonymous]

Definitely, though I'd suggest thinking more broadly than working at a law firm, unless they have a pretty good idea that that's the kind of legal work they'd want to pursue. There are lots of other kinds of jobs that would provide contacts and insight into legal work - all levels of government, advocacy organizations, big companies that have in-house counsel, etc. I had a paralegal-type job at a trade association before law school and it was a great way to see the day-to-day work of their lawyers and gain a whole community of colleagues who could talk about law school and legal careers.

[Anonymous]

Could those of you who were paralegals and decided not to go to law school share what you ended up doing professionally? Asking for a biglaw litigation paralegal who also doesn’t want to go to law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could those of you who were paralegals and decided not to go to law school share what you ended up doing professionally? Asking for a biglaw litigation paralegal who also doesn’t want to go to law school.

Librarian. It is the best.