Category Archives: Legal Personalities

Be Careful What You Hate

For Valentine’s Day, everyone is talking about love.  I am not much of a “me too” writer, so today’s post is about hate.  I am a believer that the line between love and hate is fine.  They are both very passionate emotions, which is why we must be careful what we hate. I am referring…

Paralegal Career Moment – A Pleading for Matlock

We have moments in our careers that we will remember forever; some for good reasons, some for bad. I had one of those “paralegal career moments” early on when I drafted a pleading for Matlock. Here is a little back story for my more youthful readers.  Bobby Lee Cook is a famous criminal defense attorney…

Proud To Be A Crusader

One of my dearest, longtime friends recently called me a crusader.  My immediate mental image was of a knight on horseback waving a flag.  When I asked her why she called me that she said it was because I like to talk about ideas.  This is absolutely true, but I was not sure it qualified…

Emotional Stages of a Document Review

Document reviews have changed drastically since I became a paralegal in 1992. E-discovery is now its own industry and the market place is full of document review technology products that did not exist only a few years ago.  Even though we have moved from paper to PDF,  I have found something that remains the same…

Are You An ABA-Certified Paralegal?

No.  You are not an ABA-Certified Paralegal. Even if you graduated from an ABA-approved paralegal program and have “ABA-Certified Paralegal” plastered all over your resume and LinkedIn Profile, you are in fact NOT an ABA-Certified Paralegal because there is no such thing. If you follow me on Twitter, you have heard me express my frustration…

So You Want To Be The Perfect Paralegal?

I have been thinking about my career goals.  I would like to be the perfect paralegal, wouldn’t you?  Hmmm, what would make me the perfect paralegal? For starters, I would like to always know what the attorney wants; never make a mistake; only work on big cases; know how to do everything possible; and never get emotional…

If Santa Claus Were A Lawyer…

Ever wondered what kind of lawyer Santa would be?  I think he would make a terrific attorney.  The type a freelance paralegal like myself loves to work with.  Here are a few reasons why… Santa enjoys his work. The best attorneys I work with have found a niche they are passionate about and they love…

Becoming A Freelance Paralegal: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Considering becoming a freelance paralegal? You should take a serious look at your motives, personality, experience, and finances, just for starters.  I am going to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly on being a freelance paralegal versus being a law-firm-employed paralegal. I prefer bad news first, so here goes… • You will…

Top 7 Things Turkeys and Attorneys Have in Common

#7. They are both odd birds. Turkeys have some strange body parts: snoods, spurs, caruncles, gizzards, beards,  and wattles; not your average tweetie bird.  Attorneys tend to use strange language, words normal people never use such as: aforementioned, hereinafter, pursuant to,  estoppel, laches, voir dire  certiorari, habeas corpus, prima facie, inter alia, and  mens rea. #6….