Experience in a law firm
Experience, experience, experience.
Those were the words that were drilled into me from day one in the paralegal program at Mt. SAC. Well, that and "Write, review, review again, review once more, finalize, then review again." (Thanks, McKee.) Up until approximately April of 2017, I had never had an office job. To be fair, I didn't have much experience with customer service either, only working at J.crew in the past. I had other jobs, but they were mainly the average kid jobs (babysitting, dog sitting, mowing the lawns for neighbors, etc.) and a few manual labor jobs through either the county or the city. In other words, I had diddly squat for helpful experience for a career in law.
I was extremely fortunate, I thought I wasn't going to get a good internship at all throughout my undergraduate years because I just didn't want to work at a self help center that is local to us. Not that there is anything wrong with working for said self help center, but to be honest, they focused on family law and that is an area of law I do NOT, under any circumstances, want to get into. In my humble opinion, it's a very sticky area of law that is so heavily influenced by such strong emotion, that I feel it would drain me, emotionally and mentally, very quickly. So for my own sanity, I opted out.
Then my friend was telling me how she had the perfect place for me to intern at. At first, I was skeptical. Personal injury was not an interest of mine, as Criminal law has always been my main focus, but I really needed the experience. So I put my pride aside, and agreed to call. (Side note: I have not regretted it for a moment!)
When I interviewed, it was completely clear I was over dressed. The attorney I would be working under was in jeans and a business casual top, while I was in a black dress and a black blazer that I wore for my law school interview. In other words, I was extremely over dressed. They had me start in two weeks for 3 times a week (so, basically when I didn't have school). For the first few weeks, I dressed extremely professional, as I was told to do in the program (Pro tip: don't take as long as I did to dress how everyone else dressed.) and eventually, I ended up starting to wear more jeans, still with blazers and dress blouses. Then it turned into nice tank tops with kimonos, blazers, and the occasional dress blouse. Eventually, I accidentally let my tattoo show, which if you've ever been in a school in a professional program is completely unacceptable. My head paralegal saw it and she commented something along the lines of "Amazing work." And I had no clue what she was talking about since I had just gotten there that day and hadn't had time to do anything yet.
So in return to the compliment, my bewildered state could only think of saying, "On what?" And then she commented on the tattoo. Of course, I apologized profusely. I was expecting to be chewed out for my tattoo and when I realized I wasn't, I was extremely relieved.
It was within these first few months that I began realizing I actually really enjoyed the work related to PI. I loved doing discovery. As in, I would ask what discovery my boss needed me to do because I enjoyed doing it so much. I loved writing objections, I loved figuring out the medical terminology, I just loved doing discovery. And so that became my niche for the first month or so, then my boss had me start filling out judicial forms, calling clients (which to this day still freaks me out a little, I'm not exactly the best speaker over the phone. Give me an email, give me face-to-face, but talking over the phone when I can't see their facial expressions gives me the heebie jeebies, so I still avoid the phones). Then came the compliments, or as my boss calls them, nerd-gasms.
It pains my heart to think of leaving my employment now, as I get ready for law school. The first year is supposed to be the toughest of them all, so I won't be working there as often as I am now. But I did get the okay to work if I have extra time throughout my studies. I absolutely love my boss, her kid, and the other workers in the office. Never have I worked with a group of people that were as tight as this group. They would talk about the mundane things in life on a regular basis. As my boss put it today, "It's one thing to find people who can do the work, it's another thing to find someone you connect with."
I truly, from the bottom of my heart, owe my friend for introducing me to these people, in her indirect way.
Those were the words that were drilled into me from day one in the paralegal program at Mt. SAC. Well, that and "Write, review, review again, review once more, finalize, then review again." (Thanks, McKee.) Up until approximately April of 2017, I had never had an office job. To be fair, I didn't have much experience with customer service either, only working at J.crew in the past. I had other jobs, but they were mainly the average kid jobs (babysitting, dog sitting, mowing the lawns for neighbors, etc.) and a few manual labor jobs through either the county or the city. In other words, I had diddly squat for helpful experience for a career in law.
I was extremely fortunate, I thought I wasn't going to get a good internship at all throughout my undergraduate years because I just didn't want to work at a self help center that is local to us. Not that there is anything wrong with working for said self help center, but to be honest, they focused on family law and that is an area of law I do NOT, under any circumstances, want to get into. In my humble opinion, it's a very sticky area of law that is so heavily influenced by such strong emotion, that I feel it would drain me, emotionally and mentally, very quickly. So for my own sanity, I opted out.
Then my friend was telling me how she had the perfect place for me to intern at. At first, I was skeptical. Personal injury was not an interest of mine, as Criminal law has always been my main focus, but I really needed the experience. So I put my pride aside, and agreed to call. (Side note: I have not regretted it for a moment!)
When I interviewed, it was completely clear I was over dressed. The attorney I would be working under was in jeans and a business casual top, while I was in a black dress and a black blazer that I wore for my law school interview. In other words, I was extremely over dressed. They had me start in two weeks for 3 times a week (so, basically when I didn't have school). For the first few weeks, I dressed extremely professional, as I was told to do in the program (Pro tip: don't take as long as I did to dress how everyone else dressed.) and eventually, I ended up starting to wear more jeans, still with blazers and dress blouses. Then it turned into nice tank tops with kimonos, blazers, and the occasional dress blouse. Eventually, I accidentally let my tattoo show, which if you've ever been in a school in a professional program is completely unacceptable. My head paralegal saw it and she commented something along the lines of "Amazing work." And I had no clue what she was talking about since I had just gotten there that day and hadn't had time to do anything yet.
So in return to the compliment, my bewildered state could only think of saying, "On what?" And then she commented on the tattoo. Of course, I apologized profusely. I was expecting to be chewed out for my tattoo and when I realized I wasn't, I was extremely relieved.
It was within these first few months that I began realizing I actually really enjoyed the work related to PI. I loved doing discovery. As in, I would ask what discovery my boss needed me to do because I enjoyed doing it so much. I loved writing objections, I loved figuring out the medical terminology, I just loved doing discovery. And so that became my niche for the first month or so, then my boss had me start filling out judicial forms, calling clients (which to this day still freaks me out a little, I'm not exactly the best speaker over the phone. Give me an email, give me face-to-face, but talking over the phone when I can't see their facial expressions gives me the heebie jeebies, so I still avoid the phones). Then came the compliments, or as my boss calls them, nerd-gasms.
It pains my heart to think of leaving my employment now, as I get ready for law school. The first year is supposed to be the toughest of them all, so I won't be working there as often as I am now. But I did get the okay to work if I have extra time throughout my studies. I absolutely love my boss, her kid, and the other workers in the office. Never have I worked with a group of people that were as tight as this group. They would talk about the mundane things in life on a regular basis. As my boss put it today, "It's one thing to find people who can do the work, it's another thing to find someone you connect with."
I truly, from the bottom of my heart, owe my friend for introducing me to these people, in her indirect way.
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