#paralegal

I've been a paralegal for almost 5 years. I work in a small town for a sole practitioner attorney who practices criminal and family law. She's also certified to handle capital defense cases. (Capital cases are cases in which the death penalty may be sought.) I enjoy a lot of the work that I get to do, but there have been some pretty harsh reality checks since I embarked on this career journey.

Reality Check No. 1: Even as a Paralegal you will end up doing secretarial work, but just how much depends on your office set up.

I expected to be able to go into the office and spend my day (mostly) tucked away in a little office or cubicle space drafting documents, doing legal research, and handling trial prep tasks while the secretary handled most of the people-related tasks like scheduling and taking messages. While this may be the case in larger firms, this is not the day-to-day reality for me. I don't work in a big firm in a city, and my boss is the only other staff member in the office. That means that I'm actually secretary, paralegal, accounts specialist, and office manager all rolled into one.

Most days, I actually spend about 80% of my time doing secretary tasks AND dealing with current and potential clients and only about 20% focusing on actual paralegal work that I went to school to be trained to do. As an introvert, the day-to-day dealing with all the people is exhausting, especially when I wasn't expecting such an uneven ratio in the work I chose. While there are some blessedly quiet days in which I get to sit at my desk and just focus on trial prep, evidence review, or document drafting, there aren't nearly enough of them to balance out.

Reality Check No. 2: You can't just turn it off at the end of the day.

I originally chose to become a paralegal instead of an attorney because I wanted to be able to leave the work at the office at the end of the day. I wanted a better work-life balance than attorneys are able to maintain. While I do have a better work-life balance than my boss, I still end up bringing the job home with me sometimes. I think about the people dealing with domestic violence that come through our office for divorces and Orders of Protection. I think about every single child that my boss has had to recommend placement in foster care. I think about the clients that come through on repeat DUI charges because they just can't stop drinking. I think about them, and I worry about them while I'm actively at home trying to leave the day behind. I also can't unsee some of the crime scene photos I've seen from particularly violent murders.

Being a paralegal also means that when people find out what I do, they suddenly want to come to me with every legal problem they have, whether my boss represents them or not. Online, at the grocery store, at any public place...somebody always wants to ask for *free* legal advice. Or, they want me to hook them up with free legal representation because they feel entitled because they know me.

Reality Check No. 3: You DO help people, for better or worse.

One of the reasons I chose to become a paralegal is because I wanted to be able to help people. I wanted to be able to walk people through legal processes in a way that attorneys often forget how to do after so many years of experience. Everybody deserves to be informed of what the steps to resolving their case are in language that they can actually understand.

I DO help people by explaining processes and drafting things for their cases. I help families by drafting adoption documents and documents that prohibit one parent from using a child against the other parent in custody cases. I help people in abusive relationships by drafting divorce documents and informing them how to get Orders of Protection.

However, on the flip side...I also draft motions that exclude criminal histories and motions that exclude evidence, which helps people that have been charged with things like first-degree murder get less severe sentences if convicted. Sometimes we succeed, and then they get out and repeat the same criminal activities. And let me tell you, trying to find a way to continue to see the good in people after repeatedly seeing crime scene photos and reading autopsy reports in which people have been killed in such unnecessarily violent ways becomes emotionally exhausting.

I am really enjoying working as a criminal law paralegal so far! I spend my mornings finishing up some tasks in a cafe. It sets my mornings off on such a bright note. I review my to-do list, make plans, fill in my work log, etc. I'll read over some cases and make notes. Then I'll head to the office. I've been ordering the iced caramel latte from this cafe. It's a classic but they make it so well. I might try their matcha soon. Their little caramel glaze ice cream cake was delicious as well!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Kayystudyblr. My name is Krystal and I’m the person behind this blog.

I started this blog to be a space for myself where I can post and talk about things that I enjoy, like anime, reading, writing, etc. But everything that I reblogged fell under the category of a “study blog” as well as journaling and planning. So I made the decision to make this tumblr into a study blog. I’m currently not in school, however, I do work in the legal field as a paralegal and I know with everything I’ll be learn, I can share it on here.

Speaking of the legal field, while I work as a paralegal, I’ll also be studying for the LSAT. I never thought I would say this but I’m considering law school. I probably won’t apply until I’m 32 or 33 years old (currently 27). So I have a lot of time to study, prepare, and feel confident enough to take the test.

In short this account will contain a mix of anime content, book content, life as a paralegal content, and studying for the lsat content. With other type of content as well, like writing, photography, art, and films (I’m a big movie buff). I want to showcase all the things that bring me joy and make up who I am, which is a mix of creative and logical. I hope you all follow along my journey and choose to stick around. Who knows, maybe along the way we’ll end up having some fun!

Women in Law Sweatshirt; the PERFECT female lawyer gift for the new law school grad.