We often hear how much the paralegal profession has changed. True, it has. We have come a long way from when no one knew exactly what we did or what we were capable of doing to, in most law firms and legal departments being an indispensable part of the legal process. This does not come without a cost.
These days, because so many more attorneys are aware of what we can do and how efficiently we can turn out work product we find ourselves completely overworked. However, this is not a bad thing at all. Don’t get me wrong….. I feel your pain. I know how much it hurts to have to put in that insane amount of hours, but think of this. The fact that so many of us are getting buried under a pile spreadsheets and power point presentations and research, medical records, business records, filings, and …. you name it, means that we have the opportunity to open doors to other fellow paralegals.
How about we all bring up the possibility of hiring more paralegals to the hiring manager at our office? No, I don’t mean replace attorneys, but how about you bring up to your boss that by hiring paralegals they are getting more work done and saving money at the same time. What lawyer doesn’t want to hear that? Not just that… how about also letting your employer know that if they hire more paralegals they can bill more hours and have the time find more clients? the amount of time they spend doing paper work can be spent entertaining future clients or going to court or doing all the things they went to law school for. Hiring more paralegals is what is right for the firm and what is right for the economy.
Let your boss know that they can be just what the economy needs. When the paralegal ratio is increased in a law firm the lawyer ratio usually goes up as well because once that happens the managing partners can be rainmakers and bring in more business which causes the law firm to get busier and in turn causes more work for the lawyers and paralegals.
Wow, more paralegals equals a better economy!!!!!!!!!! Just a thought!!!!!!!!
Ana
TheParalegal 