Introduction

I am a paralegal for a small civil litigation firm. I never thought that's what I would end up being when I grow up -- but here I am. I mostly enjoy it. After working for years in law offices as a legal secretary or a word processor on a part-time or temporary basis as I pursued other careers, I never imagined that I would ultimately find myself as a career legal-worker. My experience of attorneys was that they were arrogant boors who thought only about where the next fat settlement check came from.

I started temping at the firm I work at now about six years ago. I came on board to do some organizational and calendaring work for a complex civil litigation case involving exotic dancers. The case was a mess but my cracker-jack organizational skills landed me an offer of full time employment. Seeing as my hubby and I just purchased our first home, I could not rationalize not taking the job. So I accepted the job. It was one of the most pivotal decisions in my life. Funny how those decisions come along. How many decisions are actually pivotal? While we make decisions all the time, the pivotal decisions are actually few and far between. Unless of course, you subscribe to the butterfly theory in which case every decision you make elicits a chain reaction that could easily have been altered had you made a diferent decision. . .

While I had a history of being in law offices, I knew nothing about the law. But I've learned. Boy, have I learned. To be continued. . .