I am just the paralegal. Nevertheless, I seem to have quite a bit of responsibility and my attorneys rely on me. I don't have a problem with that. In fact, that is what contributes to my job satisfaction, i.e., having my narcissistic need to be needed satisfied. What is problematic, however, is finding my place in the firm. I have no idea how it is at other firms having no other paralegal experience, but in my firm I am really in some solo strata of the firm hierarchy.
Obviously, I am not an attorney. (Although I am highly educated. My boss used to brag about me when introducing me to colleagues. "This is our paralegal. She has a master's degree. . .")
I am also not a legal secretary. The legal secretaries in our firm have always been extraordinary professionals who knew things I never knew about legal work. But I was not one of them. I was not responsible for the day to scheduling, filing, preparing, calendaring, etc. I never had my own secretary like paralegals in the big defense firms so that relationship was never established. I always generated my own work product with help only in a pinch. I always feel awkward asking for secretarial assistance even though there are times when I could really use it.
This is sometimes a problem for me. I have no compadre, no cohort, no real peer in my workplace so I am left to negotiate the hierarchical dynamics on my own.
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