Turnover

We are a small firm. Three attorneys, two legal assistants and myself. Recently, one of our legal assistants left the firm. She is really a paralegal. She is a certified paralegal. She took the course and received a certificate. She also did an independent study program to become an attorney, although she failed the bar exam. When she took the job with our firm, the position was advertised as "paralegal/legal assistant." The reality of her position was that of a legal secretary -- a very high functioning legal secretary with a lot of responsibility. Her job entailed some paralegal duties such as discovery. She even wrote a motion once. Most of the time, however, she was doing secretarial work such as calendaring, coordinating, word processing. The reality of the job was a terrible disappointment to her. She felt demeaned being in that role. She worked hard to become a paralegal and that meant a lot to her. In her prior job, she had her own office, business cards, and her own assistant. Here, she was sitting at a secretarial bay with no privacy, no business cards, and no respect. No one was surprised when she gave notice.

Since there was no response to the want-ad we posted, the attorneys have decided to postpone hiring another secretary, much to the chagrin of the remaining secretary. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.