Change

In just a few weeks, I will be starting a new position in a new city.  I have accepted a position as a health care fraud paralegal for the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Alabama.  Health care fraud is a problem that plagues our nation and the work I will be doing will be one small step towards recovering funds the government paid for fraudulent claims.  I am really excited for this opportunity and equally excited to make a new home in the south.

A Good Assistant Follows Each Case

Two attorneys at my office sat down to meet and discuss how we would respond to some recent correspondence.  It wasn't long before they buzzed me asking me to join them.  They didn't have the context to the correspondence they were reviewing and weren't up to speed on recent court filings in the case.  It took me only a couple of minutes to catch them up.  A good assistant can be worth their weight in gold.

Look deeper

Legal professionals (and probably many other professionals) need to pause and look deeper.  Rarely that which is on the surface reflects the truth below.

Integrity and Attorneys Seem an Unlikely Pair

Lawyers have a bad reputation for being arrogant, confrontational, unscrupulous, and contentious, just to name a few.  They get that bad reputation because as in any stereotype some attorneys fit that description quite well.  The good news is they are not all like that.

I work for a law firm whose core values include honesty and integrity.  We will fight for our clients' rights while making sure we don't lose sight of working towards an outcome that will be fair to all parties, focus on the children's best interests, and however possible, be the least destructive to important relationships.

When I see examples of honesty and integrity in the attorneys I work with, it reminds me that I am right where I am supposed to be.

Transitions

An attorney leaving the firm, especially a very small firm like ours, brings a lot of uncertainty.  How many clients will leave with the attorney?  Who will take on the caseload of the remaining clients?  How will support staff be affected?  How do I reassure and support my legal assistants in this transition?  How many hours will I have to work a week to keep up?

Change can be difficult as most of us are individuals that prefer the routine and the known.  Change can also lead to growth, show us what we are made of, and give us confidence.  So buckle your seat belt, hang on, and let's enjoy the ride.  I choose to embrace the change.

Don't throw your employees under the bus

I was on the phone with my doctor this week and she was very quick to blame her lack of response on her nurses and stated that she would be dealing with that.

As supervisors, it is our job to train, guide, and supervise our employees.  Any mistakes they make are also our mistakes.  Our employees still need to take responsibility for their work but that is a conversation we have only with them, not shared with the outside world or as a way to shift blame.

The Successful Legal Assistant/Paralegal

The more I grow into my job and the more I work with legal assistants we hire, the more I have realized that the important qualities to be successful in such a position are not measurable and can't be determined in a brief interview.

A successful Legal Assistant/Paralegal must:

1. Think beyond the task given to him/her and question what appears to be inconsistent
2. Anticipate what is to come (I love the days my boss asks for things I have already prepared and are sitting on my desk waiting for him.)
3. Not ask a question that could be answered by looking it up - I hate when I watch a legal assistant bother an attorney about where a file might be before they even look in the file cabinet.
4. Have the ability to switch tasks as ever constantly changing priorities shift - a linear approach to tasks rarely works in a law office.

When did work stop being work?

As I sat at my desk Thursday evening after most had left and looked at the time realizing I was well into my overtime for the week already, I asked myself, when did I stop minding the over time?  When did these long days become so short?

I hope having a new attorney on board won't take away from me the fun and interesting things I do.  Oh the cool projects I had this past week....

TaxCalc14 Seminar

With so many seminars, you learn some great stuff but then when you get back to the office you aren't able to immediately apply that information and so you forget what you learned.

This was not the case with the TaxCalc14 Seminar I attended this week, which was hosted by the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin and presented by Grant Zielinski of Divorce Financial Solutions and Attorney Dan Cross of Perterson, Berk & Cross, S.C.  In the just the first two days back in the office, I spent hours using the tools provided and demonstrated at this seminar.  It was by far the best training I have ever attended.

Before attending this seminar the extent of my experience with Divorce Financial Solutions TaxCalc14 spreadsheets was only with child support and maintenance calculations.  This week I made good use of their QDRO Estimate tool (to figure out tax consequences of distributions from a retirement account received through a QDRO), property division worksheet, and Wage Stub Calculator in addition to figuring maintenance and child support.

For any attorney (or support staff) not already using these tools, I encourage you to check them out and the best part is that they can be downloaded for free from Divorce Financial Solutions's website.

Days are numbered

The support and kind words from my colleagues are a double edge sword as they make me realize just how much they appreciate the work I do and make me remember that my days with them are numbered. I will really miss them and am really sad to have to leave but can only look forward to where my life will bring me next.

My colleagues met this morning to discuss how they can provide the same level of services with one less person. It amazes me to see their dedication to our clients. I'm sure other departments are struggling to find ways to continue to meet the challenging and never ending needs of population that continues to grow as the economy worsens even as they lose staff members.

I hope that my colleagues who are also being laid off with the loss of state funding find a new position that they truly enjoy.

Failings of the system

In working with victims of domestic violence over the last few months, my eyes have really been opened to things I never realized existed. But what has bothered me most is not the violence, but the way our system has failed so many individuals, allowing the violence to continue.

I am horrified at how just about every individual I speak with has lost confidence in the police and the job they do and has lost confidence in the criminal system to charge criminals. In cases where there is clear evidence and clearly a crime has been committed the DA's office will choose not to charge for reasons unknown to the rest of us. When individuals call 911, an officer does not always come out. At times when a clear domestic abuse has taken place that likely included violence, police will not even always remove one of the two from the property. And in times where a male is a victim, the police will often separate the victim from his children.

In one case a Spanish speaker said that the first time she called the police they told her that her address did not exist so they couldn't come out to help her. And on the second occasion that she called, the police stated that no one spoke Spanish and again could not help her.

I also am dismayed when I sit through restraining order hearings and the Commissioner denies the restraining order just because the police were never called even if the abuser admits to something. Lack of police involvement is in no way an indication of lack of violence. Remember, as I stated in the previous paragraphs, many individuals have lost confidence in police who never did anything on previous occasions when they called and so feel like it is a waste of time to call the police. And in a system, where the woman is always portrayed as the victim, male victims know that it is a waste of time to contact police for help.

And all this was really driven home this weekend, as I saw on the news a story of an individual who had been murdered and the suspect is her ex-boyfriend. Upon looking at open records online, I saw that this victim had attempted to get a restraining order against him recently and was denied it even though there were pending charges for the abuser of domestic abuse against this same victim. Would a restraining order have saved this young girl's life? Maybe not. But maybe, the victim would have had a chance to contact the police the second the abuser showed up instead of having to wait for violence to occur at a point when it was too late.

My legal journey

My interest in the legal field has only been solidified in the last month as I have observed in court and had the chance to interact with both attorneys and clients. And this experience thus far has also developed in me an interest in public interest law. These are the clients that most need us. And although there are a few difficult ones, overall they are so appreciative to the services we provide. I have enjoyed most of my conversations with clients even as we discuss very difficult topics because I get the chance to see the world through a different perspective and make a difference in their daily life.

Tuesday when I went home with all the talk about a huge snowstorm Tuesday night, a part of me really hoped that the snow wouldn't close the office so that I could help two clients that I knew wouldn't get the help if I couldn't make it into work that day. So although I would have loved to be able to laze around in my pajamas all day with a good book, I felt a strong desire to be able to help these two clients who really needed a little help.

Additionally, this job has opened my eyes to some different career paths for an attorney. One that has especially interested me is the job of a guardian ad litem whose job is to advocate for the children who without GALs would have no voice in the whole process.

So I really look forward to the months and years ahead of me.

A chance to see if I really want to spend the money on law school

I have just accepted a job working with a non-profit law firm as a paralegal dealing with cases of domestic violence and child abuse. Although starting a new job, especially one so different from what I have done in the past, can be scary, I am confident that this position will give me an incredible experience to use and improve my Spanish as well as allow me to see what working in family law is like. I was a little apprehensive about how emotionally draining it will likely be working with this population but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is a population that truly needs help and if I won't do it, who will? I strongly believe that in life it is so important to regularly step out of your comfort zone both for your own personal growth and for the good of others.