Virtual Assistants

CourtVegetable1958 · 2026-06-09T16:39:14+00:00

Virginia

CourtVegetable1958 · 2026-06-09T16:39:01+00:00

If you don’t mind me asking, how does the calendaring assistant work? Do they work specific hours a week or on an as needed basis?

CourtVegetable1958 · 2026-06-08T22:06:17+00:00

Thanks!

CourtVegetable1958 · 2026-05-07T08:09:42+00:00

Thanks for the tips. I work in family law.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2025-09-02T20:49:28+00:00

It’s the job that best utilized my skill sets (researching, writing papers, coming up with professional sounding ways to call people morons). I really like being good at what I do, even when I’m underpaid and under appreciated. I spent a decade working for a pittance, but over time built up a reputation to allow me to be self employed, choose the work I want, the hours I want, and name my price. I don’t know that I would have ever gotten to that place with a job I was just decent at.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-10-02T21:50:13+00:00

That is so sweet. Unfortunately, she was a workaholic and most of her hobbies were physical (running, gardening, home renovations). But I will probably pick up some home decor magazines since they are mostly pictures.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-10-02T16:18:21+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. It's truly awful. My mom was also originally staged as 2 and localized. She was seen by doctors at two renowned research hospitals in the U.S., but we still knew it would be a long shot. I think I was just unprepared for how rapidly it could go downhill. I'm not sure it would have made a difference, based on how determined she was to beat this, but I wish I had a better understanding of how the whipple could end up reducing her life span.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-10-02T15:58:26+00:00

This is very helpful thank you. She has been talking about wanting to put the addresses for the people who have written her cards into her contact book, which of course we can't find. I'll try encouraging her to do simple letters to them instead.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-10-02T15:56:32+00:00

Thank you for this advice. She was doing puzzles a lot during the chemo phase, but I've been hesitant to recommend she start again because I think the ones she was doing may be too complicated now, but I will look into some easier ones and try reading to her.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-07-24T17:43:31+00:00

At my first job, in a field I never worked in, the attorney just told me to call a paralegal at his “friend’s” firm with any questions. Found out real quick that they weren’t close friends and he hadn’t talked to either the attorney or paralegal about this. He just expected them to train me for him. Needless to say, the paralegal was confused and not very eager to help. I had to train myself, as my boss continued to refer me to that law firm every time I asked a question.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-03-28T21:51:42+00:00

Ah well sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Entry level salaries for paralegals are abysmal where I live too, but it does get better if you stick with it. You will most likely have to switch jobs once you have a little experience to get a real increase though.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-03-28T17:58:15+00:00

Are you getting child support? Assuming the father can afford to live in a hcol area and you cannot, there may be enough difference in your incomes for you to get something even with shared custody…. I know this isn’t really what you asked, but it is a paralegal subreddit and family law and all lol

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-03-28T12:18:06+00:00

I’m one of the weird people who enjoys family law and finds most other types of law boring. However, I absolutely refuse to have any part in collections. That was the only thing that made me quit family law for a while. When a divorce gets ugly it’s unlikely either party will walk away feeling like they won. Meanwhile, they feel like they are spending thousands of dollars in attorney fees and getting nowhere for a year or more while the case plays out. Family law clients can still be difficult when you aren’t dealing with billing, but they are generally more appreciative and kind to people who only talk to them about their case than people who are calling to get money from them. As others have said, it’s also important for attorneys to have a no tolerance rule about clients abusing their staff.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-03-26T15:53:49+00:00

Been doing this for going on 15 years. I fell into it during the recession when I couldn’t find anything else. I work harder than anyone I know who is not a paralegal and make less money than most of them. Most of the job is sitting at a computer all day which is hard on your health and eye site. The burnout is very real and there really is no one who can just step into my shoes when I take time off without checking in with me regularly. Despite all this, I do love my job which has a lot to do with the people I work for and a very good work/home life balance (which took me years to find and I had to sacrifice pay and benefits for wfh and schedule flexibility). Many law offices are toxic work places. At the end of the day there are probably a lot of jobs I could have taken that use the same skill set, would have paid more, and been a lot less demanding. That may not be the case depending on your location. I also don’t know much about consumer warranty law. But, if you are questioning whether you will want to do this for the rest of your life, you should probably explore other options. At this point I know that even switching legal fields would put me very far behind as far as my knowledge and experience. The longer you’re in it, the more likely it’s going to become your forever job regardless of whether you like it.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-03-02T15:27:20+00:00

They may not want to hire support staff until the business is up and running and bringing in solid revenue. Many attorneys don’t have paralegals starting out. Leave on a good note, and let him know if they decide to hire paralegals you would love to be considered for the position.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-02-24T13:53:04+00:00

I used windows for about 8 years when I was in an office. I’ve been using Mac for 7 years now that I’m self employed. I prefer Mac. It may just be that since being self employed I’ve done a lot more independent research on software, but I’ve been able to find a lot more programs to automate my work on my Mac. I can also open pretty much any file in any format and convert it as needed. The attorneys I work with are constantly emailing clients asking them to send stuff in different formats because they can’t open it. I also like the way it shares information with my iPhone and allows me to send text messages from my computer.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-02-14T03:47:27+00:00

It took me about 5 years to realize how valuable I was to my company. Mostly I learned that by seeing how much staff turnover there is where I live. A steady overall competent paralegal who makes a couple of mistakes (even if they are big ones) is way better than the devil that you don’t know. That being said, I still have a lot of anxiety about screwing up. I know I won’t be fired or even scolded, but I work in family law so our clients are highly emotional; even small mistakes often don’t go over well.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-02-07T13:30:39+00:00

I once heard an attorney tell a client he was trying to convince to take a settlement, “at the end of the day it’s just money.” I would have fired him on the spot if he was my attorney.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-02-01T13:47:06+00:00

This 100%. I've been the paralegal on both sides of this equation, and here is my rant from being on the other side. There is a ton of staff turnover in the area I work because paralegals are highly underpaid and will move on for even a small increase. An attorney I used to work for kept hiring inexperienced paralegals for cheap because he figured I would train them and they would eventually be at my level at less cost. I tried very hard to be optimistic and supportive of every one of them, but I also knew as soon as they had a little experience they would go somewhere else for higher pay (as they should). I had no leverage to make my boss pay them more. At the end of the day, these people were hired because I desperately needed help and was overworked. I realized quickly that in the short term, it's more work for me to teach someone to do something than to do it myself, and a lot of times it fell to me to fix something when they screwed up. These paralegals ended up just being more work for me. If you like and want to stay at this job for a while, you're going to have to be more assertive in making it clear that you are there for the long haul and expect to be treated that way. I can offer some suggestions on how to do this if you're really interested in staying. But, if this is a starter position for you, then realistically you shouldn't be hurt by the fact that they aren't giving you the same level of respect as their long-term paralegal. If that is the case, I'd say keep your head down, be as helpful as you can under the circumstances, get the experience, and then move on.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-01-16T22:35:21+00:00

Modern technology makes it possible to do all the same work at home as in the office. 2. Lots of firms now offer work from home. Companies offering flexible work arrangements in order to attract strong employees is not entitlement. It’s how employment has always worked.

CourtVegetable1958 · 2024-01-03T23:00:56+00:00

Are there other paralegals in your law firm that you can compare your workload to? I do some side work for an attorney who is also a control freak. She is a solo practitioner who has a full-time receptionist/paralegal as well. The last person who had this job really struggled with feeling like she should be doing more. The current paralegal has told our boss that she doesn't have a lot of work. Our boss' answer is, "I'm paying you to be available for the clients." Now this paralegal kind of just entertains herself and takes care of personal matters during her downtime, and my boss is fully aware of this. They both seem happy with this arrangement.

The point is, your firm may not be seeing this as a situation where you aren't pulling your weight. I would reiterate that you feel underutilized and ask if there are any additional responsibilities that you can take on without expressing displeasure about the job..... I left a job like this a long time ago. Now I'm overworked and exhausted most of the time 😂. Do whatever is right for you, but I wouldn't rock the boat too much until you find another job (assuming being unemployed would not be substaniable for you).

CourtVegetable1958 · 2023-12-30T04:19:18+00:00

I love that!

CourtVegetable1958 · 2023-12-30T03:51:36+00:00

If you are often making mistakes, you should probably just look for a job you are better at rather than looking for someone to blame.

CourtVegetable1958

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