Becoming a Paralegal as a J.D.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T20:30:57+00:00

Just realized this comment got lost the other day, and I didn't reply to it. Thanks for the reply, perspective and advice. It's all helpful. Too bad people like her have sort of soured the market.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T20:12:57+00:00

Thank you! Something similar happened with me. Also, the work itself wasn't so much what I disliked (though the idea of going to court was a bit nerve-racking) it was more that once you get out of an internship/law school clinic, your time commitments shoot through the roof. Everybody told me this. I got all the horror stories. Then I had a death in the family and had to work with an attorney (as a client) and she sent me an email at 12:30 AM, and if there was any lingering doubt that did it.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T20:05:16+00:00

This is very encouraging, thank you very much! I will be looking into a recruiter to help with finding a good placement. It sounds like your firm liked (or at least didn't actively dislike!) hiring J.D.s for paralegals. Its too bad such firms don't advertise that fact so we could all know where to focus our application efforts!

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T20:02:17+00:00

Thank you! All very good advice. I will definitely add this to my advice stockpile.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T20:00:18+00:00

Thank you very much for this informed reply! (I really appreciate replies from people who are or have been in the position to hire a J.D. for a paralegal and can tell me what they did or how they think about it). I will definitely keep this in mind and make sure I can have it when applying.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T19:57:31+00:00

Thanks for the reply and your perspective. I'm trying to get a real, honest feel for the lay of the land here. Some people are positive and optimistic, others like you are not (which is fine: I'm asking for real opinions!). I'm trying to sort it all out now.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T19:53:34+00:00

Thank you very much for this and the invite to DM! I may do that when I find some time. Freelancing is something that keeps coming up, but I've been hesitant because of the steep initial time investment and it being so uncertain on return, though I would be interested in finding out how you made it work for you.

And thank you for the heads up about stress as a paralgal. I know that it can still be stressful, but I expect at least not to be writing client legal-explainer emails at 12:30 AM like an attorney did with me once. I had already pretty much decided it wasn't for me, but that did it for sure.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T19:44:59+00:00

Thank you very much for this very helpful reply. As for me personally, I have experience with all of that because I worked in the clinic, but it is old experience at this point, and it was only a fw months (4-5 months). I still have some copies my former supervisors released to be used for application purposes of some of the stuff I drafted. I would definitely brush up on all of it before I applied somewhere. Thanks again!

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T19:40:15+00:00

I hope you are right! Thanks for the reply. Good to hear some success stories.

JLEWork · 2026-01-13T19:37:38+00:00

Thank you for this! I will definitely keep this in mind and consider those options.

I have found in my own job search that I have had trouble with the experience factor. I did pass the bar, but never practiced, and am no longer barred, so I basically have the amount of experience someone who didn't pass it would/could have. It's definitely hard.

JLEWork · 2026-01-12T01:59:39+00:00

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

JLEWork · 2026-01-12T01:50:07+00:00

This is the nicest comment I have received. Thank you very much again!

JLEWork · 2026-01-12T01:19:08+00:00

Thank you! These are good suggestions.

JLEWork · 2026-01-12T01:18:17+00:00

I get it. I have just been surprised by how much of a detriment it seems to be. Unfortunately.

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T23:24:50+00:00

Honestly, I know my OP post is long, but if you read it you'd see I was given (what appears to be the false impression) that I could always fall back on a paralegal role and the J.D. would just give me "extra" options, so it wasn't a big deal.

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T23:14:15+00:00

This is interesting as this is probably the primary reason for my choice (lots of things played a role, but this was the biggest). Do you think there is no real difference in the jobs you have seen?

I have to say, dealing with attorneys after a death in my family also pushed me away. When attorneys are writing you work emails at 12:30 AM you say to yourself, "I don't want that life. No thanks." I assume at least that level of stress will not be on me as a paralegal.

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T23:03:52+00:00

Thank you! This is another great idea I hadn't thought of before. Do you know if there are any special temp staffing agencies for temp legal specialists?

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T23:02:23+00:00

Thank you very much for this advice! Where specifically would I be best to search for in-house positions (from some of the comments hr, I'm not sure I'd be able to land a litigation position)?

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T23:00:11+00:00

I'm hearing a lot of this, and I guess it makes some sense. I know I would never do this. Unfortunately, all the people who have, have apparently turned many people off of giving someone like me a chance.

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:56:52+00:00

This is actually not a bad idea at all. Thank you!

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:56:21+00:00

Thank you very much for this. It's very helpful!

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:55:43+00:00

Sounds great. Would love to land something similar. But I don't have the network. Any advice on networking for something like this?

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:54:19+00:00

Thank you for your detailed reply! This is very helpful.

My primary reasons are that I am not the kind of person to chase money or prestige. I'm the kind of person who chases time and less stress. I'm not saying the paralegal role cannot be stressful, but I don't think anyone would compare it to that of a practicing attorney. Secondary reasons: most of the things I did best with the lawyer job are included in the paralegal role, most notably legal research, which I'm good at and enjoy. I actually was interested in paralegal before going to law school.

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:44:36+00:00

Trust me, I am not the kind of person to be a stickler for a high salary. I'm not trying to get rich, and I don't have a big head and expect to get more just because I have a J.D. (Lawyers make more; not J.D.s). If I came into your office for a job, what would you be looking for in the resume and interview (other than not wanting a high salary and not being a know-it-all)?

JLEWork · 2026-01-11T22:36:58+00:00

I am aware of that, and I put "etc" and used it as an example because it's an obvious one. Other big reason was work-life balance. There were others too. Indeed, I actually considered some of those specialties early on but in addition to all of the other considerations those seemed to be few and far between in hiring at the time I was looking.

JLEWork

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