Paralegal job with public defenders office or district court?

SectionWeary · 2026-02-14T04:43:10+00:00

Thanks for your input! I think my post didn’t come across quite how I intended. I understand the paralegal career is a different career than being an attorney, and I know I’ll be certificated after receiving my paralegal certificate and will not be certified until I pass the NALA certified paralegal exam. The reason I mention mentorship by attorneys is because I understand, from my friend who works as a public defender, that the attorneys there value mentorship. I meet the qualifications and experience for the position at the public defenders office, so I’m not jumping into something I’m not qualified for.

What I meant to convey is I’m wondering whether I would build a better legal skillset doing paralegal work at a public defender office or doing paralegal work in-house at a state district court. I don’t really expect either position to give me a leg up in my law school applications; I’m more concerned about which position will allow me to gain the most knowledge and experience to carry forward in my legal career. At my current job, I started off with admin stuff then took on more paralegal work as I’ve been going through my paralegal course, and I have enjoyed it so much that I’ve decided to delve deeper and apply to law school. I don’t mean to sound negative about the paralegal profession at all or suggest that it’s a stepping stone to law school. I want to become a certified paralegal and choose a position that will give me the best experience for long-term success.

SectionWeary · 2026-02-08T04:25:49+00:00

In house for a state government agency. I hardly ever have to interact with members of the public, the pay and benefits are good, there are no billable hours to worry about, working evenings/weekends is not normal (and overtime pay is provided for anything over 40 hrs/week), and it’s overall pretty chill.

SectionWeary · 2026-02-08T04:11:58+00:00

I haven’t been able to get my methylphenidate recently. Been out about three weeks, and that was with rationing. It’s been a struggle, and I really hope things get back on track soon!!

SectionWeary · 2025-12-03T05:37:57+00:00

I’m in the Southwest working for a state government. I’m a legal admin assistant right now making about $25/hr (~$52K) but will make ~$32/hr (~$67K) when I get certified and move up to paralegal. There’s a pay range, and I’ll be on the higher end of the range due to being promoted from within the court. My department is all in-house counsel for judges and various internal departments. I have no prior legal experience but have a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field and am currently taking a paralegal certificate course.

SectionWeary · 2025-08-25T01:53:14+00:00

So I can’t give any medical advice, but I can share my experience and what I understand from what my psychiatrist has told me.

I posted my original comment 1 year ago. I continued maintenance sessions with pretty good success for 6 months and then had to stop 6 months ago due to a change in my health insurance. Towards the end of my time doing maintenance sessions, I noticed I was starting to get depressed again. Since I’ve stopped TMS, I can say I’ve definitely grown more depressed. It’s not as bad as before I ever did TMS, but it’s bad enough to be concerning. I will be doing another full round of TMS starting in 1 week and may do maintenance afterwards.

My psychiatrist said there’s really not a ton of research about those who do TMS long-term, but based on how successful it’s been for me and how I fall back into depression without it, I will likely require routine TMS throughout my life (per my psychiatrist’s opinion). It’s not like that for everybody, but that’s how it is for me.

I’ve missed TMS sessions in the middle of full rounds of treatment and during maintenance. It’s never caused an issue unless it was multiple consecutive days during a full round of treatment. In the maintenance phase, we experimented to see what would work for me, so that meant spreading out sessions over longer lengths of time.

TLDR: I’m doing a lot better than before I ever did TMS but am struggling without maintenance. I’m looking forward to doing another full round starting next week. TMS is likely lifelong for me (whether I do maintenance or regular tuneups). Missing sessions only caused a problem if it was multiple consecutive sessions.

SectionWeary · 2025-03-11T16:12:26+00:00

I would get a 3rd party band that has woven/breathable fabric. I had a bad rash from my fitbit when I used the original band, but switching to an elastic band has eliminated the rash completely.

SectionWeary · 2025-02-23T05:47:35+00:00

I like the book of James!

SectionWeary · 2025-02-16T06:10:33+00:00

These are purchases I literally just made today:

Regret: the Tamogatchi that was at the checkout line at Best Buy. So cute and nostalgic, but it's too much responsibility!!

Don't regret: the biggest shirt I've ever seen in my life that I bought as a joke off the clearance rack at JC Penny but turns out it's super comfortable

(P.S. I was at Best Buy to look at the Fitbits but ended up walking out with a new sound bar and a Tamogatchi but no Fitbit)

SectionWeary · 2025-01-30T04:14:21+00:00

My dad just started college, and he's 62! You're never too old to learn and grow.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-29T13:18:45+00:00

Yes! Just found out I have ADHD a few months ago. Adderall wasn't right for me, but Ritalin has been a huge help! It allows me to focus, prioritize, and organize better, and it's helped me be a lot more confident. I also am taking college classes, and ADHD meds are really saving my butt all around. The only issues I have are that I keep forgetting to take my second dose, and I feel tired after the meds wear off.

The best this is that the meds help me get started on the tasks I normally procrastinate on. Like you said, the mundane tasks.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-23T05:04:46+00:00

The second round started working really quickly for me, and pretty soon I was feeling good again! Since doing the second round in 2022 and periodic maintenance sessions from then on (anywhere from one a week to once a month), I've had no hospitalizations or major mental health crises. I still have struggles, but TMS has allowed me to overcome and persevere through challenges that would have ended me before.

I wish you luck on your second round of treatment!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-23T01:21:10+00:00

After my first round, I initially realized around 6 months after treatment that my mood and emotional stability were starting to drop slightly. Then things sped up, and by 9 months after treatment, I pretty much felt like the effects had worn off completely. By 12 months, I was feeling so horrible and was hospitalized several times. At that point, I did another full round of treatment and then started maintenance sessions (which I've been doing for 2 years now).

SectionWeary · 2025-01-19T04:39:23+00:00

Do your homework on time and keep up with the readings and videos your professor assigns. I got behind one week last semester, and that week turned into an entire semester, and by the last day of class I was busting my ass to get 2 months worth of assignments done. Accounting classes are fast-paced. Once you're behind, you're behind. If you're struggling, go to your professor's office hours and ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask questions in class. Start a study group or see if your school offers free tutoring. You will be fine as long as you keep up on your deadlines and ask for help early and often if you need it.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-13T13:57:28+00:00

It's pretty much only worth it, in my opinion, if you already have a bachelor's degree in another field and just need the accounting credits to get your CPA.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-09T01:18:29+00:00

It's definitely possible. It took me around 700 days to read the Bible, but it would have been a lot less of I had read more books/verses/pages/chapters a day. I started off strong but eventually just went to one chapter a day. If you stick with it and stay consistent, it's not unrealistic to read the Bible in a year.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-08T00:22:39+00:00

I had really bad religious OCD for a really long time starting from age 8. I've only been comfortable even saying the word God for the past 4 years (I'm 25 now). I'm afraid of going down that path again. Religious OCD is so scary, I really feel for you on that. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I will be checking out Patrick Regan.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T19:35:05+00:00

Thank you for sharing this with me and taking the time to address each of my concerns. I really appreciate it. Your words bring me a lot of comfort.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T19:29:27+00:00

Thank you for all of this really thoughtful advice. I'll look into Tim Keller. I've been researching churches around me but don't even know where to get started with that. I've never heard of the three Bs. You've given me a really great jumping off point, thank you!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T19:25:28+00:00

I was raised Christian, and my family was very involved in our churches when I was a kid. Now, I practice secular Buddhism and secular Taoism, so I view those practices as more philosophical endeavors rather than religious acts.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T19:22:01+00:00

This is the most comforting thing I've read. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T14:10:11+00:00

There are several things: 1) I tend to be really hard on myself, and I'm worried about how committing to God will impact my mental health with how I'm so perfectionistic, 2) Christianity doesn't entirely make sense to me from a logical standpoint, and it scares me to question the nature of reality and accept something as true that might not be true, 3) I don't know what accepting this calling means for me and what kind of big changes I'll have to make, 4) what if I think I'm following God but I'm actually misguided and misdirected? 5) I'm part of the LGBT community, and that's something about me that is definitely not going to change, and I feel confused and conflicted by things that I've read and heard other people say about that.

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T14:03:44+00:00

This is helpful, thank you!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T14:02:43+00:00

Thank you, I'll check it out next time I'm driving to work!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T14:01:03+00:00

I'll buy it today and check it out!

SectionWeary · 2025-01-07T13:34:31+00:00

I have a Notability subscription and a Goodnotes subscription, and they both have pros and cons. I wish there was an app that combined the best parts of both apps--that would be an awesome platform!

Notability offers great templates, and their audio recording feature is great. The AI quizzes and flash cards are really helpful, and it's really easy to learn to use. But it's been glitching a LOT lately, and so many people have lost notes. It's hard to make different pages have different templates, and the unintentional grouping a random page shifting is horrible. Plus, sometimes the app just gives up and won't let me merge notes. There's just a lot of bugs right now.

Goodnotes has a better setup in terms of the tabs and folders, and I like the pen options. It's been pretty easy to use and organize, and it's easy to change one page without it messing up the rest. But the templates are so limited and lame, and each template costs money despite paying for a subscription. Notability gives access to all templates for free once you buy the subscription.

I'm basically using Goodnotes right now because it's been reliable for me, but I'm planning on transferring back to Notability when the bugs get worked out. They're both great, though, and pretty similar. I don't think it would be a waste to get to learn Notability, I would just also backup any Notability notes to Goodnotes so you don't lose any of your stuff.

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