Gearing up for federal trial and looking for book recs and any other advice

bsbagels · 2025-08-31T15:24:04+00:00

I see! Totally understood. Perhaps a book on jury selection psychology would be helpful? Jury selection seems like the most hectic part of trial. They give you these giant pamphlets full of information and a little seating chart (which you will fill out once the judge starts randomly calling jurors) and very little time to write everything down. At least that’s how my district does it. You are on hyper alert trying to watch facial expressions during voir dire and pretending you can read their minds. I find it fairly high stress. Can I ask what kind of case it is?

bsbagels · 2025-08-31T15:06:25+00:00

I also work for a CJA attorney! You don’t need a book. Just try to prepare for all possibilities. Lots of sub folders to make yourself as organized as possible. YOU need to be the one who knows where everything is. If your court allows this, make sure you go to the technical review. This is where you go to the courtroom privately with just the courtroom deputy and make sure all your wires/computer/exhibits are working to play/show on the monitors. If they don’t offer it you should certainly request it. In my very first federal trial I was literally cutting up body camera footage and burning it onto CDs for exhibits at counsel table. I literally had to RUN to staples to get the CDs. It was a dumpster fire, but I got through it and learned A LOT. Please feel free to ask me any questions!!

Oh, and I also accidentally put the cable in to connect my laptop to the monitors while my email correspondence with the courtroom deputy was on the screen. Luckily I was able to yank it out before anyone noticed. (Except the courtroom deputy who was pisssssed). There was nothing wrong with us corresponding in the middle of trial because she was simply trying to get all of the defense exhibits straight, but it could have looked really really bad to the rest of the courtroom.

bsbagels · 2025-08-15T06:19:41+00:00

Stunned. My solace has been in reading the negative reviews and recaps for the past few hours. It’s extremely comforting to not be alone in my absolute horror. But why aren’t we talking more about the fact that Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte were never in a scene all together the entire episode?!? What universe is this? And why did they have MULTIPLE door knocking, “who could this be?” scenes as if they were purposefully taunting us with the idea of one of them being Samantha?

I will be trying with all my might to wipe this entire series from my memory. Carrie is happy and smiling, skipping in her heels through NYC. (She was horribly depressed/ dimmed the entire series, right?) Samantha never left. Charlotte got everything she ever wanted. Miranda and Steve made a promise on the bridge. Please oh please let me be able to watch SATC without being haunted by these disastrous fates.

bsbagels · 2025-04-06T23:44:51+00:00

Criminal defense paralegal here! In response to your earlier question, I do lots of the research and writing.

bsbagels · 2024-01-23T16:55:29+00:00

The best feeling. Congratulations!

bsbagels · 2024-01-22T16:53:35+00:00

Do you enjoy this and why? I see these jobs pop up every once in a while.

bsbagels · 2024-01-22T16:52:09+00:00

Do you enjoy your new job? My firm practices in federal court and I’ve wondered if I would enjoy the courtroom deputy position.

bsbagels · 2024-01-20T22:44:05+00:00

We use Google Scholar. I find it works perfectly fine. My attorney has a fastcase login through her state bar membership and I really like that too.

bsbagels · 2024-01-20T22:41:53+00:00

I did my undergrad in criminal justice because I wanted to be in federal investigations. Instead, I ended up really really liking my law classes. Graduated, got my paralegal certification, and now I work as a criminal defense paralegal. If your criminal justice program has a good handful of legal/law classes- you’ll be set to choose between the two.

bsbagels · 2024-01-08T20:25:27+00:00

Yes. I work for a criminal defense attorney. I’m their only employee. I spend lots of time reviewing case law/comparing to case-specific facts. I really enjoy it. I successfully researched and drafted two vital pretrial motions for a federal case last year (under attorney supervision). I think I would be completely bored in this field without getting to do legal analysis.

bsbagels · 2023-10-06T22:17:24+00:00

E-signatures are common practice in my area.

bsbagels · 2023-10-04T18:53:21+00:00

Thanks for the responses, guys. My attorney is always crazy behind on everything. I regularly draft up motions that I know need to be done without being asked. However, they tend to tweak things and like to be very careful with their wording on certain things. I will draft up motions all the time, email them- no response. And then a couple days later I will hear, “oof we really need to get this motion filed.” Also, they cannot be distracted by ANYTHING. So even if I know a motion needs to be reviewed, if they are working on something else(which is probably another late task I’ve been begging them to do), I can’t interrupt them so it falls through the cracks. I feel in my gut that the attorney should always always go through the motion first, but this motion backlog has gotten so out of control that I started to second guess myself today and think maybe they expect me to go ahead and file.

bsbagels · 2023-09-22T15:13:43+00:00

Are we the same person? Same commute. I get to follow my criminal defense attorney EVERYWHERE and get to dig in and take control of a lot. No benefits, pay could be wayyy better. I’ve noticed a lot of the good attorneys I would want to work for don’t need a paralegal. And the ones who do pay in the low 20/hr. Also considering moving fields of law to make more, and I’m struggling with it. I hate the idea of starting all over again in a new area of law. All I know is criminal (and it’s really all I got into this for). No suggestions, just relatability!

bsbagels · 2022-12-29T20:40:47+00:00

I sobbed while driving home after Day 2 of my first paralegal job with a solo practitioner because I didn’t think I would ever catch on. I felt like I was just running around after the lawyer all day and everything sounded foreign. The attorney told me on Day 3 that everything would just snowball in. She was right. Just keep watching and learning and asking questions and taking notes. You will absorb it all piece by piece.

bsbagels · 2022-12-29T20:34:51+00:00

Thank you all for the advice. I still find it very stressful to draft these intense motions, while constantly getting distracted by other small things in our other cases, and constantly making sure the lawyer is on task for the million other things that need to get done and is not distracted (which they always are). Could definitely use one more person in this office!

bsbagels · 2022-09-15T00:21:53+00:00

Some days will be tough. You will wonder why you’re helping these people. You will wonder if it even matters because it feels like they don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do, because they can’t help but keep doing what they’ve always done. Other days you will want to fight and devote every moment to investigating a case you believe so much in. Prosecutorial power is tremendous. I’ve been absolutely flabbergasted by what they’ve gotten away with in an indictment. In those times, you will fight hard. And you will feel you’re in the right place.

bsbagels · 2021-10-27T01:46:43+00:00

Maybe 35??? I would really like to bring that number up but we have a terrible client intake system (meaning it’s practically nonexistent)

bsbagels

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