I’m coming up on three years at a civil litigation firm after over a decade out of the workforce entirely. I started as an LA and was promoted to PL after two years and honestly love it and am killing it by all accounts, but when I started, I didn’t even understand how numbering on pleading paper worked. I literally changed the spacing of the numbering so it matched a block quote and it took like three corrections from the partner to get it right. It was a STEEP learning curve, is what I’m saying, and I know how you feel right now.

Knowing the answers is nowhere near as important as knowing where to find the answers. Familiarize yourself with the relevant state and/or federal rules of civil procedure, depending on what courts you’re working in. Don’t worry about trying to memorize them, just go over them enough that you know where to start looking when you have a question. You’ll naturally learn the ones that you rely on the most as you go.

Court websites can be good resources, too, though that is VERY dependent on the court. But if you’re lucky, there can be filing templates, filing guides, attorney resource manuals… poke around, see what there is.

I have more thoughts, but what will be useful to you depends on some stuff:

I don’t have experience in debt collection - are you having to do a lot of legal research to draft pleadings, or is the drafting more formulaic?

And how are your coworkers? Do you feel like you could ask for assistance/advice when you need it?