According to the salary guide released by Robert Half Legal, 2013 should see an increase in paralegal salaries by 3.1 to 3.9 %, depending on the size of the firm you work for. You can get a copy of their salary guide here.
You can also use their salary calculator to obtain salaries in your local area as well and check out the hiring trends, not only in your area but nationwide and you can check out the fastest growing industries locally and nationwide as well.
One of our fellow paralegals, Chere Estrin, recently posted an interesting article on your weight and how it could be sabotaging your career in the legal field. It is a great article (which you can read in its entirety here) and I am sure that most of us (at least those of us who carry some extra pounds) have wondered about when we have applied for a job, interviewed and then were not hired, if it was because of our weight that lost us the job.
As quoted in Chere’s article:
While I am not looking for a new job, I am very happy where I am, thank you very much, I am giving this article some great thought. I am lucky to work for employers who did not discriminate when hiring me, despite my extra pounds. I wonder how some of you feel about this article and if you have felt, or have been told outright, that you were not hired/promoted because of your weight. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this.
I can’t believe it is 2013 and another year has flown by. This past year has been a busy one, personally and professionally. So much so, that it has kept me from blogging as often as I would like. I am going to change that, or at least give it my best ‘college try’ as they say, in this new year.
I became a great grandmother to a beautiful girl in March 2012, Lexi Jo. She brings laughter and happiness to all of our lives. I am blessed to have her in my life and enjoy watching her grow each day. 
My family is healthy now, with my youngest son finally getting the insulin pump for his type 1 diabetes. Seems like we waited for this pump forever. This has helped to maintain his sugar levels and has prevented his having to be in intensive care on a monthly basis. I know he is happy about this and as his mother, I am thrilled that he no longer needs to be hospitalized frequently.
Professionally in 2012, the law office expanded by adding one more person to our cast of characters. She is young, smart and is a fast learner. She seems to be fitting in nicely with all of us. Our receptionist was promoted to assist me and begin using her paralegal skills. I know I am happy as can be with this change, and I know she is as well. I look forward to teaching her all I know and watching her grow in her new position. With these changes of course, come some challenges. Figuring out what job duties change and for whom, is one of the biggest challenges.
I hope that all of my paralegal friends are doing well in this new year and that 2013 brings us all happiness, not only personally, but professionally too. Happy New Year and I look forward to reconnecting with all of you and hopefully connecting with new paralegals as well!
Ouch! That has to hurt! Running for a judicial seat and then sanctioned and reported to the State Bar. This just happened to attorney Judy Conard, who practices in Lake County, California.
The First Appellate Court found the appeal to be frivolous and not only sanctioned Ms. Conard $6,000, but issued $15,000 in sanctions against her client as well.
Last October, Theodore Parfet, who lives in Michigan, appealed an order that he pay the attorney fees for Amy Tucker, the Respondent in the Family Law case, incurred while she opposed his motions to modify child custody, visitation and child support, according to the decision, which can be read here.
Ms. Conard said they appealed the amount of attorneys’ fees, which at nearly $80,000 were in excess of what the interim fees were to be. The three appellate justices found “the degree of objective frivolousness and delay is extremely high,” and that “pursuing a meritless appeal of an attorney fee award under the circumstances of this case flies in the face of the very purpose of the Family Code attorney fees statutes.” Further, they found that Conard had a professional responsibility not to pursue a frivolous appeal just because her client instructed her to do so, the justices said Conard violated her duties by facilitating the appeal “and by advancing arguments which exceed the bounds of both common sense and sound advocacy.”
The justices also stated “We join other courts in recognizing that the respondent is not theonly party damaged by a frivolous appeal.” ‘Others with bona fide disputes, as well as the taxpayers, are prejudiced by the wasteful diversion of an appellate court’s limited resources.’ The handling of this appeal has imposed a burden on this court.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics published their new handbook in March 2012 regarding Paralegal and Legal Assistants wages along with the anticipated growth in jobs from 2010-2020. For a quick summary I have attached their quick facts summary below.
| Quick Facts: Paralegals and Legal Assistants | |
|---|---|
| 2010 Median Pay | $46,680 per year $22.44 per hour |
| Entry-Level Education | Associate’s degree |
| Work Experience in a Related Occupation | None |
| On-the-job Training | None |
| Number of Jobs, 2010 | 256,000 |
| Job Outlook, 2010-20 | 18% (About as fast as average) |
| Employment Change, 2010-20 | 46,900 |
To see the Handbook, click here.
O’Net shows a difference in the projected job openings during this same 10 year period of almost almost double.
| Median wages (2011) | $22.47 hourly, $46,730 annual |
| Employment (2010) | 256,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2010-2020) |  Average (10% to 19%) |
| Projected job openings (2010-2020) | 83,400 |
| Top industries (2010) |
John Parker, a paralegal in Hempstead, NY, has been facing tough times since paid with a fraudulent check when he worked as a security guard for what he thought was a friend. This story caught my eye and I had to share it. 
John took a part-time job during the Summer of 2010 to help supplement his income as a paralegal when his new son was born. Seems the check he received was fraudulent, unbeknownst to him. He used the $4,600 paycheck earned over the summer to pay bills and school supplies for his daughter from another relationship.
The bank contacted him about the check but he was unable to pay it back right away and then the police showed up at his work to arrest him. His then employer helped him out by paying the money back to the bank and John paid semi-monthly payments to his boss to pay back the loan. John’s luck continued in a downward spiral and he eventually fell behind on his rent due to the high payments to his boss and eventually received an eviction notice. John managed to find another part-time job, but still was not able to catch up.
John eventually found F.E.G.S. Health and Human Services System, a beneficiary of UJA-Federation of New York, one of the seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. This agency, along with his annual bonus from his paralegal job, helped John catch up on his rent and paid of the loan to his boss and then his landlord raised his rent.
When John received a rent increase he moved to a cheaper apartment and he learned in September that he and two co-workers were going to be laid off. Despite all of this, with the determination of all of us in this legal profession, John is determined to care for his children during these tough challenges even it it means he goes without food so that they do not.
Image via Wikipedia
Tomorrow, April 27th is Administrative Professional’s Day! Remember when it used to be called Secretary’s Day? National Professional Secretaries Week and National Secretary’s Day was created in 1952 through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young and Rubicam. Klemfuss recognized the importance and value of the position to a company or business, but his real reason was to get more women to become secretaries. He did promote the value and importance of the job the secretary did and using his influence he created the “holiday” in recognition of secretaries.
In today’s world we rarely hear the term secretary, we now hear “Executive Administrator” or “Administrative Professionals.” The two names mean added responsibilities and changes to the “secretary” position and can mean different things with different companies. We no longer find just women in these positions either, there are more and more men entering these positions.
While it is great to recognize these wonderful women and men, and to have this special day for our professionals who do so much in keeping the offices running, we should remember to appreciate them every day and not just thank them once a year!
To all my Paralegal pals, don’t forget our special day is June 25, 2011, which coincides with the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations Conference being held in beautiful San Francisco at Fisherman’s Wharf! For more information, you can check it out here.
A lawsuit was filed last August charging Deutch with engaging in “a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems,” according to then-Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. ”She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills.” Ads claim Deutch’s success rate in dealing with the IRS is as high as 99 percent, but the percentage of clients whose tax bills Deutch actually reduces is a mere 10 percent.
California’s new Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris, filed an application in Superior Court asking that Deutch, an attorney, be held in contempt, charging that she has repeatedly violated the court’s orders.
“Deutch is an officer of this Court and a member of the Bar, which only serves to magnify the seriousness of Deutch’s violations of the Court’s orders. If anyone can be expected to respect and follow this Court’s orders, it should be those licensed to practice as attorneys before the Court. The harm caused by Deutch’s contempt is worthy of the most severe sanction,” Harris said in her court filing.
It seems immediately after Deutch had been ordered to “take reasonable steps to preserve every document” that might have a bearing in the case said Harris, “the very next day after the [court issued the order], Deutch conducted a purge of law firm documents that resulted in the shredding of nearly 2,000 pounds of the firm’s documents, or about 200,000 pages.” Harris is asking the court to fine Deutch $1,000 and imprison her for five days for “each and every separate contempt” — $1,000 and five days in jail for each of the millions of pages of documents destroyed and each refund not issued.
Deutch also ignored a preliminary injunction that requires her to return all unearned fees to clients within 60 days and admitted that she has over $400,000 in refund requests that are older than 60 days, Harris said.
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Family Law attorney Judith Soley, 65, and her client were gunned down at a Bass Lake restaurant Feb. 16 by the client’s husband, who later turned the gun on himself. Ms. Soley and Sandra Williamson, 65, her client, were leaving a restaurant during a break in court proceedings when Williamson’s estranged husband, James, began beating Soley, who was in her van at that time, and then shot her in the head. He chased his wife into the kitchen of the restaurant, where he shot her in the head, before fleeing in a pickup. Officers later found Williamson in his home, where he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ms. Soley was the first woman president of the Fresno County Bar Association, and was active in both legal and community circles and was one of the first women to be certified as a family law specialist by the State Bar. Ms. Soley became a lawyer when women didn’t frequently join the profession and she built a successful practice and, as a single mother, raised her daughter, who became her law partner.
Judith Soley, Esq.
Ms. Soley used a wheelchair all her life, but traveled the world, including visits to the Great Wall of China, Russia, England and Hawaii, as well as stints in Italy and Mexico to perfect her language skills. She graduated from UCLA and received her law degree from Boalt Hall, beginning her practice in 1971.
Ms. Williamson was a labor and delivery coach for 15 years and Mr. Williamson was a retired Los Angeles firefighter. Friends of the couple said that Mr. Williamson was manic depressive and refused to take his medication, per reports to them by Ms. Williamson several years ago. The parties’ divorce was an on again, off again action for the last seven years. The initial divorce was filed in 2004 and the couple reconciled only to separate in 2007 when Ms. Williamson obtained a restraining order for domestic violence. In 2010, she tried to have the restraining order renewed but was unable to locate the whereabouts of Mr. Williamson and was unable to have it served.
Sandra Williamson
Family Law can sometimes become very volatile when dealing with very emotional issues and those of us in family law are aware of the dangers that sometimes occur in divorce and custody matters. If you talk to a Family Law attorney, you will no doubt hear of some opposing party who has become angry with the soon to be ex’s attorney, and has made some threatening comment or threatened some action against that attorney.
Working in family law, I have witnessed many times when this has occurred and have had to call in police assistance to escort the opposing party out of the law office during heated moments. One former attorney I worked for has had to be escorted along with the client, from the courthouse to their vehicles by the bailiff, after being threatened in the hallway during negotiations with the opposing party, his counsel and the client.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Ms. Soley’s family and staff and Ms. Williamson’s family and co-workers.
According to the Tennessee attorney general’s office, Charlene Carter was doing business as Carter’s Paralegal Service and allegedly advertised her legal services on Craigslist and through business cards and was providing divorces to consumers. There was no mention of how many divorces were provided and if there were any problems or issues with these divorces in the article I read at WSMV.com. Carter has agreed to pay restitution to customers who paid for legal services and has agreed to stop the alleged illegal activity, according to the attorney general’s office.
I don’t know what the rules for a paralegal in Tennessee are, but in California a paralegal cannot offer legal services to the public, even completing documents, without the direct supervision of an attorney unless the paralegal is a Legal Document Assistant, (LDA). I would love to hear from Tennessee paralegals on what they can and cannot do as a paralegal and if they have LDA’s or a comparable.
California LDA’s can prepare documents at the direction of the consumer, they cannot give legal advice, and cannot tell you what to put into the forms or select the forms for you. An LDA must be registered and bonded in their county. The California Association of Legal Document Assistants has a pdf that explains the differences between the Paralegal and LDA.
So, next time you think about making an extra buck, remember, it’s not worth it!
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