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Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Small town paralegal in the city. Once ran a law office, now being run by one. Med mal defense litigation. I think it's growing on me.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Life of the Young Urban Professional

Two months into the new job, and I have a few changes to note. First, my attorneys seem to have figured out that I like to work. My to-do list never runs out, and my office is full of accordion files that are stuffed with folders and papers.The best part is that my work is still interesting. While I began my new job by organizing file after file after file, a larger part of my work these days includes researching expert witnesses and obtaining medical records.

One thing I wish I could change is this time clock business. When I worked for The Boss, I never worried about fitting so much into a mere 40 hours. If I needed to work overtime, I did. Five o'clock was just a number. Now it's a deadline. I must clock out by 5:15, and if I do not, then I must cut my Friday short by however many minutes I snuck into the front of the week. Leaving early on a Friday sounds nice, right? Not when I have to leave one or two items on my to-do list for Monday.

And as a stickler for rules, I take the firm policy of no unapproved overtime seriously. Although it seems that a few minutes of overtime seems to be okay every once in awhile, it still feels like cheating to me. So I work and I stress and try to fit as many billable hours into my strict eight-hour day as possible.

I am ridiculously busy these days, and not just with work. Somehow over the past year, I have extended paralegaling into real life. If you read my blog, you already know that. But specifically, I am doing quite a bit of writing lately. A professional paper and two other articles due before August... along with making time for everything else. I guess frazzled is an appropriate word for these circumstances.

But I wouldn't change a thing. One of the partners at my new firm asked me why I had not left the office yet at 5:15 last Wednesday. "You need to grab your man and go out to a coffee shop. Enjoy being young urban professionals," he said. It struck me then that urban professionals is exactly what we are. It also struck me that he used the word "professional" to describe my position as a paralegal. As I said, I wouldn't change a thing.

1 comment:

  1. Great Blog! I'd like to include it in our resources section of a new book from The Organization of Legal Professionals (www.theolp.org), "The OLP's Thought Leaders Guide to eDiscovery". Also, would you be interested in doing a webinar for us? Let me know your thoughts.

    Chere Estrin
    Editor-in-Chief
    KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals
    www.knowparalegal.com
    chere@knowparalegal.com
    760-610-5460

    ReplyDelete