 February 11, 2007 - Corporate America Rant continues - February 01, 2007 - Graduate Career Search in Corporate America is a Fucked Up Campaign - January 07, 2007 - A little Art for the Art lovers - December 27, 2006 - Aphie has a Master's Degree - July 06, 2006 - More to come...thoughts at 4 am - |
APHIE'S RANTS AND PIECES
July 01, 2006 - 10:19 p.m. - Pissed about being in legal I am currently a paralegal - 3 years. I think there are a couple of things that annoy me about the profession that I have finally been able to put my finger on. One is the pool of applicants and the fact that respect cannot be gained in the position from attorneys and others alike because there has been an inflood of applicants who have just high school degrees and no certification whatsoever. Most jobs I have been on, the secretary who is basic high school graduate learns things on the job from you the paralegal and then, the attorneys and within time she is offered your job because she will do it for less than they would have to pay you, the overqualified paralegal, and before you know it you are scrambling for jobs with a dozen "paralegals" in the same category, just on the job knowledge and not that much legal education. This is my third job in three years, one because I have not been able to cope with obnoxious attorneys and two because I refuse to be equated with the current pool of underqualified paralegals in the field. Take my current job, when I applied for it, they said they wanted ABA certified, college graduate etc. However, since then, the department dwindled financially and otherwise, and I and the admin assistant are the only support staff left. In an effort to share work, I was asked to alleviate the admin of some of her duties, and she in turn was given paralegal duties. Needless to say she is not a college graduate and does not have a paralegal certificate, she does not even have an associates degree. So now, I am equally pissed and discontent, and she wants to talk to HR so that she can be paid as much as I am since she in essence carries out the same tasks as I do. Recently the job ads for paralegals (one I say just last night from a reputable law firm in Atlanta) had "some high school as the qualification" needed to apply for the position of business commercial litigation paralegal. Meaning, you don't necessarily have to have graduated high school, just as long as you saw some of it. That's fine. I just want to know if I'm the only who sees the wrong in that, or is it the same way across the board, not just Atlanta. I overread some of the old entries on a blog where someone mentioned that CA insists that paralegals obtain their certification from ABA approved schools. That is just the total opposite in GA. What is going on, and how can we save this profession? back track - fast forward - history aphie's chronicles - aphie's transcripts aphie's other personality - aphie's diary rings tell aphie you read her work - 
|