Posts made in January, 2009

Value of Law School

Posted by Laurie on Jan 30, 2009 in Legal Practice, paralegal, virtual paralegal | Comments Off

I was reading again yesterday a post over at Law21 about law school and the legal system. It was a fascinating read since Jordan touched on whether students going into law school truly realize what the realities are for them once they finish law school.

It reminded me of when I first decided to go to school to become a paralegal. I took a couple of years off after high school (in my family it was a big deal simply to have graduated high school, there was no expectation to do anything more). I knew that I wanted more out of my life than minimum wage jobs and I’d always had a keen interest in the legal field. I did consider going to university and then law school, but I was well aware that it was going to cost me a LOT of money. I decided paralegal school would be a good option since the program was much shorter, the overall tuition more reasonable and i would still have decent earning potential.

It also reminded me a job I had at a law firm about 3 years after getting my paralegal diploma. I’d worked for a sole practitioner for those three years and gained invaluable experience. Then I went to work for a mid-size law firm. It was a very different experience and my first time working with articling students. They were paid barely more than I was (I made about $30,000 a year at the time). They often seemed ill-prepared for the real work of a law firm. Don’t get me wrong, they were smart and I really enjoyed working with them. It just made it clear to me that law school didn’t bother with practical matters, teaching a lot about theory and research and not much else. These are important things, but my opinion is that all schools should combine theory with practical work. An articling year helps, but it would, in my opinion, probably be worthwhile to incorporate some on the job time in every year of study. Why wait until all the studying part is over?

Thankfully for me, my paralegal program did prepare me quite well for my career in the legal field. The ten years I spent working for lawfirms further enhanced my skills, leaving me feeling particularly prepared for my current career as a self-employed paralegal. I love the work I do and I love helping lawyers meet their business goals. Being a virtual paralegal is a perfect choice for me!

Organic SEO Works!

Posted by Laurie on Jan 27, 2009 in blogging, virtual legal assistance | Comments Off

It doesn’t mean a whole lot, at least not right in this moment, but I was excited to see the Halo Secretarial Services blog showing up on Google’s first page when searching “virtual legal assistance” and “virtual legal assistant” this week. Next week maybe it’ll be gone – it seems like so much changes in the world of search engines! But for now I know that my blogging efforts are helping my cause somewhat. I have gotten a few inquiries from people who found me on the internet by searching, now I just need to convert them to clients!

Generation Labels

Posted by Laurie on Jan 21, 2009 in Entrepreneurial, Inspiration, work life balance | Comments Off

I’ve never tried to embed a video on my blog before (I need to do this more often!!) but I was so inspired when I saw this video called The Lost Generation over on Susan Cartier Liebel’s great blog Build A Solo Practice, LLC.  Thank goodness she posted the link on Twitter – I haven’t gotten to my reader in a few days so I don’t know when I would have seen this! You really have to watch this video – the WHOLE thing!! It’s under two minutes and well worth your time!

So what generation are you all from anyway? Does it affect your behaviour, your morals, your desires? Personally I’m at the tail end of Gen X, born in 1975.  I don’t really know how this has affected my life specifically – I tend to think simply of how my family, my upbringing and specific cultural factors have influenced my life and work ethic. I know I’m much like other women of my age – I want a family and a career, I want an equal partnership with my husband and I happily embrace new technology as quickly as I can. Ok, that one seems common here in my blogging and Twittering world but I’m ahead of the curve technologically speaking in my immediate circle of family and friends. Half of them don’t even know what a blog is – shocking as that is to me!!!

I know that all these factors, combined with things like the cost of childcare here in Canada have lead to me choosing the entrepreneurial path. Owning a virtual assistant company and offering my legal assistance services on basically a “freelance” basis allows me to achieve (most days) that elusive balance so many women of my era are seeking. So according to this definition of Generation X, I guess am pretty typical of my generation!

Partnering With A Virtual Assistant

Posted by Laurie on Jan 20, 2009 in guest post, virtual assistance | 2 comments

Have you had a chance to check out my guest post on Freelance Parent yet? It went up last week and it’s especially helpful if you are considering hiring/partnering with a virtual assistant sometime soon.

I posted the link on Twitter shortly after the post was published and wanted to note some helpful info that was pointed out to me, courtesy of @Carol_DA (Carol D’Annunzio). For example, you don’t really “hire” a virtual assistant, so much as partner with one or contract one, as virtual assistants are of course independent business owners. I do realize this but sometimes I just explain it later in a post, rather than putting it right into the title! Also Carol points out that most VA’s she knows charge a minimum of $35 per hour. I have known many who charge somewhat less, but I do feel that it is more than fair for a good virtual assistant to charge $35 to $50 per hour. It’s hard to value yourself high sometimes, especially in a poor economy, but that doesn’t change the fact that an experienced virtual assistant is worth her weight in gold (or chocolate, lol!)

I hope if you are planning a partnership with a virtual assistant that you will have a look at my post, and if you have any questions or concerns please do get in touch with me!! And while you are there, read some of the other wonderful posts at Freelance Parent – I truly love their work and they have great tips for people working to grow a freelance/consultant type of business.

It IS Worth It

Posted by Laurie on Jan 19, 2009 in Entrepreneurial, Inspiration | Comments Off

I think many of us are overwhelmed some days, some weeks even, by the demands on our time and wonder if what we’re doing is working. I read this beautiful post by Kelly Phillips Erb (aka Taxgirl) today about Martin Luther King and achieving justice. Now, having worked with lawyers for so many years I have a ton of respect for the work that they do and know that access to justice is so important, even if sometimes things aren’t so black and white as we would wish.

But Kelly’s post was also inspiring to me on another whole level. She talked about questioning her role and how sad it can be when everything is about getting paid. I’ve been feeling like it can be such a struggle to establish my virtual assistant business – to find clients who I can partner with and offer my best and have them appreciate it. I forget to take time to simply appreciate the place I have already made it to. The place where I get to take an afternoon off and play in the snow with my boys, the place where I do LOVE my current clients and a place where there is so much potential! So I’m not getting rich, and maybe I never will, but I am having a great time, meeting amazing people and spending way more time with my children than I ever did working as an in-house paralegal. It is so worth it to keep on working and learning and growing.