This weekend I was asked to do a job profile for a friend who is thinking about a career as a paralegal. Although my answers are somewhat atypical, being a self-employed legal assistant/paralegal, it was still an interesting experience to really take a few minutes to do a broad overview of what I’m doing, what I’ve done throughout my career and if I would do it again if my choices were different today.

I should have pointed the friend to a great blog that often profiles paralegals as a resource for learning more about her potential career path. Lynne DeVenny offers tons of helpful information and news items relating to the paralegal world, but my favorite posts on her blog are the paralegal profiles. It’s a great way to show the various choices within the profession that are available to someone who thinks that this is the career for them! Hmmm, think I better go shoot off a follow up email!!

I have always had an ethics section on my virtual assistant site, because I realize how important it is to act in a professional and ethical manner. Working as a paralegal for many years gave me a very strong awareness of issues like confidentiality, conflict of interest and duty of care. I believe that all virtual assistants, whether they work in the legal field or not, should follow a high standard of ethics. But until recently I hadn’t given a lot of thought to actually proving to my clients that I could put my money where my mouth was, so to speak.

Last week though I was lucky enough to spend some time chatting with Andrea Cannavina of Legal Typist. Andrea has a very successful virtual assistant business which also primarily targets the legal industry. Andrea was kind enough to give a semi-newbie to the virtual world a little advice and I was more than glad to quickly take action on her suggestion to get a proper EthicsCheck certification from the International Virtual Assistants Association.

So this week I paid my fee and took the ethics check exam. It is a fairly lengthy and in-depth examination, and that was a good thing in my opinion. A designation is worthless if you don’t have to have in-depth knowledge to obtain it. Today, I received my confirmation that I passed the exam!

Here is the seal I am now able to display on my site!

Laurie Mapp, Verification Number 09-02-20113

I’m proud to now be able to offer this assurance to my clients and hope that other virtual assistants who want to be taken seriously recognize the value of such a certification and pursue it themselves.

And now, it’s Friday afternoon and I’m going to go have a little fun! Have a great weekend!

Becoming a virtual paralegal is the best thing I have ever done, career-wise anyway! So I was very excited when I was interviewed for an article in Legal Assistant Today about the rising trend to being a freelance or virtual paralegal and I just wanted to share, hopefully there will be a link available at Legal Assistant Today at some point in the future, but for now you can read the text of the article by Tammy R. Pettinato here!

Of course, since the article came out I’ve already had a couple of contacts from people who want to become a virtual legal assistant or virtual paralegal. I know there are a ton of people out there, just like I once was, who love what they do but want more flexibility in their scheduling, or who want to get away from the cubicle world and work with their trusty laptops in a coffee-shop, a tropical paradise or (like me!) just want to work in their comfy home offices. While I don’t mind answering the occasional email about becoming a virtual legal assistant, I generally just refer people to the places I got all of my starting info. Check out the VAnetworking Forum or the Virtual Assistant Forums. Both of these places have tons of really helpful information and both are free, so they make the best starting points.

Take care!

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!