legal professionals

[JunkFoodGenius]

I'm a legal data clerk in a workers' compensation chain in California by day.

By night, I'm Batman.

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by amber

That's cool - my favorite teacher was a lawyer in asbestos defense. I got the impression it was lucrative. But he was the one who said it happens a lot that he'll do all the trial prep, tons of discovery, etc. - and at the last minute they will settle. So you do all that work and then don't need it. I mean, it sounds bad, but you have to do it. Still, I think it would be frustrating to do all of that trial prep all the time, and then rarely have a trial.

very true. the thing is the better defense you've prepared the less you settle for so it ends up being good for your client. a claim that's worth $200K can easily settle for $4K...I've seen it happen. asbestos is going away though rapidly...at least here with recent Supreme Court decisions

[tynan88]

Originally Posted by gypsysoul

I'm a barrister in London.
The profession is separated in England - solicitors and barristers. Barristers are the freaks who wear wigs and gowns.
Wigs can make even geeky men look distinguished, they just make us females look like stripogram girls

Wow I'd love to do that, did you begin work as a solicitor or did you go straight for the bar? I know I'd like to work as a barrister but I'll probably go be a solicitor first as it can be way too hard to go straight to self employment.

If you don't mind me asking does it pay well?

[gypsysoul]

Hi Tynan
Like most barristers I went straight to the Bar after studying. Very few become solicitors and then change. They are very different jobs really.

I never even considered becoming a solicitor as I didn't want the hassle of having to deal with office admin paperwork or having to see clients all the time.
As a barrister I just see clients at court and don't have to take their phone calls at all times of the day and night!

Yes, having to wait for your fees to come in instead of having a regular monthly salary is annoying but that's the downside of being self employed. However, when I'm not in court my time is my own - this is great for me since I do some freelance journalism work.

As for money - yes it can pay very well. Like any profession, at the higher end you can make a fortune.

In the mid range you can make a very good living. And even at its lowest end you can always be just one case away from the big one!

What stage are you at? I'm happy to give you any tips you might need.

[tynan88]

Originally Posted by gypsysoul

What stage are you at? I'm happy to give you any tips you might need.

Thanks! I'm still quite away off...I'm actually in Australia where I am fairly sure our systems are very close if not identical (including the wigs) and I will only be starting my 5 year degree next year.

The reason I ask about you getting straight on to the bar is because a couple of younger barristers I know were initially solicitors as a way of making contacts and the likes but you are so right about the boring paper work!

How long have you been practicing now? Have you ever had any great troubles?

I have always found the entire legal industry so different to anything else. I suppose it woul be the same in America where it is so very insular and even from the time you study it becomes this little clique of law students.

PS: Anyone please also add to experiences in the legal culture!

[markolas]

Originally Posted by Livia

I love what I do, but everything you've heard about attorneys is true. Except for Strand - he probably NEVER procrastinates.

Maybe I should be an attorney.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by amber

What kind of attorneys? I notice you own a house...just scoping it out.
Whenever I'm looking at the jobs on Craigslist, it appears that IP paralegals/assistants are the highest paid.

Maybe I need to check this out. What do you have to do, go to school, or something?

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by markolas

Maybe I need to check this out. What do you have to do, go to school, or something?

it's a good profession to be in, really, if you can handle the stress and the egos of most of the attorneys. and law firms are all about politics. I always say I feel like I'm on Big Brother.

anyway, yes, there are programs in schools to be a paralegal, but I have an English degree and had 6 years of legal experience which got my foot in the door so I became a paralegal through experience, which used to be the norm, but I think now a lot more people are going through a paralegal certification program. I've been in the legal field for close to 10 years now. I don't want to do this forever, but you make good connections, it's great all-around experience and the pay is good.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

it's a good profession to be in, really, if you can handle the stress and the egos of most of the attorneys. and law firms are all about politics. I always say I feel like I'm on Big Brother.

Hm. I dunno. See, right now I'm an insurance coder, and the pay is ****. Plus, I feel like I'm helping these smarmy agents rip off old people. I don't want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, as far as that goes. As far as politics and egos...generally I have zero tolerance for that kind of crap, but if the price is right, I might be able to put up with it.

And I wouldn't be doing it forever...just long enough for me to rathole half a million dollars or so.

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by markolas

Hm. I dunno. See, right now I'm an insurance coder, and the pay is ****. Plus, I feel like I'm helping these smarmy agents rip off old people. I don't want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, as far as that goes. As far as politics and egos...generally I have zero tolerance for that kind of crap, but if the price is right, I might be able to put up with it.

And I wouldn't be doing it forever...just long enough for me to rathole half a million dollars or so.

dude...I'm with you! you got the right idea.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

it's a good profession to be in, really, if you can handle the stress and the egos of most of the attorneys. and law firms are all about politics. I always say I feel like I'm on Big Brother.

anyway, yes, there are programs in schools to be a paralegal, but I have an English degree and had 6 years of legal experience which got my foot in the door so I became a paralegal through experience, which used to be the norm, but I think now a lot more people are going through a paralegal certification program. I've been in the legal field for close to 10 years now. I don't want to do this forever, but you make good connections, it's great all-around experience and the pay is good.

I refuse to believe Attorneys have ego's.....

[Mad4stevie]

I practiced family law for 6 years before I went into education. I tried out all kinds - large firm, then small firm, then self-employment. While I like the law, I HATED all the b.s. that came with it. The politics, the egos, the crazy clients, the unsupportive supervisors, the backstabbing, etc. I probably had more drama in my job because all I did was divorce and custody cases. It was a job that was high on emotion and low on pay. I suffered greatly because I really gave away too much of myself for the job. My clients LOVED me because they got my undivided attention and could slide on their bills. Of course, that is my own responsibility, to set limits on those things. BUT when you are so worn out by all the drama, your needs always seem to take a back set to everyone else's needs.

Thankfully, a new job opportunity literally saved my emotional and financial life - I took a job as the director of a paralegal program and I love it! I have also been tapped to create a new criminal justice program at my college, so I feel like I must be doing something right! I look back now, and never would go back to the crappy custody litigation that sucked the life out of me.

Some people cannot understand why I would ever not want to be in practice . . . well, those people have never worked it the legal profession!

[amber]

Originally Posted by markolas

Maybe I need to check this out. What do you have to do, go to school, or something?

That is what I did, having no legal experience. My degree so far is an AA, but it is no cake walk, the classes are definitely challenging enough.

It would be hard to get a paralegal job right when I finish, you still have to get experience. Few law offices hire inexperienced paralegals.

Most of my classes are law classes, the rest are writing classes, writing about the law. And a couple work experience classes. I had one non law (psych) class for the requirement. Also, the certificate is less units than the AA degree, I already have the certificate requirements done.

To give you an idea, I had to take:
Commercial Law 1&2 (Business Law)
Intro to Legal Assisting (you learn procedural things here, about the courts)
Legal Research and Writing 1&2
Civil Litigation
Family Law (elective)
Intellectual Property (elective)
Investigation, Discovery, & Trial Prep (my favorite)
Wills, Trusts, & Probate Law (too much math, this one is boring )
Environmental Law (this was an elective, you have a couple different ones to choose from)
Work Experience (volunteering/interning in a legal setting)

The semester coming up will be my last, and I have left to take:
Torts
Law Office Management & Procedures
Civil & Criminal Evidence

I also have to take Statistics and Speech, but those are transfer requirements, not requirements for the paralegal degree. This is going to be a boring semester...

You'll also need computer skills. Word, Wordperfect and others, depending.

IP (what you experessed interest in?) pays so well because it's a very specialized field. I believe my teacher told us that IP lawyers need engineering degrees, too, or something like that. I'm not sure that is it, but. Because they deal with patents in addition to the other aspects of IP law.

The whole thing hasn't been that bad, though, I've done my schoolwork probably an average on medium effort, and I have a 3.0.

[gypsysoul]

Hello Tynan
Replying to your questions:
Yes i think the system in England and Australia is probably similar - just as India, Pakistan and many of the African countries etc have a very English legal system because of the past when this small island ruled the world!

However, I think you may have a slightly different definition of solicitor and barrister. In England we barristers get ouR cases from Solicitors not directly from clients.
The best way to describe it is like a doctor and a specialist. Barristers are the specialists who take on a case from a solicitor who passes it on to them for presentation in court and for specialist advice etc but still retains the day to day handling of the case.

Because they are two very separate areas of practice, people don't usually start as one thing and then transfer. But maybe it's less defined in Australia and people do move between the two.

Yes, I have had some big cases.
This past year for example, 4 of my cases have made the national media and in one instance the international press too.
However this is quite rare. Due to the subject matter of my special area, my work is usually very low key and out of the public eye.

[Neb-Maat-Re]

I work for the local equivalent of what most of you would call the DA, but I am not a lawyer myself.

Originally Posted by gypsysoul

However, I think you may have a slightly different definition of solicitor and barrister.

Each State in Aus has it's own legal system (and different names for the various Courts), but most States do have a fused legal profession - that is, when you become Admitted you are Admitted as a Barrister and a Solicitor. I think in Queensland they are still seperate but in NSW where Tynan is and here in Victoria it's fused.

Having said that, most people make a choice to practice as either a Barrister or as a Solicitor, and here in Victoria even though you are Admitted you still need to do an additional Bar Reader's course before going to the Bar.