. At the beginning of August 2022, I made one of the boldest moves of my career: I quit my well-paying full-time job as an in-house litigation paralegal at a health and wellness company and put out my shingle as a freelance paralegal. It was simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. Luckily I had a few things in the "Pros" column when I made my decision. One was that I had been freelancing on the...
So, is this good news? Or bad news for the paralegal profession? "A Wailuku paralegal who said she 'filled in the blanks' for a customer on a divorce form has been acquitted of a charge of unauthorized practice of law. "Kitty Atchley, 54, was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of unsworn falsification to authorities for documents she filed in court as part of a divorce case in...
After a hard-fought legislative battle, independent paralegals in in Ontario will become a regulated profession on May 1. This Toronto Star article outlines why licensing is needed:"In recent years, the need for regulating paralegals has been the subject of considerable comment by Ontario judges and in two Ontario government reports. The most recent comment occurred in a Superior Court...
It will be most interesting to compare U.S. regulation with Canada's approach: "She will be among the first students to graduate from Humber College's first bachelor degree programs. As a newly minted paralegal, Sheelagh McLellan will also be among the first in Ontario to benefit from groundbreaking legislation that will regulate the often-misunderstood profession. "'I was interested in...
How often have you dreamed about working remotely for your law firm? "Like most firms, at Traverse Legal we constantly grapple with dilemmas about staffing. The uncertainty of workload always creates a serious quandary. Understaffing can fuel burnout, and can leave otherwise necessary billable work undone. It also can lead to client friction. How many times have your staffing problems caused...
Isn't it just great to be in demand? "Temporary legal staffing is the most consistently fast growing segment of the contingent workforce in the United States and is largely driven by merger and acquisition activity and litigation-related work, according to a new report by Staffing Industry Analysts, the premier provider of market intelligence about the contingent workforce. -- Over...
Real case managed by a bonded & registered Legal Document Assistant in Califormia: "In 2004, an anxious young husband and father approached Just Document Preparation in Riverside to help him file a domestic violence restraining order against his wife. "He wanted to protect himself and his young daughter from his wife's abuse stemming from her refusal to take medication for...
Well, this new paralegal business feature sounds interesting, dontcha think? "Virtual Paralegal Services, LLC, a provider of affordable, on-demand, experienced paralegal assistance exclusively for lawyers and their clients, today introduced its new Virtual Workspace. "VPS’ Virtual Workspace gives lawyers access to a highly secure collaborative environment for creating, storing and...
I LIKE this idea! Nice follow-up to the post about independent paralegals, hmm? "Since July 1986, Paralegal Services of Allenhurst has been matching freelance paralegals with New Jersey-area attorneys. "Now, it wants to expand the business into a nationwide franchise system, essentially by giving paralegals working for firms a model to become independent contractors. "Last month,...
Did you know that the CA Legal Document Assistants Association is now 20 years old & has 225 members? "Ed Sherman started a revolution 35 years ago when he wrote How to Do Your Own Divorce in California. Since then, millions of people have found they needn't resort to the adversarial and expensive step of hiring a lawyer to reach a divorce settlement. A new industry — independent...
