Declining law school enrollments have had a positive effect on the paralegal field. A new salary survey issued by Robert Half Legal predicts that the demand for non-lawyers with competent skill levels is in higher demand, forcing salaries to increase in 2008. Executive Director Charles Volkert said some law firms are building up practice areas, while corporate legal departments are...
An article today in The Jerusalem Post revealed that 40 new Israeli women paralegals worked long hours on an $8 billion U.S. real estate deal. The training sponsored by the Development Center for the Employment of Haredim, (an Orthodox sect of Judiasm that bypasses modern secular beliefs), a branch of the ministry, and the Joint-Israel, is a result of an increased effort by the Israeli...
The Maine Biz Daily reported today that Maine will soon be among those states with a shortage in workers as seemingly an overwhelming number of its residents are running with the Baby Boomer pack. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility at Boston College cites data from a U.S. Census Bureau study that will be released later this year that found a...
An article this week by the Legal Intelligencer citing possible associate layoffs in the corporate, mergers & acquisitions and securities arena failed to mention the trickle down effect on paralegals. Surely, anyone with just a few years of experience recalls the nasty era of 2001-2004 or so of deep purges and scourages affecting thousands of corporate transactional paralegals. ...
Here's a great example of new opportunities opening for paralegals: The Daily Report (Atlanta) ran a story today that talks about Loeb & Loeb (my old alma mater) and other major Los Angeles firms that have opened a new fashion and luxury items practice group. Daily Report While fashion law in Los Angeles isn’t an original, the new groups hail from midsized firms rather...
The billable hour is now dead for Harrison & Ford's 190-attorney firm, according to law.com's blog, Newswire. The full-article from The National Law Journal, states that Harrison & Ford does not expect first-year associates to bill time. Wow. This innovative idea should filter on down to brand-new paralegals. Think about it: Paralegal schools cannot teach...
Working mothers still struggle with promotion and partnership issues according to a new survey conducted by Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers. While the survey was intended to show how many large law firms are "tolerant" of working mothers, the fact that a survey needed needed to be conducted in the first place seems to indicate that being a working mother is still and may...
An article from LawCrossing that just might help advance your career:"You have probably heard the cliché 'You get one chance to make a first impression.' You have probably also heard that while your words only communicate about 7% of what you are trying to say, nonverbal cues communicate the remainder of the message you are sending. "While a large portion of this remainder category...
Condolences if you work for a bully, but this article in The National Law Journal holds out some hope. I thought the survey results reported by the employer group, Employment Law Alliance (see list below), were startling:"Abusive bosses who bully employees could breed a new crop of employment litigation, warn employment attorneys, who say there's a growing movement across the country to make...