Read more from The Estrin Report

Sex, Secretaries and Audacious Attorneys

  Sometimes, you're just plain shocked at behavior.  Law.com Legal Blog Watchreported today a  bombshell of a complaint over a May 2009 ad on Craigslist under "Adult Gigs" for a secretary/legal assistant. The ad was titled: "Loop lawyers hiring secretary/legal assistant." It read as follows: Loop law firm looking to hire am energetic woman...

When to Say No to Your Dream Job

Have you ever wondered what might have happened in your life if you had chosen one road over another?  I mean, what really might have happened?     I don’t make a habit of writing about my own experiences but…..a few years ago while minding my own business (literally), I was approached by a major staffing organization (big players – cool $5+ billion a year in...

The Empowered Paralegal – A New Book for New Paralegals

For those of us who are "old" hands at this, the information presented in a new book by Robert E. Mongue, The Empowered Paralegal, may seem pretty obvious.  However, when I think back to when I was brand new on the job, (and very, very young), my first day was very powerful.  The lesson I learned - remembered for a lifetime - was just how much I didn't learn...

You Call This Networking??

Networking.  No matter how you twitter, tweet, link, face or space, you have to do it these days if you want to avoid career suicide.  With all this online socializing, however, your knack for meeting strangers one-on-one (probably the best networking tool of all) gets rusty and pushed into the background of your skills. There's no such thing...

DOJ Paralegal Whistleblower Dissed & Dismissed – Exclusive Interview!

Exclusive to KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals From Justice Dream Job to Nightmare Tamarah Grimes, Justice Department Paralegal:Why This Whistleblower Was Dissed & Dismissed   By Andrew Kreig, J.D., M.S.L. As federal prosecutors prepared in 2006 for the corruption trial of Alabama’s former Gov. Don Siegelman, Justice Department paralegal Tamarah Grimes thought she was progressing well...

Critical Need for e-Discovery Certification & The OLP

Today’s screaming for qualified e-discovery professionals has reached an unprecedented volume. Recently, Socha-Gelbman published an overview of the results of their annual survey on the Legal Technology News site. One of the most important single observations from it is the shortage of expertise in the market-place with providers, law firms and corporations reported as “fighting each other...

Why Would the S.C. Bar Stifle Competency Improvement?

According to the Carolina Paralegal News, South Carolina paralegals won't be seeing voluntary certification and registration any time soon. The South Carolina House of Delegates has tabled a proposal for paralegals to start a voluntary certification program for paralegals.  The delegates referred a proposed Certified Paralegal Program back to the Paralegal Task Force which...

The Organization of Legal Professionals – An association worth joining

The Organization of Legal Professionals, a non-profit organization has launched its membership drive.  Dedicated to certification of e-Discovery and other areas in the legal field, this association has attracted some of the top lawyers and legal professionals in the country and abroad. Dedicated to certification through education and collaboration, The OLP's goals include e-discovery...

Tired of the Same Old Paralegal Job? Positions Exist Where You Least Expect

Have you ever found yourself performing an assignment that you know perfectly well, given a different name and a different case, would be the same assignment you have performed over and over ad nauseam?  For example, deposition summaries, indexing, boiler plate contracts, subpoenas, and the like.  Same assignment, different story. This action, my friends, is a sure sign of the...