Weight! Weight! Are you sabotaging your career?

Have you ever considered that those extra pounds that sneaked up when you were just “having an extra bite” might be holding your career back?  Some years ago when I worked for a major Los Angeles law firm, the Director of Administration asked me to lunch.  Since this was rarely done for non-attorneys in those days, I was delighted.  He took me to the Yorkshire Grill where he...

Weight! Weight! Are you sabotaging your career?

Have you ever considered that those extra pounds that sneaked up when you were just “having an extra bite” might be holding your career back? Some years ago when I worked for a major Los Angeles law firm, the Director of Administration asked me to lunch.  Since this was rarely done for non-attorneys in those days, I was delighted.  He took me to the Yorkshire Grill where he...

Our Ms. Manners Reaches Out Over Wine, Wisdom and Wacky Traditions

Our guest blogger today is Stacey Wagner When I was eleven years old, the flu collided with Christmas dinner and forever dampened my enthusiasm for holiday food.  So, every year I sit back with a glass of wine and watch the mayhem unfold as my  multigenerational and multicultural family of cooks and foodies barter and (mostly) good-naturedly bicker over which foods will take center...

We’re number one…well, almost….

I received an email today from Charles Sipe According to paralegal411.org and the sophisticated metrics they use, The Estrin Report  is ranked number two (in the world? in the country? on the Internet?) in the Top 25 paralegal blogs.   I love that and I genuinely appreciate all of your support and thank you for what it took to get there.  This blog has been around...

When do you reveal you’re going to law school?

A paralegal posted a common question to one of the LinkedIn groups: “Am I absolutely out of my mind trying to find paralegal work, with no experience yet, only certification, and entering law school in the fall? Not exactly the ideal situation for a lot of hiring companies, apparently.” Naturally, I had to put in my $.25. No one who is seeking further education is out of their minds!...

A Stress Free Career? Are You Living in Dreamland????

  Stress doesn't really scare me. It is part and parcel of our lives. Why, might you ask, would anyone say that?  Probably because in the second half of my work life, I have found the secrets to a relatively stress free career.  Article after article has been written about stress.  It’s the same old, same old:  manage your stress, have a plan, stay positive,...

Change Your Game Plan – Change the Odds of Your Success

Back in the "old days" which can mean going back a mere six or seven years, a legal professional with a degree who demonstrated solid work experience, could pretty much be assured that she would find a job. Generally speaking, few worried about going back to school. With the advent of this current recession, all of that changed significantly. Nowadays, even if you have a stellar resume,...

In Search of the Rest of Your Career

We all start out headed in one direction, and darn it, if we don’t end up in another. There are estimates that people have three to five completely different careers in one lifetime. That’s a lot of time invested when including the decision-making process, transition time, learning curve and years to gain a little experience.Let’s introduce the concept of career-changing rather than...

Participating in Salary Surveys Can Lead to Big Surprises

Here's what's lacking in this market: Reliable salary surveys that the average law firm employee can get their hands on. Sure, there are lots of surveys out there but they are either a) an informal survey that isn't entirely accurate; b) available only for top executives; c) done by an association without the psychometrics, analytics and other precision tools that make a survey...