u/Leading_Aside_4929

my firm switched to a different case management system, some of the dates didn’t come over and now I am in charge of every single date needing to be calendared.

I may have messed up one or two of the scheduling orders because i have never done them before and some of the counties near me word the orders in a confusing way. However I take accountability since I was assigned to fix it

will I get fired? they just fired the office manager today at 2pm for a mistake

if I do get fired will my career go on or be over?

I am paid $24 an hour as a litigation paralegal with 7 months of experience. am I underpaid? I work in a high cost of living area

I need to quit this job. I have so much drafting and so many deadlines and they just informed me that soon they will be switching me to more litigation work.

every task takes forever because I have to figure out what I’m even doing. this week I have to do a complaint, answers to interrogatories, RFPD, urgent medical records requests, and schedule multiple depositions. I also get assigned other tasks at random.

is this just the nature of the work? or is this this specific firm?

I feel like such a failure. I so wanted to work in this field but I maybe am not cut out for it after all. I feel scared and like I’m going to make a mistake

the way I see it I could

1. quit with nothing lined up

2. try to find something while working

3. try to line up a temporary job like a service job or something while I job search

now my firm is hiring a new additional attorney, a new additional paralegal, three new additional bookkeepers, a new intake specialist and a consultant specialized in “efficiency.”

im weirdly concerned for my job security even though I have so much work because it takes me a little longer to do some tasks since I am new to the field. i review and double check my work which not many people in my office do because they know what they are doing and have high volume of work

also last week I was asked for a to do list of everything I’m working on but was assured it is just to go through and help prioritize what is most urgent and that it’s because my attorney doesn’t remember what he has and has not given me to do. I have like 8 different things I’m working on at all times

should I be concerned? it sounds like they are fully restructuring?

im concerned

I finally have about 6.5 months of experience as a paralegal. I am looking for a new job, but I am having a hard time even finding jobs to apply to on LinkedIn or indeed.

what are creative ways for me to get my resume in front of someone? if I show up at these offices would they admire the initiative or is that frowned upon

probably going to get yelled at tomorrow. I just was assigned yet another task and in the email the attorney said that they know I have a lot of urgent items and can go over my to do list tomorrow. she sent the email saying that they’ll go over it with me and know I have a lot while also giving me more work

im never caught up and I actually want to cry or quit. the only thing stopping me from quitting is embarrassment and fear of finding a new job

im legitimately working every day. every day I try to get caught up and get jerked away from my ask to do something else that is considered more urgent

I hate this so much

are your offices generally chaotic and disorganized? or just mine. I feel like every day I uncover something that is new and disorganized. I don’t want to go back

our case management software lost a lot of the dates, so I have been calendaring the appropriate dates in the calendar.

in the case management software, I see dates that DID come over and they are not connected to the new software, they are via outlook, so when I added the scheduling order and the new dates in I did not realize they were in there and did not move. So no deadlines were missed but one was filed several months early.

i am sick to my stomach and think I’m definitely going to be fired over this which is understandable honestly. What do I do?

I don’t know if I should leave the industry or my specific job.

current job:

-commute is terrible

-they have me doing in depth things with lots of responsibility but little support. for example they don’t tell me what medical records I need to get or review them at the end

-they have me calendaring every date for 120 cases and interpreting scheduling orders with no review.

-there are many other examples

but if I left the industry I don’t know if I would regret it.

I have been given a lot of partial instructions. for example, I get emailed saying “send this to the client.” and a doc attached. no other context. then I send it and there is a template saying “please review and sign” automatically in the new system.

so I send it, leave the template in there, and then now I find out it is wrong what I did because I should have still said please review and sign and said what the document is and let us know if you have questions.

i understand why that is better, that it is clearer communication, etc. and I agree with that. but I don’t get why I wasn’t told “do not use the automated template that populates in the system.” I had someone else show me how to do it and they use the template. I asked them again today and they use the template

apparently it is because some clients in the past not the ones I have worked on (I work in PI so a lot of them are very just litigious people in general) have come back and complained that they just signed without knowing.

I understand it. I agree with it. But now I am freaking out that something bad will happen to me if one of the clients goes and does that- and I thought it was ok to use the template since it literally auto populates without typing it in.

how bad of a mistake is this? Why wasn’t I told Do not use

I was hired as an “entry level” paralegal for a firm. now I thought I was going to eventually support an attorney who works there, but she said this week that actually they are hiring an extra attorney, who I will be supporting in ”the easier persona injury cases.”

I am concerned because I feel like I’m being passed off because I suck at my job, however, I am new, so I know I am obviously nowhere remotely near as good at the job as the senior paralegal. I get why he would want the senior paralegal on his cases

i just feel like, should I be concerned for my job? if anything I have thoroughly critiqued myself and my work in front of the senior paralegal and been told it’s ok and they don’t expect me to know everything. they know I’m nervous and have been supportive. this just doesnt seem like a good indicator to me, but am I overreacting?

is it good or bad that I was put in this position?

do you think it’s a good thing or bad thing that an attorney told me she will be moving me more toward litigation tasks and off the medical records.

this is literally what I want but I am worried that it’s because I suck at doing the medical records. however I don’t know if they would trust me with more tasks if I were bad at the records. she said they aren’t throwing me into the fire but want me to take on more litigation tasks less “normal paralegal work“

im genuinely excited to hear this but im worried it is because the medical records confuse me and im taking too long to get them. She didn’t say this but she might just be being nice to me

What would be a good next step practice area after PI? I like some aspects of PI, but hate managing the medical records and the intense volume that happens.

I feel like I'm drowning in work. I literally get paid $22 an hour and do so much (in hcol area).

Some areas im considering are criminal defense, family law, and intellectual property, as well as estate planning, but I'm not a math person and am worried estate planning will have too much math in it.

Does anyone have any advice? Things I am looking for: best work environment, interesting work but slightly less chaotic with the documentation, higher pay.

had a provider tell me that they won’t be able to get billing records for 6 months! and we need them urgently

what do I do? they said they would try to expedite them. is it not federal law that they have to give them in 30 days

I literally can’t get any work done because my whole day is spent doing intakes and the front desk calls and uploading faxes and mail.
i have a million other paralegal tasks to do and they get pushed to the side because my firm refuses to hire more staff. is that normal

ive been very concerned with my medical records requests as you know. If you make a mistake by missing a provider or missing dates, is that fixable? in personal injury, medical malpractice, and auto cases?

im trying to make myself feel better about them because they feel extremely serious and high stakes and I am legitimately losing sleep over if I accidentally miss a provider

since I had to spend a long time working the receptionist desk this week I have extra paralegal work I need to catch up on over the weekend.

can I ask to be paid for it (I’m paid hourly) next week?

to clarify: I will work the hours this weekend, i just would want it included in the upcoming weeks paycheck since last weeks is done and submitted. I want to be paid for my time working

I have not done medical records requests before. I got about a 15 minute training on it and im building these records collections.

im realizing no one is going to review my records I just don’t think people have the time.

I got assigned like 8 different clients to check and make sure all records are there and request anything that’s missing. Doesn’t that seem like a recipe for disaster? Like I dont know the hospital structures etc.

I’m worried im going to miss a provider and it will be all on me

as a new paralegal is it normal that no one is going to check that everything is right and I basically have to approve that all records and bills are there? and it’s only me?

I’m worried I’m coming across as high maintenance.

I’ve asked our office administrator to keep the office door locked when I’m the only one in the office for safety, and I’ve asked him to fix the copier when it wasn’t working. I’ve also complained about having to cover the front desk, but honestly, everyone else has complained about it too and the like.

Today as he was leaving for lunch he looked at me at the front desk (which I was covering) and said, “Do you want anything from the outside world? Some champagne perhaps?”

Now I’m wondering if he was subtly implying I’m too demanding. At the same time, I feel like other people ask for accommodations too (remote work, schedule preferences, wanting things done certain ways, time off), so I’m not sure if I’m reading too much into it. I really don’t feel like I’m demanding compared to other people in my office but I’m worried. also, other people had him serve them food at lunch meetings etc.

Would you take that as a harmless joke or passive-aggressive criticism? I’m on eggshells in this environment. i feel terrible because I’ve been feeling more stressed and therefore more irritated in the environment and the receptionist has been out Tuesday- today so I have had to cover it for 4 hours a day and not been able to get my work done

Is it normal that a client gives you 4 vague hospitals or providers, 1 of which does not exist, and then you have to just request and try to figure it out and see where else they were referred from the records you get because they don't know where they went for treatment, are confused, or are not giving full information?

if it is normal, is that paralegal work suitable for someone with 3/4 months of experience or is it more advanced?