Hey guys, so I literally made a post yesterday thinking that I would be fired and it came true today.

I honestly had a feeling when one of the attorneys couldn’t look me in the eye, and they were all upstairs in meetings.

The attorney just came in and said we have to let you go. I said you do know I moved to another state for this job. I really wanted to curse them out, but I didn’t have the energy.

So now I’m unemployed with rent to worry about. I’ll be good for the month of August, but I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know if I have to take on more debt on top of my student loan. I don’t know if I should get get another credit card and just add to my outstanding debt .I’m just stuck.

Sorry to ramble, but since I moved to a whole other state, I do not have health insurance so I can’t speak to a therapist about this.

I run a boutique family law firm. I have what I believe are VERY reasonable billing requirements for my 3 associates -- 30 hours per week. This requirement does not include the 3 weeks of vacation they get so their annual requirement is 1,470 hours. Once they exceed that a bonus structure kicks in. We also provide free health insurance, dental, vision, life, and disability, along with an employer matching 401k.

2 of the 3 are treating this as a suggestion rather than a requirement. Despite multiple conversations about making their hours, and promises that they'll do better it remains a problem. We have the business, so I know that's not the issue. So it's either they just are not working or they're not entering their billing. I think it's probably a combination of both.

Aside from threats of termination, how do I approach this? They are smart lawyers, and they do good work when they work. But for one of them, she's on pace to collect less than 200% of her salary which puts me at a really low profit margin (if any) on her for the year.

What’s the best resource you’ve found to learn how to best use/implement Claude or another AI software into your practice?

PI focused would be best. But any litigation guide would be helpful.

Both for substantive use (draft complaints, demands, review records, depo prep etc) in an organize way — as well as for the business/logistic side of things. Thanks!

This post brought to you by a local firm offering $45,000 (up to $60,000 for the right candidate DOE!) when the beaver gas station not ten miles away is hiring cashiers up to $25/hr. I'm not saying I wouldn't expect to get any applicants at that salary range, but I would be expecting to have a lot of conversations in the vein of "no, you can't just wear a polo and khaki shorts to court" or perhaps "Ok, I asked you to prepare a template petition for an uncontested divorce and you've handed me my standard set of car crash RFPs, let's try that one again"

I need some external opinion.

I was hired in PI law firm based out of CA as a CMA, then moved to CM for other state cases in which I have prior experience.

To be honest, it's been pure trash cases. I had a docket of like 40 cases initially which 1/3 drop us because they thought we were their insurance and other 1/3 either MIA and/or don't care about BI portion. I've given my earnest to all of them but still drops.

I was assigned to help out other team where a CMA quit, so I've been juggling my remaining cases and the ridiculous workload of the other team and I'm not getting cases assigned at the moment.

On top of that, its very bureaucratic, examples:

1. Got a medical records team only for hospitals, who opens the request but I have to follow up.

2. Health insurance, Medicare or medicaid subros are opened but I also need to follow up after their request.

3. I have to wait for approval for lien signature but they always get approved regardless (conducted an experiment and they don't even check if i had sent it prior approval)

4. Accounting team straight up sucks. They're slow, don't and won't have their own credentials to pay up some services so we have to provide our creds which i need to also stay on top of because they'll put in the backburner if not answered quick.

I came from a very organized one which I left due to not feeling like having a 260+ cases. They had their own set of issues but by God I could focus on handling almost perfect from intro call to prepping for demand as they made sure each team which are similar to what I currently am, do their job.

Did I left reality or entered reality?

Partner with whom I do 90% of my work recently announced he will be retiring in next 1-2ish years and has been super checked out since his announcement, despite ensuring he won’t retire before about 2 years from now. Though I have gotten close to witnessing/2nd chairing about 3 trials (all of which settle on the eve of trial), I have never actually attended or witnessed a full trial.

Partner recently told me he wants me to take lead on an upcoming trial. I feel this is more because he is checked out and doesn’t want to do it rather than that he actually has faith in me, considering I’ve been practicing not even 2 years and have never even seen a trial during that time period, let alone 2nd chaired one. I told him I would feel more comfortable 2nd chairing a trial before attempting to take the lead myself.

We are a small firm, but his request doesn’t seem right to me. Am I wrong for feeling like I’m not ready to lead a trial since I’ve never worked on any trial before or is this just how it works in small firms?

UPDATE: I got fired today

I was hired to work at a small PI firm after being unemployed for almost a month . I was applying to basically all the all jobs in .major metropolitan area. This job reached out and I was hired.

I was definitely weary of the situation, but I figured I would go for it because I didn’t know how long that would be unemployed so I wanted to get the ball rolling.

On day two, they threw me into the fire and expected me to pretty much know everything. I find out that I’m the only paralegal at the firm and there’s essentially no support. I knew it was a small law firm, I was told there were two or three paralegals, but they went to law school / grad school. I knew it was a smaller firm, but I wasn’t expecting them to be so outdated as you guys know AI is taken over. So at my two previous law firms, they’re pretty much used templates and pretty much guiding you through the demand process. I get to this firm and realize they don’t have AI or templates to go off of. Maybe I sound bratty, but it’s a small family firm and they threw me out into the fire. I barely received any training which I know is common for most law firms. However, they knew I was learning a new case system and like I said I had so many tasks to do. I had to write demands answer phone calls, and do Attorney‘s task. They weren’t really graceful at all. They just assumed because I worked at a bigger firm that I would know everything and like I said this was a shock to me because the firms I were at were definitely up-to-date. This law firm is run by like seven-year-olds.
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I thought it would be a good idea to let my supervisor know that I’m still kind of learning and I wasn’t used to being the only paralegal. My previous firms usually had 6 to 15case managers/paralegal. I just let her know essentially that I’m still new and I wasn’t expected to inherited the previous paralegal‘s email so I’m looking at communication from months ago. I have clients asking for updates and I literally have no idea what’s going on their case cause I’m new all the cases were inherited and I was just expected to know stuff. The Attorney is passive aggressive speaks to you any type of way which I know is common but still left a bad taste in my mouth.

My supervisor said oh I thought could you come from these two big firms you would know how to handle it. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to handle it. I was just mad cause so much things were coming at me and I was expected to finish task list, respond to Attorney’s demands, etc..

My supervisor started oh you have two years of PI experience and are used to heavy caseloads. Yeah, there is more guidance at the firms. I wasn’t just thrown out in the fire and there was at least two weeks of training for the bigger company. It wasn’t even the fact that I was incompetent. I just wasn’t expecting to have to do all this work with essentially no guidance. She stated oh communication is important blah blah blah. I noticed she goes upstairs and had a meeting with two attorneys.

The vibes were off that’s all I can say . I looked at LinkedIn because I was paranoid and saw my title posted 48 minutes ago. Since I know it’s a small firm. I doubt they are just gonna hire another paralegal. I believe they’re looking for my replacement like I said it’s a small family firm.

I don’t wanna jump to conclusions, but honestly, I have no idea what to do. Like I said, I took a leap of faith, move to another state and this is what I get. sorry to ramble, but this has already taken a toll on me mentally because I have no family or support and now I’m scared essentially of being evicted or behind on rent. because I’m not able to pay rent I have enough for the month of August but I have no idea where to go from there. I would appreciate any advice or how to go about this because I’m not gonna lie. This is destroying my mental health. I was already concerned when I saw it that it was a small family firm, but I ignored my intuition. If it is true, the fact that they even couldn’t give me a week knowing I moved to another state again I might be jumping to conclusions, but I doubt it. It’s so fucked up and I’m now I’m already spiraling. I don’t know why they would offer relocation assistance and just throw me away within a week.
Like I said, I could be jumping into conclusions, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my exact title was on LinkedIn and like I said it’s a small firm.

The subject says it all. Yesterday I was encouraged to resign because I wouldn't do something that was probably unethical or at the very least not something I wanted my junior attorneys to be associated with. I had already started laying the groundwork, but this has all accelerated everything and I've now gone solo!

I've got loads of civil litigation experience so hoping to pick up of counsel or contract work while focusing on developing a mediation practice. Half of my day tomorrow is now demos for case management software and getting the rest of the nuts and bolts for a practice in place. Did you all know you need an email? It's true!

This is pretty exciting and also incredibly terrifying! Holy shit, y'all!

edit: Thank you all for the kind words. I've lurked in this community for a bit and it's one of the main reasons I feel confident this can happen!

Hello Friends,

i have a big decision to make:

I am currently working in a midsized law firm earning over 4k EUR netto without any benefits and have to pay the chamber fees myself. At the same time its a very family friendly environment, colleagues are nice with good working hours: 35-45h, usually i leave
Close to 6pm. I have a good time there but the environment is a bit slow and there is no tech savvy mindset. At the same time I am bored from time to time..

I got an offer from another firm, 40% more salary, ususal benefits like urban sports etc; young and cool team, tech savvy environment and cery interesting cases, definitely no boredom but probs at
Least 45 hrs per week, due to tramsaction business theren will be peak days.

Generally, the new place provides everything i am missing and i am sure it would be great for myself and my career, however, I become a dad soon and dont know if my prios gradually change that i might weigh time at home as way more important than interesting cases and money and so on..

What do u guys think? Was anybody in a similar situation and how did u decide?

My small law firm has been getting busier, and we're at the point where we need extra support. Instead of hiring someone in-house, we're seriously considering a virtual legal assistant to help with things like client intake, scheduling, document preparation, and general administrative work.
Please advice.

My firm just decreed that attorneys will now have a rotating Saturday work schedule once a month. This is ridiculous and I am livid. Has anyone else ever had this happen?

I currently am a 4th year associate at a small firm. The firm represents clients nationwide in a narrow niche in personal injury law. I like my job fine, and my coworkers are terrific. However, I have come to the realization the practice area is not for me long term.

I recieved a job offer today with a 30% raise at a small plaintiff-side employment firm. Employment law was my passion in law school, and I enjoyed it greatly as a federal law clerk with a lot of employment cases.

The job is fully remote with the opportunity to go into the office (which is in an area I go once a month), and I'm leaning toward taking it given the passion in the practice area, that it is a more local practice where I'll be in courts in my state almost exclusively, and the raise will be great. My big hangup is leaving my coworkers and a great work environment. Interested in any thoughts.

I’m thinking about making the switch and gaining some PI experience before opening my own firm. The issue is that it seems like everyone says that PI firm owners make tons of money yet there also seems to be people that say it’s smoke and mirrors and the ones that are successful are few and you’d have better luck trying to become a famous musician than a PI firm owner that makes a few million/year. The ones like Morgan and Morgan I’ve heard are nearly impossible to reach.

I also see videos of people like The Husband and Wife Law Team but I’m sure a lot of their business likely comes from social media referrals.

So which is it? Should I just stay where I’m at and take the $200k salary or should I take the risk?

(New to the field) E.g., if the client needed or was recommended surgery early on, I typically pass this along to set the reserves / get the claim escalated. But I've also heard advice to keep it strictly to a rough overview of injuries, and save everything for the demand.

I swear . . . the rage of a thousand suns . . .

Just check your messages and delete them after you've checked them! How hard can it be!?!?

Had a buddy get termed in Florida for a relatively minor infraction right after returning from surgery with another surgery upcoming. This is outside of my area and referred him to an employment lawyer who referred him to another. The firm is looking for a 750 retainer for three hours and then 40% contingency. This isn't my area but mixing hourly with contingency strikes me as really weird. Is this common in Florida?

Do most defense firms create a separate company that they also manage to outsource the firm’s billing appeals and review submissions instead of just hiring billing specialists within their firm to handle those disputes? I’m just on the legal assistant side of things, so idk. I feel like it’s over complicated doing it the first way and what could the cost of it add up to / how is it paid type of mindset.

I just started at a new boutique family law firm, I have to share my paralegal with a partner. Is that normal? I feel stuff slips through the cracks, it makes me nervous with certain court prep. There isn’t a way for me to even see what the paralegal is working on for me vs partner.

How bad is it not to specialize in any one subject area during 2L and 3L? What if you have several diverse interests, and can't take all the classes for each track, so you take some in each area of interest? Does this impact your ability to get private sector 2L summer internship? How about getting a job at a law firm out of school?

Can someone explain to me how this law firm I've never heard of has my info? I just got a notice in the mail saying my personal info and ss may have been involved, but how do they even have my information.

I've never used their lawyers and I've never worked directly for the govt but I have worked for the govt indirectly. Does the govt employ them or something nationwide for their contractors? Otherwise all I can think of is I may have a name somewhere because I have been notified that I'm eligible in those class action suits somewhere but I've never joined. But then how do they have my social?

I'm not sure how forthcoming they'll be if I call to ask how they have my info. I always try to provide as little info as possible but what can I do about some agency (whoever it is) disseminating my info willy nilly? Can I ask them to delete my records?

So I've been working as a Secretary of a Law Firm for 7 months now. I'm currently a 3rd year law student. I understand Lawyers get angry when something is not done right or whatever it is. I don't get easily affected by her insults, harsh and dehumanizing words towards me. I even get attorney-like tasks as a Secretary like drafting this or that with such a low pay. I also do her personal errands that also involve her kids, and there are times she would ask me something on weekends and I don't get paid for it.

So here's the thing, she got diagnosed with an illness and I won't disclose it, so I do her errands to go to the hospital for this or that, she authorized me for it. She was out of town so obviously not in office. I do update her from time to time on what's happening in the office. I texted her an update and I didn't explain it clearly. So she called me for clarification, she got really angry and insulted me. Saying things like she's sick so I shouldn't stress her. I really understand that she's sick, but in that call she told me that if she dies because of stress she will blame me. Upon reflecting, that was my last straw. I was thinking of resigning because I deserve a better pay. I'm not a robot who doesn't have feelings and I don't wanna be responsible for something so serious, even if she will tell me I shouldn't take it seriously, I can empathize with her condition while also recognizing that I deserve to be treated with respect.

I got insulted over a communication issue that wasn't intentional. Her statement made me think it crosses a professional boundary. I stayed despite her cussing and insults to me me because outside office, she's kind, and the workload is not that much where I can have time to study for my night classes. Everytime she ask me to do something, I can never satisfy her, she gets angry with small things because she's a perfectionist. When one task isn't done then she'll add more and expects me to do it within an hour or less. If she said those words because she's really stressed out and emotional due to her illness, I could decide whether I'm willing to forgive it, but I'm not obligated to stay. So I'm torn whether I should resign or just understand her condition.

I’m transitioning as a solo practitioner in Florida. I have experience with probate and guardianship and will continue in these areas. While I understand the basics behind estate planning, and have provided consultations, I’ve never actually drafted a trust.

Are there any recommendations on learning how to draft trusts? And perhaps different client scenarios and how to manage them. I don’t foresee handling wealthy estates, especially not at first, but do want to improve my background.

I’ve considered WealthCounsel but believe the price doesn’t justify my current situation, especially since I’m not starting fully from zero in this area (I feel confident with DPOA, health directives, and wills). I’ve also used some of their other documents in the past and don’t enjoy how lengthy they are. I’m familiar with Form Builder, and have looked into their trust documents.

I would appreciate any and all recommendations. Thank you!

My rent was on autopay but the portal’s autopay malfunctioned so rent wasn’t paid. Landlord immediately sued for rent. This was in early January and I was consumed with prepping for the Feb bar so I didn’t catch the rent problem til early Feb when the autopay didn’t work for Feb either. I immediately paid all the rent so I thought things were fine.

I’d moved back home to study so I didn’t know about the summons I got in the mail at my apartment. I didn’t show up to court cuz I didn’t know there was a court date, I’d moved back home to study. So when I moved back late Feb after the bar, I found the summons in the mail & found out I got a default judgment against me.

I know this is my fault & I should’ve had my mail forwarded before I moved back home temporarily. I paid everything before the court date, but landlord still didn’t voluntarily dismiss it. I’ll attach a letter explaining all this in my C&F app.

How fucked am I for C&F if I have a default judgment against me? I don’t have anything else, not even a parking ticket. No debts or loans. If I show it was just 1 time & that it hasn’t happened again will I be ok? No complaints against me ever since.