South Carolina Trial Law Blog

I’ve got great staff now. If I was to give advice to a paralegal at how to get ahead at their firm, I would give this advice:

1.    I Can’t See the Trees, but I Can See the Forest. I’m a sole practitioner and out of the office on a regular basis. I have a pretty full case load, I go to more than my fair share of seminars and conventions, and teach a number of classes and seminars. So I really need employees that can work independently. I’ve found that a lot more people want to work independently, than can work independently. With my time out of the office, I’ve had paralegals that tend to goof off and really not get the work out the door. Fortunately, I’ve got great staff now and this is not a problem.  

I told previous employees that even though I’m not in the office and can’t tell when you are or are not working, I can tell how much work gets out the door. I can’t see the individual trees, but I can see the size of the forest.

2.   If You Want to Try Something Different, Make a Proposal. If you want to propose something, think it through. Whether it’s a new case management program, a new computer, time off, an advance, wanting to work at home, flex-time or whatever. What is the impact on the firm? Think it through and make a good proposal. Michael Hyatt says it well:

For a salesperson to be effective, he must show the prospect how his product will solve the prospect’s problem or meet the prospect’s need. The same is true for the manager seeking approval on an important project. The boss doesn’t care how this will make your life easier. (Read that sentence again. Write it on a note card if necessary and memorize it.) He’s concerned about his needs and the needs of the company. So you must frame your proposal in these terms.

Most top managers have two basic needs: they want to grow their company and they want to increase their profitability. Whether they are a private company or a public one, this is the ticket to their personal success. If your proposal promises to do either, you’ve got their ear. If not, you’re likely dead before you start.

Michael has a great article on how to pitch an idea to your boss. He says it much better and succinctly than I can. Read the article. He makes a lot of sense.

3.   If There’s a Problem, Talk About It. Small problems rarely go away. Small problems that are not addressed usually grow up to be big problems. The best way to deal with small problems is to talk about them. I don’t expect perfection, just work hard, have a good attitude and talk to me. Between the two of us, we can put our heads together and figure out a solution.

4.   Performance Makes a Difference. At my office, we measure how much work is getting out the door. Productivity and resolving situations before they become a problem make a big difference in my life. The difference between an average paralegal and a great paralegal make a big difference in my life. You better believe that I’ll bend over backwards eight ways to Sunday to help out someone that helps me so much.

5.  Skill Sets Make a Difference If you’ve been a paralegal for ten years, do you have ten years of experience or one year of experience ten times over? It never ceases to amaze me the number of paralegals that don’t have basic word processing skills. Document production is a paralegal’s life blood. Getting documents out faster is important. You would think a paralegal that cares about their job would work on skills to do this better.

I have shown a paralegal some basic keystrokes and they told me snidely "Well, I don’t know all of the new Windows keys." This was after Windows had been out for about eleven years. My response was "I’m sorry. This is not a new Windows key combination. It’s been in every word processor I’ve used since WordStar in the CP/M days, it’s been in the DOS version of this program for fifteen years, it was used in Apple II and Macintosh software and even TRS-80."

I assume that you’re a smart employee that’s a hard worker. I admire and appreciate an employee that focuses on working smarter rather than working harder. Technology can give huge productivity gains. (It’s not just paralegals that don’t work on their skill sets, lawyers have that problem too).

6.  Attitude Makes a Difference The longer I’ve been lawyering, the more important I realize having a positive attitude is. Life is too short to be dealing with negativity. As a trial lawyer, I get enough conflict from insurance adjusters and defense attorneys. I don’t need it from my employees. I don’t want to have to play mediator between employees and I don’t want to have to ‘handle’ an employee with a bad attitude.

An experienced employee, who’s really sharp but has a bad / negative attitude is a non-starter in my book. They create more problems than they solve. Give me an employee with less experience, a smaller skill set and a positive attitude.

Work hard, work smart, be nice, be positive and you’ll go far.

Great advice. I work for a small firm in Montana, my husband is the attorney, I am a paralegal/office manager. We have other paralegals in the office who do the job full time. It is true that a positive attitude will go a looong way!

I just read Mr. Swanner's tips to paralegals. I couldn't agree more. Positive attitude and getting work out the door -- pretty basic in my experience! If you ever need a part-time paralegal with LOTS of experience to work from home, give me a call!
Cynthia Baumhauer