6 Paralegal Tips + An Invitation to Join Me

 1. Don’t Abandon Your Paralegal Journey Too Soon

Our first tip comes from a paralegal who goes by C. Williams.

The advice is simple but profound: don’t give up on being a paralegal if your first position isn’t right for you.

This paralegal shared that they started in real estate and absolutely hated it—they were ready to abandon their paralegal career altogether. But then an opening came up in the litigation department, and they decided to give it a try.

Fast-forward twenty years, and they’re still loving their litigation paralegal career!
I see this scenario play out more often than you might think. You finish your paralegal certificate and land your first job, and it’s just not clicking. But before you decide that the paralegal profession isn’t for you, consider whether it might be the practice area that’s the mismatch.

Every practice area offers a completely different experience. Corporate work is nothing like family law, which is nothing like personal injury. Small firms function differently than large firms. Government agencies have a different pace than in-house corporate legal departments.

If you’re feeling discouraged in your current role, consider exploring other practice areas before leaving the profession entirely.

You invested a good chunk of money and time into getting your paralegal certificate – don’t just give that away because of one bad experience at your first position. I’d even argue that even at your second position.

Your perfect fit might be just a department switch away! Or a firm away.

2. When Under Pressure, Be the Calm, Not the Storm.

This next tip came in anonymously, but it’s absolute gold: When under pressure, maintain your cool.

A stressed attorney does not need a stressed paralegal.
Keeping your composure during high-pressure situations assures your attorney that you can handle whatever challenges come your way. It might even help them become calmer in the situation and in future high-stress scenarios.

I call this being “the calm, not the storm.”

Years ago, when I was doing management consulting with law firms, an attorney told me something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “My paralegal is great in every way except one – when we’re working in a time crunch, whether it’s a filing deadline or getting ready for trial, she stresses me out. She doesn’t handle stress well and verbalizes all that stress to me. I need someone who works better under pressure.”

Think about that. Despite being excellent in all other aspects, this paralegal’s inability to maintain composure during stressful situations was a major liability.

Attorneys are already carrying the legal responsibility and pressure of the case. They need you to be their rock, not another source of stress.

Practice taking deep breaths, maintaining a level tone, and projecting confidence even when you’re feeling the heat. This skill alone can set you apart from the crowd.

I’ll add here, since it’s fresh in my mind, I just did that interview with Vincent Ascolese a couple weeks ago about mindfulness and he had some great tips on ways to that would help in situations like this.

Go to the Paralegal BootCamp’s blog page, and you’ll find that video interview with him.

3. Never Assume Anything – Verify Everything

Our third general tip comes from Terry Johnson: never assume anything.

Be willing to take a couple of minutes to pick up the telephone to call and verify, especially if you’re getting information off the internet.

This tip came in years ago before AI – so imagine where we could take this now – but I’m not going to change Terry’s original tip.

Terry emphasized that this simple habit will save you tons of time, unnecessary work, and frustration down the road. Contrary to what some might believe, the internet is not the Bible!

The same applies to advice from paralegal social media groups. If it’s wrong advice and something gets messed up, you can’t tell your attorney, “Well, Sheila in our Facebook group told me to do it that way!”

This reminds me of something that happened early in my career, before the internet was widely used. I needed information about an out-of-state subpoena, so I called the clerk of court. I wrote down everything they said, but when I was actually doing the work, something felt off. So I called back and spoke to a different clerk – who gave me completely different information!

If I had gotten that project wrong based on the first clerk’s instructions, how effective do you think it would have been to tell the attorney, “Sorry I messed that up, but I was just doing what the clerk told me to do”? Not very!

Take the extra time to verify information, especially for procedures you’re unfamiliar with. Double-check court rules, confirm filing requirements, and when in doubt, ask someone with authority and expertise.

4. Stay Current on Court/Regulation Filing Requirements

This tip comes from Ebony Siggers.

It is critical to stay up to date on court document filing requirements because they change the formats often.

This is such important advice! In fact, the paralegals enrolled in our Litigation Boot Camp are probably tired of hearing me repeat: “Check the rules!” I emphasize this constantly because I was fortunate enough to have my first attorney drill this lesson into me.

I’ll never forget walking into his office with a draft motion and asking him a question about it. He responded, “I don’t know, Ann, what do the rules say?” When I admitted I didn’t know the rules off the top of my head, he said, “Well, I do, but I still always check the rules because you never know if what you memorized has changed since then. So go read the rules, and then let’s talk.”

This was back when we only had printed court rules – I couldn’t just look them up on the court’s website like we can now. But the lesson remains just as relevant today.

Whether it’s checking local rules, federal court requirements, or making sure your filing complies with formatting guidelines, always verify that nothing has changed since your last filing with that court.

This simple habit can save you from embarrassing rejections and missed deadlines.

5. Embrace Technology as Your Competitive Edge

This one comes from anonymous.

Whatever technology is applicable to your practice area, know it better than anyone else on your team.
I’ll add a quote here that I use in my “Seven Habits of the Indispensable Paralegal” workshop. It’s from Stuart Brand: “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”

In other words, you don’t want to be crushed by technology – you want to master it. If you don’t believe me, ask any litigation paralegal with 30+ years of experience who didn’t embrace e-discovery technology when it first appeared in the late 90s.
I remember comments back then like, “I prefer to work with paper. I’ll let others handle the tech.” The problem is that attitude limits what kinds of cases you can work on and what firms you can work for.

And now we’re at another critical technology inflection point with artificial intelligence. We’re seeing the same comments about AI today that we heard about e-discovery back then: “It’s just a trend” or “I prefer doing things the traditional way.” The statistics don’t lie – AI usage by legal professionals has skyrocketed from 19% to 79% in just one year. The paralegals who will lead their teams and command higher salaries in the next few years will be those who master these tools now.

Now, I firmly believe that AI won’t replace paralegals – but paralegals who know how to use AI effectively will replace those who don’t.

Just like with e-discovery, the early adopters who learn to leverage AI for document review, legal research, and drafting will have a massive competitive advantage. And you don’t need to be a tech genius to master these tools – you just need the right training.

This is why it’s crucial to learn new technology early rather than fight it or dismiss it as a passing trend. Whether it’s advanced legal research platforms, e-discovery tools, AI, or case management software, make it your mission to become the go-to expert on your team.

6. Begin With the End in Mind

Technically, this one comes from me, as it was originally a tip that was a litigation tip: Begin Building Your Trial Notebook Immediately

If you’re a real estate paralegal or a corporate, M&A, or estate planning paralegal, think of it like this as you read this section: What is the end result of your file? What can you do at the beginning of your file that you already know will be needed that you can prepare the shell of at the beginning and fill in as you go along?

Here’s what it looks like for a litigation paralegal.

Start putting together your trial notebook as soon as the complaint comes in.

You can add to it throughout the discovery phase and use it throughout the life of the case, even if the case doesn’t end up going to trial.

Your trial notebook shouldn’t be something you scramble to assemble a few weeks before trial. It should be a living document that grows and evolves as your case develops.

When you start organizing your trial notebook from day one, you’re creating an invaluable resource that will help you track the entire case history, maintain critical documents, and stay on top of key issues and evidence.

Even if the case settles before trial, your notebook becomes an organized repository of case information that you can reference whenever needed.

I’ve written an in-depth blog post on preparing a trial notebook with a complete table of contents that you might find helpful.