What if I told you that some of the biggest things holding back your paralegal career aren’t about your job title, your employer, or even your attorney?
Maybe you’re doing one of these 5 things that’s stalling your paralegal career.
Let’s be honest. Career growth doesn’t always stall because of a bad boss or lack of opportunity. Sometimes, the biggest barriers to your success as a paralegal are the sneaky habits you didn’t even realize were holding you back.
Over the years, I’ve coached and mentored paralegals across the country inside our Paralegal Boot Camp courses, and I’ve seen these silent stallers pop up again and again.
The good news? They’re fixable. With a few strategic shifts, you can move from stuck to standout.
Let’s dive into five of the biggest career-stalling habits I see, and what to do instead.
1. Waiting for permission
This one flies under the radar. It sounds like:
- “I’m just waiting until they give me more responsibility.”
- “I don’t want to overstep.”
- “I’m not sure they want me to do that.”
These phrases may feel polite and professional, but they put your career growth entirely in someone else’s hands. Respecting boundaries is important, but so is advocating for yourself.
🔧 Action Shift: Identify one area where you want to grow, and take initiative. Offer to assist on a case, ask to shadow a senior paralegal, or volunteer for a bigger project. Even if the answer is no, you’ve planted a seed.
Real Talk: Most attorneys don’t know what their paralegals are fully capable of. Show them.
2. Living in panic mode
Panic mode is that constant state of rushing from one crisis to the next. It’s especially common for new paralegals—but it doesn’t magically go away with experience.
Symptoms include:
- Every project feels urgent because it was handed to you at the last minute.
- You hesitate to ask questions for fear of looking unprepared.
- Your workday feels like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
Here’s the thing: panic mode is often a systems problem, not a you problem.
🔧 Action Shift: Build checklists and workflows for your repeat tasks. If your firm doesn’t provide solid training, find a way to get the training you need. (And yes, I’ve got resources for that.)
The RISE Legal Support Mastery Program is your proven roadmap to move out of panic mode and into a confident, trusted legal professional.
3. Believing time = skill level
Just because you’ve been a paralegal for 15 years doesn’t mean you have 15 years of progressive experience. I’ve heard paralegals say I’ve been doing this for 15 years!
And my response is: Doing what?
I’ve hired paralegals with 5 years of experience who outperformed those with 15. That’s because the 15-year paralegal didn’t do anything to advance their skill set during those 15 years. Instead, they did tasks as assigned. Most of those tasks were the same. None of them expanded the paralegal’s skill set.
Ask yourself: Are you doing more now than you were five years ago? If not, your experience might be stagnating.
When I was a paralegal manager and would look at a resume, the first thing I would review was the job duties at each employment to see if they were taking on more responsibility at the next level of their career. A paralegal at year 10 should not be doing the same tasks and projects that they were doing at year 6.
Time alone does not equal experience.
🔧 Action Shift: Schedule a career self-check every year. What new tools have you learned? What new responsibilities have you taken on? Challenge yourself to grow within your current role, even if you’re not job hunting.
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4. Keeping your tech skills on par with the oldest partner in the firm
Here’s one that got some laughs in my free AI Masterclass: letting your tech skills keep pace with the oldest partner in the office is a surefire way to stagnate your paralegal career.
Just because your firm doesn’t use modern technology tools doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn modern legal technology tools. If your skills reflect the limitations of your firm’s outdated tech stack, you’re limiting your future career options.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I have to say this clearly because my goal with this is to make sure you are protecting your career:
“Good luck finding a job five years from now when you realize all of the other law firms are light years ahead of that technology!”
Career security over job security!
🔧 Action Shift: Research what tools are most in demand in your practice area, not just at your firm. Start learning them on your own. That’s career security.
5. Staying in your lane
Attorneys want to work with problem solvers. We talk about the importance of problem-solving skills a lot at the Paralegal Boot Camp.
There’s nothing more stifling than hearing (or saying), “Well, that’s just the way we’ve always done it.” Staying in your lane is another way of saying it.
Whether it’s a rigid filing system or an outdated workflow, sticking to someone else’s lane can stall your career—or worse, set you up to fail if things go sideways.
When you are the paralegal that the attorney is relying on, and you are bound to someone else’s lane (their restrictions on how a file is organized or your access to file materials), you are allowing someone else to dictate the level of success that you see in your paralegal career.
🔧 Action Shift: Don’t be afraid to suggest improvements (respectfully and with a solution in hand). If needed, maintain your own backup systems that support how you work best, especially if you’re the one accountable for results.
RISE Legal Support Mastery Program
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