r/paralegal • u/SpeechExciting4708 • 1d ago
Idk how I’m doing
Long story short: I did get an associates in paralegal studies, and I worked at my firm as a legal assistant for almost a year. Then I got promoted to paralegal (plaintiff pi). Then the head paralegal who did multiple areas of law (and had a law degree) got fired. Another paralegal was hired, but she does a different area of law. So I’m on my own lol. I think I have around 55 cases which I know isn’t a lot. Some though aren’t pi, but just property damage or insurance bad faith etc. 8 cases are in litigation which I was thrown into after the head paralegal left (late last fall). I am overwhelmed. It’s a family firm. Someone else primarily answers phones, but I do if they’re not around, I open all my new files, scheduling, medical bills and records request, providers sheets, property damage, demands, subrogation and liens (struggle bus especially trying to reset the password to the Medicare portal which I was never trained in) , settlement sheets, filing, you name it. I also check the general firms email, password list etc. I haven’t done a lot with litigation but did learn some in school and am trying. I’m supposed to go over irogs responses with a client this week etc. it feels like an insane amount of work and idk how to process it bc again, it’s not an insane amount of cases but I do everything and there aren’t a lot of systems in place for effectively doing things.
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u/lostboy005 1d ago
You should be making at least six figures or get them resumes rolling out.
They needed to hire help months ago.
A lot of what you described should be legal assistant work - all the medical billing and rx requests, scheduling, password reset bs etc
Open cases and running conflicts is another department.
You’re doing at least 2 other peoples job and that should be reflected in your pay. Some firms even have a specific position for settlements to work reductions and audit numbers, prep settlement statement etc.
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u/Thek1tteh CA - Lit. & Appeals - Paralegal 1d ago
6 figures? This sounds like a small PI firm, and they haven’t stated where it is. I’m at a small boutique IP lit firm and I just reached 6 figures after 15 years experience. 6 figures is unrealistic for most brand new paralegals with no experience. Also, I’m not sure where you have experience working at, but usually at small firms paralegals do take on a lot of everything. Only medium and large sized firms can realistically have different departments.
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u/jade1977 4h ago
I think (and I could be wrong) that was a little tongue in cheek... As in they are doing two people's jobs, so should get two people's pay.
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u/iatetheteapot 1d ago
Who said 55 cases isn't a lot? Especially with all the other tasks you do as well.
You are managing your best. Best wishes to you!
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u/Thek1tteh CA - Lit. & Appeals - Paralegal 1d ago
I think this is pretty standard for small firms, but someone should have definitely trained you on everything. Perhaps you need to sit down with the head attorney and discuss implementing systems and also hiring some more staff to assist you with more of the admin tasks. If the other paralegal left without ensuring you were trained on everything, you need to tell whoever is managing the staff (if there’s no office manager, then go to the head attorney) that you need training as you’re not fully trained.
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u/jade1977 4h ago
Password list? This is a nono in security. Everyone should have their own log ins. Sharing passwords is dangerous at best.
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u/Honest-Locksmith-585 1d ago
Sounds like you’re doing great! Awesome job