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McKela Simon strives to grow as a paralegal
Growing up in Lamar, S.C., a small town in the Pee Dee Region of the state, McKela Simon enjoyed life in a large family with both parents and eight siblings. She was attracted to law at a young age.
“I grew up interested in the legal system,” she says. I was fascinated by the real life situations I saw in the news, and lived with in my own family.”
She most enjoys working behind the scenes in roles vital to the work attorneys do every day.
A er earning an associate degree, she went on to get her bachelor’s degree from South University.
She is working on her Master of Law degree from Regent University while working full time at Poulin | Willey | Anastopoulo as a litigation paralegal, focusing on personal injury and workers’ compensation.
She aspires to advance in her career to the rank of senior paralegal or even a paralegal supervisor.
I became a paralegal because. e reasons I want to be a paralegal are both professional and
■ Continued from Page 22 e NC Paralegal Association has a list with 36 paralegal programs located in North Carolina - Paralegal Educational Program Listings (ncparalegal.org)
Paralegal Education Programs - Approved Programs Directory (americanbar.org).
Maintain a pipeline of potential job candidates. Internships are one way to accomplish this, another is to hire college students who are considering law school. While this may result in a candidate who will only be with you for a few years, you may nd the student decides to attend paralegal school instead of law school, or you will gain an introduction to a potential lawyer hire. Look for non-traditional candidates. Anyone who has worked in customer service will know personal. I am driven to help the general public which in turn is helping me. My work as a paralegal has helped me enhance my communication and people skills. I was drawn to this area because I can advance with my law rm along with my career and I am learning as I go.
Favorite aspect of work. My favorite aspect of being a paralegal is having the opportunity to make a di erence by improving our clients’ quality of life.
Advice to those considering the profession. e rst thing I would tell a future paralegal is to avoid excuses and develop a plan by identifying both short- and long-term goals that will lead to success. Always ask questions because no question is a stupid question. Also, I would say always be assertive. Never rely on guesswork because having to re-do work only hinders your completion of the next tasks.
Others may not know. I strive to be humble. I do demonstrate pride in myself, but not to put others down.
In my spare time. I sometimes read or review cases I worked on the week before. I go to net- how to deal with clients, whether they worked in a call center, a restaurant, or retail job. Also, people who have worked in other professional services such as nance or accounting will have many transferrable skills. e legal skills can be taught on the job or by sending the employee to take paralegal classes or CLE programs.
Also, look for candidates who may not be looking for you. Some high school students or college students have never been exposed to the legal eld. Hire them in to answer phones, scan documents or other administrative tasks. You may help someone discover a new eld of interest and if you are lucky, perhaps they will continue to work for you while attending school and join your rm a erwards. Local schools are always looking for working professionals to come into high schools, colleges, or
Simon
working events. I spend time with my family. I also take classes to advance my paralegal skills. Work/life balance. I leave work at work, and I leave home at home. And I practice self-care. I make sure I engage in productive personal activities and avoid taking professional problems home.
job fairs to encourage students.
Recruiting is a multi-prong e ort. Commit your ideas to a written plan with implementation dates. Interviewing candidates for summer positions may happen in the winter semester of classes. Working paralegals who have completed paralegal programs may be ready to look for new jobs in May or June as they approach graduation. Online recruiting is available anytime but creating the job description and posting it takes time. View these e orts as investments in the rm and you will see results over time.
Camille Stell is the President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services and the co-author of the newly published book, RESPECT – An Insight to Attorney Compensation Plans available from Amazon. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at camille@lawyersmutualconsulting.
