Personal injury paralegal
Has anyone served at at personal injury paralegal role before and what was you day to day like?
Reply 1
As a paralegal generally you can expect to support the work of more senior fee earners. But the type of work you do and the quality of the cases you're exposed to will depend very much on the firm. A lot of Defendant firms will use paralegals more for admin based tasks, so you'll often see a broader range of cases and potentially more higher end litigation, but the actual work will be things like reviewing medical records and other evidence, potentially liaising with clients and attending hearings and meetings to take notes and so on. That said, even in firms where that sort of work is the norm, there'll usually be opportunities to do other fee earner work such as writing letters and drafting other documents, albeit normally under significant supervision. You're unlikely to get your own files in Defendant firms. By contrast, things will be similar in some Claimant firms, particularly in those firms and teams that deal with higher end litigation, but in Claimant firms that concentrate more on volume than quality (to be diplomatic about it) you may well get a lot more responsibility than in Defendant firms as a paralegal, but that's not necessarily a good thing, and the working environment in those firms can be very challenging (again, being diplomatic about it).
It's been a long time since I was a paralegal, but I was in the Catastrophic PI team in a large firm, supporting a Partner and two Associates. On the face of it the work I did was admin based. I would do pretty much whatever the other three fee earners needed from me, and it was usually time intensive work that (being blunt about it) wasn't worth their time. So reviewing extensive medical records, writing basic correspondence, undertaking case reviews, taking initial proofs of evidence from clients and witnesses. On the face of it the work was potentially monotonous, and at times it was, but overall I did enjoy it. It probably helped that I had a good relationship with the solicitors that were giving me the work, as well as the wider team, but even with the work being what it was I did feel that I was contributing to the case, which is probably what made it worthwhile.
People's experiences are obviously going to vary and different firms are going to treat their paralegals differently and entrust them with different levels of responsibility. Ultimately, though, becoming a paralegal is a stepping stone to something else. I'm a barrister now and haven't done personal injury work for a long time, but I learned a lot while I was a paralegal, not least because it was my first experience of working with actual lawyers. The idea behind these roles is that you learn from them, and learn from the people around you as you work towards taking that next step in your career. That being the case, it's a role worth doing. It just depends what your alternatives are as to whether it's the right role for you.
It's been a long time since I was a paralegal, but I was in the Catastrophic PI team in a large firm, supporting a Partner and two Associates. On the face of it the work I did was admin based. I would do pretty much whatever the other three fee earners needed from me, and it was usually time intensive work that (being blunt about it) wasn't worth their time. So reviewing extensive medical records, writing basic correspondence, undertaking case reviews, taking initial proofs of evidence from clients and witnesses. On the face of it the work was potentially monotonous, and at times it was, but overall I did enjoy it. It probably helped that I had a good relationship with the solicitors that were giving me the work, as well as the wider team, but even with the work being what it was I did feel that I was contributing to the case, which is probably what made it worthwhile.
People's experiences are obviously going to vary and different firms are going to treat their paralegals differently and entrust them with different levels of responsibility. Ultimately, though, becoming a paralegal is a stepping stone to something else. I'm a barrister now and haven't done personal injury work for a long time, but I learned a lot while I was a paralegal, not least because it was my first experience of working with actual lawyers. The idea behind these roles is that you learn from them, and learn from the people around you as you work towards taking that next step in your career. That being the case, it's a role worth doing. It just depends what your alternatives are as to whether it's the right role for you.
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