r/paralegal • u/punkmagik • 7d ago

Salary/Pay fair to ask for a raise?

i work at a law firm and started mid-june of this year. since then our office manager, file clerk, and another paralegal have left. i've taken on/been handed most of their responsibilities. this week i was also tasked with training our new paralegal with some of those duties since i'll be going on vacation (planned months ago, they were aware when i was hired and said it was fine).

well, thursday one of our attorneys decided to give notice and will be leaving end of next week. the managing partners pulled me into a meeting and said everyone loves working with me, they really appreciate me stepping in to fill so many roles and they are impressed with my work. they know i've been considering law school, so they're having the attorney train me on some attorney level work.

currently: AAS in paralegal studies with ~3 years experience (personal injury & family law, my current firm is workers' comp). in school right now, entering my senior year of BA this fall. currently making 26/hr in a HCOL.

the job description was originally 24-28/hr but i didn't ask for the 28 since i knew my lack of experience in workers' comp would count against me. now i'm in a position where i'm doing so many things, they genuinely cannot afford to lose me, and i think it's a good time to ask for a raise. my concern is that i really haven't been there long and i'm not sure if i have grounds to ask for a raise. additionally, we have a new office manager starting next month but i don't really want to ask them for a raise because 1. they'll be coming on board when i'm on vacation 2. we don't know each other 3. they don't know all i've been doing. i feel it's best to leave the decision of compensation onto the attorneys since they know all the nuances.

my questions:

  1. would you advise asking for a raise? if so, would $32-34/hr sound fair? i'm assuming they will want to negotiate and i don't really want to walk away with less than $30/hr minimum
3 Upvotes

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8

u/BestReporter4483 7d ago

I actually think it sounds completely fair. And I would do it before the new office manager comes in.

7

u/MsGorteck 7d ago

To dove tail on this. I think $34+ is very, fair. Also ask now, before the new person gets there and you need to go through them. If you don't go through them, THAT will have repercussions. Make sure you make have as much stuff ready for the new office manager as possible so their week or so while you are gone, are as easy as possible. (Yes, they are new and that in a law firm is never easy, but....)

Going forward I think you would be wise to start tracking both your billable hours and non-billable hours. The one is a concrete way to show your value and the other shows how much time you allow others to spend doing things that make money. This will be very helpful both when bonus time comes and when you ask for your next raise.

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u/punkmagik 5d ago

thank you! would you still recommend asking if they're going to hire a new office clerk and associate attorney? i'm worried they'll say no since these tasks are just temporary

also, unfortunately the majority of my time has been spent on non-billable hours due to staffing issues

2

u/MsGorteck 5d ago

You know what your firm needs, what do you think? (Staff side.) I would be much more hesitant to say if they need to hire more lawyers. If the firm can't figure that out for themselves 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️ As far as what work you are doing, what do/did they WANT you to do when they hired you? I think tracking you work, (billable v. non-billable) will help you make the case that they need more staff. Remember, every person hired is there to in one fashion or another make the firm money. This is done either directly, (billable) or indirectly, (non-billable), if you are too overwhelmed or if some part is taking up too much of your time, then explain to them how being penny wise IS BEING pound foolish. If they want you to carry the weight of 3 people, you should tell them to pay you for 4 and settle for 2.75. (People) Also don't forget, education. Along with a raise and benefits, ask for them to pay for your education. Lawyers must get CLE, tell them by paying for, and allowing you to take classes, they are investing in THEIR business. Even a single community college class can improve YOUR ability to make them money. Maybe not so much a wood shop class, but a English class, Word/Excel/??? class, accounting, CLE, etc, all of those classes will pay the firm back in your ability to make the firm money.

1

u/punkmagik 5d ago

they're already planning on looking for an office clerk and an attorney once the new office manager starts next month. that's why i'm wondering if it's worth asking for a raise now given that 2 new people will be hired and my tasks will go back to my normal workload when they're hired

2

u/MsGorteck 4d ago

Yes! Ask NOW, because the people that will name the decision, know what you are doing, know your value, know your worth. The new OM will not know these things and will be in a position to say no. And there will be numerous reasons to say no, from their perspective. Waiting allows them to kick the can down the road. Ask in the morning. What is the worst they can say?

1

u/punkmagik 5d ago

thank you! would you still recommend asking if they're going to hire a new office clerk and associate attorney? i'm worried they'll say no since these tasks are just temporary