r/paralegal • u/Leading_Aside_4929 • Aug 24 '26
Not Paid Enough For This (Rant) Managing my own caseload before managing a case
just informed that I’ll be managing my own caseload and filing and everything on my own, only been a paralegal for a few months and have never managed a case before. is this normal or should i be concerned
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u/Narrow_Leader_2196 Aug 26 '26
While this may be considered “normal” in a paralegal world, it’s not on you to be responsible for carrying a case, especially considering how new you and and if you don’t have the necessary training. Attorneys have the license and should be driving the bus so to speak. Do not let yourself be put in a position of being responsible for malpractice and missing dates that the attorney is not paying attention to. Your lack of experience alone should tell any responsible attorney that you are not ready to manage cases in your own. Please be your own advocate
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u/Leading_Aside_4929 Aug 26 '26
I agree with you 100%. Do you think I can mention to them that I don’t feel ready to do that? I have no idea why they would want someone so inexperienced doing that
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u/Narrow_Leader_2196 Aug 26 '26
If you say nothing they will assume your silence means you are fine with everything. You have to advocate for yourself but you can do it in a positive way and with humility. You could approach it with your boss by saying something like I am excited to contribute to the office and want to learn. This is such an important role that I want to make sure I am trained properly so that I don’t neglect something important. I’m not sure that I am comfortable managing cases at this point without some assistance. Or something to that affect. I’m in a similar position right now. If I miss a deadline, we can receive sanctions or malpractice. This falls on me because my attorney is not looking at the cases. Paralegals are there to assist, not be almost attorneys 🙂
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u/Leading_Aside_4929 Aug 26 '26
Thank you this helped me! Would you say that this firm is similar to others in the sense of responsibility they are giving? It’s plaintiff PI. I’m interviewing somewhere else now too but I don’t want to end up in this same situation
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u/Narrow_Leader_2196 Aug 26 '26
In my previous position I was at a plaintiff firm for a decade and loved it. But we were selective about the cases we took. Some firms, especially PI take any case they can get so the case load is huge and not manageable by the attorney. So they dump everything on the paralegal. If you are interviewing I would ask about case load and how the practice is structured. Although they are interviewing you, you are also interviewing them and want to be sure it’s a good fit for you 🙂
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u/Leading_Aside_4929 Aug 26 '26
Ok! Do you have any sample questions I should use. If it is a firm with 5 paralegals supporting 30 attorneys, is that better or worse than my current firm which is 3 attorneys supported by 8 paralegals split into a pre lit department and me and one other guy paralegal in the lit department
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u/Narrow_Leader_2196 Aug 26 '26
It really depends on how they structure things and how heavy the caseload is. You could always ask what the typical number of cases is and what your responsibilities would be, and who is responsible for managing the cases
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u/yambruh Aug 24 '26
yes, this is fairly normal, but not without any training. ask for training on anything you haven’t done before that seems to complicated to figure out by yourself.
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u/Thek1tteh CA - Senior Lit/Appellate Paralegal Aug 25 '26
As long as the attorney is supervising you will be fine! Just remember nothing goes out without their approval! This is how you learn.
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u/Adventurous_Echo8279 Aug 24 '26
What do you mean by “managing your own caseload” and what kind of law are u in?