Erin Acaley – The Winner of the Fall 2022 Paralegal Division Student Scholarship

By The Scholarship Committee

The Scholarship Committee had a number of excellent student essays submitted for the Fall 2022 Paralegal Division Student Scholarship. The topic, “What skillsets do you believe a paralegal should have in order to be successful?”, allowed students the chance to highlight not only the skills they believe make them a powerful addition to the legal field but also how those skills can bring them success. While each essay was superb, the Scholarship Committee is proud to announce that Erin Acaley is the winner of the Fall 2022 Scholarship. Below, you can find a little more information about Erin, as well as her essay.

---

A Little About Erin

Erin Acaley is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s paralegal program. Prior to her admission into UNCC, Erin graduated from York College of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Human Services. Her original goal was to go into social work, and she even did an internship with the District Attorney of York County’s Victim Witness Coordinator’s office. During this time, she managed to gain experience in the courtroom. After that program, she felt emotionally invested in the casework and reconsidered her career path. For a while, she worked at a vet’s office.

Last year, when Erin and her husband moved to Charlotte, she was still unsure what she wanted to do. She thought back to what she was interested in, and she had really liked the legal courses she had taken in college. So she started looking into paralegal work and found the UNCC program. After starting in June 2022, she attended class for two nights a week for six months. She now works at Rudisill, White & Kaplan law firm, which focuses on workers’ compensation defense.

As she moves forward, Erin hopes to make being a paralegal a lifetime career. Her goal is to learn something new every day, and she strives to become a better paralegal. When she’s not working, Erin loves spending time with her husband and two golden retrievers. They can be found going on hikes and traveling.

Erin’s advice for those who want to become a paralegal is to be confident and utilize your past work experience. If you’re coming into the field with no experience, be patient and realize that your skills are valuable and transferable from one career to another. “Wait for the right opportunity, it will come.”

Erin’s Essay

When I think about what my day to day will look like being a paralegal, I think of many things. Throughout this course, I have learned that it is a paralegal’s responsibility to draft memorandums, client communication emails, conduct legal research, cite said research, and so much more. A paralegal is not only there to aid the attorneys in their large workload, but also to help establish good communication with clients.

There are many resources that I learned of, including LexisNexis and the Bluebook that I know will be of great use during my time as a paralegal. I realize all firms are different as to which systems or databases they frequent and being able to quickly adapt and become comfortable with these things will be one of my strong suits. As attorneys come to me with different cases or tasks, I know that I will not be expected to know all the answers right away, but I will be expected to know where to go to find them.

When drafting memorandums and client emails, I know that even the most experienced paralegals must go back one, two, or more times to redraft after the supervising attorney looks over the work and asks for revisions. I am eager to take any and all feedback to further my knowledge and show my willingness to work until it is done right. During the paralegal certification course, I was able to practice writing a legal memorandum, which I sent to my professor multiple times before the due date. Each time, there is something new to add, delete, modify, cite differently, etc. I realize that this can be discouraging at times, but as with any new career, you must start somewhere and be willing to keep pushing forward. This is the best way that I will learn.

I realize that not all attorneys are very easy to work with. The most important thing to me is open communication, from all sides. It is not only important for a paralegal to know how to do the work, but to know what exactly a particular attorney is asking or looking for. I hope to be confident enough in my career to ask for clarification when there is confusion about a task. If I do not feel comfortable asking the attorney, I hope to have some senior paralegals to be willing to assist. Without asking questions or clarifying, the chances for mistakes or frustrations on both sides become higher.

Some firms may ask that I track and log my billable hours, which is not something that I am very familiar with, although it was discussed in the paralegal course. I understand that a paralegal’s time spent working on a client’s case can be billed at a lower rate than the attorney. I expect that many firms have a minimum billable hours requirement for their paralegals, and I am eager to become comfortable with this practice. Being able to keep track of the work done for a particular client is very important for a law firm, and I plan to take very detailed and accurate notes of my daily communications and duties completed. Documentation is something that I believe will help me to learn about the daily tasks of a paralegal as well as keep track of my billable hours.

No matter what type of law firm I end up working for, I know that I will give my all to be organized, have excellent communication with not only attorneys and coworkers, but with clients as well. Many times, paralegals are the first face that a client will see when entering a firm, and the person that a client should feel comfortable going to with questions. My extensive experience in customer service as well as in high-stress work environments will help me become an asset to whatever firm I become a part of.

Every day will not be interesting and exciting, though. I am prepared for busy work, for doing the small tasks that others in the office are too busy to do. I have a lot of experience handling phone calls from clients, putting together envelopes to mail out, making copies, you name it. I am willing to step up to take on such responsibilities, but I also know that it is important to know when enough is enough. Taking too much onto one’s plate also leads to mistakes and burnout. In a field that can be emotionally and mentally taxing, it is important to remember self-care and setting boundaries.

One of the most important things I have heard from other professionals in the field is to prioritize your tasks. Each and every day there may be a never-ending list of things that need to be done, with more and more being added. Something that I do daily and plan to continue to do is make lists. It helps me to visualize what needs to be done and in what order, which then helps me to focus on one thing at a time rather than worrying about what comes next.

Being able to pay close attention to detail and ensuring all information is correct is vital to a paralegal’s role as well. I currently work for a veterinary hospital and understand the importance of correct information for the medical record’s sake, but also for the health of the patient. In the legal field, you have people’s very important life matters in your hands. Although the attorney will check all of my work before anything is submitted, I take that very seriously and I will strive every day to make sure every detail is right.

I know I have a lot to learn and will likely learn something new every day during my whole career. I look forward to entering each day with an open mind and not being afraid to ask questions. I will strive each day not only to do the work expected of me but to exceed the expectations of my colleagues. Although I learned a lot throughout the paralegal certification course, I am excited to get into the real-life duties of a paralegal and see firsthand why this was the right path for me. Thank you for your consideration.

***
The Paralegal Division Blog is managed by the Division’s Communications Committee. Via the blog, the Communications Committee provides information written by attorneys, paralegals, and other experts designed specifically for paralegals in the areas of substantive law, ethics, technology, paralegal practice advice, and more. If you are interested in signing up to submit a blog post on a future date, you can do so here. When you are ready to submit a blog post, you can do so by using this form.

You may also wish to participate in the Division by using our virtual suggestion box to submit suggestions/ideas to the Division Council, nominating a paralegal for Paralegal Spotlight, or completing the Paralegal Spotlight Questionnaire if you are nominating yourself. If you are interested in volunteering with the Communications Committee, please contact the Communications Committee Chair at [email protected]. If you are interested in joining other division committees, you can review a list of committees and sign up here.