The Empowered Paralegal

Book excerpt: Every day thousands of paralegals and legal assistants leave their offices feeling frustrated, overworked and under utilized. As an attorney and professor, author Robert E. Mongue, J.D. hears from paralegals who, despite their education and professional training, feel poorly equipped to meet the real challenges of today's law office. Too often paralegals are taught law and procedure but not how to effectively manage their time, workloads and clients. Too often they feel ineffective and powerless when dealing with attorneys, clients and court personnel, inside and outside the office. During his over thirty years as a litigator employing, training and teaching paralegals, Prof. Mongue gathered and developed clear, concise and easy-to-use techniques to teach paralegals how to become a critical component of an effective legal team. He used these techniques in his own law practice and in classrooms, seminars and workshops. These techniques are now together in a practical guide, entitled The Empowered Paralegal. Employment for paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2014. Those empowered with the skills and confidence required to be true professionals will dominate the field. The Empowered Paralegal provides step-by-step, easy-to-understand techniques, written in a friendly, accessible and sometimes humorous way, for managing time, docket calendars, files, clients and litigation. In addition to these management techniques, The Empowered Paralegal provides sound guidance on managing the work relationship with attorneys and on being a professional. The Empowered Paralegal provides important practical office strategies while giving paralegals the empowerment, recognition and respect they and their profession deserve. A useful adjunct to any course, especially "Introduction to Paralegalism," The Empowered Paralegal is designed for the student in an internship seminar, the established paralegal, or those entering this fast-growing field. "Read this practical, easy-to-read guide even if you have a couple of years of experience. It's the stuff of superstars who somehow innately know how to make their job seem effortless and smooth, much to amazement of others mired down in chaos." -- Estrin Report "Mongue's book, The Empowered Paralegal, is an informative read, especially for individuals new to the paralegal profession... So add The Empowered Paralegal, the book and the blog, to your professional reading list. Mongue is a real fan of the paralegal profession and promotes paralegals as a valued and essential part of the legal team. With his daily updates at his blog, he provides a welcome attorney perspective in the paralegal blogosphere." -- Lynne DeVenney, Practical Paralegalism