I have a friend who is thinking about taking some courses to become certified as a paralegal. She’s heard that this might be a good career option but she’s not sure.

Are any of you working as a paralegal or have you in the past? Or do you know someone who might like to comment? It would be interesting to know what opportunities are out there and what kinds of jobs you might find on getting training and some kind of certificate? Does it suck, is it rewarding, what types of people/personalities do well or poorly at it, etc.

Thanks!

Posted as a comment to this post in but I want to save a copy for myself. This was a response to someone writing a paper about how atheists come by their “morals” and why atheists don’t just naturally become murderers and thieves.
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Hey everyone, it’s aelfsciene day! Here’s wishing you good friends, good food, good fun, and a designated driver, if appropriate. Be well!

Posted as a comment in but I wanted to save it for myself too.
I believe there’s a sort of cognitive dissonance going on in some cases, where children are taught that science/observation/experimentation/reason is a good tool for testing knowledge and understanding, and then taught on Sundays that all that doesn’t apply to God and related mythos. I also think that everyone’s reaction to it is different… maybe it depends on whether a child is taught early on to think, learn, solve problems and adapt, or whether a child is taught to obey and not question.

In my case my parents pretty much were agnostic so they didn’t feed me religion and just sort of left it up to me to decide what to believe. I was pretty much godless from the start. I attended a church in my teens but it was a pretty open, accepting “we respect all faiths” type of place. I liked it for its spirituality-without-much-mythos, community, and contemplation.

I got ordained by Universal Life, on the website, so I could perform a wedding for someone — instead of a Bible I held my leather-bound Japanese/English dictionary in my hand while solemnizing the union. Since being ordained I’ve become aware of how seriously I take my service to others. I consider myself an Atheist Minister. Just because I have no mythos doesn’t mean I can’t counsel people and teach them to connect with their own self-examination, conscience and wisdom.

Crap. I just showed up to a $VP meeting unprepared. I promised to do two important things, about the only things I promised 2 weeks ago, and I totally failed to do anything at all on them. So I got sternly “reminded” in front of peers that when I say I will do something, I need to do it. It’s not the first time it’s happened, either; both of my to-do items have had their dates moved a couple times due to previous failure.

I have recently had more work piled on me, which is a new kind of work. So far, I’ve sort of drifted along getting more and more behind, and only responding to something the second or third time I’m asked. A crappy way to do business, but so far I don’t know how to turn away/postpone work gracefully. Today proves that if I just do what people are clamoring for Right Now, the important stuff will slip.

I guess my main complaint is that I’ve got myself a shiny new organizer, and I’m still not organized. I am going to need to work longer hours for a while, or find stuff to stop doing, or both.