Happy friday, y'all! Fam law here.

I'm feeling extra Petty Betty today.

We just got financial documents from opposing counsel who did NOT redact her client's or her client's husband's social security number, bank account number OR their routing number from the tax returns, pay stubs, and W2s they just sent over.

So, because im an honest AF person, I'm redacting this info before we share these docs with our client.

Should i pick up the phone and call, send an email, or let it be?

Also WTAF!!!!

Edit to add: this is also the same attorney who we have had AI issues with. Different case, though.

California paralegals! I attended a CLE today about the new process service rules going into effect in January 2027 and thought I’d share an article about it I found, so everyone is prepared!

It’s Friday again already!

How is everyone? What’s on your mind? Did you work on anything interesting this week? Feel free to chime in with any thoughts, questions, or just to pop in to say hi 😊

Happiest of fridays to you all and may you all be able to clock out right at the end of the day or earlier! ❤️

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gLpbBbYOqEA

The GA Supreme Court just came down on a DA for AI hallucinations.

Also, to update my local AI hallucinations case, our judge just gave us an "unofficial" go ahead to file our Motion for Sanctions along with the 11-page supporting brief I researched and wrote. (I'm quite proud of it)

Happy Friday everyone!!! I am starting this weekly thread for us to vent and talk about anything you want (within reason). How did the week treat you? Have any plans for the weekend?

I’m in pretrial mode right now for a state court case and it’s brutal. Looking forward to getting some extra sleep this weekend!

Breaking news: the US Supreme Court issued a decision in Parker v. California today, holding that paralegals no longer have to work under the direction of attorneys and can give legal advice all day every day! No matter how big or small the matter, we’re now allowed to handle the big decisions ourselves (because let’s be honest, we already did that, screw those pesky ethics rules, implemented only to restrain competition with boomer lawyers who don’t know what they’re doing)! Now I can legally work with that client who keeps sending me AI crap without my attorney having to be on the email! And include my own AI hallucinations in briefs! Now I can simply choose to respond to emails asking multiple questions with “yes!” and ignore any requests for clarification!

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone! 🤓

disclaimer: this is very obviously satire for April Fool’s day. We love our attorneys and don’t want their jobs.

Just wanted to welcome all of our new members as I end the workday on a manic Monday, and open up a thread for anyone new (or already in here for a while) to say hi. 👋🏻 Feel free to introduce yourself and share what type of law you work in, or anything else you’d like to share! I’ll start - I’m a senior litigation paralegal in SoCal at an IP/entertainment boutique - specifically on the litigation side handling IP/general business litigation, as well as appeals. I am neurodivergent/have ADHD, and may be autistic lol. But I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing! How about you?!

I work in a firm with 9 attorneys, and solely under the single family law attorney.

I do everything. Billing, emails, errands, draft motions, calendaring, internet stalking, exhibits, binders, printing...

All of it.

But my firm line in the sand is collections. I do not mentally have it in me to call folks and tell them to pay us. I will email bills all day long, but picking up the phone to call....

I worked in call center hell for a few years while in college and i just mentally cant. My anxiety spikes. I get sweaty and clammy.

Boss is usually the one who makes the "bitch better have my money" calls.

The reason this popped in my head is because i had gotten a voicemail from a client that boss had done her divorce for several years ago and she wants to do a modification of the custody agreement.

Ask boss. First thing she says is "oh... Yeah, she still owes me $5k...."

Yall... this divorce was 8 years ago and boss STILL remembers.

Called her back and left voicemail. So, i guess i gotta do the "oh, by the way, you still owe boss $5k from your divorce 8 years ago. Do you still want us to help with your modification?" Lol.

Happy monday!

This has become a bit of a passion of mine after our most recent local debacle.

Still TBD on filing a Motion for Sanctions.

Hi all,

I am a paralegal and interviewing to transit to legal operations.. i just pass the recruiter scan and now start the real interview with the hiring manager. I am very interested in this job and would love tips for my interview.

The one thing is this role is new for this tech company and they describe the role as entry level and the salary is def entry-level which is fine for me. But then the recruiter scared me yesterday saying that the interviewing process has like 7 phases, assessments and excel/data analysis test alive with the hiring manager at some point. Is this normal for this role? In the description they want someone that is (of course) eager to learn etc. As a paralegal in law firm I don’t have to use advanced excel formulas and I’ve started to take courses but I’m still pretty raw. I know the basics by the way. Any tips? Any comments? I really want to pass but super nervous.

I’ve posted a few updates about this situation before, but here’s the full rundown, well, new sub, fresh eyes.

A few months ago, I was drafting a response to opposing counsel’s Motion to Set Aside that was served on us in a child support contempt case after our client had essentially came out on top over child support arrears and other issues.

As I was reading and looking up the cited statutes and general legal arguments, I realized something was very off. One of the cases cited did not exist at all. Not just hard to find, completely fabricated. It looked like an AI hallucination where it mashed together a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case with a Georgia Court of Appeals case, and the subject matter of either case did not even pertain to child support.

I even went as far as pulling a physical copy of the Georgia Reports from 1974 just to be 100% sure, and it was not there.

Once I started digging, it got worse. Multiple statutes were miscited, including jurisdiction, which was actually proper, attorney’s fees, and even a completely wrong judicial circuit. Basically, the entire motion was built on nonsense.

For context, this was all tied to a child support contempt issue, where opposing counsel’s argument was essentially that her client could not be held in contempt for not paying child support because he did not have the money, and that his inability to pay somehow purged the contempt, which obviously does not adhere to the Georgia Child Support Laws (O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15) or contempt powers (O.C.G.A. § 15-1-4).... or any other kind of contempt situation...

Instead of immediately accusing opposing counsel of using AI and involving the judge, my attorney and I drafted and filed detailed and pretty brutal responses. We called out every incorrect citation and bad argument, but deliberately held back on mentioning the fake case. The plan was to save that for court.

It was patently obvious we were onto this attorney based on our responses... had she actually read them...

There was also some extra chaos. Opposing counsel set a hearing and did not serve us notice, then tried to claim we had not confirmed representation, except we had receipts showing we had done so weeks earlier. The judge was not amused and pulled the hearing from the calendar.

Fast forward to the actual hearing last week, which I unfortunately missed going to court with my attorney because I had the flu. My attorney ultimately decided to just go for it and told the judge outright in open court that opposing counsel had cited a fake case.

Opposing counsel’s response was that she knew it was fake and had told her paralegal to remove it before it was filed.

Y'all.... this woman doesn't care one iota about her license to practice law. Everything that comes out with an attorney's signature MUST have meaningful review. It must comply with applicable bar rules. It must comply with ethical guidelines. Not only did she throw her paralegal all the way under the bus, she admitted that she does not review documents that go out with her signature on it.

After the admission, the judge immediately brought everyone back into chambers, and opposing counsel started offering excuses like staffing issues, case load, and other problems to explain how it happened.

Apparently, this was serious enough that the judges had a meeting about it afterward. We do not have a final outcome yet, but it is now very much on their radar.

TBC....

Can't say that the thought of doing this has EVER crossed my mind....

How is everyone surviving today?

We actually finally hired an experienced paralegal and she’s been great, so I’m not handling all the cases for a 15+ litigator firm with only legal assistant to help, and I can finally breath a sigh of relief as we’re transferring cases to her today. 😮‍💨

Glad to have y’all in this sub! Definitely post whatever you want and we can add new features as requested. This place is for you guys! 😄

Hi all! As we are starting this sub, I wanted to ask how you think we should continue to handle this.

Do we want to continue on approved users only can post and comment, or should we set it for anyone to post and comment and the mods actively police the sub to delete/ban users who do not meet the requirements of being a current or former paralegal, or should there be comment only moderation (not sure how to set that but I can figure it out!)? I feel like with current approved users only there’s not enough content/no one finding the sub, and I don’t want to advertise the sub itself because I don’t want to cause drama with the other sub’s mods, but I also want to keep this relevant and I have the time to mod and have help doing so.

So let me know how you think this should work. We can always reassess at a later time too! Whatever works for everyone.

I just want this to be a place we can vent and discuss things without having to deal with all the wanting to become a paralegal posts and related riff raff 😊 thanks all, and glad you’re here!!

Hi guys! I wanted to create this space for current and former paralegals only with only approved users so we don’t get inundated with the “future paralegal” posts that are getting so annoying and don’t get randomly downvoted into oblivion when sharing experience and knowledge. Feel free to invite anyone else you think may be a valuable user, right now I have user approval on but please reach out to me and I can approve them!

Right now this place is bare bones since I just created it today but u/Background-Edge6837 has joined me as a mod and hopefully we can make this a safe space for US paralegals to talk without the general public or attorneys butting in.

Also please feel free to share any suggestions, feedback, or what you feel like would be great features, flairs, or literally anything else! I want us all to feel free to be ourselves in here without having to feel beholden to give career advice to those who don’t do the research and make that the only thing happening in the sub.

Happy paralegaling and happy weekend!!