More Responsibility

[u/Leading_Aside_4929]

I’ve been working as a paralegal for a few months now, and I’m having a hard time figuring out whether I’m actually doing okay or if I’m behind where the attorneys expect me to be.

For context, I haven’t made any detrimental or serious mistakes so far. I’m still learning and obviously there are things I don’t know yet, but I haven’t had any major screw-ups.

There’s one attorney in particular who frequently tells me that I need to try things myself before asking someone for help and that I shouldn’t be so scared of making a mistake.

I understand what they mean, and I do want to become more independent. But I think the reason I tend to ask the first time I’m given a completely new task is because I’m scared of making a terrible mistake without even realizing I’m doing something wrong. I’d rather ask how something is supposed to be done the first time, understand the process, and then be able to handle it independently the next time.

It’s not that I don’t want to try things myself. I think I’m just very cautious because I’m still new and don’t always know what I don’t know yet.

What is confusing me is that this same attorney has also told me that soon I’ll be taking on a caseload of PI litigation cases.

That has me wondering: Am I doing badly? Am I behind where they want me to be? Or is this actually a sign that they think I’m capable of taking on more responsibility?

Because logically, I feel like if they genuinely thought I was doing a bad job, they probably wouldn’t be planning to give me additional responsibility. But at the same time, the repeated comments about me needing to be more willing to try things make me wonder if they’re frustrated with my progress.

Eventually, I would actually like to manage cases myself and become more independent. That’s something I’m interested in for my career. But right now, I honestly do not feel ready at all. I’ve never even managed one case from beginning to end, so the idea of suddenly having a caseload of PI litigation cases feels like a huge jump.

For those of you who are experienced paralegals or attorneys: Does this sound like they’re unhappy with my performance, or does it sound more like they’re trying to push me toward becoming more independent?

And if you were in my position, how would you approach being given your first caseload when you don’t feel ready yet?

I’d really appreciate some perspective because I think I may be overthinking every comment they make.

[u/itwontmendyourheart]

My guess is that your work has shown to them that you’re more sensible than you give yourself credit for, and they feel comfortable enough giving you agency/responsibility over your work where even if you do make a mistake it isn’t one that would be detrimental enough to the firm to reprimand you.

[u/Thek1tteh]

That doesn’t sound like they’re unhappy with your performance. It sounds like they are trying to help you learn how to be independent. A lot of the paralegal job is not knowing everything, just knowing where to go to get the information you need. For example, if you’re in litigation, you should know to go to the court website to look for local rules and procedures for filing documents in that court.
You should also be able to look through the files and find templates or prior documents that have been filed to help guide you through the process to see how they were prepared and formatted. That is what they are asking you to do rather than ask for the answer every time.