NEW YORK (May 29, 2012)- Paralegal pay continues to rise for both law firms and law departments, according to the Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals/Legal Assistants and Managers, 2012 Edition, released today.

Learn the best steps for investing in your paralegal career so that you reach your goals.

1. Pursue certification,

This post will have nothing to do with advice. I simply want to talk about something that helps me work harder and longer.

Indexing, cite checking, and formatting are not the most exciting things in the world, but I look at those tasks as a time in my day to relax.

Vanessa A. Mcfadden v. Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP

Mrs. Vanessa McFadden, a legal secretary who worked in the DC Office of Ballard Spahr, from 1989 until she was fired in 2004, filed a law suit against her former employer, claiming the firm interfered with her right to take time off to care for her husband and herself.

A trial consists of a compilation of complex processes of courtroom procedures and rituals, which can often change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and can seem like a strange and mysterious world if you don’t know what those procedures and rituals are.

Since ritual and tradition play a large part in the trial process it is integral that as paralegals we make it our business to understand what those procedures are. I think one of the most important things we can do as Paralegals, once our case has reached the Courtroom, is to know the layout of the land. What I mean by this, is “Knowing your Courtroom” - being aware of your surroundings and its inhabitants.

Dewey & LeBoeuf has filed for bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan on Memorial Day. (Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Case No. 12-12321, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, Manhattan).

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about what we can do to nurture our own creativity. Fascinating insights into how to be more aware of one's own capabilities and how to help ourselves take full advantage of what is in us.

The scenario: It’s 10:00 a.m. on a Friday morning and your employer says to you, “Would you step into my office please?”

In the office your boss and someone from Human Resources politely tell you that the company has to down size due to the economy. Or that your position is being eliminated in a consolidation. Or, you are included in a mass layoff.

Most law firms are transitioning to paperless these days.

Firm-wide scanning—or moving paper into a digital filing system—has some obvious benefits.

For one, less paper.

But most of all, going paperless leads also to more efficient access to information, more security, and a lot of space saving ...

As paralegals, we make our living by supporting others. Some of us work for a solo practitioner, others for an entire team of lawyers. But how to ensure one's own career progress when the main goal is to support others?