The Paralegal Coach

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson breaks down the 7 C's as it applies to paralegal communication and gives you some tips on how to become a more effective communicator.

Show Highlights

• Are you using redundant words such as: unanimous vs. completely unanimous?
• Why you always need to be courteous even when the other party is not.
• Why you should never put anything in writing that you would not be comfortable seeing on the front page news!

The 7 C's

• Clear
• Concise
• Confident
• Correct
• Credible
• Complete
• Courteous

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this episode, Ann suggested adding a grammar tool such as Grammarly to your tech tool kit.

For more resources, visit our blog and podcast page. 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

In this guest episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson talks with Heather Gonzalez, a paralegal who is also a Certified Nutritionist, 500 hour Yoga teacher, Wellness Coach, Personal trainer, Master Herbalist, and Mindful Coach about the importance of self-care for paralegals.

In the show, Ann and Heather discuss the five different types of self-care and some simple steps paralegals can take right now to reduce stress that can lead to a better quality of life and more productivity at work.

Show Highlights

• Why you don’t need an elaborate routine to practice self-care
• Self-care tips that take less than 10 minutes per day
• What is financial self-care?
• How to meditate when you can’t sit still

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this podcast episode, Heather put together a Self-Care Reference Sheet. You can get your copy here.

You can also get a copy of Heather’s Book, Release, the guide to getting rid of weight that doesn’t want to let go of you! Here

For more resources, visit our blog or podcast page. 

Are you a paralegal wanting to skip past the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson takes a look at the educational options available today for paralegals and guides you through the process of choosing what school or option is best for you.

Show Highlights

• Position statements on short-term paralegal courses and how they affect the paralegal profession.
• Does your school need to be ABA approved?
• How do you find out which schools law firms are hiring from?
• Does your school or program meet the requirements for certification?

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this podcast episode, Ann Pearson recommended that you read the “position and policy statements about short-term paralegal courses” by searching online.

She also recommended that you use martindale.com to search for law firms in your area to reach out to and ask them what educational programs they are hiring from for paralegals.

Are you a paralegal wanting to cut out the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann discusses three key metrics you should know if you are working in a law firm that has a billable hour requirement.

Show Highlights

• Learn how to calculate your utilization, realization and productivity rates.
• Tips to improve your numbers.
• How tracking these key metrics can fast track your career!

In this podcast episode, Ann discussed two actionable strategies: 

Actionable Strategy #1: Start tracking your important numbers today!

Utilization = 1200 hours (actual hours billed) divided into 1,500 (budgeted) billable hours = 80% utilization.

Realization = It is calculated like this:  Amount Collected/Amount Entered into the system (at full rate).

Profitability = Your productivity number is the percentage of time spent on billable work compared to the total hours worked (not paid).  You can measure this by dividing hours billed into hours worked (not paid hours, just worked hours). 

Actionable Strategy #2: Check out the Billable Hour Bootcamp

For more information visit our blog and podcast page. 

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson discusses alternative paralegal careers and how to decide if one might be right for you. This list is from paralegals Ann has met or worked with who went on to have these job titles, just to give you an idea of what’s available. The list could be endless!

List of Alternative Paralegal Careers:

• Project Manager or a sales position for legal support vendor
• Legislative Affairs Director for a county government agency
• Business Development/Sales for legal support vendor
• Professional Blogger/Marketer to the legal field
• Mediator
• Legal Staffing Recruiter
• Professional Development and Training Manager
• Pro Bono Program Coordinator
• Foreclosure Specialist
• Contracts Administrator
• Investigator
• Process Server
• Conflicts Specialist for a law firm
• Litigation Support Analyst
• Executive position at a venture capital company
• Compliance Specialist
• Director of Information Management

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this podcast episode, Ann Pearson discussed some steps that you can take today to decide if an alternative paralegal career is for you!

Step 1: Take a pause, turn everything off and just think. What are you passionate about? What makes you happy? What do enjoy or not enjoy about your current position?

Step 2: Take a career assessment or talk to a career coach. Consider taking an Enneagram, Myers-Briggs or MAPP personality assessment.

Step 3: Update your resume from the perspective of landing that new career position.

Step 4: Use our spreadsheet to update your career development plan to acquire the skills you will need. You can download it here.

For more resources, visit our blog and podcast page. 

Are you a paralegal wanting to cut out the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

In part two of this two-part solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson talks you through taking a specific goal and making it a S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal that is measurable, attainable, actionable, relevant and time bound.

Show Highlights

• Return on investment – how much is your time worth?
• Breaking your goals down to actionable steps
• How to use the goal tracking spreadsheet to check-in and re-evaluate your goals.

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this podcast episode, Ann Pearson discussed giving you spreadsheet to help you track your goals and achieve them. You can download it here.

Are you a paralegal wanting to cut out the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

In this two-part solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson takes a deep dive into how using the S.M.A.R.T.E.R method of goal setting can advance your paralegal career.

Show Highlights

• Focusing on our behaviors is the critical action step to achieving goals
• The scientific reason it might not be a good idea to announce your goals
• A goal is just a wish without a plan

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

In this podcast episode, Ann Pearson discussed giving you a worksheet to draft a “specific” goal. Download the template here, draft your goal(s) and join us next week when Ann shows you how to put those goals into action.

For more resources visit our blog and podcast page.  

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson answers your paralegal job search questions. She offers tips for resume writing, interviewing, paid internships, and more. Tune in for strategies to help you navigate the paralegal employment market and succeed in landing that new position.

Show Highlights

• The part of your resume that should be treated as prime beachfront real estate
• Good questions to ask your interviewer that can also highlight your skills
• The benefits and pitfalls of a paid internship

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

Actionable Strategy #1: Read our guest blog post writer, Brett Surbey’s article on Getting the Most Out of Your Paralegal Internship

Actionable Strategy #2: Listen to Podcast Episode 8 – Is it Time to Move to Another Practice Area? with Molly McGrath for the hottest practice areas for paralegals right now.

Are you a paralegal wanting to cut out the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

You can find more resources here on our blog and podcast page.

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson is on a mission to help make You a better problem solver. One of the #1 traits attorneys are looking for in their paralegals is the problem-solving skill. Ann lays out some of the best practices and techniques for problem-solving in the legal industry and a few tools to keep you on top of your game.

Show Highlights

• How to present problems and solutions to attorneys using the 4 "W" and 1 "H" method
• Uncover the underlying cause of your problems using the 5 Why method
• Why Quality Assurance and Quality Control are important tools in preventing problems

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

Actionable Strategy #1: Start using one or more of the problem solving techniques and see which one works best for solving your problem. It might be a different technique for different problems. Then take it to the next level and get to the root cause of the problem, so that you can figure out a way to prevent the problem from happening again.

Actionable Strategy #2: Ann discussed two apps to use to help you and your brain with critical thinking for enhanced problem solving, memory and focus.

Try Elevate here: https://elevateapp.com/

Try Lumosity here: https://www.lumosity.com/en/

Are you a paralegal wanting to cut out the learning curve and kickstart your paralegal career? 

The Paralegal Boot Camp offers online courses to fast-track your paralegal career. View our course offerings.  

https://paralegal-bootcamp.thinkific.com.

 

For more resources please visit our blog and podcast page.

In this solo episode of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, Ann Pearson discusses the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about: how the scarcity mindset is a problem in the paralegal profession. What is the scarcity mindset? It’s when someone thinks that they can’t be successful if others are. And it shows itself when paralegals are not willing to share their knowledge and skills with others because they think there can only be one rockstar paralegal in the room. It’s one of the reasons why employers are reluctant to hire entry-level paralegals – because most of us know that this is happening and don’t know what to do to fix it.

Join Ann for this frank discussion and keep the conversation going by being the paralegal with an abundance mindset who wants to help EVERY paralegal succeed.

Show Highlights

• How social media comments motivated this discussion
• It absolutely does not take 10, 20, or 30 years of experience to be a rockstar paralegal
• Advice for new paralegals who are not getting the mentoring or training they need

In all of our podcast episodes, we try to give paralegals an actionable strategy that they can take away from the show because we know your time is valuable.

If you are a new (or fairly new) litigation paralegal, reserve your seat in the free masterclass that Ann mentioned in this episode. https://paralegal-bootcamp.com/masterclass

You can fast-track your career with our 3-Step Roadmap to Manage Cases Like a Rockstar Paralegal! If you are new (or fairly new) to litigation, this free guide will help you get a handle on your cases and be able to anticipate what the attorney needs before they ask for it.

GET A COPY OF THE FREE GUIDE HERE

For more resources please visit our blog and podcast page.