Her Story
About JahQueen
JahQueen Bennett has been a paralegal for 10 years and has worked in the legal field for a total of 20 years. She is a general law paralegal who works with various attorneys in all areas, with a specialty in torts. Bennett mainly supports the commercial litigation and real estate departments while also handling trademarks, procurement, and contracts. Her key responsibilities include receiving, analyzing, and processing subpoenas, responding to preservation requests, managing trademark renewals, and supporting administrative and transactional work. She earned her education in paralegal studies during college. Bennett serves as vice president of the Multicultural Employee Resource Group and was recently asked to sit on the board for Diversity Month. She attributes her success and inspiration to her mother, who worked as a secretary in the 1980s and 1990s and demonstrated professionalism, organization, and class by bringing Bennett and her sister to work. Bennett values self-care, organization, and neatness in both her work and personal life. She advises working smart rather than hard, communicating needs, networking, prioritizing tasks, and remaining professional. Bennett is concerned about AI systems impacting the legal field and plans to take AI courses to better understand the technology.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with JahQueen
01What do you attribute your success to?
My success comes from my mom. She inspired me by taking us to work with her in the 80s and 90s, showing professionalism and organization. Watching her get ready for work gave me that nostalgic feeling and made me want to be in an office environment. She raised me to be professional and classy, and that's my biggest inspiration.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Work smart, not hard. When you love what you do, it doesn't feel like a job. The work is always hard but it doesn't have to feel like a burden. Always communicate if you need more time, network, have camaraderie with people. Stay on top of your assignments, do not bite off more than you can chew, prioritize, and be realistic with deadlines.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Work smart, not hard, but stay on top of your A game. Double-check everything, proof everything, proofread, dot your I's, cross your T's. Self-care is important if you feel overwhelmed. Ignore the negativity that may come from other people. Always remain professional no matter what.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is AI systems taking over everything. I recently joined a new program and will be taking AI courses soon to better understand it and network with AI.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Self-care is very important to me, even taking a 5-minute walk during downtime at work to stretch. Organization and neatness are key - I keep things in folders and filed so my workspace is always neat. This applies in my home as well.
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