Her Story
About Lori
My journey into the legal field started when I was just 10 or 11 years old. My aunt is an attorney, and she would take me to courtrooms with her, introduce me to judges, and bring me to legal gatherings. I initially wanted to be an attorney myself, but when I came back to that path later in life, I discovered there was such a thing as a paralegal, which seemed like a good fit. I registered for school, ended up liking it, and I'm kind of glad I did. It doesn't make as much money as an attorney, but it's still a little less stressful, so I'm not mad about it at all. I've been in the field for 7 years now, and I'm currently a senior paralegal at Hennepin County, where I've been for a year and a half. My career path has been diverse - I started with an internship at Wells Fargo's legal department working in litigation, workers' compensation, and loss prevention. It took me a while to get my first paralegal job because I couldn't get anybody to allow me a chance since I didn't have the experience. I eventually worked at U.S. Bank for about 2 years, then became a hearing officer for Social Security disability cases where I was actually going to court as a non-attorney representative trying to get people approved for benefits. I've also worked for Scott County doing condemnation work with property lines and zoning, and I've handled tax appeals, divorce decrees, family law, and guardianship cases. Now at Hennepin County, I work across all practice areas - housing law helping prevent evictions or expunge eviction cases, civil mental health commitment, and parent representation for child protection. Every day is different - we get assigned at least one assignment daily, whether it's drafting a motion, preparing a trial notebook, calling clients, or even doing notary work at hospitals for immigrants. I do everything I can to be the best paralegal I can be. I joined the Minnesota Paralegal Association so I can do continuing legal education to keep myself up to par with new laws and regulations and adjust to new tools like chat GPT. I listen to podcasts and YouTube, and I network to keep my skills up. I earned my associate's degree in paralegal studies in 2010 and received my certified paralegal credential from the Minnesota Paralegal Association last May. I'm currently working on a higher-level competency exam and looking ahead to becoming a legal paraprofessional so I can work independently as a non-attorney for clients in certain practice areas.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lori
01What do you attribute your success to?
I do everything I could to be the best paralegal I could be. I joined the Minnesota Paralegal Association so I can do continual legal education, which we call CLEs, to continue my education and keep myself up to par as far as the new laws and regulations and things that are happening. I'm able to adjust to new tools like chat GPT and different things that are going to help me and better my skills. I do a lot of research and try to find things that will help me. I listen to podcasts, I listen to YouTube, and I just kind of network in that way to keep my skills up. The key skills you need as a paralegal are being organized and being able to multitask - if you don't have that, then you won't succeed. I also make sure I understand the vision of the company I'm working for and try to be a team player in that vision. Me caring about our clients makes me do my job better, because I know someone is on the other side waiting for something to happen for them.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to be organized and to multitask. Those are two key skills that you need to have as a paralegal. If you don't have that, then you won't succeed. You also need to be able to shift gears pretty quickly and know what practice area you're working in, because even though there are general rules for all of them, there are still differences in each one - different documents that you're going to draft, different statutes and things like that.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say stay in a field which you like. Test all the fields out first. I really don't care for law firms too much because there's such a high turnover rate and people get laid off a lot in those places, unless you work for a really big law firm that makes a lot of money. I would say work for bigger companies and try to build your skill in whatever practice area you like. Study the practice area and see which one you like, and then just go down that road. Make sure you go down the road - if it's in banking, work in a bank and try to get yourself in the door like that and work your way up. Learn all the ins and outs, like the back ends, so that you'd be real skilled when you do get that job.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field is being able to multitask and being able to shift gears pretty quickly, and knowing what practice area you're working in. They all have general rules, but then there are still differences in each one - different documents that you're going to draft, different statutes and things like that. It could be a little challenging because you're not consistently working on one practice area, so to be able to master it, it's going to take some time. I think it will take a year or two for me to be able to master all of the practice areas. As far as opportunities, I'm looking ahead to becoming a legal paraprofessional, which is where paralegals can now independently work as a non-attorney for clients for certain practice areas. I'm trying to wrap myself up as best I can to get to that point.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My value is knowing the vision of the company I'm working for and trying to be a team player in that vision, and getting the job done. I also value knowing who is on the other side as far as our clients and caring about them as well. Me caring about them makes me do my job better, because I know someone is on the other side waiting for this to happen, for something to happen for them. In my personal life, I value spending time with my immediate family and my extended family.
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