Dillards 89: I'd Watch a Netflix Xpecial and so Would My Mom

[Melissa1977]

13 hours ago, RainbowSky said:

So I wonder if anyone is going to call him Dr Dillard now? 

He has not a phD. 

[Marserin]

On 5/7/2021 at 1:17 PM, Don'tlikekoolaid said:

  And fuck that traitor Caitlyn Jenner.

This is the way to speak of her. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

44 minutes ago, Melissa1977 said:

He has not a phD. 

He does have a JD now though, I think she was kidding, anyway.

[feministxtian]

1 hour ago, bertnee said:

I'm in my 30s and have young children and work full-time so I'm not sure if it would be worth it to change careers since I'd have to do some sort of training course first.

I'm 57 and going back this fall for a full mechanical engineering degree and minoring in secondary education...I want to be a STEM teacher. 

[artdecades]

15 hours ago, RainbowSky said:

So I wonder if anyone is going to call him Dr Dillard now? 

That would be Derick Dillard, Esquire. 

[justoneoftwo]

In most places you don't actually need training to be a paralegal. It's hard to get into the field without it but it's not actually a requirement. You can also start at the legal secretary and become a paralegal afterwards. 

A JD a doctorate degree, and well in America you don't generally call lawyers doctor it is appropriate

[hauntedoklahoma]

2 hours ago, bertnee said:

So since people are talking about law degrees, I've been learning a lot about the legal field and I find that I am really interested in being a paralegal. I'm in my 30s and have young children and work full-time so I'm not sure if it would be worth it to change careers since I'd have to do some sort of training course first. Currently I work at a nonprofit in operations and my bachelors degree has nothing to do with my current job or the legal field. My biggest fear is to invest money in training and then hate the job, and also although I'd be new to the field, I wouldn't be new to working professionally and I'm worried I'd be treated poorly by lawyers - like I'm not expecting a boss to roll out the red carpet and cater to me, but I have read some paralegal stories about big ego lawyers. Are there paralegals on FJ who would share a little about their experience?

Sure, I'm working at a law firm right now, have worked off and on in law firms since I was 15 (part-time answering phones/filing and such) and my mom is a paralegal as well.

First off--if you're serious about doing this, what area of law? You don't have to just do general stuff, and everything's a little different. Personally, I HATE family law--I work for litigators (aka people who actually go to court and/or attend trials and hearings, which not every attorney does) and their specialties are corporate and civil rights. It's hard work. Litigation is stressful. (I'm not saying the others aren't stressful, but I'm not going to sit and speak with authority on fields that I don't work in/have an interest in.) 

Working for attorneys is hard. You never really know what you're going to get--and not every experience is like mine, but I have a reputation for being able to soothe "difficult" attorneys so I do have that under my cap. The most startling thing that people don't understand going into this field is that the standard is often "well, s/he's an asshole, but s/he doesn't throw things at me, so I guess I have it pretty good." Again, not everyone has terrible experiences, but abuse in this field is pretty well known and yes, I have known attorneys that physically throw things. It's not easy. 

Again--specific to litigation, but burnout is pretty high and we don't really get vacations. Overtime is kind of expected in most cases and trial prep week is this foggy haze that we can tell you is hard but that I can specifically tell you I don't ever remember most of the time. There are days without lunch breaks, days where you work through lunch, days where you have a favorite bathroom stall to cry in--but that doesn't mean it's not worth it. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I wish I had known these things when I went into the legal field and I did not. 

Specific to paralegals and not legal assistants, generally: you will be expected to bill a certain number of hours per week. Not everything you do is billable. They are usually pretty difficult to meet numbers, but not impossible. (Just as an example, if you work 9 hour days, and your billing works out to you needing to bill 8 hours/day--you might have several days where the only things you can actually bill for amount to 5.5 hours or so.) 

You will need to be able to multitask and work well under pressure, especially for litigation--you get 15 days to respond to a motion? Great! Have it done by day 10? Even better! Will the attorney look at it and get it back to you for filing before 5 minutes before the courthouse closes on the day it's due? Very highly unlikely. I keep a rigorous to-do list and I have to work on my own without a lot of supervision/direction (which is great for me; I hate being micromanaged). It's not a requirement for all paralegals/LAs but I do a lot of drafting--like, a lot a lot--so you would want to brush up on that as well as proofreading, and editing, and how to do legal research. 

Some law firms do not require paralegal degrees--there are varying levels of education. Paralegal degrees are usually associates or bachelors. There's a paralegal certificate. There's also a Certified Paralegal, which is not the same as having a paralegal certificate. There's also ACP (Advanced Certified Paralegal)--both CP and ACP are managed by a national association. Some firms require these titles, some firms do not. Some firms are willing to let you work up from LA to Para, some are not. It really depends. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by hauntedoklahoma

[CTRLZero]

14 minutes ago, hauntedoklahoma said:

Will the attorney look at it and get it back to you for filing before 5 minutes before the courthouse closes on the day it's due?

Ha ha!  I was a legal assistant/paralegal off and on for 30 years.  I remember the paralegals throwing up in the bathroom stalls as I sped across town to court to beat yet another filing deadline.  Good times.  (Now most filings are online.  I'm old.)

It's not all totally stressful, but approaching trial you need nerves of steel.  My favorite position was as a legal assistant for a complex litigation unit (financial mischief).   Lots of variety.

I have a B.A. in legal studies, but to be a full time paralegal an additional certification was required, so I was a hybrid assistant/paralegal.  It's worthwhile investigating what requirements your potential future employer(s) require.

[RainbowSky]

4 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

He has not a phD. 

No, but he has a JD which is also a doctorate degree. 

As Buffy said, it was a joke, because of people losing their minds if someone without an MD is called Dr lol

[fluffernutter]

Jill just posted on instagram about Derrick's graduation. It looks like one of her younger brother's might have been there? Not sure but sure looks like one of them. 

[BullyJBG]

2 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

Jill just posted on instagram about Derrick's graduation. It looks like one of her younger brother's might have been there? Not sure but sure looks like one of them. 

Looks like James

[Alisamer]

5 minutes ago, BullyJBG said:

Looks like James

Good, I'm glad if one of the not-yet-married Duggars showed up. I hope he sees Derrick getting a degree and gains some ambition other than just finding a wife and knocking her up. 

I still hold out hope that at least one of the youngest girls follows Jill's footsteps and hopefully goes even farther. At least now there's an older sibling who is likely to approve of real higher education for the younger Duggars, if they want it. They can't ALL work at a car lot or fly planes.

[Sops2]

Think it's James too

[viii]

Was James on her buddy team?

[AliceInFundyland]

2 minutes ago, viii said:

Was James on her buddy team?

Yes, James and Jennifer. It's nice to see him there. I wonder most often about her ability to keep up with those two.

[seraaa]

4 minutes ago, viii said:

Was James on her buddy team?

I believe he was, yes. Joy, James and Jenni?

[nsgoblue]

5 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Ha ha!  I was a legal assistant/paralegal off and on for 30 years.  I remember the paralegals throwing up in the bathroom stalls as I sped across town to court to beat yet another filing deadline.  Good times.  (Now most filings are online.  I'm old.)

It's not all totally stressful, but approaching trial you need nerves of steel.  My favorite position was as a legal assistant for a complex litigation unit (financial mischief).   Lots of variety.

I have a B.A. in legal studies, but to be a full time paralegal an additional certification was required, so I was a hybrid assistant/paralegal.  It's worthwhile investigating what requirements your potential future employer(s) require.

I currently work as a Paralegal for a Real Estate/Litigation Law Firm...I do cooperative closings on my own and help with lots of the heavy litigation...before discovery and some motions are due even I am up late helping finish the motion to get it filed (online thank goodness)...I love it, but after seeing how crazy the lawyers work...no thanks to law school for me

[ContrastingButtons]

2 hours ago, seraaa said:

I believe he was, yes. Joy, James and Jenni?

Yes.  Jill’s buddy team was Joy, James and Jennifer.  It’s really nice to see that James was there.  

[AussieKrissy]

I see that there is a photo where Jill and the boys are in masks and i am making a lot of assumptions here but Cathy his Mum is not. Yeah way to go Cathy let everyone else do the hard yards to keep you well..

[JuanitaBanana]

I was really happy to see James at Derick's graduation. I hope he spends a lot of time with the Dillards and maybe they can convince him to go to college and wait before getting married and having kids. Of course JimBob would never allow it. 

[AussieKrissy]

1 minute ago, JuanitaBanana said:

I was really happy to see James at Derick's graduation. I hope he spends a lot of time with the Dillards and maybe they can convince him to go to college and wait before getting married and having kids. Of course JimBob would never allow it. 

It's a pity, I bet he was not allowed to bring Jenni along. Always had a very soft and sad spot for her and Jordyn. 

[Not that josh's mom]

 

19 minutes ago, AussieKrissy said:

I see that there is a photo where Jill and the boys are in masks and i am making a lot of assumptions here but Cathy his Mum is not. Yeah way to go Cathy let everyone else do the hard yards to keep you well..

Sorry about the double quote! 

I'm giving Cathy a pass. She has a mask in her lap, they are seated in a family group. I think she just took off for a photo, just like Derrick did on stage.

Edited May 10, 2021 by HerNameIsBuffy
fixed double quote

[closetcagebaby]

4 minutes ago, Not that josh's mom said:

 

Sorry about the double quote! 

I'm giving Cathy a pass. She has a mask in her lap, they are seated in a family group. I think she just took off for a photo, just like Derrick did on stage.

I would also be super surprised if she wasn’t vaccinated at this point as she would certainly be a high risk category 

[AussieKrissy]

5 minutes ago, Not that josh's mom said:

 

Sorry about the double quote! 

I'm giving Cathy a pass. She has a mask in her lap, they are seated in a family group. I think she just took off for a photo, just like Derrick did on stage.

ahhh thank you i take my BEC back I did not see the mask in the lap 

Just now, closetcagebaby said:

I would also be super surprised if she wasn’t vaccinated at this point as she would certainly be a high risk category 

She may not be able to be vaccinated yet, she may not be strong enough yet to be done. My Friends  Mum is recovering from breast cancer and cant be done yet, I know Cathy's was a while ago but she does still look quiet frail. If indeed she can not have it yet for medical reasons, for people like her I am happy to have the shot to help with herd immunity to protect the frail.

[Vivi_music]

Stupid question, but this discussion made me think... what are lawyers or attorneys called in English? ?

In French, a lawyer is called ''Maître''. Derick would literally be adressed as Maître Dillard if he was practicing law in a French-speaking country. Pretty sure the ''maître'' isn't related to ''master'' in the sense of someone having an autority above others, but in the sense that they are a master of the law.

No titles that I might be unaware of in the English language?

Edited May 11, 2021 by Vivi_music
Precision