Thankful

Here I sit in lovely Florida at my grandparents "home away from home" and as I sit on their porch I keep thinking of being thankful. On Easter Sunday especially I am thankful for the risen Lord and Savior. I am also thankful for my family, friends and my job. Yes it has been quite hectic lately with being short one staff person, tax season and overtime, but I love being a paralegal and the reward of helping clients. So I hope each of you take a moment today to sit back and be thankful.

Coley

Paralegal Division Webcast Series

Many of you know that I am the Chair of the Paralegal Division Webcast Series and I have a wonderful Co-Chair, Cindy Kranis. This series was brought into fruition by a grant from the North Carolina State Bar Board of Paralegal Certification. The North Carolina Bar Association Paralegal Division won a grant of $10,000 to provide low cost or free Continuing Paralegal Education to paralegals around North Carolina. The Paralegal Division Council decided to put on a series of one hour webcasts that are free to NCBA PD members or $25 to non-members. I don't think a single person believed they would be nearly as successful as they are now.

Each webcast that has been presented since July has had at least 75 attendees (some of them had almost 200!) This has been such a rewarding experience to watch something you helped create from the very beginning grow. The grant was originally only supposed to last for 12 months, however, because of its success the Paralegal Division plans to keep it running. I will be stepping down as Chair of the series in June -- not because I don't love doing it, but because I will be stepping into the role of Vice-Chair of the Paralegal Division. I want each of you in the Paralegal Division to consider jumping on board with Cindy Kranis to keep this wonderful series going. Part of why our division is so successful is because of YOU!

If you don't already know, I myself presented "But Mom Wanted ME to Have That!" a few days ago for the January webcast. I was a strange but rewarding experience. I love learning and sharing with others what I have learned. I enjoy entertaining a live audience, so it was a very new experience for me to be in a studio with the camera and tech support and knowing around the state there are paralegals watching me on the internet. The laptop I was using with my Power Point slides and speaker notes crashed in the middle of the presentation, but I still managed to plow through it (like a pro I am told). My point is, if you have ever want to present something but you are unsure if you want to speak at a bunch of people staring back at you....TRY A WEBCAST! It will give you a chance to get your feet wet and help you get the courage to speak infront of those people starting at you!

- Coley

Billable Time - Can we just throw it out??? Please?

I know it goes with the territory, but today I shall vent on BILLABLE TIME. I hate it. I hate trying to keep track of what I do every 6 minutes, I hate billing a client for 6 minutes when it took me 30 seconds. How many of you out there are under an enormous amount of pressure to bill your time? I wonder how much time you are pressured to bill in a day, month or year? I know lots of paralegals bill time and I shouldn't complain, but there is something about it that feels so...well...like I am being babysat?

When the attorneys ask, why do you have an hour of non-billable time, I don't really want to say, well boss, I went to the bathroom x amount of times, it took me 5 minutes each time,  I actually took my whole hour for lunch, so it took me 10 minutes to get settled in after lunch, I did take a 10 minute break in the afternoon to stretch... do you hear what I am saying here everyone?

I don't have anything to hide, my billable time is up a lot this month so far, I just feel like it is demeaning in some way to the paralegals if they are hourly employees. I think it is much easier for a salaried paralegal to meet the requirements of billable time. I am restricted to 40 hours a week, and by the way, I do get vacation time....can I take that please????

Okay, so enough with the billable time rant, just weighing on my mind today as I am pooped this afternoon. FYI because I know you all love the drama momma -- YOUNGEST got a RED CARD again yesterday. WHHHHATTTT? So again I ask why? He says, "the stuff the teacher does when we sit on the carpet is stupid. I know all that stuff, I don't need to sit there. I am a smart cookie mom." SIGH. I know he IS a smart cookie, I know he is bored. The teacher already gives him 1st grade homework and schoolwork, why is it so hard to sit on the carpet for circle time and be a smarty pants quietly and not "wobble baby" or "gangham style"? Is that too much to ask?

His teacher is beside herself I am sure. You can't help but laugh when he does these crazy dances, even if it is at inappropriate times. I have tried to take everything in life he enjoys away, I have talked till I am blue in the face, I have even spanked him, there is no solution at this point. Suggestions? (Besides going to school and sitting there beside him and pinching him everytime he wants to "bust a move".

Overall, good work week, crazy momma drama week (glass of wine will be much appreciated tonight with my girlfriends). Hope everyone has a GREAT WEEKEND!

-Coley

I SHOULD HAVE BURNT DINNER

Well, last night (night 2 of playing single mom) I managed to make Sloppy Joes, tater tots and make the Youngest Grilled Cheese and I didn't even burn the Grilled Cheese (which I often do). However, I should have burnt it all.

This past year has been a stressful year personally and professionally and I have managed to gain 25lbs. So I decided to get on Weight Watchers Monthly Pass program. Today I went at lunch to have my first weigh in. I should have burnt that dinner, so I didn't eat all those tater tots! Needless to say the scale didn't make me smile... so now you all get to go on the weightloss journey with me too! (Won't that be oh so much fun?????) Maybe if I have to be accountable to all of you it will help.

The Youngest managed to get another RED CARD yesterday...ugggg...his excuse? "Mom, I just needed to get my wobble on"  WHAAAATTTT? Your teacher is having circle time and you have to jump up and Wobble Baby Wobble Baby Wobble Baby Wobble?????? Come on now!!!!

I am so slammed at work, I was able to bring home a file to work on last night, I managed about an hour before I found myself faceplanted in my laptop with the dog snuggled up all cozy beside me. Waking up to slobber on your laptop is not fun, especially with dog butt in your face. Nice.

Husband is coming home early tonight! YAY! This single mom stuff wears me out. Props to all single moms out there. I shall raise a glass of wine to you! :)

- Coley

Practice Tip: Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated

Yesterday, even though it was Monday and all the BLAH that comes with Monday, it turned out to be a good day on the workfront. I got the satisfaction I seek in my job once again from a client. Something I have learned, especially in doing Estate Administration is you MUST MUST treat your client the way you want to be treated or better. Most of my clients have come to our office because a loved one has died or a parent has been declared Incompetent. If you have never in your personal life had to deal with any of these things, then you are blessed. If you have, then you know how very hard it is to function during that time.

Most of my clients just want someone to listen. So many times, I take on the role of therapist (unintentionally). I do let them know I care, I listen to their stories about their loved one. I encourage them, I cry with them, I let them know that I am not a cold person sitting behind a desk dealing with the numbers and business of dying. I hug them, I let them know that I am a real person, who really cares about not only helping them with what they are going through legally, but understanding how hard it is personally to deal with what they are dealing with. The business of death is big business. Funerals, gravestones, attorneys, CPA's, IRS, NC Dept of Revenue, medical offices, hospitals and nursing homes and on and on all want a piece of the pie "right now". Seems like there should be a waiting period in our society to allow family members to grieve and not have to deal with the "business" of death so soon. Often funeral homes want payment within 30-60 days after the funeral. You are talking about $2,500 - $15,000 depending on various items!

I digress, yesterday, my client came in to sign the Final Accounting for the Estate of her father. The attorney breezed through and did what needed to be done. Once the attorney had finished, I was left in the conference room to "wrap up". At that point I could have said that I would mail her a copy of everything and send her on her merry way. But I didn't. I went back through the accounting with her, line by line, making sure she saw every bill and item that was paid. We talked about how hard the holidays this year were for her since it was the first one without her father. We talked about how bittersweet it is to finally be finished with the Estate. It is the FINAL step in the death process for many. THE END. Now there are no other things that have to be dealt with for "dad, mom, sister, brother, child, etc" I only spent about 10 minutes more talking to her and when she left she hugged me and thanked me for my hard work and compassion for her. THANK YOU CLIENT for reminding me why I do this everyday!

-- Coley

Monday Blues

This is going to be a long week this week and it's only MONDAY. BLAH.  "I am so glad it's Monday?" SAID NO ONE....EVER. So the husband is out of town this week, which means I am playing the role of single, full time working mom. I am sure it will be an adventure...it always is who those two boys of mine. (By the way I have two boys, 10 & 6, who keep me jumping....we will just refer to them as Oldest and Youngest on here) Currently, Youngest is in kindergarden, which proves to be quite a challenge since he is academically gifted. His teacher thinks he is bored, so I get the joy of 1st grade homework now along with the Oldest's 5th grade homework. Kindergarden gets Green, Yellow or Red Cards each day based on their behavior...do you think my Youngest gets Green Cards everyday???? UM NO. We managed only one RED Card last week and the rest were yellows. Maybe we can get a Green today?????

Ok, so back to work fun. The pressure to have high average of billable time is on here at the firm, so I should move on and get some work done for now.

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I got this great idea from one of my colleagues to start a blog. A little about me...I work in estate, guardianship and trust administration. I have worked in other areas of law during my career, but I am fortunate enough to finally be working in an area that is my passion. I have no idea how this will go. I want this blog to be honest, fun and professional, but still me. I have a tendency to curse like a sailor, so I will try to keep it clean! Hopefully I can make you laugh and give you some good tips along the way! :)