Paralegal v Law School

Criminal Law class is really bringing home the difference between my training as a paralegal, and what I am learning in law school. Today we were talking about mens rea, an issue I was familiar with but never really had to think to much about as a paralegal. Now, as a future attorney, I have to think about it a whole lot more.

As a paralegal you are trained to think about the law only so much so that it helps your attorney. You have to understand the elements of each case so you can find cases that are on point with your clients, you have to be able to draft legal documents and you have to know how to follow your attorney around and pick their head up when they forget it.

As a lawyer you have to know how to actually handle the client's case. How are you going to defend them, can they raise certain defenses, what is the other side going to do and how will you handle that, what would you do as the prosecutor? I naively walked into law school thinking oh, I got this, this is all old hat. And yes, some of it is old hat, some of it is familiar and some of it makes me feel like the legal idiot I was when I first started down this road. I am dead thankful for my paralegal background because it gave me case brief skills, introduced me to legalese and the fundamentals of the legal community. But in law school its a whole new ball game. I am challenged in every class to think in new ways, keep my emotions out of the case (I will never be able to practice in criminal law, I would be GREAT at it I think, but I don't think I could leave it at the office), and see the other sides POV, even when I think it is moronic....

..... and you know what? I LOVE EVERY EFFING SECOND OF IT, so ignore the petty bitching I may do about it from time to time.