Pros
- you will make lots of money because you will work an obscene amount of overtime (~10-12 hours/week). - you will have something respectable on your resume when you inevitably apply to law school to escape paralegal life. - the attorneys are generally very approachable and will help if you need it. - PTO is very flexible, and your managers are never in, so there is lots of freedom and little to no oversight. - you will learn how to communicate with all types of ridiculous clients. - in reality, though, you will learn a lot about what it ~really~ means to be in the legal field and will gauge a sense of if this is what you want to do in your future.
Cons
- long, unregulated hours (sometimes leaving 8-9 pm), weekend hours, depending on the team/client. - little to no communication within teams, resulting in lots of wasted time and ineffective client services. - people are promoted, seemingly, based on length of time with the firm rather than merit, resulting in a lot of wildly ineffective managers. - lots of angst/competition within certain teams. People put in tons of work here and really have to fight to be recognized. While the passion is great, the lack of appropriate means of recognition often results in tension, anger, silent treatments, and outbursts.