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Law Office Management – Paralegal Class Reflection Paper

Joshua Cornstubble

Law Office Management

Cindy Stephens

03/15/2021
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Learning has always been at the core of my aspirations, both from a professional (and

academic), and personal standpoint. One of the main reasons why I enrolled for this class was to

reinforce my knowledge about the paralegal industry. To be fair, enrolling for this class was not

an absolute requirement for the course. I knew, however, that the concepts, theories, and the

knowledge that I would be able to acquire from said class will enable me to become a more

effective, and not to mention competent, legal professional in the future. I chose to enroll in this

class as a last-minute option for the OAT (Office Administration and Technology) elective

subject. I also believe that the paralegal class was going to be directly relevant to my then

existing professional experience and academic background. I work as part of the Army National

Guard, and I have been employed as a correctional officer at a maximum-security prison for

seven years, at the time of writing.

I learned a lot of things about the legal industry. Initially, I was expecting that the class

would revolve around legal principles, concepts, and theories. I was only partially correct,

because although we did cover some key legal principles, concepts, and theories, the class’ bread

and butter subjects were those that are directly related to how law firms are ran and managed.

The class discussions were peppered with a lot of management and leadership principles.

For example, we covered a topic about the different forms of management, namely, centralized

and decentralized management. The consensus that was formed by the students during the

discussions (and in some cases, mini debates) was that there is no such thing as a perfect or

better form of management. There are instances and settings where the centralized form of

management would be more suitable; and in the same manner, there are instances where the

decentralized form of management would be better. The key for future paralegals and law office
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managers, therefore, is to be familiar with these instances and settings, so that they know what

type of management and other concepts to apply.

I also learned that there are different types of law firms. There are law firms that are

owned, operated, and funded by the government. A good example would be the prosecutors’

offices that fall under the jurisdiction of the country’s Department of Justice. On the other hand,

there are lawyers that are privately owned. Depending on their structures, private law firms can

be owned by a single person (as in the case of a sole proprietorship), by two people (as in the

case of partnerships), or by a larger group of people (as in the case of professional corporations

and limited liability companies). Based on the knowledge that I acquired from this course, I

believe that I have made the right decision, as far as academic and career trajectory is concerned.

I, in fact, have a lot of options. If I want to be an Office Administrator or Technologist who will

be assigned to work in the legal industry, I already know what types of law firms to send my

resume to, depending on my immediate and medium-term goals by then. If I want to work in a

highly competitive environment, and be truly well-versed in the management of law firms and

legal offices, I would most likely apply for work in a corporate law firm, or basically any private

law firm that is owned by a large corporation (or LLC).

The versatility that my present academic and career choice offers is indeed valuable.

Depending on the movement of the trends in the legal industry or from a broader standpoint, the

office administration industry, I should be able to pick the right options that would be beneficial

to me, not just in terms of earnings (monetary compensation), but also in terms of personal and

professional growth.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has no doubt affected the way how offices work, and law firms

and offices are not an exemption. I have spent a significant number of my class-hours at home,

via online teleconferencing platforms. The good thing about this is that I was able to make good

use of my time and still study, despite the global pandemic. The bad thing, on the other hand, is

that my academic outcomes have definitely been affected, one way or the other. I believe that

there are simply course contents and topics that would be better off delivered live, as in in an

actual physical classroom setting than online.

Looking back, I think it would be safe to say that making the last-minute decision to

enroll in this paralegal class was a great decision. This class opened my eyes to a lot of things,

especially about the typical misconceptions about paralegals, lawyers, law firms, and the legal

industry and profession in general. I will surely be able to use the knowledge that I acquired from

this class in my job as an Army National Guard and a Correctional Officer. As a correctional

officer, for example, we also have to deal with lawyers from time to time. I would definitely be

able to know where the lawyers are coming from, now that I have a somewhat better grasp of the

types of processes and protocols that they have to go through, whenever they visit correctional

facilities, among other angles that are related to my existing job.