PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_Oct. 2019 | Page 15

PARALEGAL CORNER
A Renewed Focus on Professionalism
and Civility in the Courtroom
PATRICIA C. DERAMUS
We’ve all heard the advice that networking
is important step for career success as a
paralegal. If you want to be successful,
you need to spend time networking. We
go to networking events and conferences,
collect and handout business cards. It
takes a village to have a successful career;
people who provide you with information,
connection to others, help to get a job done,
advocate for you, mentor, guide and sponsor
you. And to build this type of network,
your networking needs to be strategic. To
create this type of network which supports
your ambition and your efforts needs to be
intentional and purposeful.
So what could possibly hold us back:
• your mindset,
• you limit your network,
• you are not strategic;
• you are not proactive;
• you don’t schedule time to network,
and
• you don’t leverage relationships.
It is customary to speak about:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Your work and responsibilities,
Your skills and expertise,
Professional challenges,
Professional achievements
Experiences, and
Goals
In order to build professional status, it’s
important to be visible to others – from work
colleagues to potential employers. Here
are some tips when attending networking
events:
• Listen attentively,
• Remember names,
• Follow-up on conversations –
especially when promising to send
contact details,
• Offer your expertise and knowledge,
• Network often so you increase
meeting the right people and it also
gets your face know.
In order to create a strategic network:
These steps reflect your trustworthy,
supportive and knowledgeable.
The
• Start with your professional goals;
more you know, the more desirable you
• What do you hope to achieve in 3 – 5 are. Learning what other paralegals are
years?
doing is beneficial for everyone in the
• Who do you know and who can help you legal community and guarantees the
reach that goal.
maintenance of high standards.
Your
• Build mutually beneficial relationships. network fundamentally becomes a resource
• Find allies and champions
for you to use.
• Spend your time wisely by focusing on
relationships and nurturing them.
There are many national and local
• Attend organizational events to help professional associations you can join, and
connect with potential contacts.
these associations host networking events,
CLE seminar, workshops, conventions,
Networking is an important valuable skill and fun events. Push yourself out of your
which brings value to your work and even
comfort zone, make small talk, exchange
enhances your career. Networking consists business cards, add to your paralegal
of meeting and interacting with paralegal knowledge, and make friends? I promise
contacts to exchange information and you won’t regret doing this.
there are a variety of ways networking
occurs from handing out those business With today’s technology, social media has
cards to speaking with someone in our made professional networking even easier.
legal community. The more you practice Many paralegals use Facebook and Twitter,
communication with paralegals, the more but the primary professional networking
confidence grows and the more likely you platform is LinkedIn.
will succeed in our Paralegal profession.
Others can detect confidence, you’ll see this
if you’re asked for your ideas and views.
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN
15
To ultimately advance your paralegal career
– you simply have to make a little effort to
connect with legal professionals around
you, whether in school, at professional
events, or online. So get out there and build
your paralegal professional network !
BOOK & TEDDY
BEAR DRIVE
PRESENTED BY THE LAWYERS FOR
LITERACY COMMITTEE TO BENEFIT
NATIONAL
ADOPTION
DAY
Donate a new CHILDREN’S BOOK
or new TEDDY BEAR and we’ll make
sure your gift is given to children
and their families who participate in
National Adoption Day at the Main
Courthouse this November. Gifts not
used will be donated to our family
court judges who handle adoptions and
custody issues throughout the year.
DROP OFF LOCATIONS
now through November 1
Main & So. Co. Courthouses
Guardian Ad Litem Office
West Palm & Delray
PBCBA Bar Office
1507 Belvedere Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
Don’t have time to shop? We’ll shop for
you! Please mail your check by 11/1 to:
Palm Beach County Bar Association
c/o Bear & Book Drive
1507 Belvedere Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406