My job
Queenikins pointed out that she was not sure just WHAT my new job was, and I realize I've not been very specific, especially for those who may not have a clue what I do at all.
My title is Litigation Support Specialist. Woo Hoo. We litigation support professionals now even have our own professional magazine (first issue was put out in August).
But, as a recent talk with my father emphasized, even attorneys and others working in law firms often don't know what a Litigation Support Specialist is.
Every law firm defines it differently, but most Litigation Support Specialists have responsibilities in most of the following areas:
Project Managers
Legal Software Trainers
Legal Software Support (think help-desk)
Database specialists (we are not programmers, but we are whizzes at going into the back end of databases and producing custom reports, troubleshooting bad data etc.)
Legal Vendor Liaisons
Liaisons (think translators) between the Law Firm IT department and Legal Professionals (Attorneys and Paralegals)
Computer Forensic specialists
And, in reality, probably a whole lot more. Flexibility is the key, anything that falls close to but outside of the traditional paralegal or law firm IT dept responsibilities is likely to fall upon our desks to a certain extent.
It's a fun job, if you are with the right firm (I think I am). I actually was a Litigation Support Specialist when there were probably less than 100 of us in the whole country, so this is familiar territory, even if I've been away from it for a while.
A rapidly expanding career path (only very large law firms in the top 10 cities usually had a dedicated Lit Support person until a couple of years ago). I'm lucky, only two law firms in my town are large enough to have a Lit Support position right now, but I expect that will grow (or at least the smaller firms will want people who are hybrid IT/Lit Support or Paralegal/Lit Support.) Most of us are former IT trainers or paralegals. A small but not insignificant percentage (that includes yours truly) of us are former practicing attorneys or J.D.'s.
As it is a new career (about 10 years old) - there can be a lot of difference in the technical range and legal knowledge between two Lit Support Specialists. Also, as it is a new career, the job is largely what the person holding it brings to it, and how expansive they are willing to be when defining their role.
But, bottom line, I'm getting paid to be a professional geek. What more could I ask for?
And if you read this far, you may need to consider getting professional help. ;-)
My title is Litigation Support Specialist. Woo Hoo. We litigation support professionals now even have our own professional magazine (first issue was put out in August).
But, as a recent talk with my father emphasized, even attorneys and others working in law firms often don't know what a Litigation Support Specialist is.
Every law firm defines it differently, but most Litigation Support Specialists have responsibilities in most of the following areas:
Project Managers
Legal Software Trainers
Legal Software Support (think help-desk)
Database specialists (we are not programmers, but we are whizzes at going into the back end of databases and producing custom reports, troubleshooting bad data etc.)
Legal Vendor Liaisons
Liaisons (think translators) between the Law Firm IT department and Legal Professionals (Attorneys and Paralegals)
Computer Forensic specialists
And, in reality, probably a whole lot more. Flexibility is the key, anything that falls close to but outside of the traditional paralegal or law firm IT dept responsibilities is likely to fall upon our desks to a certain extent.
It's a fun job, if you are with the right firm (I think I am). I actually was a Litigation Support Specialist when there were probably less than 100 of us in the whole country, so this is familiar territory, even if I've been away from it for a while.
A rapidly expanding career path (only very large law firms in the top 10 cities usually had a dedicated Lit Support person until a couple of years ago). I'm lucky, only two law firms in my town are large enough to have a Lit Support position right now, but I expect that will grow (or at least the smaller firms will want people who are hybrid IT/Lit Support or Paralegal/Lit Support.) Most of us are former IT trainers or paralegals. A small but not insignificant percentage (that includes yours truly) of us are former practicing attorneys or J.D.'s.
As it is a new career (about 10 years old) - there can be a lot of difference in the technical range and legal knowledge between two Lit Support Specialists. Also, as it is a new career, the job is largely what the person holding it brings to it, and how expansive they are willing to be when defining their role.
But, bottom line, I'm getting paid to be a professional geek. What more could I ask for?
And if you read this far, you may need to consider getting professional help. ;-)