[blindlaw] paralegal jobs

Sat May 16 07:01:02 UTC 2009

Hi Kate,
I am a totally blind paralegal in California. This is a career change after 
having done social work and community organizing for many years. To become a 
paralegal for a law firm in most states it is recommended that you go 
through a paralegal training program. If you have not had extensive legal 
experience I would recommend a program that is live rather then a 
correspondence based program. In most paralegal programs offered through 
colleges or universities an internship is part of the program.
I actually free-lance which means I work for various attorneys on an as 
needed basis. I mostly work for small firms or solo practitioners that don't 
require a full-time paralegal. I am not sure that there are that many blind 
paralegals in the U..S. and I am trying to collect some data about this 
question and to find other blind paralegals to find out their circumstances. 
While it is much easier today with on-line legal research and forms software 
program there are some duties in some circumstances that don't lend 
themselves to a totally blind person doing all jobs. Examples would apply 
where it is necessary for a paralegal to review many handwritten documents 
as part of trial exhibits or information that is provided by a client. This 
issue came up when I was in the paralegal program when I interviewed with 
the local public defender's office as interns would assist the lawyers in 
court and would frequently need to read handwritten police reports.
Entering the profession I had some advantages as much of my experience as a 
social worker was involving law related issues such as court-ordered 
treatment when I was a therapist, providing alternative sentencing 
recommendations for criminal defense attorneys, representing clients in 
Social Security appeals and other administrative law hearings and 
administering a caseload of workers compensation clients assigned to private 
rehabilitation services. I have found that working with the attorneys that I 
have we have been able to develop innovative methods of dealing with various 
issues and much of the work that I do is done on-line and submitted to the 
attorneys electronically. If needed I will travel to the firm or attorney 
that I am working with to meet clients and will to other duties as needed 
including filing of paperwork with the court. Here in California paralegals 
who have completed a paralegal training program and who meet other 
requirements including posting of a surety bond with the county where are 
working can prepare documents for the general public as a "legal Document 
Assistant" or an Unlawful detainer Assistant" which in other states is known 
more commonly as land-lord tenant matters.
I hope this information helps and you may feel free to contact me off list 
as needed.
Chuck Krugman, M.S.W., Paralegal
1237 P Street
Fresno ca 93721
559-266-9237
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kate Thegreat" <shamaniclivin1281 at hotmail.com>
To: <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 12:18 PM
Subject: [blindlaw] paralegal jobs

Is it possible to become a paralegal if I am totally blind? I am 28 years 
old. I have a bachelor's degree in nutrition. A lot of my prior background 
is in various teaching capacities related to computers and disability 
habilitation. Currently, I write for the local paper. I also am taking an 
online course for medical transcription.

I am not terribly interested in the medical transcription, but my counselor 
at the state agency for the blind had suggested I'd be good at it.

I looked at some explanations of the type of work that paralegals do and it 
sounds interesting to me.

If this job is possible for a blind person to do, how does one approach a 
law firm in order to get a shadowing experience?

Thanks,

Kate

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