Becoming a paralegal manager requires extensive paralegal experience or deep familiarity with human resources. The role involves overseeing a team of paralegals and requires an understanding of the organization’s culture. Internal promotion is common, but competition is strong. Experience, motivation, and managerial potential are key factors in selection.
You can become a paralegal manager in many ways, including internal promotion, external application, and sometimes government appointment. Paralegal managers are part of the mid-level management team in most circumstances. As such, the work is generally not entry-level. To be selected as a paralegal manager, you must generally have extensive paralegal experience or have a deep familiarity with how the field operates from a human resources perspective.
It takes a lot of work and planning to become a paralegal manager. The manager’s primary role is to oversee a department or team of paralegals. This usually involves discipline, work allocation, team building and task management. To be effective, a paralegal manager must have a deep understanding of how paralegals work, what the job requires, and the general culture at play in the organization.
The skills needed to become a paralegal manager for a specific organization can often be learned on the job by a person with the right skills. As much of what makes a good paralegal manager depends on the specific organization, however, many companies turn to their own paralegal pools first when making a hiring decision. A paralegal who excels at all required tasks, knows the team well, and understands the needs and inner workings of the department is often seen as an ideal candidate to become a paralegal manager.
Internal competition can be strong, however. If you are currently a paralegal and know that you want to become a paralegal manager at some point, it might be a good idea to talk to someone more senior in your organization about what the job entails. There may be certain skills or training you could receive now that would strengthen your application to become a paralegal manager later on. Learning about the different types of work you could do if you became a paralegal manager can also be valuable. Once you have some experience, you can apply to become a paralegal manager in another company or in another discipline altogether after working for a while wherever you are.
The paralegal career field is diverse, and paralegals work in diverse contexts. Most are housed in law firms, but many also find jobs in corporate legal departments or legal divisions of governments in most countries. What it takes to become a paralegal manager in each of these settings might be a little different. The only way to find out what kind of paralegal manager you want to become is to do a little research, including asking people who are actively working as paralegal managers what they do on a day-to-day basis.
Regardless of the scenario, most paralegal managers have one thing in common: experience. The vast majority of paralegal administration employees have spent several years – usually at least five – working as paralegals. Others were human resource professionals working in legal contexts who were hired as paralegal managers based on their knowledge of the field. Paralegal managers do not typically perform paralegal work, but rather act as paralegal bosses.
Experience in paralegal work is desirable, then, but not strictly necessary. Generally, employers look to experience, in addition to motivation, long-term motivation and managerial potential, when selecting their legal managers. The best way to successfully become a paralegal manager – and thrive in the role once there – is to prepare for the job well in advance of applying and understand what you’ll actually be doing.
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