BULLETINS FROM ALOHA

What does the Legal Profession really owe those who provide support for the legal system?   Instead of offering appreciations which have become so banal, this is an attempt to analyze the seeds of success or failure and what can we do about those toiling in the Black Hole.

     Career Paths  --  I could be wrong and aggressively invite your feedback if I am.  There does not seem to be a coherent career path for those that decide a legal support enterprise is their calling.  Support staff for law offices seem to come from two sources:  Experienced legal secretaries that become professional paralegals or pretenders that have virtually no experience, but have been to a course or two at the local business college.  The pretenders want to be hired as high-paid paralegals along with all the hereditaments and emoluments that come with that 'lofty' status.  Otherwise,  the talented young who don't plan on college seem to opt for Intel or some other obvious road to a real career.

     It has been a mystery to me for years how we wind up with so many competent, kind people who work legal support at our courtrooms.  They appear to be rewarded with low pay and a lot of bs from the public and the lawyers.  The final straw was in 2003 when the Supreme Court of Oregon saw fit to dispense with the court reporters on 24 hours notice and put the Oregon court system on reduced pay while not sacrificing anything themselves.  Several court staff that shared their angst with me were dismayed at the lack of raises over the years while being called on to go the extra mile for a surly judge. 

     Law Office Support  --  So, what is the key ingredient?  It is ownership.  Support staff who are successful in law offices take ownership of their corner of the legal world.  For example, when I started out, I had the good fortune of stealing the office manager from the office of my departure.  She immediately made it her business to ensure that all bases where covered.  Payroll tax? you say.  Estimated taxes mean what?  Business licenses, personal property taxes, supplies, copy machines, computer maintenance were all black holes to me.  Yet this wonderful woman took ownership of it all and kept me out of trouble on all fronts.  When she moved on after almost ten years, her replacement from the ranks described above marched into my office one day, shortly after she was hired, grabbed me by the lapels and guided me through a fix on my Accounts Receivables that had plagued me for many years.  It only got better after that because she took ownership of the difficult and the profane of my law office that successfully grew due to her diligence and competence.

     Court Support Staff  --  In twenty years in this business, I have worked in our busiest counties;  Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Marion, Lane and even Tillamook County.  Similarly, I have had cases at every appellate court in the State of Oregon and every level of our federal courts from the District Court of Oregon to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.  On reflection here is the shocker.  I have virtually always received kind, knowledgeable, conscientious help from every court support staff I have ever worked.

     I am not sucking up because I am not practising law now.

     That court staff should be so competent, and taken for granted is a sobering thought as I reflected on my experiences in each of these legal arenas.  Fred Leeson, a reporter for the Oregonian and the brother of Susan Leeson, formerly a justice on the Oregon Supreme Court,  has written a history of the legal profession in Portland.  It pays tribute to the high and powerful.    The court regime in my local county is now at the point of complete turnover since I started.  There was a hearty band of local law office support staff that formed an association that was quite active in the local legal support community, but became moribund when they did not infuse new blood to their organization.  Local bar associations should be responsible for capturing the legal history of those who support our profession at the local level.  This important piece of history should not be lost to the Black Hole. 

     There are many lawyers laboring out there in the Black Hole without appreciation nor recognition.  At the same time one would need an abacus and a slide rule to calculate how many awards former Chief Justice Wallace Carson has obtained, deserving nil.  There are many, many more support human beings in our profession that toil without adequate pay, without adequate appreciation nor do they have a voice from the Black Hole.  There should be such a voice. 

     In the meantime, I am going to look at whether there is a clear career track for legal support staff anywhere other than the feeble business college courses around.  I will report back.   I implore local bar presidents to explore permanent recognition for the support people who work so hard for our legal system.  These self-bouying awards to lawyers and judges are getting tiresome.