I'll Take the Blame for That! The Proverbial Scapegoat

Is it just me who feels like the secretary is always the fall-guy/gal?

What about attorneys who wait until the last minute to meet deadlines?  When was the last time you heard one of them say, "Hey, Susie, that's my mistake.  I should have looked over that agreement before vacation?"

Don't hold your breath.

And there's something that many secretaries, yours truly, inevitably do and that is to take the blame even when it's not our fault. 

It might have something to do with the fact that we need to keep our jobs.  And the customer (i.e. attorney) is always right.

I'm really working on not internalizing it all.  Which is super hard for me to do.  Even though, I may know in my heart of hearts, it's not my fault, there's something about the way (women especially) are raised to shoulder the burden of whatever goes awry.

Thank God for all the wonderful vendors who have provided me with a nice collection of stress balls over the years.

Nothing Helps Me Overcome "Writer's Block" Better Than A Good Mystery Read

Long time, no blog.  I feel terrible.  It's already February, and I haven't posted one thing this year.  

It's just that whenever I got ready to sit down and write something, nothing really inspired me.  

I mean, I could babble about the "New Year" and "Resolutions," and "Eating Better," and "Better Work Habits," etc. but it just didn't feel like a "blog post."

However, nothing gets my creative juices pumping like a good mystery.  I just finished reading "The Cinderella Murder" by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.  Confession:  This was my very first Mary Higgins Clark novel.  I have, of course, read several of Alafair Burke's books and love her.

Now, I'll add Mary Higgins Clark to my list of "guilty pleasures."

I mean, face it, when you work in this business under such intense, fast-paced and stressful situations, who doesn't need an escape?

I promise I won't stay away this long again!

Happy Hump Day!


In a first-time collaboration, “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark partners with bestselling author Alafair Burke to deliver a brand new suspense series about a television program featuring cold case murders.

Television producer Laurie Moran is delighted when the pilot for her reality drama, Under Suspicion, is a success. Even more, the program—a cold case series that revisits unsolved crimes by recreating them with those affected—is off to a fantastic start when it helps solve an infamous murder in the very first episode.  *From Amazon.com

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Or, Maybe Not

Okay, it's holiday time and you know what that means.

Office politics and more office politics.

Do you or don't you gift the boss?  Even though your boss makes about 20 times your salary - or more - is it appropriate to reciprocate with a small token?  That is presuming that she gives you a gift.  But that's another post for another day.

Do you or don't you gift your co-workers?  And would that include your cubicle mate whose loud perfume sends you home with a headache every day?  

Are you expected to attend the holiday party?  Even if you don't really want to see Suzy get on the table and sing karaoke while she's three sheets to the wind.  Should you skip it this year because last year you mistook the boss's husband for her son?

Do you give in to temptation and eat every holiday cookie, cake, lunch and dinner that's offered in the office or do you stick to your guns and call on your inner strength.  This one is a 'no-brainer' for me.  I'll take "cookie" for 500.

Do you decorate your cube like a giant gift box or do you simply opt for a small bow in order not to offend any religious beliefs?  

Whatever you decide, good luck because I can't help you.  I'm still trying to figure it out for myself.

Fa-la-la-la-la.

Are Legal Secretaries Being Stretched (and Stressed) to the Max?

As the role of the legal secretary evolves, it seems that more and more assistants are being asked to do things that used to be the responsibility of other departments within the firm.

Because most/many/all of the younger associates do their own typing (when is the last time an attorney dictated a brief for you to type?) and often don't know all the ways to utilize their assistant's skill sets, we're moving farther away from secretarial "duties" into the realm of accounting, billing, paralegal work, you name it.

Not that I'm complaining.  I am very grateful to be gainfully employed and I'm willing to do whatever is asked of me.  But, often I feel that I'm not able to give as much attention to tasks as I have in previous times, because I'm constantly swapping hats.  

Preparing binders used to be "billable."  But as clients became more and more legal savvy and hired teams of in-house attorneys to check and double check everything the law firms bill for, there are fewer tasks that fall into the "billable" category.  And those things get passed down to - you guessed it.

And there is no such thing as one or two or even three attorneys per secretary - the average these days seems to be one secretary for every five attorneys and that has been extended, at some firms, to ten to one or a "pool" of secretaries with no assigned attorney at all.

To be honest, I don't see things changing any time soon.  I also see a whole new crop of younger men and women, and increasingly men, who are recent college graduates with ambitions of a legal career stepping into legal secretarial roles at a lower salary than a "seasoned" secretary.

So, what happens to the seasoned secretary?  She/he either continues to take their multivitamins, sharpen their skills set, learn new ways to work and get with the program or. . .let's not think about that.

All Day And A Night by Alafair Burke

If you didn't get a chance to read this book over the summer when it was released, put it on your fall list of "things to read."  Alafair Burke's most recent novel doesn't disappoint.  You will want to read it, "All Day and A Night."  Another winner.  Got secrets?

"The latest story dominating New York tabloids—the murder of Park Slope psychotherapist Helen Brunswick—couldn’t be further from Carrie Blank’s world handling federal appeals at one of Manhattan’s most elite law firms. But then a hardcharging celebrity trial lawyer calls Carrie with a case she can’t refuse. Anthony Amaro, a serial killer convicted twenty years earlier, has received an anonymous letter containing a chilling detail about Brunswick’s murder: the victim’s bones were broken after she was killed, the same signature used in the murders attributed to Amaro. Now Amaro is asking to be released from prison.

Carrie has a reason to be interested. Her older sister, Donna, was one of Amaro’s victims. Determined to force the government to catch Donna’s real killer, Carrie joins Amaro’s wrongful conviction team with her own agenda.  On the other side of Amaro’s case is NYPD
Detective Ellie Hatcher, who, along with her partner, J. J. Rogan, is tapped as the “fresh look”
team to reassess the investigation that led to Amaro’s conviction. The case is personal for
them, too: Ellie wonders whether they got the assignment because of her relationship with the lead prosecutor, and Rogan has his own reasons to distrust Amaro’s defense team.

As the NYPD and Amaro’s lawyers search for certainty among conflicting evidence, their investigations take them back to Carrie’s hometown, where secrets buried long ago lead to a brutal attack—one that makes it terrifyingly clear that someone has gotten too close to the truth.  ("All Day and a Night" )"

Falling Into A New Work Pattern - Change Your Mood With the Season

Everybody loves summer, right?  

Sun, longer days, warmer weather, eating lunch outdoors, taking walks and getting more outdoor exercise all contribute to a better mood.  Or so some experts say.

But the change in seasons, i.e. moving from summer to fall,  can also be a great time to implement new habits at home and at work.  

Since you can't get out, perhaps you might consider joining an indoor gym or yoga class near the office.  

Remember all that "spring cleaning" you did?  

Well, somewhere between vacations and getting kids back to school, your "to do" list at work may have gotten a little longer.  Why not purge some of those files that have piled up?   I mean, is anybody really at the "paperless" law office completely?  Highly doubtful.

It's also a good time to take some lunchtime seminars and webinars.  Indoor activities that will increase your skills and allow for some networking time.

Add a few new fall pieces to your work wardrobe.  (That's for another day and another blog post.)

And last, but not least, the pumpkin spice latte is back!!

Are Male Secretaries Treated Differently?

There are quite a few male legal secretaries in the workforce.  I don't know the exact numbers.  And, in large cities, like San Francisco, the numbers are increasing.  It's a new day and there is no longer the expectation that every secretary will be a woman.

With that said, I still find there's often disparity in treatment in the expectations of male secretaries versus the expectations of work product and behavior for female secretaries.

It has been my experience that attorneys, male attorneys in particular, relate to male secretaries in a more, how can I say it, "respectful" manner.  They're not as quick to resort to a loud tone of voice and they're less likely to expect them to do tasks such as getting lunch or coffee.  (By the way, I have no problem with getting lunch or coffee, or whatever it is that my attorneys need.)  Their time is billable and mine is not.

However, I do become increasingly frustrated when I see male secretaries surfing the internet for endless amounts of time (never bothering to hide that they're not busy) and attorneys who turn a "blind eye."  And, in fact, stop to "chat" with my male colleagues while they're surfing.

It's as if the male attorneys see the male secretaries more as "peers" than "staff."

I don't think it's my imagination.  I think the "good old boys" network is alive and well and still lurking in law firms.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.