Staff Attorney
(Female, Age 28) from Columbia, SC
This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 28 who works as a Staff Attorney in Columbia, SC. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.
At a Glance
Current Job
Basic data on your current job
| Job Title | Staff Attorney |
|---|---|
| Salary | $46,000 |
| Other Compensation | None Set |
| Hours/Week | 40 |
| Company Size | (not answered) |
| Location | Columbia, SC |
| Years Experience | 2 years |
Career Ratings
Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)
| Years in Career | 0 |
|---|---|
| Education | (not answered) |
| Income Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Interest Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Work-Life Rating | 0 / 10 |
| Fulfilment Rating | 0 / 10 |
Current job Q&A
Describe the type of organization you work for.
State appeals court. Probably about 100 people work for this particular court.
Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Perform legal research on appeals. Meet with judges to talk about the research. Write memos on the research based on the meeting with the judge.
Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
3 weeks vacation, 3 weeks sick leave, HMO health insurance. 401k with matching by organization
Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
under
Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
The job involves being around others. I don’t necessarily work with others in terms of group projects but talk to others to get their opinion on the work assigned to you. I like talking to others about my specific work assigned.
Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 4
Benefits: 8
Hours: 3
Co-Workers: 2
Supervisors: 5
Job Title: 7
Level of Responsibility: 6
The Actual Work: 1
A day in the life of…
Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:
| 5am to 6am | |
| 6am to 7am | |
| 7am to 8am | |
| 8am to 9am | Get to work at 8:30. Log-in to computer and check email. respond to any emails that need responding. |
| 9am to 10am | Read recent cases from the state appeals and supreme court. |
| 10am to 11am | I am assigned appeals to read and write a memo on based on a meeting with a judge. Read one of the cases I’ve been assigned. This usually includes a memo from the party appealing and a memo from the other party or parties and materials from the trial, such as transcripts of the proceedings and judge’s orders and rulings. |
| 11am to 12pm | Do legal research online-look for cases relevant to the one I’m working on today and read them to know the law for what I’m working on. Write up some of the information I’ll need to include in my memo, which I’ve learned from my research. |
| 12pm to 1pm | Lunch |
| 1pm to 2pm | Back from Lunch at 1:30 |
| 2pm to 3pm | More research |
| 3pm to 4pm | Briefly talk to a superior about my case. |
| 4pm to 5pm | Read the judge’s order some more and try to make sense of what the party appealing is arguing. |
| 5pm to 6pm | Go home at 5. |
| 6pm to 7pm | |
| 7pm to 8pm | |
| 8pm to 9pm | |
| 9pm to 10pm | |
| 10pm to 11pm | |
| 11pm to 12am |
Table of Contents
How you got your job
How did you get your current job?
I applied to another job here which iI found on a legal job website with jobs posted by my school and they referred me for this position.
What was the application process?
submitted resume and then interviewed
Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes. 1 interview with the boss of my department.
If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
no idea.
Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
No, when the most recent group of new people started they received much more extensive training than I did which may have been helpful.
Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
A little. Mostly we were just showed what our final work product would look like and figured it out from there. We also were told about some of the areas of law we would be dealing with.
Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Somewhat. My education was more theoretical. Learning practical skills would have been more helpful.
If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
n/a
If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
They would have to go to law school. I would recommend they get experience at legal jobs while in law school.
What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Very good writing and researching skills. Decent social skills. Organization skills are helpful as well. Good communication skills are good to have.
Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
You have to have a undergrad and law degree to be elgible for the position.
What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Enjoy it. Don’t get stressed.
Long-term career plans
Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes, I plan to move on the job in the private sector eventually but it is good to start out in the court system to continue learning after completing law school.
What are your current career goals?
Go back to law school and get my masters of laws in taxation, work for a private firm or for the state department of revenue.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
Prior work history
Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:
| Title | Length | Salary | Description | |
| Prior Job 1 | Intern/Law Clerk | summer | n/a | observed family court cases |
| Prior Job 2 | engineering co-op | 3 years | 40000 | developed drawings of components, ran engineering tests, wrote reports |
Educational background
Please list your educational background:
High School GPA:4.4
| GPA | School | Degree | |
| College (Undergraduate) or Technical/Vocational |
3.3 | Clemson University | BS Ceramic Engineering |
| Graduate or Professional (Masters or Doctorate) |
3.3 | University of South Carolina School of Law | J.D. |
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