Pioneer Paralegal Blazes Trail

1.800. 973. 1177

PROFILE

Pioneer Paralegal Blazes Trail [by Regan Morris] One of the first paralegals in the country, Carole Bruno studied at the prestigious University of West Los Angeles School of Law Paralegal Program. She has worked in litigation and law firm marketing and recently started writing full time. Her fourth book on paralegals is due out early next year. LawCrossing talks with Ms. Bruno about the paralegal profession.

Carole Bruno is interested in the details of

techniques and hidden secrets from these

paralegal work, the secrets and techniques

people. So essentially there’ll be a chapter

behind the best paralegals. For her fourth

about each expert, each paralegal expert,”

“That’s what they did then. They weighted

book on paralegals, Ms. Bruno has sought

she said. “And for someone who is not sure

down my feet, I guess, to pull down my back,”

out the best paralegals across the country

they want to be a paralegal, you pick it up

she said. “I said, ‘Oh yeah, I can really cel-

and created a panel of four expert judges to

and get a good idea of what it’s like.”

ebrate now!’”

her book, “ Lessons From the Top Paralegal

Ms. Bruno, who is now 62 and has been

Eventually she did celebrate. Ms. Bruno took

Experts: The 15 Most Successful Paralegals

writing full time since 1999 from her home

six months’ leave of absence from work and

in America and What You Can Learn From

in Northern California, posts news about the

taught herself to write. She had written for

Them.”

book and judges on her website, www.carole-

paralegal newsletters but felt she needed

bruno.com. She also takes preorders for the

more training. She read a lot of books about

Ms. Bruno has narrowed the playing field

book through the site. She initially wanted

writing and wrote the Paralegal’s Litigation

down to 20 paralegals and is writing summa-

to go to law school, but her now ex-husband

Handbook, which was published in 1980 by

ries to send to the four judges: Teri Cannon,

felt threatened by the idea, and she compro-

Prentice-Hall Inc. Later she wrote the Stan-

an attorney, paralegal educator, author, and

mised by becoming a paralegal. She still has

dard Legal Secretary’s Handbook, and the

Dean of the John F. Kennedy Law School;

the Los Angeles Times article about the “new

second edition of the Paralegal’s Litigation

William P. Statsky, attorney, paralegal

profession” and growing ranks of paralegals.

Handbook came out in 1993.

Weil law office management consultant; and

Ms. Bruno started writing about 25 years

She has also dabbled in fiction and hopes to

Gary Melhuish, the paralegal administrator

ago when she was president of the Georgia

do more fiction writing in the future. “But it’s

with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen

Association of Legal Assistants, now known

hard; this comes easy to me.”

LLP, who was profiled here on LawCrossing

as the Georgia Paralegal Association. While

last week.

president, she received a form letter from

Ms. Bruno went back to work in a litigation

a publisher saying there was a need for a

firm in Atlanta after writing the book in 1979

“It’s going to be a very unusual book because

national paralegal handbook and would she

but said she felt frustrated in the job because

there’s nothing like this,” she said. “It’s not

be interested in writing one. The letter had

she felt she had risen to the top and had no-

just going to be a success story about these

been sent to association presidents across

where left to go. A few months later she quit

people, but it’s going to be their secrets of

the country, and Ms. Bruno knew it would

and started a paralegal temporary staffing

how they do their work.”

be a competitive field. She felt she had little

company, which had been her dream since

chance of getting the contract. But she

her time at the university. Her company,

The book will be sold in bookstores and

gave it a go, sending in a short biography of

Legal Support Services Inc., was the first of

will focus on major areas of law and will be

herself, an outline, a sample chapter, and a

its kind in the United States.

published by Delmar Learning, a division of

table of contents.

sandbags tied to her legs.

decide on the final 15, who will be profiled in

educator, and author; James Wilber, Altman

“My concept was to hire out temps but, quite

Thomson Learning Inc, and will be released She planned to celebrate if she got the con-

frankly, I am not a business person and I

tract. She got it. Only the celebrations were

didn’t manage the finances very well,” she

“So a person who is a student or an experi-

muted because she found out she’d won

said.

enced paralegal can pick up some tips and

while in the hospital with a sore back and

next year.

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continued on back

1. 800. 973.1177

PROFILE

She hired some paralegals as recruiters but

“I just wrote an article for the Paralegal Re-

said they lacked experience, and she was

porter on how to increase your salary of up

struggling to raise her teenage children and

to $10,000 without changing jobs,” she said.

run the business.

“A lot of people used to have to job hop in order to get a raise. Nowadays if people just

“After about a year, I cried but I had to close

assert themselves--you know, keep track of

the doors,” she said. “It wasn’t something I

what they’ve done during the year and keep

wanted to do, I found out.”

a binder of their accomplishments--they can get a raise.”

She then started doing seminars across the country to train paralegals, giving lectures at

She said attorneys can be tough to work for,

universities and hotels.

and if a paralegal is not assertive, they will struggle to advance.

With her first book, Prentiss-Hall had flown Ms. Bruno to New Jersey, and she said the

“I don’t mean aggressive. I just mean stand

vice president of the company and others

up for yourself and ask for what you want,”

there taught her a lot about marketing. That

she said. “They can’t be a mouse; they can’t

experience paid off.

be a doormat. If they stick themselves in a room and just manipulate documents and

In 1986, Ms. Bruno became the first in-house

organize documents, that’s what they’ll do

law firm marketing director in Georgia with

forever. And they’ll end up being just totally

the firm Arnall & Golden.

bored if they’re intelligent at all. And I just assume that they are if they got into the

“I joined the National Association of Law Firm Marketing Directors. And that was a lot of fun because our firm joined a group of law firms all over the country called UNILAW,” she said. “What these firms did all together all over the country was they shared networking contacts. So in other words if you were a member of this UNILAW and you had a potential client, somebody in another state, that wanted a law firm, and one of our law firms was in UNILAW, we referred them.”

She did that for two years and then moved to Honolulu to be near her first grandchild; she now has five. While in Honolulu, she worked in marketing at a country club but said she missed the paralegal field.

“And then I decided to retire and just write and go back to my paralegal roots,” she said.

“Basically my loyalty is to paralegals, and the profession has grown so incredibly fast. It’s just amazing.”

She says the number-one quality needed to be a good paralegal is assertiveness.

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profession.”