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PROFILE
Profile: Susan M. Custer; Paralegal; Glast, Phillips & Murray, P.C.; Dallas, TX [by Regan Morris] Susan M. Custer has been working in the legal profession since she was 19 years old and was recently named one of the top paralegals in the country by legal author Carole Bruno. LawCrossing speaks with Custer about her career and the secrets to her success.
If you ask Custer why she thinks she was
“She showed me how to use a dictaphone and
Custer has also worked in bankruptcy, intel-
chosen as one of the top paralegals in the
type pleadings,” she said. “Then that after-
lectual property, business, and corporate
country, she is uncharacteristically silent for
noon, she took me to my first job interview,
law. The diversity kept her employed when
a moment.
where I was hired to work as a receptionist
the real estate market was in a slump.
for a legal placement agency.” “I kept my job when others didn’t because
Custer was thrilled by the honor, but struggled to explain it. Eventually, she decides it’s
She eventually became a legal secretary and
I was willing and able to do other things,”
probably because of her systematic approach
did that for seven years. Then one of the at-
she said. “No job is too small. We’re there to
to work. Custer is a big believer in systems
torneys she worked with decided to open his
support the attorneys. I’d stock books in the
and checklists.
own practice and invited her to come along.
library if there was nothing else to do.”
The attorney, who specialized in corporate “I do have a very systematic approach to my
real estate, also offered to send Custer to
Custer urges new paralegals to specialize,
work,” she said. “And I think that my system
paralegal school. She jumped at the op-
but to first get as wide variety of experience
is easy to teach other paralegals. It can be
portunity.
so that they too can survive if their practice areas suffer.
easily understood for people entering the profession, and I hope experienced people
“I sort of came into the profession back-
will learn something too.”
wards,” Custer said. “But I can’t emphasize
Active in both local and national paralegal
enough how important a good education is.
associations, Custer served on the Dallas
What’s on her checklists? “You’ll have to read
It is so important for paralegals to get the
Area Paralegal Association board of directors
the book,” she says. The top-15 paralegals
education.”
for six years. The associations are important to success in the profession, she said,
have each written a chapter in Bruno’s book, and Custer’s will focus on her specialty,
Although Custer specializes in real es-
because often you learn more from the other
corporate real estate law.
tate, she has tried many areas of the law
paralegals there than you would in your firm.
throughout her career. While she initially
Custer said she was never shy about asking
Custer’s system is always changing because
thought she would love to work in litigation,
paralegals from other firms for advice on
she’s always learning new things from her
she found it too contentious and prefers
different areas of law. Attorneys, she said,
colleagues at Glast, Phillips & Murray in
transactional law. Custer said she is very
generally tell you what they need done, not
Dallas and through her local and national
detail-oriented and organized, which serves
how to do it.
paralegal associations.
her well in transactional work.
Custer started working in the legal profes-
“It gets too personal, someone has to lose. I
ing the best way to do something,” she said.
sion when she was 19. Newly married and
don’t really like family law either,” she said.
“I have my systems, but I always change
expecting her first child, Custer knew she
“With real estate, the buyer is happy, and the
them when I get good advice from other
wanted a job “where I could use my mind and
seller is happy.”
paralegals. I’m always learning something
“I’m never shy calling someone up and ask-
new.”
where I would be challenged.” When Custer’s attorney in the solo practice Her mother-in-law was a legal secretary for
moved back to a firm in Dallas, she joined
a circuit judge in Dallas, and Custer went to
him. The attorney mentored Custer, and
work with her one morning.
they worked together for about two decades.
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