{"id":26912,"date":"2023-09-11T08:11:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T13:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=26912"},"modified":"2024-01-26T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T16:41:54","slug":"one-students-rewarding-journey-from-paralegal-to-a-law-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/11\/one-students-rewarding-journey-from-paralegal-to-a-law-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"One student\u2019s rewarding journey from paralegal to a law degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt has been really rewarding to feel like I am prepared for this next step.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mitchell Hamline student Taylor Wall<\/p><\/div>\n

Taylor Wall had long been interested in law school but wanted to get other legal experience first.<\/p>\n

After receiving her undergraduate degree in political science, Wall started a job at Messerli and Kramer as a file clerk and document processor. She later moved into tax law work and, as an administrative assistant at Wagner Tax Law, her supervisor encouraged her to get a paralegal certificate. Wall completed the work in a year.<\/p>\n

As a paralegal, Wall\u2019s duties included collecting financial documentation; evaluating client ability to pay outstanding tax obligations; and helping to ensure accuracy in client tax assessments.\u00a0That work, she said, rekindled her interest in law school and inspired her to apply.<\/p>\n

Now in her final year at Mitchell Hamline, Wall says she chose the school because of its flexible blended-learning enrollment option and organizational support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of communication from all levels of the administration to make sure we have what we need and quickly address issues,\u201d she said, noting the flexibility allows students who work or raise families to have education access. \u201cIt really opens things up for a more diverse student population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law school is a big decision, but Wall encourages paralegals who are interested to \u201cto stick their toe in the water and take that little step, because the rest comes really naturally.\u201d She says her paralegal work\u2013writing and preparing legal documents, drafting appeals and compromise offers\u2013”made it easier to adjust to law school” and reaffirmed her decision to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been really rewarding to feel like I am prepared for this next step and also to know that it is confirming what I was looking for,\u201d said Wall.<\/p>\n

In addition to attending Mitchell Hamline, Wall is a board member at U Partner Dance<\/a>, a non-profit that supports and promotes collegiate ballroom dancing. She competes at various dance competitions and is head coach of the competition team<\/a> for the University of Minnesota Ballroom Dance Club.<\/p>\n

Wall has accepted an offer to join Cozen O\u2019Connor as an entry-level associate after she graduates next spring. The opportunity, she noted, \u201cseems like a nice fit to incorporate the experiences I\u2019ve had as a paralegal with the knowledge I gained as a law student.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was written by Marla Khan-Schwartz, a freelance writer in the Twin Cities, and first appeared in Citations, a publication of the\u00a0Minnesota Paralegal Association<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Learn about Mitchell Hamline’s many enrollment options that let you fit law school into your life<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt has been really rewarding to feel like I am prepared for this next step.\u201d Taylor Wall had long been interested in law school but wanted to get other legal experience first. After receiving her undergraduate degree in political science, Wall started a job at Messerli and Kramer as a file clerk and document processor. … <\/p>\n

One student\u2019s rewarding journey from paralegal to a law degree<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":26913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[63,647,465,43,685,646],"class_list":{"0":"post-26912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-blended-learning","9":"tag-dance","10":"tag-paralegal","11":"tag-student","12":"tag-student-experience","13":"tag-taylor-wall","14":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}