Sheila Schmidt moved to Illinois and registered with a temporary employment
agency to escape what she considered to be a boring job with an insurance
company. She was sent to a law firm to fill in for a woman on medical leave.
Schmidt did excellent work and was hired permanently -- to do a job she loves.
Schmidt eventually became a legal secretary for one of the largest law
firms in Atlanta and worked in the public utility section of the firm.
"The most famous case I ever worked on was the Bert Lance [former aide
to President Jimmy Carter] case. The trial lasted 15 weeks and was tried in
the federal court here in Atlanta," she says.
Sonja Butler inadvertently became a legal secretary. "After working several
years in other types of offices, I 'accidentally' landed in a small law firm
that was willing to train me in legal procedures. From there I've moved twice,
each time to a larger firm."
Now, Butler does some interesting reading. Her firm works for the federal
department of justice. The cases deal with inmates who have filed various
complaints, such as alleged attacks from other inmates or an alleged lack
of medical attention. Butler is involved with discovery transcripts.
Despite 15 years as a legal secretary, Lee Schnabel still gets "those looks."
He's one of the few men in the profession. "It's a challenging position and
I love it," says Schnabel. He works in an agency for the state of South Dakota.
"I still get those looks sometimes, though -- can a guy really do it? I
like to challenge those who can only see this as a gender-specific profession.
We have, however, come a long, long way since the late '80s and early '90s."
Schnabel always had an interest in the clerical field. While in high school
he took all the office-type courses offered. But after graduation, he couldn't
get a job in the field because he was a man.
Then Schnabel entered a six-month clerical school that placed its students.
He graduated and was placed in a state government office. It was a job as
an encoder and not something he enjoyed. But he did it very well and was quickly
promoted. Then an opening for a legal secretary came along, and he grabbed
it.
Schnabel's first court appearance was at a criminal trial with two supervising
attorneys. Previously, he'd only worked behind the scenes preparing paperwork.
"I was terribly excited to be a part of the prosecution process -- from
selecting the jury to being present for the sentencing. I think the attorneys
enjoyed having me there as well, because we put in some long hours preparing
for the next day's events," he says.
"They could finally rely on someone who actually knew what was going on
to get the job done on a moment's notice."