I worked with this firm as a paralegal from February 2019 to March 2021. I would describe this firm as a toxic environment to work for. Although you are constantly told you are "appreciated" the actions and pay contradict that statement.
LS - who was their legal assistant when I started working for this firm left because she was doing work above and beyond her responsibilities including being a personal shopper and the go-to when the attorney's were designing their new suite and to top it off, was harassed over her personal plans. (They were so bad when designing their new suite that their contractor ghosted them by the end of it). During Covid LS was asked to take over the filing clerk's (CB) work responsibilities because they wanted to protect the filing clerk during the pandemic due to her age. LS did not get any additional compensation for this, however the filing clerk was still receiving her full pay while LS did her job. Around this time, LS began getting questioned by J.Groce almost on a daily basis about a personal commitment she had, because she was concerned with LS participating in this personal commitment due to the pandemic.
LS could not handle the extra workload on top of the daily harassment regarding her personal plans and asked to take personal time off work. Not happy with LS not returning to work after a couple of weeks, the attorney's called her parents who were listed as emergency contacts to inquire about her. This was a complete violation of her privacy and she resigned that same day. During the few weeks LS was gone for her personal time off the attorneys and CB came up with the craziest scenarios about why LS was not coming back such as "Is she pregnant and doesn't' want to say anything" "Is she in a DV relationship" REALLY!!! Can employees not take personal time off without these horrible rumors being brought up!
LI - was the legal assistant hired to replace LS. She did not have law or office experience. She did not work out because after being trained, she would forget very important things such as not violating confidentiality and conflicts and would blame others instead of taking responsibility for her mistakes. She resigned but received two weeks fully paid and was told that if she applied to unemployment, they would sign off for it.
Cl - was hired after this to assist with paralegal work. She was there less than 2 months, went to lunch one day and just never came back. The attorneys were so concerned that she had contracted Covid so they found it appropriate to call her emergency contact to ask whether or not she was covid positive.
AV - a legal assistant was also hired around the same time to replace LI. I have worked with her in the past and she is one of the nicest persons I know. I left a few months after she started because I was overwhelmed, stressed, underpaid and underappreciated. I had to train (3) employees in a short time period, I had to pick up the slack during the training period and hiring period and was handling the legal assistant's job including answering phones, calendaring, filing, etc.
AV just like LS, began being overwork. She confided in CB and specifically asked her to not share that conversation with the attorneys as she was going to speak to them herself. CB told J.Groce anyway which put AV in an uncomfortable situation and she of course felt betrayed and called CB a word that rhymes with "witch". This word and other profanity are used by the attorney's and staff in the normal course of business. I have personally heard the attorneys use this word when talking about other attorneys, their staff and prior employees. It is in no way an offensive word to them, at least not referenced by how loosely they use profanity in this office. But AV was treated like a criminal and discriminated against for using that word. After AV apologized to CB for calling her the word that rhymes with "witch", she was asked to go home for the reminder of the day. After back and forth with M.Niedens, AV asked for an extra day off as she was stressed about the incident. Not only was she denied taking a day off, she received a text from M.Niedens saying "Whatever your reasons are, the fact remains that you threatened physical violence against a coworker at the office. This created an unsafe work environment and significant disrupted the office."
REALLY!! Well by their terms of the use of this word, they too have caused "threat of physical violence" against so many individuals. AV was not allowed to go back to the office while CB was working because of the "unsafe work environment" she created. So her only options were to significantly reduce her work hours or resign. If she had truly "physically threatened" a co-worker why would she not be let go immediately. After she was forced into resigning, she received a very well worded CYA letter. If AV was really such a "threat" why would this firm need a CYA?
Retention rate at this firm is not the best. I wonder why!! read more