Cleo Le Anne Ackerman – The Winner of the Spring 2022 Paralegal Division Student Scholarship

By the Scholarship Committee

The Scholarship Committee had an amazing selection of student essays submitted for the Spring 2022 Paralegal Division Student Scholarship. The topic, “What do you envision your day-to-day life of a paralegal to be?” allowed for students to outline their expectations of the paralegal career, and for some, detail what it can offer them for a brighter future. While each essay was fantastic, there was only room for one winner.

I envision my day-to-day life as a paralegal to be an accomplishment that will transform my world. I was born in North Carolina in 1972 into generational poverty. In my twenties, while many of my peers happily attended college and enjoyed a full social life, I pursued psychotherapy, both professionally and in free fellowship groups, trying to improve my mental health and heal the ravages of a lifetime of abuse. When I did attempt a college career, I felt intimidated by the classism I faced and quite ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of moving through a middle- and upper-class world.

I quit school at the age of nineteen and entered the work force, earning minimum wage. Within five years, I was a manager at the retail store that employed me. I parlayed my retail management experience into an entry-level customer service job working for the state of North Carolina. In 2006, at the age of thirty-four, I was asked to join my agency’s legal division as an assistant, even though I had never worked as an administrative assistant, and I had no legal office experience.

The next fifteen years were a challenge, but during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the departure of the office’s paralegal, I found that I was successfully supporting thirteen attorneys on my own. I loved my job and the team of attorneys that I worked for, but the financial strain of the pandemic meant that I needed to reevaluate my career and education.

In January of 2021, I returned to school and began taking classes in Johnston Community College’s Paralegal Technology program while working full time. After six months of classes, I applied for an administrative assistant position with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. The resulting raise served as a significant relief for my family’s strained finances. Now my long-term goal is to continue to build my career, my salary, and my family’s prospects by completing my degree and securing a paralegal position.

Becoming a North Carolina certified paralegal will liberate me and my small family from the squalid trailer park that we have lived in for over twenty years. My dream is to live in a house. A real, residential house.

I have never lived in a house, and when I envision my day-to-day life as a paralegal, my first thought is that of waking up in a house in an average suburban neighborhood. My husband is almost always at work before I wake up and start the day. My daughter and I will dress and otherwise prepare for the day together. After she is safely on her way to school, I will drive into the office or simply start my day, depending on current office policy in deference to the pandemic.

If I continue my career with the Utilities Commission, and manage to advance into a paralegal role, I will be assigned a private office instead of my current cubicle in a reception area. My day might start prior to my usual shift if I begin juggling texts, calls and Microsoft TEAMS messages prior to my morning commute. Upon entering my office, my first order of business will be checking my calendar and my dry erase board notes to refresh my memory on scheduled meetings, hearings, and deadlines. Unresolved early morning messages and new email correspondence will be addressed next. Once I am satisfied that nothing pressing is being overlooked, I will take a few minutes to greet and touch base with the other members of the support staff team before settling back in my office to begin work on my duties.

Instead of monitoring and coordinating travel arrangements and office supplies, my responsibilities will involve monitoring and coordinating annual certifications, regulatory reports, and fee delinquencies.

Instead of compiling issued orders into publications, I will be charged with drafting routine orders for a variety of case types, including complaint cases, and coordinating their issuance with a staff attorney and the Clerk’s Office. I will assist in researching, formatting, and proofing orders that involve rulemaking and interpretive decisions.

When I started working as a legal assistant, typewriters and file card systems were still in place. Filing a legal document with the Clerk’s Office could involve creating over a hundred photocopies. Eventually the typewriters were packed away, the file cards were entered into Excel spreadsheets, and an electronic filing system was installed. These changes were exciting, and I enjoyed learning and evolving as equipment and procedures evolved. As a paralegal, I will be at the forefront of these evolutions, and will serve on planning committees for the agency.

Being a paralegal means that I will take a senior position on the support team, mentoring and advising the administrative assistants. This will give me the opportunity to pay forward the mentoring and support I have received since accepting a position in a legal office.

As the day winds down, in the last half hour I will begin preparing for the commute home. Office housekeeping will be the last order of business. This is the time of day that I secure files, organize my desk, empty recycling, adjust furniture, and chat with the cleaning crew. My final task will be to look ahead to the next day’s work and refresh my dry erase boards, outlining my game plan for tomorrow.

During the commute home, I may receive telephone calls from my colleagues who want to tie up loose ends or otherwise review the day. Once home, I will use my home office to wrap up any issues that arose during my commute and then set aside work for some quality time with my family before the day ends.

My job duties will include participation in the Commission’s out of town hearings. I will coordinate case assignments and arrange for both the venue of the hearing and security detail. I will attend public witness hearings, assisting the Commissioners and public witnesses. My summaries of public witness testimony will both inform the staff attorneys and potentially contribute to the text of future orders.

On those days that involve travel to hearings, the beginning of my day will include making sure my travel bags are packed and in my car before the commute. My end-of- day-routine will include coordinating travel and hearing matters with the assigned court reporter before gathering the materials the Commission will need for the hearing and driving to the venue.

While many elements of my day-to-day life as a paralegal seem similar to the life I lead now, in fact, my life will be transformed. Having a degree and a professional certification will boost my self-esteem. My eleven-year-old daughter already tells me that I am a source of inspiration to her. She is at a critical age, and I feel the example of becoming a certified professional will be a positive force in her life and help break those bonds of generational poverty. Coming home to her and my husband, having a quiet meal and spending time together in a house and a neighborhood that we feel safe in will be a dream come true.

I know that it is also possible that after graduation a paralegal position in my current agency may not materialize for a variety of reasons. I did not choose utility law; it seems to have chosen me, but I love it for the thriving and vital role that it plays in our lives. With over twenty years of experience with utilities, I am sure that I can find a paralegal position elsewhere in government or in the private sector that will fulfill me. Above all, I am committed to finding a paralegal position that will contribute to my community.

My vision of day-to-day life as a paralegal is a vision of achieving my best self, working diligently in utility law, inspiring my family, and serving the citizens of North Carolina.

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