Finding Success on the Paralegal Path
Worried about your job in this tough economy? Michelle Tay Mitchell isn’t.
A 2003 graduate of Loyola University Chicago’s paralegal program, Mitchell is working in an industry that saw a 62 percent increase in demand over the past year and, according to the Department of Labor, will continue to grow through 2014.
Mitchell began her path as a paralegal when she came to Loyola for an open house looking to make
a career transition. Having moved to Chicago from Oregon, she hoped to start a family and was concerned that she would not be able to balance her home life with her job in event marketing.
After her graduation and the birth of her first child, she received a call from a law firm who had been given her resume by Jean Hellman Ryan, director of the Institute for Paralegal Studies at
Loyola. Mitchell returned the call and interviewed for the position that same afternoon. Almost five years later, she is still working part time at that firm and is proud of both her career and her work-life balance.
“This job has been everything I could hope for,” Mitchell says. Today, Mitchell is a member of the Loyola paralegal program’s advisory committee. The program can be completed in as little as eight months, or can be spread out in order to fit the student’s pace and schedule.
For more information about Loyola’s paralegal and other postgraduate programs, visit http://LUC.edu/SCPS.