Because knowing the difference between a paralegal and a case manager could save you a month of stress and unanswered emails.
1- Case Manager (“The Parent You Never Asked For”) 🧑🏽💼
Rank: Power Level 5/10
Role: Your main point of contact at most firms. Coordinates between you, the legal assistant, the paralegal, the lawyer, and sometimes your doctors.
Can: Call you about your intake information, ask for documentation, give you basic updates (“the attorney is reviewing your file…”), and help you understand the timeline.
Cannot: Answer legal questions, negotiate your settlement, approve big decisions, or give you actual legal advice (but may act like they can).
2- Legal Assistant (“The Paper Wrangler”) 📑
Rank: Power Level 6/10
Role: Organizes documents, schedules appointments, helps prepare forms. The person who answers their phone more often than anyone else.
Can: Scan and upload records, follow up on simple requests, call you about upcoming court dates, and keep the file cabinet from exploding.
Cannot: Give legal advice, explain strategy, or make real decisions about your case.
3- Paralegal (“The Secret Weapon or the Silent Killer”) 👩🏻💻
Rank: Power Level 8/10
Role: Knows everything about your file, does the heavy lifting for lawyers, drafts motions and correspondence, and often has a legal education.
Can: Prepare pleadings, organize evidence, contact providers, interpret confusing medical bills, nudge the attorney when you’re mad.
Cannot: Give legal advice (officially), settle your case, or make major strategic calls.
4- Receptionist (“The Gatekeeper”) 🗝️
Rank: Power Level 6/10
Role: The final boss of the lobby. Answers the phone, takes messages, looks you up and down when you come in, and controls access to everyone else in the building. Usually chewing gum while deciding if your “emergency” is worth interrupting her TikTok scroll.
Can: Schedule appointments, tell you if your attorney is in, route your calls to a voicemail box that hasn’t been checked since 2019, and make your life a living hell if you’re on her List.
Cannot: Give you legal advice or update you on your case (no matter how friendly she seems).
5- Law Clerk (“The Ghost Intern”) 👻
Rank: Power Level 2/10
Role: Usually a law student you will never meet. Shows up during the summer, and is often researching cases.
Can: Research, draft the boring stuff, make copies.
Cannot: Actually help you, give advice, or answer any real questions (unless you want to know where your attorney is that day).
6- Associate Attorney (“The Hustler”) 👔
Rank: Power Level 9/10
Role: A junior lawyer who is smart, exhausted, and doing the behind-the-scenes grunt work. You may talk to them more than the Partner.
Can: Appear in court, answer legal questions, draft settlement demands, negotiate (within limits).
Cannot: Make the big, final calls on settlements or strategy; those still go to the Partner/Principal Attorney.
7- Partner/Principal Attorney (“The Rainmaker”) 💼
Rank: Power Level 10/10
Role: The big boss, firm owner, or your “named” attorney. Decides the strategy, signs the big letters, and may only appear for the important moments.
Can: Make every decision on your case, settle, go to trial, fire staff, and take you out for coffee (if you’re VIP).
Cannot: Be everywhere at once, answer your every text immediately, or do all the grunt work.
8- Office Manager (“The Fixer”) 🛠️
Rank: Power Level 9/10
Role: Handles everything from billing to HR complaints to the broken coffee machine. It is rare to have any interaction with this person.
Can: Help escalate issues, fix billing mistakes, make things happen when everyone else ignores you.
Cannot: Give legal advice, but can absolutely make your life easier… or harder.
Pro Tip:
If you want real answers, always ask, “Are you able to give legal advice?” If they pause, sigh, or transfer you, they cannot. For real progress, befriend the legal assistant and never piss off the partners.