Now Baber helps paralegals find work.
Baber became a paralegal as a way to learn about law firms. He intended to go to law school and become an entertainment lawyer, but he discovered he liked the paralegal profession and quickly rose through the ranks of his first law firm—Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough—where he started as a courier and clerk.
He chose Nelson Mullins because it was the biggest firm in town, with about 75 attorneys at the time. Baber, who is "40-ish," said when he looked the firm up in the Yellow Pages to call about jobs, all 75 attorneys' names were listed.
"Nelson Mullins had a very well structured paralegal program," Baber said. "Columbia, South Carolina, is a small town, but I have to say, knowing what I know now today, this program was really very unique and revolutionary at that time in its commitment to paralegals."
Baber joined Troutman & Sanders in Atlanta in 2001, and much of his job focuses on recruiting and training paralegals, a passion of his since he first became a manager early in his career. Baber's department is now in human resources, and he does a lot of hiring.
The reason for wanting career paralegals is because the firm invests so much in training its paralegals and they don't want them to leave after just a year or two. Written and verbal communication skills are also very important, and Baber sometimes asks for writing samples when hiring paralegals.
"The largest part of what they do is function as a problem solver," he said of paralegals. "Especially a new paralegal without the training and the experience. They are figuring out how to do things for the first time much of the time. So somebody who is an intelligent problem solver."
Baber said people interested in a career in paralegal management should keep their eyes open for managerial opportunities at law firms and keep abreast of trends and seminars in management through the International Paralegal Management Association, formerly known as LAMA.
"There are a lot of good management seminars out there," he said. "These are geared specifically to paralegal managers primarily in a law firm setting. So I went to those annually. That was a great tool for professional development for me, and it is for everybody really."
"It made sense to have a paralegal manager physically located in the Atlanta office," he said.
Baber, who speaks French and some Spanish and has lived in Paris, said working with paralegals and attorneys is stimulating, and hiring and training people is a rewarding way to earn your living.
Managing the talent agency, while quite different from a law firm, gave Baber some helpful management skills.
"I think that people need to understand if they're interested that the paralegal profession and the management profession are two different things," he said. "And a good paralegal does not necessarily a good manager make. But if a paralegal is interested in moving in that direction, I think that they need to certainly do very good quality legal work."
Legal assistant managers, he said, should think of themselves as businesspeople and the attorneys as the clients. Managers take away lawyer's administrative headaches and allow them to get on with the practice of law.
The number of paralegals under Baber at Troutman Sanders increased to about 120 recently. The Atlanta-based firm acquired the New York office of Jenkens & Gilchrist Parker Chapin, LLP.
"I'm responsible for anybody in the firm who is a time keeper, who is primarily responsible for charging their services on a charge-per-hour basis to our clients, who is not an attorney," he said. "For me, that is mostly paralegals, but it also includes specialists and project assistants."
Specialists would be patent agents, employee benefits specialists, or physicians, for example.
"I'm still involved in screening all of the candidates, but I have somebody who is placing the ads, responding to the resumes, doing the background checks and reference checks that we do," he said. "I tell entry-level paralegals that it is perfectly okay to graduate from college with a B or a C, and they'll give you a diploma. But when you're working in a law firm for a variety of different reasons, the only standard that's acceptable is A-plus-level work. And that's what we look for here."
