In this episode, Stephanie Mastrocola discusses her path to becoming a paralegal, the rewarding nature of personal injury work, and the essential skills that support clients through challenging times.
John: Hi, I am John Maher, and I’m here today with Stephanie Mastrocola, Senior Paralegal at the Law Office of Mazow McCullough. Welcome, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Thank you. It’s great to be here.
John: Stephanie, you were recently highlighted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly with an article about your career as a paralegal. That must have been a thrill. How did that come about?
Stephanie: I was very excited and surprised. Our office manager had reached out and let me know that she nominated me and I was extremely happy, but didn’t really think that anything was going to come out of it. I know there’s a lot of people who do get nominated, and it’s throughout Massachusetts. And I found out two months ago that I actually got it. So I was surprised, happy and appreciative.
John: Yeah. Did they end up calling you up to learn more information about you? Did they do a little interview with you or something like that for the article?
Stephanie: They did, yes. So they scheduled a call about a month after I found out and just interviewed me, just some general questions about me, about my past, my job history, how I got involved with the legal field, and then she published an article after it.
Educational and Professional Background
John: So because of that we wanted to do a little bit of the same thing here ourselves and just learn a little bit more about you. Could you share some details about your educational and professional background and what first sparked your interest in becoming a paralegal?
Stephanie: Sure. So I graduated from Everett High School in 1990 and a friend of mine was a paralegal at a law firm in Boston. And I thought that would be a great career. And so my father happened to know somebody who had a son-in-law that was an attorney. And about a month later I went in for an interview and he gave me a chance. At that point I couldn’t type, I had no skills whatsoever. I had just graduated. And they gave me a chance, and it worked out.
John: What initially drew you to the legal field and what aspects of being a paralegal do you find the most rewarding?
Stephanie: So I love personal injury law, and that’s the first law firm that I worked at. And I’ve just felt like you were helping people and making a difference. Not working for just a corporation, you’re working for individual people that…this affects their life, what you do to help them. And personal injury has always been my favorite thing.
John: So you really feel like you’re helping people because they’re coming to you at a vulnerable time, maybe. That, like you said, they’ve been injured, there’s something going on in their life that’s difficult for them to deal with. They maybe don’t want to be dealing with all the legal aspects of that at the same time as them trying to recover. So you feel like you’re able to step in there and really help.
Stephanie: Exactly. I’m happy to help them and that’s where I like to excel because you feel like these people need your assistance and they’ve never done this before, and where this is our field, we know exactly what to do from start to finish to help them. And I enjoy helping them — every aspect of their cases.
Work and Volunteer Experience
John: Do you have any other work experiences or volunteer roles that compliment your paralegal duties or maybe have helped to shape your perspective a little bit?
Stephanie: So I’m also a real estate agent.
John: Oh wow.
Stephanie: And so I do that. And I also have volunteered at my children’s schools. I have volunteered through the football and cheer program, PTO, and all kinds of stuff throughout the school where they’ve needed some assistance, which I still do today.
John: Yeah. So do you find that doing that volunteer work gives you kind of a unique perspective or something maybe in common with the clients that you’re dealing with on the paralegal side?
Stephanie: I do. So for those volunteer opportunities, you’re also helping people who are at a time when they need you to help them and walk them through different things or just add some of your experience, and do anything you can to help them, because that’s when they need you the most is when you’re volunteering.
These foundations ask for your help and that their clientele need help with. I’ve volunteered for the MSPCA Cradles for Crayons, Greater Boston Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, which I absolutely love to do. And dealing with all those different people and different personalities I think helps me deal with our clients and kind of help them through difficult times that they’re going through.
John: And even your real estate work, that can be difficult for people too. There might be…moving is always a challenge. So you can always help them there. And that’s one aspect where people don’t really know a lot about the real estate market, usually, or that maybe they only have moved once or twice in their life. So you’re able to kind of guide them through something that maybe they don’t know a lot about.
Stephanie: Exactly. And it’s also in real estate and the personal injury law firm, these people are also dealing with the emotional aspect of whether they’re selling their houses or if it’s their case. And I feel like that’s where you kind of need to be their counselor or a friend, even just to listen to them and try to be there for them when they have certain questions. Because, like you said, they haven’t done this before or they’ve only done it once or twice before. So you kind of can walk them through how to handle everything.
What Does a Paralegal Do?
John: I think maybe there’s a lot of people out there who maybe don’t really even understand what a paralegal is or what you do. What does a typical day look like for you at the law firm?
Stephanie: A typical day would be responding to emails, reviewing the calendar for upcoming deadlines, drafting demands, discovery, discovery responses, communicating with clients, communicating with defense counsel, calling insurance companies. If the client calls and they need help with something, they’ve received a bill and they don’t know what to do with it, we walk them through that. Any type of issue that comes up with their cases, we try and help them navigate through it and do the best we can to make it easier for them so that they don’t have to deal with it.
Training to Become a Paralegal & Developing Skills
John: What was some of the training or education that was involved in becoming a paralegal?
Stephanie: So I did attend Northeastern. I did not finish because I was working full time for a law firm. And it was a challenge to do both. So basically my education has been hands-on since I started 35 years ago. So I’ve learned everything from start to finish and I’m still learning every single day. There’s always something new to learn.
And we’ve taken…we’re doing a paralegal bootcamp here right now, so it always can increase your education, your continuing education. It’s always something new to learn, and no matter how many years you have for experience, it’s a continuing education. From day to day we always learn something new.
John: What are some of the skills or qualities that have proven to be the most essential to your success as a paralegal? And again, like you just said, there’s always continuing education. So how do you continue to develop those skills and those qualities?
Stephanie: So I would say being organized, you have to be very organized. You have to be patient with clients, you have to be there for them every step of the way for anything they need, even if they just need to have you be an ear to listen to them. I would say reviewing medical records, you have to be able to read the medical records, know what it means. You have to deal with doctor’s offices and experts and basically just remain organized is the big thing. And try and just prioritize what you need to do, because it’s a very busy position and we always have something to do here.
So I would say prioritizing is also helpful. But I would say the most important thing out of all of it is that you are there for the clients, to just be there for them during this difficult time because I’m sure that they’ve never been through this before and we need to be able to help them and assist them with that.
John: So having a nurturing, caring attitude I think is probably one of the most important things, right?
Stephanie: Yes. And I think just treating them like they’re family, because that’s what we do here. We treat every client like they’re our family and how you would want your family to be treated if they were in this similar situation.
John: And you must get a lot of experience just from doing the job, like you said, as just an ongoing education, learning how to deal with a doctor’s office or an insurance company and ask the right questions and know what do you need to say in order to get the right information out of them, right?
Stephanie: Yes. And I think your personality comes a lot into play with that, that you’re a people person. Because if you’re a people person, you can make anybody do what you want them to do.
John: Kind of open up a little.
Stephanie: But in a nice way, and just make it light and not so, you know…cold, and if you’ve been calling for something for months, still be pleasant about it, but forceful, that you need to get to the end results that you’re looking for.
John: Right, if you get too aggressive, they might shut down and not be wanting to talk to you, but if you’re friendly and open, they’re going to be more likely to give you the information that you need.
Stephanie: And if you have a good rapport with them, it just makes a good working relationship and everybody seems to be happy at the end.
Working at Mazow McCullough
John: What makes working specifically at Mazow McCullough particularly satisfying? How do you see your role at the law firm evolving over time?
Stephanie: I have worked for a few different law firms and I’ve been here for about three and a half years and it’s one of the best law firms I’ve worked at. We are like a family here, and the attorneys here just go above and beyond for their clients. I have never seen anything like it. They just really care, and they don’t leave any stone unturned. They just are really some of the best attorneys I’ve ever worked with, and I’m very lucky to work here.
John: Alright. Well that’s all really great information. It’s great to talk to you and get to know you a little bit more.
Stephanie: It’s nice to talk to you too.
John: And for more information about the Law Office of Mazow McCullough, you can visit the website at helpinginjured.com or call 978-744-8000. Thanks again, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Thank you. Have a good day.
John: You too.
