Carolina Paralegal News: Orr finds purpose by moving to family law

By Teri Saylor

While growing up in South Carolina, Kellie Orr gravitated to a career in health care and found herself working as a nurse in an emergency room. After two years, she grew weary of the long hours and the time she was missing with her son and began reevaluating what she wanted to do with her life.

She moved to Raleigh with her fiancé in 2015, and he recommended she explore a career as a paralegal. Two years later, with her Durham Tech associate degree in hand, she went to work as a paralegal at a personal injury firm, but quickly decided that was not the area of law she enjoyed.

“I was contacted by a recruiter about a position in a family law firm, which was something that had always interested me, especially since I had unfortunately gone through a nasty custody battle myself,” she says.

Today, she is still a family law paralegal and works at the Palmé Law Firm in Raleigh.

Q: Describe your job.

A: I work for two amazing family law attorneys in downtown Raleigh, Steve Palmé and Erin Graber. I have been with them for over three and a half years. My days vary depending on what we have going on. It could be anything from trial or mediation preparation, drafting discovery responses, or communicating with clients, court staff, and opposing attorneys. Every day is different, which is one of the many things I love about family law.

Q: What sparked your interest in family law?

A: In high school, when someone would ask me, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” my response was always the same. I wanted to become a lawyer. Once I got into the real world, I had so many people telling me that the medical field was the way to go. I put my dreams of working in the legal field to the side and started pursuing a degree in nursing. A law career didn’t cross my mind again until I was in my mid-20s when my fiancé suggested I become a paralegal.

Even when I was in paralegal school, I knew family law was what I wanted to do. My parents divorced when I was 16, and while I never really showed it on the outside, it really affected me internally. I got married and had my first son at a young age. Unfortunately, that marriage ended in a nasty divorce and custody battle. Seeing what my parents went through with their divorce and what I dealt with in my own custody battle, I knew I could relate to others in the same situation. Honestly, I feel like it makes me a better paralegal. I’ve had clients in the past tell me things like, “You don’t know what I’m going through.” My favorite response to that is, “Actually, I do.” It always amazes me how a client’s tone can change when they understand I can relate to what they are going through.

Q: What are the challenges you face, and what are their rewards?

A: My greatest challenge is having a case where I know we’ve done everything right, and a client still doesn’t get the outcome they deserve. Those types of cases have a funny way of making us feel defeated. As a firm, we put so much into every case we have, so it’s really hard when they don’t end the way they should.

This sounds like a cliché, but my greatest reward is helping people. Seeing my work pay off and helping people in need makes the bad days and the bad cases bearable.

Q: What led you to begin teaching at Wake Tech and how is that going?

A: I have always been a natural leader and teacher, so I knew early in my career that at some point I would love to teach. However, positions like that rarely come up. I randomly came across a posting for a teaching position at Wake Tech, and I decided to submit my resume. To be honest, when I sent it in, I never expected to receive an interview, let alone a job. But here I am wrapping up my first semester. I’m happy I was given this opportunity to share what I know and what I’ve learned over the years with the next generation of paralegals.

It hasn’t been all that hard juggling my full-time job, my teaching job and my family. I only teach one live class a week, and it’s online, so it doesn’t interfere with my full-time job. I do most of my preparation and planning for my class on the weekends when my toddler is napping. It also helps that I have a supportive family.

Q: How do you keep a healthy work-life balance?

A: When I leave work at the end of the day, I try to just turn off my brain and focus on my family. Working in family law can be draining, so I make sure I leave work at the office and live in the moment. Otherwise, it’s easy to let the weight of what we deal with daily take over. It also helps that I have two great bosses who are big on work-life balance.

Q: What would people be surprised to know about you?

A: I have played the violin since I was 11. I don’t play often now, but I would love to start playing more regularly.