She has created a haven, an online watercooler, so to speak, for personal injury attorneys, other paralegals and administrative support personnel and in doing so, she's found a way to earn her living while also ensuring her children are given every opportunity to learn and eventually write their own career rules. Barker is this week's Legal Staff Inductee. Keep reading to learn more about this versatile professional and what her formula for success encompasses.
As a general course of action, there are times we scour the headlines to find those we wish to include in our various spotlights. We look for those who are stirring the legal waters, making changes or demanding a better way. In the past year or so, we've become increasingly reliant on Twitter to help us find those gems, and such was the case with Vickie Perry Barker. The first thing we thought was, ''Wow - this woman has a full plate that she's balancing flawlessly''. Those statements, of course, beg the question, ''How is she doing it and how can we do it too?'' Her story is both interesting and inspiring. Long before we delved into the bio of Barker, we immediately noticed via her Twitter feed and website a certain energy that flows naturally and leaps off the electronic page. That in itself is a difficult feat, yet Barker makes it seem easy. She has a charming disposition that her followers are drawn to and her frank honesty is both refreshing and perhaps even rare.
Barker's legal journey began when she accepted a position in what she describes as a ''midtown Atlanta law firm'' in the late 1990s. She readily admits the journey's been anything but straight or narrow, but don't let that frank honesty fool you - she is clearly passionate about the role she plays in her current business structures. With no legal background, Barker is a self-professed ''self taught paralegal''. It's an accomplishment she's proud of, stating, ''That's right! No certification here.'' She learned her field through hard work, trial and error and as she says, ''working in the trenches''. The key to her success, says Barker, was her willingness to hold every position a law firm has to offer, from file clerk to ''last minute errand runner'', records retriever and file organizer. Perhaps it's that strong foundation she built upon; soon, she had mastered the specifics and learned the intricate nuances that come with being a paralegal.
Once she gathered that important experience, her goal was to take that knowledge and find a way to make it work to her advantage. Enter the freelancing angle. She prides herself in being able to juggle her clients, many of whom rely on her for ''new strategy'', while also homeschooling her children. Most recently, she's made the decision to broaden her range of services to include consultations for attorneys. If history is any indication, Vickie Perry Barker is well on her way to ruling Atlanta proper and perhaps the entire state of Georgia.
For more information on Vickie Perry Barker and her services, visit her website at FullServiceSupport.com or follow her on Twitter @ATLparalegal.
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