Katie Riddle’s Secrets for Success
Katie Riddle is a paralegal by day, a law student by night, and a parent 24/7.
Working full-time, attending law school in the evenings, and finding time to volunteer – one might wonder how it is possible to do it all and to thrive. But Riddle has set a goal to earn her law degree and to give back to her community, and she accomplishes what she sets out to do.
Only last year, Riddle decided to take the first step toward becoming an attorney. When June arrives, she will be one year closer to achieving this intention. She attends North Carolina Central University School of Law, where this summer, she will complete her first year in the J.D. program. Riddle, who has worked as a paralegal for eight years, holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She obtained her paralegal certification from Greensboro College in 2018.
In 2022, Riddle was recognized for her service when she received the Outstanding Pro Bono Paralegal Award. In 2023, Riddle was selected as the recipient of the Distinguished Paralegal Award.
She has reached for the moon, and along the way, she has gleaned many stars.
Some of those stars are memories of how she has touched another person’s life for the better. Others are lessons from her eight years of experience as a paralegal and dedicated volunteer in the community.
What are her secrets? There are a few: she aims high, listens to others, creates boundaries, considers her well-being and gives back to the community.
Riddle’s drive to excel in her career stems from her growth mindset. It is one she has realized through working as a paralegal, serving, and, in 2022, beginning her law school career.
What are some ways that she realizes this growth mindset?
One is that she wants to expand her horizons with each experience.
“You owe yourself the benefit of trying to learn more, to see what’s out there, to get that experience and find what’s truly meant for you. Not that you need to work yourself to death. You just need to find that there is a balance. And I always feel like I would be doing a disservice to myself if I didn’t take advantage of opportunities that are out there.”
She says she is fortunate to be surrounded by a great team at Lincoln Financial Group, where she has worked since May 2019. Because this team encouraged her, she realized she could reach for her professional aspiration.
“I work for an amazing legal team. I have fantastic attorneys. They’re supportive. They’re always telling me, ‘go for this’ and ‘go for that.’ They recognize my strengths, and that’s appreciated.
“It was about a year before I started law school when I was talking to my boss’s boss. I said, ‘I want to grow,’ and ‘I want to be more. I’d like to do more. I’d like to get some more experience and to be more responsible.’ He said, ‘Why aren’t you going to law school?’ I said, ‘Well, I thought about it before but kind of talked myself out of it, and he said, ‘No, you need to do this.’
“And here I am, a year later, in law school while they graciously accommodate my crazy schedule.”
Katie stains a deck for a homeowner in Greensboro as a volunteer with Community Housing Solutions (2022).
One way she has been able to manage working, attending law school, and volunteering is by setting boundaries. She doesn’t say yes to everything – after she learns about a new opportunity, she thinks about it, the time that may be involved, and her schedule. She says yes to certain opportunities: the right ones for her.
In some instances, she has reconsidered her commitments and said no.
“I’ve caught myself being very overwhelmed and having to say, ‘OK, I need to stop for a second because I’m not serving anyone, let alone myself.’ I can’t help unless I take that step back. I think that saying no, is certainly a work in progress.
“Being overwhelmed is definitely something that once you see is happening, you have to be able to put your foot down and say, ‘No, I cannot.’ You have to do this professionally and respectfully, of course.”
Creating boundaries along the way is one of her secrets, but it was one that took time to incorporate. It has empowered her to achieve what she has set out to do in the past and strengthened her focus on her present goal: to graduate from law school by May of 2026. She hopes to complete the program even earlier, in December of 2025.
Attending law school while working full-time as a paralegal is a balancing act, but it is one she enjoys. Throughout her experiences, she has observed what moves her further toward her goals and what does not.
In Riddle’s professional role, boundaries are significant. As a paralegal, she strives to do her best but seeks to stay away from perfectionism, a topic she has previously written about. She describes how perfectionism can be a tendency in the profession – one that is not helpful.
“I consistently have to remind myself that perfection is unattainable and certainly not realistic,” she wrote in a 2022 blog post.
Upholding this perspective is a way of being kind to oneself, a practice she follows.
“Paralegals are able to do so much, and there are such high expectations of what we do. I think it’s completely reasonable for us to try to be perfect to maintain those expectations. But ultimately, it’s not possible. It’s taken a long time for me to figure that out.
“You are your own worst critic, right? I mean, you’re going to give yourself more grief than anybody else would, especially if you care about what you’re doing, and so having somebody there to pull you out of that mindset is really encouraging. You can get that from other paralegals, especially if those paralegals have been doing it for a long time.”
Self-kindness is important, and community can help one on the path toward this healthy mindset, as Riddle has personally experienced. Practicing self-compassion propels momentum.
What is the first step in that direction?
Cultivating an awareness of one’s emotions is a good start. Kindness to oneself is beneficial, while certain emotions can prevent one from moving forward.
One of those emotions is fear.
“Fear can take over everything else. My fellow classmates, like me, are working full-time. We have families. I, along with others, commute an hour to and an hour back from school. We have a lot of things that we have to juggle that can make us feel the fear of missing out. Trying to not let law school completely define you in every way of your life – I think it’s extremely important, and it can be scary to try to figure out how you do that.”
Fear can take many forms: feeling that you are not doing enough is one of them. But that shouldn’t stop a person from staying the course.
As Riddle reflects on what it felt like to enter law school with a paralegal background, she says it has been different from what she expected.
Her experience has been good, and at the same time, surprising.
“It is certainly humbling – it is an extremely humbling experience. I know I went in thinking, I’m sure others have felt this way, ‘I’ve got the experience, and I know how to do this.’ Yet I have found it is something that’s completely new and different. I have some traits and qualities that have helped me. But it is still something that is difficult and even more challenging than you would imagine. I was shocked by how humbling it is.”
While law school has had its challenges, she is glad she is one step closer to becoming an attorney.
What would she say to paralegals, or anyone, who would like to attend law school?
“I’d say go for it. If that’s something that you truly want, you will find a way to make it work. I think everything happens for a reason. I did not go to law school when I initially wanted to. I worked as a paralegal for several years and ended up at a great company that I continue to work for. That was all very intentional. I work for great bosses who say, ‘No, you need to go. We’ll support you and work with you, whatever that takes.’ And they have done that.
“If you feel like this is your time, you will find a way to make it work. It is not easy in the slightest. But it will work out. Then, if you decide it’s not for you, that’s fine, too. I stress a lot, but I have to catch myself and others by saying, we don’t need to stress about this. We’ve got so many other things to worry about. Let’s not add anything else on our plate.”
One value that enhances her life and brings her joy is giving back to her community. For Riddle, opportunities to volunteer have refreshed her and widened her perspective.
While Riddle says she had more time to volunteer consistently before law school, she has found a way to keep giving back: individual events. Prior to attending NCCU, she served with the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Foundation in various capacities. Riddle participated in Lawyer on the Line, was a Guardian ad Litem for three years, and was selected as a member of the 2021 Paralegal Honor Society.
Despite her busy schedule, she serves as the 2022-23 communications co-chair with the Paralegal Division, and she participates in individual events, which provide the perfect chance for professionals in her shoes to give back in a meaningful way.
Katie has two dogs, Layla, a pitbull, and Nellie, a beagle mix. Katie adopted Nellie from Triangle Beagle Rescue.
“I’ve been trying to take advantage of one-off opportunities, such as working with the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center which hosts Driver’s License Restoration clinics and Expunction clinics. I volunteered with the Triangle Beagle rescue. I have two fur babies, named Layla and Nellie. We rescued Nellie when she was a puppy from Triangle Beagle Rescue. I loved the organization so much, I started volunteering soon thereafter. I was helping with placement and finding dogs their new homes. That was a really cool thing to be able to do.”
In addition to serving in the community, she gives back through her employer.
“I’m also serving as the chair of one of our activity committees at work. We try to do a lot of volunteer events, one of which is with Community Housing Solutions.
“They serve homeowners who are either disabled or unable to make repairs on their homes for various reasons. Community Housing Solutions is a fantastic organization, and they go in and with volunteers and skilled carpenters and contractors to make these necessary repairs. Volunteers are needed to help with things such as providing wheelchair access, staining wheelchair ramps so that they are secure and making sure that they are not damaged long term, along with many other things.”
For Riddle, being a pro bono volunteer is a priority, and something she participates in whenever she can. It matters to her because of how she has learned about others in the community and their specific needs.
Serving others has opened new avenues for empathy and compassion.
“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never had to worry about my driver’s license being suspended and the repercussions of that. I have never been displaced from my home as a young child and then being forced to navigate through the trauma of that. I feel like as a legal professional I have this obligation to serve others, and I have gained such a unique perspective of what other people go through.
“And you don’t know that until you’re seeing it firsthand. You can hear about it, and it can move you, and that’s great. But when you see it firsthand, going back to the Guardian ad Litem program, what kids have to go through, it is upsetting. It makes me feel more energized to be in that role, to support them, and if I had the time, I would continue to be doing it. I had to stop after three years. It is one of those things that is such an important role, and there’s somebody that needs the help. If you’re in a position to do it, you should.”
As Riddle shares, Guardian ad Litem volunteers are especially needed. Still, not everyone has the capacity to serve in long-term roles, and for that reason, it is important to find something that fits your schedule.
When it comes to volunteering, she is passionate about creating those opportunities for both attorneys and paralegals – and reminding paralegals that they are qualified and needed in these roles. She hopes to establish a pro bono committee within her company because many of her colleagues have expressed an interest in serving, but sometimes, seeking out those events can take some time.
“It’s a matter of finding pro bono opportunities, and then also finding one where you can serve one time for a couple of hours, and then feel good about it. From there, a lot of attorneys and a lot of others just don’t have the time to spend doing a consistent long-term project. There are tons of opportunities for clinics, and one-time events. It’s something you get trained for.
“A lot of paralegals may not know that there’s opportunities for them as well. It seems like a lot of energy is focused on attorneys, and giving them pro bono opportunities, but what about paralegals? It would be nice to be able to tell them to look at the Pro Bono Resource Center and the North Carolina Bar Association. There are things that you can do as a paralegal, or as an attorney, and it is not something that you need to commit to for a year or three years, like a Guardian ad Litem in my case, but it can be something that you do one Saturday.”
Whether one is able to volunteer long term or short term, any act of service has the potential to improve someone’s life for the better. Placing oneself in someone else’s shoes is a transformative experience. Riddle describes what it is like to volunteer for the Driver’s License Clinic hosted by the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center.
“The first time I volunteered, I was completely blown away, because it was something that I had no personal exposure to, or anything like that. I couldn’t believe that it was an issue. This is incredibly tragic. I got to spend two hours writing advice letters and helping somebody move past this – past this suspension or their license being revoked.
“It gives you a unique perspective on things that you would not know otherwise. You can feel good about that, and say hey, I’d love to do it again. It gives you that exposure and a better understanding of what’s going on in our world that you wouldn’t have had if you had not volunteered.”
Jessica Junqueira is communications manager for the North Carolina Bar Association.