30 day review is this afternoon

So, as you know reading my thread, I took the $21/hr job with the 2 attorneys at a law firm from 3 job opportunities.

I started 30 days ago. Today is my 30-day review with the female attorney (the other is a male).

Yesterday, she sprung the news that my review was today with her, prefacing that "you won't be fired. We just want to know what you are comfortable with and we will give you feedback."

There are best practices for conducting a 30-day employee review. It should not be treated as a PIP (performance improvement plan) since the employee is brand new. It is the employer's way to discuss how the employee feels working there.

I have decided that if the female attorney morphs our 30-review into a PIP, I am walking out today. The irony? When I was hired 30 days ago, I was given a lot of training by the male attorney; who printed out emails from previous legal assistants.

One email's content I found rather foreshadowing of what my potential fate here at this law firm is - being fired or quitting. The email content was the female attorney's email to another attorney apologizing for being late with a document since her legal assistant quit after taking a weeklong vacation (basically the person never returned to work after taking their weeklong vacation).

The male attorney worked at this law firm for 5 years while in law school as a law clerk, then promoted to paralegal, then promoted to associate attorney after he passed his bar last year. He's a great boss and great trainer.

The female attorney has a very passive aggressive gossipy personality. She's been at the firm for 2 years. She has not been able to keep a legal assistant since she started; 3 have quit.

The law firm has terrible reviews on Glassdoor. Terrible. All point to a toxic work environment and low pay for the paralegals and legal assistants. For example, I have a paralegal certificate yet I'm making $40K as a legal assistant (before taxes).

The expectation for my workload is to answer phones and provide customer service with clients; open files on their law software, prepare documents, prepare notice letters, create payment invoices, draft correspondence and do the work of 3 people without making any mistakes.

I should add: the female attorney has dismissed the fact verbally that I created a training manual inside a 3-ring binder of the hundreds of documents I've been trained with (emails, invoices, correspondence, legal documents, how-to's). That took me a week to organize and create for myself, so that I can do this job that I've only been at for 30 days.

They did hire a 2nd legal assistant who started three days ago. She's training all day with the male attorney and her cubicle is next to mine. She used to work for the state as a paralegal so she has a bit of an air of arrogance with me. She rebuffs my friendly banter with a blank stare and no response. The male attorney asked her to sit with me and observe and she won't do that.

I just have a spidey sense that I'm going to be put on a PIP today by that female attorney, which is possibly disguised as a 30-day review. I haven't had any other interviews or applied for other legal related jobs in the past month, hoping this would be my last full-time job that I could grow into for the next 3-5 years at the minimum.

I guess as much as I want to walk away today if she PIP's my job performance, I will begrudgingly stay so that I can apply for/interview for other legal assistant jobs since a PIP tends to last 30, 60, or 90 days before termination commences.

The firm's partners I've met like me, as do some of the other paralegals. I suspect they will withdraw any socializing if I am put on a PIP plan today.

Doing the work of 3 legal assistants is unrealistic for these 2 attornies. It's a lot of work and to expect me not to forget steps and make mistakes is delusional as a supervisor.

The clues to my being fired today are laid out to me.
I had a question for the female attorney about a file and she was meeting with the partner who interviewed me initially with her, and the Human Resources staff member.

I bet she hired another legal assistant to replace me and is terminating me today.

They are already firing you? After a month? Like what don’t they like?

I’d say if you are certified as paralegal, I’d apply for a paralegals job. Legal assistant is more of a Secretary job. Nothing wrong with that but it’s low pay

The male attorney used to be a paralegal at the law firm and he's WAY cooler than the female attorney.

I have not received the official "you're fired" conversation or email yet. But I'm dreading the 20th of Dec. that is the holiday party at the office and that's the day that the law partners approved everyone to receive a bonus.

I meant clues to my firing like, the day off I requested wasn't put on my Outlook calendar yet. Of course, that could be because the firm administrator forgot.

Also, the female attorney yelled at me yesterday for not completing a large file project before her hearing today. Yet, she didn't mark it as "TODAY" 5 days ago on the software program calendar of tasks each legal assistant uses as a point of reference for what tasks need to be done each day (they hired another legal assistant now, two weeks ago).

The law partner who knows my cousin hasn't said anything. I thought about emailing my cousin whom I have not been in contact with for decades who is an attorney. Not sure about doing that yet.

I am definitely applying for other legal jobs. I've got 6 weeks under my belt now. I put the law firm on my resume. Most legal assistants here quit b/c of the way they are mismanaged. The male attorney won't step on the female attorney's toes b/c she has seniority.

Yesterday was weird. The female attorney doled out treats in the morning to the other legal assistant and me, and then yelled at me in the afternoon. I asked the other attorney for help (the female attorney should have asked one of the 6 paralegals to help me, I was told I was not allowed to ask them for help by myself, which is just undermining me and sabotaging me). He helped me b/c he's a kind person but I felt terrible and kept muttering, "She is so mad at me. I don't want to be fired."

Just by saying that out loud, I likely sealed my fate. I am also acting insecure b /c of my unstable employment history. I just don't have the confidence that I can make this job last that long.