While lawyers assume ultimate responsibility for legal work, they often delegate many of their tasks to paralegals. In fact, paralegals -- also called legal assistants -- are continuing to assume a growing range of tasks in the Nation's legal offices and perform many of the same tasks as lawyers.1
What is a Paralegal?
While there is no true definition of a paralegal, two major organizations, The American Bar Association (ABA) and the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) have agreed to the following definition:
A person qualified by education, training, or work experience, which is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency, or other entity that performs specifically delegated substantive legal work, for which a lawyer is responsible.2
As defined by the National Federation of Paralegal Associations, a Paralegal is a person, qualified through education, training or work experience to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily, but not exclusively, performed by a lawyer. This person may be retained or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency or other entity or may be authorized by administrative, statutory or court authority to perform this work. Substantive shall mean work requiring recognition, evaluation, organization, analysis, and communication of relevant facts and legal concepts. 3
At the August 1997 ABA Annual Meeting, the ABA's policy making body, the House of Delegates adopted the current definition of "legal assistant/paralegal", as recommended by the standing Committee on Legal Assistants. The current definition reads as follows:
A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.4
As you may see from the definitions, no matter how different they may be, education is important in the paralegal profession. The education is the key factor in determining the qualifications of a paralegal. This program will give you the education you need to meet the requirements by law firms and aid you in your successful paralegal career.
What do Paralegals Do?
A legal assistant/paralegal cannot give legal advice, represent a client in court, set a fee, or accept a case, which functions are generally considered the practice of law. Working under the supervision of an attorney, the legal assistant's work product is merged with and becomes part of the attorney work product. In communications with clients and the public, the legal assistant's non-lawyer status must be clear. A legal assistant may perform any function delegated by an attorney, including but not limited to the following:3
- Conduct client interviews and maintain general contact with the client, so long as the client is aware of the status and function of the legal assistant, and the legal assistant works under the supervision of the attorney.
- Locate and interview witnesses.
- Conduct investigations and statistical and documentary research.
- Conduct legal research.
- Draft legal documents, correspondence and pleadings.
- Summarize depositions, interrogatories and testimony.
- Attend executions of wills, real estate closings, depositions, court or administrative hearings and trials with the attorney.
- Author and sign correspondence provided the legal assistant status is clearly indicated and the correspondence does not contain independent legal opinions or legal advice.
- Professionally, a paralegal's time for substantive legal work (as opposed to clerical or administrative work) is billed to clients much the same way as an attorney's time, but at a lower hourly rate.
What is the Outlook for the Paralegal Profession?
The legal assistant profession is projected to grow by 33% during the first 10 years of 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Employment Projections. Compared with other occupations, this is an above average growth rate.3
Private law firms are the largest employers of paralegals, but a growing number of other organizations are beginning and continuing to hire them. These organizations include corporate legal departments, insurance companies, real estate and title insurance firms, and banks.3
More Information
The following organizations are excellent resources for learning more about the paralegal profession and its history.
1Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Paralegals and Legal Assistants, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos114.htm (visited July 11, 2007).
2Miller, R., Urisko, M. West's Paralegal Today, The Legal Team at Work, 4th edition. (p.3)
3National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Inc. http://www.paralegals.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=788. (visited July 11, 2007)
4American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Legal Assistants, on the Internet at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/def98.html. (visited July 11, 2007).
