Being a paralegal entails a lot of work. Assisting a lawyer in a case while abiding by paralegals proper work ethics must always be observed by a paralegal. He or she must always work with in the boundaries of what a paralegal must do in helping out a client.
To do this, a paralegal must be aware of the work ethics that has been set for paralegals. Due to this a lot of paralegal associations have been formed to guide paralegals in their day to day work dilemmas in assisting a lawyer in a law firm.In order to know what the job description of a paralegal is, we must first define the term. According to the legal dictionary: A paralegal is a non-lawyer who performs routine tasks requiring some knowledge of the law and procedures, employed by a law office or who works free-lance as an independent for various lawyers. Usually paralegals have taken a prescribed series of courses in law and legal processes, which is much less demanding than those required for a licensed attorney.
Paralegals are increasingly popular, often handling much of the paper work in probates of estates, divorce actions, bankruptcies, investigations, analyzing depositions, preparing and answering interrogatories, procedural motions and other specialized jobs.Clients should be sure that the hourly rate charged for paralegals is much less than that for the attorneys. ” In most law firms, paralegals serve as legal secretaries who either prepare paperwork for the firm or handle informal communications with clients, opposing counsel, and other offices that have something to do with a development of a case. The need for paralegals took rise in the legal industry when innovations of technology made it easier for individuals like paralegals to take over files of clients for the lawyers. The development of the legal procedures and industry called for the existence of paralegals.Due to economic necessity and the increasing need for legal assistance, the paralegal industry has flourished and made the paralegal job into a profession that increased access to cost-efficient, effective and quality legal services.
Due to this, paralegal responsibilities have become more defined to include the delivery of substantive legal services by paralegals. Just recently, paralegal time was appointed as a portion of attorney fees, Supreme Court Justice Brennan included the following observation in a footnote with his opinion for the Court: It has frequently been recognized in the lower courts that paralegals are capable of carrying out many tasks, under the supervision of an attorney that might otherwise be performed by a lawyer and billed at a higher rate. Such work might include, for example, factual investigation, including locating and interviewing witnesses, assistance with depositions, interrogatories, and document production, compilation of statistical and financial data; checking legal citations; and drafting correspondence.Much such work lies in a gray area of tasks that might appropriately be performed either by an attorney or a paralegal. ” Typical problems of paralegals arise when they come in conflict with the lawyer- Client confidentiality contract. This happens when the paralegal who is in charge of a client’s file does not keep the facts that the firm obtained from the client confidential.
Given that he or she is the paralegal on the case, a paralegal has free access to the information on a client that is supposed to be in between the firm and the client.When the paralegal gives this information out without the client’s permission, disqualification based on a lawyer’s duty to protect a client’s confidence and secrets can take place. Paralegals who work for a lawyer and a law firm is also prohibited from giving a client legal advice without coordination with the lawyer on the case, giving unsolicited legal advice to a client can lead to conflict with the legal advice of a lawyer or legal action a firm would want to take in a case of client.The paralegal can also only go so far as give legal advice.
Only the lawyer can represent a client in court given that he is the only one with the license to fully practice law. For a paralegal to be successful in this field of work, practice in a law firm with the guidance of good attorneys is advisable so that a paralegal can take a better grasp of the legal system and his work trained by professionals who are more familiar with legal work.
