Paralegals are also referred to as legal para-professionals, legal aides, legal assistants, legal researchers, law clerks and legal executives.
Their main function is to support lawyers in their work.
Paralegal training does not take as long as a lawyer’s training but paralegal are trained in aspects of the law.
In most cases, a paralegal training will be focused in a particular niche such as environmental law, real estate law, commercial law, bankruptcy, insurance, family law, litigation or any other specialization.
Even though paralegals are trained in law and in legal research methods just like lawyers, they are not allowed to set legal fees, appear in a court of law as a person’s legal representative, provide legal advice or sign any court documents as a legal representative.
A typical paralegal job description will be made up of tasks geared towards supporting a lawyer in his day to day work.
These tasks can be carried out by a lawyer but may be too much work for any one lawyer to handle.
Typical Paralegal Job Description
The paralegal job description may vary depending on the specific law firm or on area of specialization but will generally include tasks such as:
1. Carrying out legal research –
This is quite possibly the most important duty a paralegal will carry out.
The research will be aimed at finding out preceding cases relevant to a case, relevant statutes, court decisions, legal articles and other writings.
They may also carry out background checks on witnesses.
2. Drafting legal documents –
Depending on the size of the law firm, a paralegal’s duties may include drafting documents such as mortgages, separation agreements, sale agreements, trust agreements, real estate closings and other types of contracts.
3. Case preparation –
They play a crucial role in helping lawyers prepare for their court cases.
They will help in the preparation of legal arguments, opening statements, closing statements and court pleadings or motions.
4. Investigation –
A paralegal may carry out investigations in relation to a case in order to authenticate or validate information.
This investigation may include locating relevant witnesses for their case.
5. Interviewing witnesses –
The paralegal may interview witnesses or the client in order to gather relevant information.
He will then prepare a report on the interview for the lawyer which he may use for preparation of his case.
6. Administrative duties –
Paralegals are referred to as law clerks because they do a lot of filing and other clerk duties such as answering phone calls, taking messages and answer correspondence.