Paralegals or legal assistants have become an integral part of a legal team.
Even though they are not lawyers, they do a lot of the substantive legal work a lawyer would typically carry out.
In fact the only tasks a paralegal cannot do on behalf of a lawyer are providing counsel on legal issues to clients, appear in court as a person’s representative or anything that would be considered to be directly the practice of law.
Typical Paralegal Services
The tasks that can be delegated to paralegals are governed by the professional rules, regulations and statues that govern the practice of law in the specific jurisdiction.
A lawyer will delegate some of the work he is supposed to do but he is ultimately responsible for the work.
This necessitates the lawyer to strictly supervise paralegals to ensure that they are acting in a manner that does not go against the lawyer’s professional and ethical obligations.
Paralegals do not require formal paralegal training because they can get on the job training.
However, while on the job training is still widely carried out, many employers want paralegals they hire to have paralegal education.
Even with education, most lawyers will train their paralegals to ensure that they can carry out the tasks assigned to them.
This is all part of the supervision process. If a lawyer fails to properly supervise a paralegal working under him, he is liable to serious consequences. He may be deemed to be guilty of malpractice and may be fined or suspended for a period.
What Paralegal Services You Provide Will Determine Where You Work
Paralegal services will differ from firm to firm, or will depend on the type of company the paralegal is working.
Paralegals will work in a law firm, for a lawyer, government body, corporation and any other body that does legal work.
The paralegal services will also differ depending on the location because of what the specific state law may prescribe as being the practice of law. Some states prohibit the delegation of some tasks that are expressly allowed in other states.
Paralegal services are not only offered in an employment setting.
Some paralegals do opt to freelance and therefore work on a contract basis for different people.
It is possible also to specialize in the different fields in law practice. These areas of specialization include litigation, immigration, family law, foreclosures, criminal law and intellectual property.
Paralegals that have more than one area of specialization and multiple paralegal services will find better job opportunities for themselves.