The Future for Paralegals

From 3arf

Although paralegals are employed in a diverse range of businesses, almost all are employed in either law firms, government or government entities, or in corporate legal sections. Within these entities, paralegals are normally responsible for a areas that include bankruptcy (both personal and business), business and corporate law, criminal law, family law, labor law, litigation, immigration law, intellectual property, and real estate law to name a few.As time has gone by, laws and legal requirements have become more complicated and this has led to many paralegals becoming specialists. Even then, within each specialty, roles and responsibilities have been broken down even further.A good example is in labor law where a paralegal may choose to specialize in employee benefits. Generally speaking, the smaller the law firm the less opportunity there is to specialize. As a result, most paralegals that really want to specialize seek out employment with large law firms. If you're looking for a start as a paralegal, there are often more opportunities in these small law firms.Another term frequently used for a paralegal is legal assistant. No matter what name you use, the role of a paralegal is expanding and it can be difficult to determine who the lawyer is and who the paralegal is. Legally, paralegals are not permitted to do anything anything that is normally considered to be a 'practice of law'. This includes tasks such as trying a court cases, offering legal advice and setting legal fees for a particular case. Having said that, it should be remembered that a lawyer is ultimately responsible for a case regardless of the work undertaken by a paralegal, legal assistant or even a legal secretary. Therefore, paralegals always work under the guidance and supervision of a qualified lawyer.One of the more interesting duties of a paralegal is in assisting a lawyer prepare for a trial. The paralegal will help to investigate case facts, perhaps even assist by interviewing key witnesses. The paralegal is also responsible for collating all the pertinent information related to that case. This includes researching legal articles, judicial decisions (known as precedents) along with any  other important information.Once a paralegal has gathered and organized all the key information, they will generally prepare a written report that the lawyer can use when making a decision on the direction a case should take. Since the lawyer has not been closely involved with the day-day progress of the case, they rely heavily on this written report. If a decision is made to file a lawsuit, a paralegal is then generally called upon to draft motions and to prepare legal arguments that will filed with court. It is generally the role of the paralegal to track, collate and organize all the vital case documents ready for the lawyer to use. Large law firms have teams of paralegals, all often working on the one case. Each will bring a specialty to the table, for example, one paralegal may be an expert at researching case law while another is an expert at writing motions or legal arguments. Organization of case files is extremely important in these situations.The role of a paralegal can be some what boring as well. Some of the more mundane duties include drafting mortgages, writing contracts, preparing bankruptcy documents,  and writing separation agreements. other responsibilities include estate planning, preparing wills and pre-nuptial agreements, and establishing trust funds.One of the most important skills in a paralegals repertoire today are computer skills. There are many records now stored on computer, often in legal databases contained on CD-ROMs. The Internet has also become an important research tool. Being able to use a word-processor, spreadsheet and database are also a requirement. These days it is quite common to see paralegals in court with a laptop rather than a briefcase full of documents. In most cases, documents are scanned into the computer - this makes finding them a quick and easy task - a necessity if a lawyer needs to refer to a document half-way through questioning a witness.The duties and responsibilities of a paralegal can be wide and varied depending on the size of the legal office they are working in. Of course, the main factor that will determine a paralegal’s area of responsibility is the type of business or organization they are employed in. The more experienced a paralegal is, the more responsibility they shoulder including being selected as a team leader for a particular case. This places them directly behind the lawyer in terms of responsibility for a case. While we all see lawyers when we have legal issues, it is generally one or more paralegals that do all the work - the lawyer just puts the finishing touch to any case.

A well trained and experienced paralegal can find themselves in a wide variety of jobs. They can use their experience to undertake further training to become a fully qualified lawyer in their own right. They can also move up within a large organization to head specialist departments. Training to become a paralegal doesn't limit your career to one of a legal assistant - the role is much more specialized now and generally very rewarding.

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