Paralegal Career

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Paralegal Career

So you want to pursue a career in the legal profession without having to go to law school. Then, consider a paralegal career.

Sometimes called legal assistants, paralegals are individuals who assist lawyers in the delivery of legal services. According to the American Bar Association, 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 who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.

In short, a paralegal career involves much of a lawyers work, with few exceptions. Such exceptions include the giving of legal advice, setting of legal fees, and appearing in courts on behalf of clients.

The paralegal career was first established in mid-s. As more and more people became aware of legal remedies, the legal workload likewise increased, prompting the need of lawyers to delegate some of their tasks to a professional who has working knowledge of substantive law and certain skills required in performing legal work. That professional is the paralegal, or legal assistant.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Employment Projects, paralegal careers is projected to grow by % during the first ten years of . This make the paralegal career one of the fastest growing fields in the employment market.

Responsibilities

A paralegal career involves a wide range of responsibilities that often overlap with that of a lawyer engaged in the practice of law. Generally, however, a paralegal works under the supervision of a lawyer, who delegates tasks to the legal assistant.

Thus, paralegal careers would involve the following functions:

Conducting client interviews and maintaining general contact with the client. However, the client must be made aware that the paralegal is a non-lawyer and that his functions are restricted only to tasks delegated by the attorney. Locating and interviewing witnesses. Conducting investigations and statistical and documentary research. Conducting legal research, including identifying appropriate laws, judicial decisions, case laws, among others. Drafting legal documents, contracts, agreements, correspondence, and pleadings. Summarizing depositions, interrogatories and testimony. Attending in executions of wills, real estate closings, depositions, court or administrative hearings and trials. Must be accompanied by an attorney. Authoring and signing correspondence. Again, the non-lawyer status of the paralegal must be clearly indicated. Also, the correspondence must not contain any independent legal opinions or legal advice.

Compensation/Salary

The paralegal career offers good compensation. In fact, surveys conducted by many paralegal associations show that the paralegal career is one of the few employment fields that is currently enjoying an increase in salary rates despite the economys decline since the attacks of Sept. .