The Paralegal Professional ESSENTIALS, Second Edition

1. The Paralegal ProfessionalESSENTIALS, Second Edition Part I Chapter 1: The Paralegal Profession

2. What Is a Paralegal? • No distinction between “paralegal” and “legal assistant” • Trend toward using “paralegal” • May be distinctions in job descriptions within an organization

3. American Bar Association (ABA) A 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 and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible.

4. National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) A paralegal is a person qualified through education, training or work experience to perform substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts as customarily, but not exclusively performed by a lawyer. This person may be retained or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency or other entity or may be authorized by administrative, statutory or court authority to perform this work.

5. What Do Paralegals Do? • Tasks: • Interviewing clients • Conducting factual investigations • Legal research • Assist attorneys in law firms or legal departments: • In preparing for hearings, trials, meetings, closings

6. Typical Preparations • Drafting documents • Completing forms • Coordinating activities • Maintaining financial records

7. Background • They may bring prior work skills: • Science and medicine • Engineering, architecture, construction • Customer relations (front-end positions) • Bookkeeping or financial experience

8. Credentials • May obtain a national certification: • Certified Legal Assistant (CLA), through National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) • Registered Paralegal, through NFPA • Professional Paralegal, through National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS)

9. Opportunities for Paralegals • More paralegals are employed by larger firms than smaller firms; small firms tend to use secretaries for some paralegal tasks. • Two-thirds of attorneys surveyed have paralegals at their firms. • Paralegals are most commonly utilized by firms practicing in the areas of: • Business/corporate • Probate/estate planning • Litigation

10. Compensation • Salaries are higher in large, metropolitan areas. • Large firms tend to pay more. • Paralegal billings must be based on paralegal (billable) activities, not clerical or secretarial (overhead) activities. • Courts can award paralegal fees along with attorney fees. • Some attention is being paid to the choice of an attorney to perform tasks a paralegal could perform for less. Court-awarded fees may be reduced accordingly.

11. Compensation, cont. • The amount billed to the client for paralegal work is about half of the attorney’s rate. • The amount billed is usually about 3 to 4 times the compensation received by the paralegal. • This method of leveraging makes paralegal use a profit center, not an expense, to a firm.

12. Growth of the Profession • The Department of Labor anticipates above-average growth in the profession until at least 2014. • Advanced degrees can facilitate career advancement: • Entry-level positions in small firms may only require an associate degree. • Employment in a large firm may require a bachelor degree. • It is important to obtain degrees with transferable credits to promote career growth. • Continuing education is important in all areas of law, but especially in technological applications.

13. Role of the Paralegal • Part of a “legal services team” • Responsibility (and compensation) will increase with additional education, training, and experience. • Paralegals are essential to providing lower-cost legal services.

14. National Associations • National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) – largest association, providing the CLA & CLAS credentials. • National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) – second largest, providing the PACE credential. • National Association of Legal Professionals (NALS) – for all legal support personnel, providing the PP credential.

15. National Associations, cont. • Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) – support for management professionals. • International Paralegal Management Association (LAMA) – support for paralegal managers.

16. Qualifications • Some states provide definitions that specify education or training, but it is mostly left to the legal profession: • American Bar Association (ABA) provides approval for paralegal education programs. • American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE) has established a core curriculum for paralegal programs.

17. ABA Approval • Views qualified paralegals as contributing to the ABA goal of providing increased access to legal services. • Can approve a paralegal educational program: “…that is designed to qualify its graduates to be employed in law-related occupations….” • Post-secondary, at least 60 semester hours, at least 18 hours must be legal specialty courses.

18. AAfPE Role • Provides a core curriculum, model syllabi, and instructional assistance to paralegal programs: • Promote high educational standards • Provide a forum for educators • Provide technical assistance to educators • Promote research • Coordinate with the ABA, NALA, NFPA, and other groups in achieving educational excellence

19. Relevant Skills • Critical thinking • Organizational • General communication • Interpersonal • Legal research • Legal writing • Computer • Interviewing and investigation

20. Areas of Knowledge • The legal system • Law office procedures • Professional and ethical obligations • Contracts • Torts • Business organizations • Litigation procedures

21. Types of Programs • Certificate programs • Less than a degree • May or may not be transferable college credit • Value of programs determined by the marketplace • Useful for people with existing degrees • Associate degree programs • Offered by community or junior colleges • May be ABA-approved • Good entry-level credential for small or medium firms

22. Types of Programs, cont. • Baccalaureate programs • May be the minimum requirement for the largest firms • Provides knowledge in related areas • Psychology • Accounting and finance • Business practices • Science and engineering • There are Master’s programs available in paralegal and related legal studies.

23. Specialty Certificates • Frequently the product of a second career in the law: • Legal Nurse Consultants • Journalism • Investigation and law enforcement • Information technology

24. Setting Goals • Assess your skills and interests • Explore your background for useful skills, such as money handling, customer service, fluency in other languages, artistic talent, computer proficiency, etc. • Determine your preference in work environments • A “people person?” • Prefer team work or greater autonomy? • Like research? Good at interviewing? Great drafting skills? • Explore course offerings to determine a specialty area that interests you. • Determine your physical, geographic, time limits. • Identify personal interests, such as education, the environment.

25. Choosing Electives • Can be used to “try on” an area of law • Can be used to create a specialty for yourself: • A business law track might include additional accounting courses, workers’ compensation, tax courses, employment law, real property, labor law, alternative dispute resolution, etc., in addition to business organizations and transactions.

26. Paralegal Skills • Skills you already possess: • Reading English • Oral and/or written communications • Initiative • And possibly: • Computer and Internet • Additional language(s) • Other educational and work experience

27. Organization • The ability to: • Categorize • Prioritize • Utilize time efficiently • Being resourceful • Determination to get the job done • When conventional approaches fail, the ability to use unconventional means

28. Commitment • Finishing seemingly insurmountable tasks • Supporting a team • Finishing tasks in the allotted time • Assuming responsibility for your work • Recognizing that time limits are crucial in law

29. Analytical Skills • Step-by-step problem solving • Identifying possible factors, analyzing each, eliminating, and narrowing • Identifying facts and legal issues • Comparing and contrasting your client’s situation to existing law • Applying the elements of the law to your client’s situation

30. Interpersonal Skills • Paralegals may be “front-end” client contacts. • Legal teams require cooperation. • Sensitivity is required in many situations. • Paralegals need an understanding of their “corporate culture” and an appreciation of other cultural differences. • Oral and written communications must be professional and reflect the law office’s standards.

31. Communication Skills • Expressing ideas effectively • Need accuracy in communicating assignments, client information, expectations • Electronic communications have reduced the ability to interpret “body language” or facial expressions, limiting the effectiveness of communication. • Clarity and accuracy is of paramount importance.