Paralegal
The market for paralegals is broad, including consultancies, companies that have legal departments or that perform legislative and regulatory compliance activities in areas such as environment, labor, intellectual property, zoning, and tax.
[citation needed] There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the paralegal (legal assistance) field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level positions.
In the United States in 1967, the American Bar Association (ABA) endorsed the concept of the paralegal and, in 1968, established its first committee on legal assistants.
Many paralegals have completed all of their training or obtained a higher education degree in an adjacent field before entering the profession, while some, mostly those of the Baby Boomers Generation and some older Gen Xers unlike many Millennials, Gen Zers, and younger Gen Xers, have only on-the-job training entering only with a high school diploma and no formal higher education which was a common phenomenon during that time, with others later on completing their education while working their way up from some administrative assistance or secretarial positions in law firms, in-house legal departments, or government agencies where depending on the type of work completed may or may not have required a bachelor's degree level of specialized knowledge in a given field.
According to United States law,[citation needed] there are five specific acts which only a licensed attorney can perform: Beyond the five acts above, the paralegal can perform practically any other task, including legal research, legal writing, factual investigation, preparation of exhibits, and the day-to-day tasks of case management.
The growing demand of paralegal professionals at a rapid rate has resulted in schools and colleges catering to such education being established in many places.
[citation needed] Seminars and events are being held by various institutes to help broaden the knowledge base of the paralegal service providers and the importance associated with it.
[10] According to one paralegal studies scholar: The legal profession’s monopoly in Australia is, however, confined to the right of appearance in a court of law and to the preparation of certain documents for reward, which leaves a vast field of legal tasks open to performance by other workers, including paralegals.Furthermore, Australian paralegals have "little formal recognition of, or status accorded" them, yet they "require specialist education.
"[10] In Canada, paralegals are typically trained assistants who work under the supervision of lawyers and are not regulated as independent professionals, except in the Canadian province of Ontario.
[13] Ontario is with Washington State the only jurisdiction in the western hemisphere where paralegals are licensed and the profession is regulated as officers of the court.
Licensed paralegals operate within a defined scope of practice, representing clients in matters such as provincial offenses (traffic tickets, etc.
), immigration, landlord and tenant disputes, labor law, small claims court (up to $35,000), and specific criminal matters.
[16] Paralegals who provide legal services to the public must carry professional liability insurance in accordance with By-Law 6, Part II, section 12 (1).
It is a positive tool that benefits lawyers and paralegals and is an essential component of the commitment they make to the public to practice law or provide legal services competently and ethically.
The Office of National Statistics and the register of Standard Occupational Classification estimate that there are currently 76,000 mid-skilled "legal associate professionals".
[citation needed]This is because most legal work in the United Kingdom is deregulated and therefore there is nothing to stop anyone from opening their own paralegal law firm.
It is open to those with or without law degrees, and allows paralegals to progress through to ultimately become fully qualified lawyers, partners, advocates, coroners and judges, subject to achieving the correct level of qualifications, skills, and experience.
Since 1994 City and Guilds, in association with CILEX, has offered the UK's leading range of nationally and internationally approved qualifications for paralegals and legal secretaries, which have been taken by over 20,000 people.
They were granted institute status by the UK government in 2005, with the support of, among others, The Law Society of England & Wales, the Bar Council, Citizens Advice and the Crown Prosecution Service, all of whom recognized the need for the developing paralegal profession to have a representative body.
In her book, Access to Justice, Stanford law professor Deborah Rhode states: "Over four-fifths of surveyed attorneys have supported prosecution of lay practitioners, and the profession has repeatedly blocked licensing proposals that would enable independent paralegals to offer routine services.
Many local, state and national bar associations have recently launched initiatives to broaden the definition, raise the penalties, and increase the enforcement of unauthorized practice prohibitions.
Many states, including Florida, have enacted laws or bar rules which require any person referring to himself or herself as a paralegal to work under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
The State of Florida has numerous companies that prepare court documents for a variety of issues, such as Divorce, Bankruptcy, Paternity, Custody, Modification of Child Support, Name Change, Wills, Power of Attorney, Quit Claim Deeds, etc.
If you do not have the ability to remedy your situation because of the high cost fees of any attorney a Court Document Preparer can save thousands of dollars.
One of the purposes of regulation under Business and Professions Code § 6450 was to shut down the paralegals who were providing self-help legal services to consumers.
It further concluded that independent paralegals should be allowed to provide all types of legal services as long as they are registered with a state agency and disclose their non-lawyer status to all customers."
This commission largely agreed with the conclusions of its predecessors and recommended that non-lawyers be authorized by the California Supreme Court to deliver legal services in several major areas (bankruptcy, family, immigration, and landlord-tenant), under the terms of a licensing scheme that would be supervised by an independent state agency.
[46] Allison DuBois, the lead character in Medium played by Patricia Arquette, was in training to become a paralegal in addition to her consultation work with the Phoenix, Arizona District Attorney's office.
The TV movie Diamond Girl (1998) features an unassuming paralegal as the main character who is in love with her attorney boss and is the sole reason for the law firm's success.
In the TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rebecca's first friend in West Covina is Paula Proctor, her new firm's paralegal.
