In the legal world, paralegals play a very important role in delivering legal services to individuals or groups. Paralegals perform administrative tasks within the administration, many perform beyond this and take over much of the lawyers’ workload. Paralegals hold an advanced understanding of the legal system and how it works. By undertaking an attorney’s workload, a paralegal focus on more detailed legal work or operations.
One can opt for paralegal services maintaining an economical budget as it can be pocket-friendly for many clients considering paralegal services are not as expensive as that of lawyers. The paralegal’s time for legal work is billed hourly to clients similar to the attorney’s time, but at a lower price.
A paralegal works under the close supervision of an attorney hence, the work product of both (paralegal and attorney) is merged together for a client. However, while establishing communication with clients and the public, it must be set clear that a paralegal has a non-lawyer status in a legal setting. Since paralegals possess a non-lawyer status, they are not authorized to give legal advice or perform any licensed duty.
In the beginning, the paralegal profession was initiated in various law firms. But today, professional paralegals can be found working in most corporate organizations and businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and health organizations. The employment ratio of paralegals in the government sector has reached above its par. Paralegals hold expertise in the preparation of affidavits, legal correspondence, electronic filing systems, and assistance in preparing for the court trial.
What Services do Paralegals Provide?
The responsibility of a paralegal includes the preparation of contracts, legal documents, wills, and various other legal documents, such as real estate closures. Apart from this, paralegals working in corporate settings prepare employee contracts, shareholder agreements, and financial reports. They stay updated with regulations to provide up-to-date information.
There is no doubt that the workings of the law world are majorly supported by the unavoidable efforts of paralegals and legal assistants. These law professionals help out lawyers to prepare for hearings and trials, draft legal documents, and coordinate computerized data storage, such as emails, accounting databases, and websites related to a trial or investigation. They collect case facts and dig into related laws and regulations, write up legal reports, and arrange meetings and interviews with witnesses, lawyers, and other concerned people (s).
Also Read: Why Do Law firms Nowadays Require Proper Paralegal Support?
Paralegals specialize in many professional areas such as criminal law, intellectual property, immigration, and family law. Most paralegals work for law firms and some are recruited in government or the finance and insurance industries.
In small organizations or firms, paralegals perform manifold duties and their work lasts the duration of a case. However, in large organizations, paralegals majorly focus on a particular division of a case. Paralegals are full-time officials in a company, who sometimes work overtime to meet their deadlines. They are also expected to travel for the purpose of research or preparation for trials.
A paralegal is an essential part of any legal system and offers a form of clerical support. Therefore, the contribution of a paralegal cannot be ignored.
