A paralegal assists an attorney to prepare legal cases. Some common duties of paralegals include preparing documents, organizing them well, conducting interviews to gather case related information and other tasks to help attorneys focus on more important things. Paralegals cannot give legal consultancy. Depending on the specialization, there are various types of paralegal jobs.
Litigation Paralegal
The litigation paralegals help to settle down disputes through judicial systems. There are courses specific to litigation procedures in the paralegal schools. Litigation may be of two types: Criminal & Civil.
The criminal cases deal with cases relating to violations of the rules of the society. Cases relating to stealing, assaults, driving in a drunken state, fall within these kinds of case. A civil litigation case involves battles in the law courts. However most of the cases are solved outside the courts. The following are the responsibilities of a litigation paralegal:
- Aiding in preparation of appeals
- Interviewing witnesses
- Support in trial preparation and at trial
- Keeping record of court dates and deadlines
- Investigating facts
- Drafting pleadings, legal memoranda and briefs
- Analyzing and digesting officially authorized documents
- Performing legal and realistic research
Probate Paralegal and Estate Planning
The estate planning paralegals are responsible for documentation of drafts and utilization of procedures for determining who shall receive their property once they die. In case the deceased person has not prepared the legal documents, the properties of the person are distributed according to the laws of the state. This procedure is called a probate. Court documents can be created for conservatorships or guardianships. These legal arrangements govern adults and children who are deemed to be incompetent. The paralegals specializing in the field of estate planning have the following responsibilities:
- Drafting wills and different estate planning credentials
- Interviewing clients
- Preparing drafts and filing state and central tax returns
- Valuing, transferring assets
- Arranging for collection
- Administering estate accounts
Corporate Paralegal
Those who are corporate paralegals are required to look after the executions of the business transactions like that of stock offerings and mergers. The law pertaining to corporate business contains subspecialty of intellectual properties. This law helps to protect copyrights, patents and trademarks. The paralegals engaged in this field have to discharge the following responsibilities:
- Preparations for board meetings
- Conduct of trademark and patent searches
- Monitoring, reviewing of management regulations for ensuring lawful business operation
- Maintenance of corporate minute books, resolutions
- Fulfilling securities reporting requirements
- Preparing Draft of shareholder agreements, stock option plans
- Conduct of due assiduousness for business transactions
- Drafting corporation and business configuration documents
- Preparation of file yearly financial reports
Labor Law Paralegal
The labor law paralegal is responsible for developing knowledge in the field of human resources, hiring and termination, unemployment, workers' compensation, claims of discrimination. His duties are listed below:
- Performing job parallel to litigation paralegals while preparing for trial
- Serving facilitate positions in organized labor campaigns
- Drafting employee policies and employment handbooks
- Investigation of wrongful termination, other claims
- Preparation of draft pleadings and affidavits in service disputes
More types of paralegal jobs include nurse paralegals, patent paralegals, immigration paralegals, real estate paralegals, and bankruptcy paralegals.
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