Paralegals: The Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Not every attorney has paralegal jobs in his or her office. Some lawyers do not fully utilize a paralegal's services, treating her more like a legal secretary than allowing her to do the job for which she was trained.

The primary paralegal jobs are as varied as the offices in which they work. Some offices utilize the services of both paralegals and secretaries, freeing the paralegal to concentrate on research and original legal writing. Other, smaller office have the paralegal doing double duty: legal research and writing, as well as dictation and what would normally be considered secretarial in nature.

The difference between paralegal and secretarial duties can be vast. Both jobs are extremely valuable, and in some cases a legal secretary is higher paid than the paralegal, and are of equal value in a productive office. A secretary, generally speaking, prepares documents based upon specific instruction or dictation from another person. A paralegal, while under the purview of an attorney, is capable of taking a client's file, and creating a document from scratch, using information supplied by the client and supervising counsel.

In some law offices, a paralegal performs client intake. He or she will meet with potential clients, and will discuss with them the sort of case they may have, and decide if this is the sort of case the attorney normally does. After all, one does not call a plumber to perform heart surgery. By the same token, one should not consult a personal injury attorney for a divorce, or a divorce attorney for criminal defense. It is the paralegal's job to know if her attorney will do certain sorts of cases, and if not, to whom the referral should be given.

Some states offer certification for paralegal jobs, but not all. Some states do not even have a requirement for specific education to call onself a paralegal. A well trained paralegal should hold at the minimum a certificate, obtained by attending a series of classes which include ethics, constitutional law, legal research and legal writing. Other schools offer an associate's and sometimes a bachelor's degree in paralegal studies.

Because paralegal jobs are so heavily concerned with legal writing, and because an attorney is judged by the quality of his pleadings, it is highly recommended that a paralegal candidate be well versed in English composition. He or she should take as many classes as possible, even over and above the requirements of the local Board of Regents for obtaining the certification or degree, so that the potential candidate may write in a tight, cohesive manner, while still employing certain literary devices necessary to get the client's and the attorney's point across.

Yes, legal writing tends to be archaic. Where else is syntax so convoluted as in a Last Will and Testament, where sentences such as ''I give, devise and bequeath'' or ‘of any property of which I may be seized''? A good paralegal, well versed in the use of a legal dictionary will be able to explain the differences between giving, devising and bequeathing.

Paralegal jobs can be interesting and fascinating. But there is a lot to learn before you are ready to write ''Comes now the Plaintiff, by and through counsel, and in support of his Petition would state and show as follows''.