Three Tips for the Paralegal Profession

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The paralegal profession can be tremendously challenging, time-intensive, and rewarding. But above all else, it involves a great deal of hard work. If you’ve been involved with the legal profession in any capacity for any length of time, I'm sure you'll agree that paralegals and legal assistants do the bulk of the work around most attorneys' offices. This may sound like a bold statement, but it's most certainly true, It's not my aim to downplay the "lawyering" skills of our attorneys, nor do I want to sound like the speaker for the paralegal profession. But I have worked in and around enough law offices to recognize certain divisions of labor.

Know the divisions of labor in law firms – the paralegal does the grunt work

Attorneys who work in small, midsize, or large firms must have the knowledge, training, educational background, and professional expertise to attract clients and settle their cases, but the day-to-day, "grind-it-out" paperwork and client management are usually handled by the paralegal staff.

For example, it should come as no surprise that many successful personal injury attorneys follow a "formula" that applies to nearly all clients. A number of the largest and most prosperous law firms specializing in personal injury cases spend an enormous amount of money on radio and television advertising spots, all designed to generate client interest and increase word-of-mouth referrals. Under the right economic and creative circumstances, these targeted ad campaigns can bring in dozens of new clients every week. And from the first moment the client enters the office until the time when the case settles, he or she is guided down a well-paved "road" by the attorneys and their paralegal support staff.

Typical car-accident personal injury law offices offer "one-stop" service, meaning that they will handle everything, from the client's medical bills and auto repairs to the rental car payments, insurance company negotiations, demand letters, and settlement packages. Except for providing the necessary information and completing a pre scribed medical treatment program, the client has few worries.

The attorneys and their paralegals in these large, efficient personal injury firms have handled hundreds of similar cases and can take the client from start to finish just by following the same procedures and plugging in the same formulas. Preparing forms, establishing procedures, and creating prepared letters in advance leaves very little to chance or staff haphazardness. By following these time-tested procedures and using so-called boilerplate documents to settle the case, paralegals can handle most of the work right up to the moment when the attorneys step in to finalize everything to the satisfaction of both sides.

While I'm certainly not suggesting that attorneys in these firms do nothing but "make rain" (gather new clients) and take long lunches, I have seen a number of skilled paralegals carry the bulk of the load for an entire law firm. These dedicated paralegals have taken clients through the entire legal process, updating them as necessary, even providing sympathy and support during highly emotional depositions, hearings, or court cases. In short, the best paralegals do more than their fair share of the work and deserve credit when it's due.

Paralegals work as pseudo investigators

In 1988, I taught a full-day seminar for new paralegals. I originally intended to teach them how to work as pseudo-investigators by explaining the process that surrounds most personal injury, worker's compensation, or criminal defense cases. The more I taught the course, the more I learned about paralegals: their goals, apprehensions, anxieties, and work responsibilities. I began to direct my training efforts towards the kinds of "inside" information that they could use the most.

My work as an accident investigator helped me to see what was important to attorneys and what they expected from their paralegal and legal assistant staffs in turn. I tried to take my observations from the real world of the law office and fit them into the needs of the new paralegal.

So if you’re new to the paralegal profession, here's an important piece of advice to consider The time you save by following the procedures and techniques I suggest is not just your own; it belongs to your boss, your clients, and the firm you work for.

I will not turn you into an attorney or a private investigator. Rather, I will teach you to use already existing resources to gather information critical to the success of your cases.

If you’ve been in the paralegal profession for a while, you may be quite familiar with some of the information I discuss. Some of the ideas and concepts may work well for you and others may not. Only your experience can tell you what to do. Rest assured I will not suggest you do anything unethical, or worse, illegal. But, keep in mind, your career development begins from your first day on the job and never ends.

Additionally, if you're an experienced paralegal, the best way to enhance your sense of professionalism is to help less-experienced paralegals to catch on. You should know by now that the legal field can be extremely stressful, time-pressured, and unnerving. Faced with a large caseload, demanding attorneys, and rattled clients, the job can seem twice as difficult to a new paralegal.

If you can offer additional shortcuts, time-savers, and helpful ad vice about office management (and office politics), case-handling and case-management shortcuts, client relations, and attorney-paralegal protocol to the newer members on your staff, please do so. To quote the appropriate Latin phrase, Qui docet, discet, which means, "They who teach, learn."

Reading books or articles on the paralegal profession

As a seminar leader who teaches one- and two-day courses, I always have great expectations that my students will leave my classroom filled with everything I've taught and ready to put the information to use. Experience tells me that if the class participants can really grasp four or five key concepts, then I've done my job. Good articles or books offer no exception to that rule.

Read books on the profession with your own law office in mind. Take some of the key concepts and really study them. You'll know what you can use immediately, and you'll apply it to your own needs and your short- and long-term goals. Remember that some of the material may not apply to you immediately, but no one can say you won't change firms, change legal specialties, or go in a completely new direction somewhere down the road.

Studies tell us that the era of the so-called 10-year employee is on the downswing. One, three, or five years from now, you may have already gone from a real estate law firm to a personal injury office to a criminal defense specialist. The beauty of the paralegal profession is its inherent flexibility. If you know a little bit about a lot of diverse legal subjects, you're clearly a more valuable commodity to a law firm looking to expand its paralegal force.

Be flexible and open-minded as you study. Take what you can use now, file the rest away in your head, and refer to it again as you grow and develop in your career. Create a Paralegal’s Desk Reference handy at your desk so you'll know how to go about finding the information you need.